Posted on 09/24/2010 7:48:32 AM PDT by blam
American Wealth Is Actually Still Ridiculously Enormous -- It's The Government That's Broke
Vincent Fernando, CFA
Sep. 24, 2010, 10:12 AM
Total private American net worth, measured by the value of both their home equity and stock value, fell by 26% during the financial crisis, as stock and housing values plummeted.
The Big Picture (TBP):
The value of US stock and housing equity fell 25.7% from the pre-crash peak (June 07) to the recent low – $65.8 trillion down to $48.8 trillion — a destruction of value of nearly $17 trillion dollars.
Which means that if your total wealth didn't fall by 26% at the darkest hour (but you will need a fair value of your house to calculate this), then congratulations, you outperformed.
American net worth then began rising again as stock markets recovered, Americans produced more wealth, and housing prices stabilized. It's now falling again as the Bloomberg chart from TBP below shows. So if your wealth has continued rising even since the start of 2010, then congratulations, you're outperforming (again?).
But here's the catch -- Even at the darkest hour of the crisis American private wealth stood at $48.8 trillion, and remained gargantuan relative to much of the world. In comparison, the entire federal debt is ridiculously huge, but it's 'just' $13.5 trillion. America's government is broke, but American people as a whole aren't. On the individual American level, however, thanks to a substantial wealth skew in the U.S., many Americans are indeed broke while some others hold private wealth that continues to tower over much of the world.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Hmmm. I wonder how much the Federal Government’s assets are worth? It owns an awful lot of land (and shouldn’t!). If they put up for sale, I wonder how much the could recover?
If Obama destroys the value of our currency, it doesn’t matter how much the rich have ... wealth can disappear...
Yeah, but still.....move it if you got it...
A family of 4 in MA is $200,000 in debt, no matter how closely they may try to follow Dave Ramsey's advice.
Wow, Cool, that 'Bama guy must really know what he's doing.
Funny how Lenin was right about capitalist rope salesmen....
does this mean, I’ve been lied to? When I was little I was taught the government is the people. Government broke, People not broke. Now I am confused. So does this mean...ah nevermind.
We ARE the Government or so I learned in school 60 years ago.
“American Wealth Is Actually Still Ridiculously Enormous”...
DUH?.....What do you think Obama wants?
this is a great sign...We The People can outmoney him. We can broke him.
I wonder how much the Federal Government’s assets are worth? It owns an awful lot of land (and shouldn’t!). If they put up for sale, I wonder how much the could recover?””
I have suggested just this act for 20 years. Why should the govt own up to 50% or more of the land in some states. They shouldn’t. They kept this land from the people when demand from a small population was quite low by comparison to the contemporary world. Government greed knows no boundaries and so they will continue to hoard this real estate from the masses.
The smart people can move their money faster than Obama can even begin to find it.....
They own a lot of land in the west.....only problem...it’s in the middle of nowhere.
And our unfunded liabilities are on the order of "just" US$112 trillion.
Our debt is between a third and a fourth of our ENTIRE wealth and that’s good news?
I don’t agree!
I’ve thought about it for a long time, but didn’t care. Now that we are so deep in debt, we need to consider liquidating the Federales’ assets to cover ‘em.
In other words, the middle class private sector is basically broke and has been financially gang raped.
Indeed theY do, it was once in the middle of nowhere, but in today’s world all is accessible once the gates are opened. We don’t have 20 million people in the country now, we have 330 million. Time for the greedy feds to give up what should be sold to private sector US CITIZENS.
>> The smart people can move their money faster than Obama can even begin to find it..... <<
Amen, amen, glory hallelujah, amen.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.