>>>Makes sense to me.. (If I were a utter moron
And that is exactly what you are. You toot low unemployment. Then you must LOOOOOOOOVE working at Wal-Mart for minimum wage that can't even pay your gas bill these days.
You toot the U.S. stock market. Last I looked the NASDAQ is some 54% off its highs. And in foreign currency levels (you know, the ones that we actually DEPEND on buying our IOUs or we might default on our debt), NASDAQ is actually down some 70%!!!!
You toot high real estate valuations. That must be why Americans are in debt up to their eye balls and in fact has the SLOWEST increase in American's net worth in more than a decade - see article and link below!!! (and that does not even take into account the devaluation of the dollar and the diminishing U.S. buying power which would have put the pathtic increase deep into the negative column - and considering that real estate prices have already started to plummet and that most of the new mortgages have been ARMs over the last few years, I will guarantee you that Americans are heading to the poor house fast). See article here: Message 22425004
You see, you are so full of LIES, HYPOCRISY & SH*T that you can't even see what is happening all around you. And that is a U.S. economy in shambles with no quality jobs that can't even pay the American household bills anymore and an American middle class becoming poorer by the week.
money.cnn.com
A Federal Reserve survey finds slowest increase in Americans' net worth in over a decade.
By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer
February 27, 2006: 2:39 PM EST
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Americans' net worth grew between 2001 and 2004, but not nearly as strongly as it did between 1998 and 2001, according to the Federal Reserve's triennial Survey of Consumer Finances released Thursday.
The big reason: while household assets increased, debts - particularly mortgage debt -- rose considerably more.
Net worth: Median net worth rose 1.5 percent, to $93,100. The median is the point at which half of all households have a higher net worth and half have a lower net worth.
By contrast, between 1998 and 2001, the median net worth increased 10.3 percent.
The increase in net worth in the latest survey was due mostly to an increase in home ownership and an increase in housing prices.
Income: A decline in wages also helped account for the slow growth in net worth.
While the median income rose 1.6 percent, to $43,200, after adjusting for inflation, median wages fell 6.2 percent. Wages make up the largest part of family income.
Despite lower interest rates between 2001 and 2004, families spent more of their incomes paying off their debt.
The growth in income was the slowest since the Fed's 1992 survey, when median income actually fell.6.7 percent, to $35,100, between 1989 and 1992.
Savings: The percent of families who said they'd saved in the preceding year fell 3.1 percentage points, to 56.1 percent.
Similar to past surveys, 7 percent of families said their spending usually outpaces their income; 16.1 percent said they spend about what they make; 36.1 percent said they save income left over at the end of the year; and 40.8 percent said they save regularly.
Assets: The percentage of families who owned assets rose 1.2 percentage points to 97.9 percent.
The median value of all assets combined rose 10.3 percent to $172,900.
The survey breaks down assets into two categories: financial assets such as stocks and bonds, and non-financial assets such as homes.
The median value of financial assets fell 22.8 percent to $23,000.
Meanwhile, the median value of non-financial assets rose 22.2 percent to $147,800.
Debt: The share of families with debt rose 1.3 percentage points to 76.4 percent.
Among families with debt of any kind -- including mortgages, other loans and credit cards -- the median level rose 33.9 percent to $55,300, far greater than the 9.5 percent increase seen between 1998 and 2001.
The median level of mortgage debt increased 27.3 percent to $95,000.
Stock ownership: The percentage of families investing in stocks, directly or indirectly through mutual funds, fell 3.3 percentage points, to 48.6 percent.
It's the first time the Fed has measured a decline in stock ownership, which had been on the rise since 1989, when the Fed began its first consumer finance survey.
The median value of stock-related holdings also fell, by 33.8 percent to $24,300. |
