The New York Times reports the typical American household is worth one third less today than it was worth ten years ago.
The inflation-adjusted net worth for the typical household was $87,992 in 2003. Ten years later, it was only $56,335, or a 36 percent decline, according to a study financed by the Russell Sage Foundation. Those are the figures for a household at the median point in the wealth distribution — the level at which there are an equal number of households whose worth is higher and lower.Economically, the center (median) is not holding. I am reminded of William Butler Yeats' The Second Coming:
Much of the damage has occurred since the start of the last recession in 2007. Until then, net worth had been rising for the typical household. (snip) But much of the gain for many typical households came from the rising value of their homes. Exclude that housing wealth and the picture is worse: Median net worth began to decline even earlier.
The housing bubble basically hid a trend of declining financial wealth at the median that began in 2001,” said Fabian T. Pfeffer, the University of Michigan professor who is lead author of the Russell Sage Foundation study.
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;My source for the Yeats quote is Thinkexist.com.
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
