Americans Getting Poorer

[Chef Ramsay]

The Typical Household, Now Worth a Third Less

Economic inequality in the United States has been receiving a lot of attention. But it’s not merely an issue of the rich getting richer. The typical American household has been getting poorer, too.

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. But during the same period, the net worth of wealthy households increased substantially.

The Russell Sage study also examined net worth at the 95th percentile. (For households at that level, 94 percent of the population had less wealth and 4 percent had more.) It found that for this well-do-do slice of the population, household net worth increased 14 percent over the same 10 years. Other research, by economists like Edward Wolff at New York University, has shown even greater gains in wealth for the richest 1 percent of households.

More...http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/business/the-typical-household-now-worth-a-third-less.html
Typical class warfare lingo but yeah, things are trending down here in the home of the brave. Anecdotally, I know plenty of people living paycheck to paycheck while I stack coins for the future.

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[kerimk2]

WELP, I guess you guys should come up here to the great white north, full of less economic troubles then its southern counterpart! and 100% more Moose!

[redHeadBlunder]

I think this is the result of the (D) being successful in getting lenders to lend to the poor aka "minorities"  and as a result minorities had looser lending standards and purchased homes they could not afford. As a result people who lived in minority neighborhoods experienced higher then otherwise looses on their home values.

[tee-rex]

So, have the Americans finally begun living within their means and income? What were the last figures that an American household was owing to the rest of the world?

[arbitrage001]

Problem is, poor people in the US still are way better than middle class elsewhere.

[bitsmichel]

Problem is, poor people in the US still are way better than middle class elsewhere.

Middle class in US is not always better off than elsewhere. Consider Dubai and Qatar.

[petestheman]

It is because culturally we (americans) feel that we must own a car, house, tvs, and other things for entertainment. As a result we borrow money. We all know what happens when we borrow money. Basically we made it culturally unacceptable to be poor so people would rather go further in debt than appear to be poor which they really are.

[tee-rex]

Problem is, poor people in the US still are way better than middle class elsewhere.

Middle class in US is not always better off than elsewhere. Consider Dubai and Qatar.

Elsewhere here means everywhere beyond the US, so you should take an average income across the world to make comparison valid.

[bitsmichel]

Problem is, poor people in the US still are way better than middle class elsewhere.

Middle class in US is not always better off than elsewhere. Consider Dubai and Qatar.

Elsewhere here means everywhere beyond the US, so you should take an average income across the world to make comparison valid.

If you take the average it may give other results and indicate that, but living standards in Qatar or Dubai are very different than say India.

[tee-rex]

Problem is, poor people in the US still are way better than middle class elsewhere.

Middle class in US is not always better off than elsewhere. Consider Dubai and Qatar.

Elsewhere here means everywhere beyond the US, so you should take an average income across the world to make comparison valid.

If you take the average it may give other results and indicate that, but living standards in Qatar or Dubai are very different than say India.

Their population is small and they had the luck to be born literally in oil. When the oil reservoirs are finally depleted, they will return to where they started from, that is to nomadism and camel breeding (the richest will obviously emigrate to Europe or America). And their ultra-modern high-scrapers cities of today will be slowly but surely devoured by sand and desert.

[bitsmichel]

Problem is, poor people in the US still are way better than middle class elsewhere.

Middle class in US is not always better off than elsewhere. Consider Dubai and Qatar.

Elsewhere here means everywhere beyond the US, so you should take an average income across the world to make comparison valid.

If you take the average it may give other results and indicate that, but living standards in Qatar or Dubai are very different than say India.

Their population is small and they had the luck to be born literally in oil. When the oil reservoirs are finally depleted, they will return to where they started from, that is to nomadism and camel breeding (the richest will obviously emigrate to Europe or America). And their ultra-modern high-scrapers cities of today will be slowly but surely devoured by sand and desert.

Good point, once they run out of oil they'll go back to primitive states. How many years would that take?

[Daniel91]

It is because culturally we (americans) feel that we must own a car, house, tvs, and other things for entertainment. As a result we borrow money. We all know what happens when we borrow money. Basically we made it culturally unacceptable to be poor so people would rather go further in debt than appear to be poor which they really are.

Very good point.
In fact, I think that this is true not just for Americans but also other western countries as well (plus Eastern Europe, Japan, South Korea etc.)
More and more we live in materialistic world where just money is important, not any more family, kids, friends etc.
But, there is one huge difference between social system in USA and in Europe.
In Europe we have very good social service, free basic health care, very good support for unemployed, free schools and universities etc.
In USA is different.
If you lost job you loose everything, and very quickly from nice, comfortable house you can sleep in the street.
From my viewpoint social system in Europe is much better and supportive for people in need.

[hologram]

Seem somebody steal the productivity gain:

[tee-rex]

Problem is, poor people in the US still are way better than middle class elsewhere.

Middle class in US is not always better off than elsewhere. Consider Dubai and Qatar.

Elsewhere here means everywhere beyond the US, so you should take an average income across the world to make comparison valid.

If you take the average it may give other results and indicate that, but living standards in Qatar or Dubai are very different than say India.

Their population is small and they had the luck to be born literally in oil. When the oil reservoirs are finally depleted, they will return to where they started from, that is to nomadism and camel breeding (the richest will obviously emigrate to Europe or America). And their ultra-modern high-scrapers cities of today will be slowly but surely devoured by sand and desert.

Good point, once they run out of oil they'll go back to primitive states. How many years would that take?

No one knows for sure, but oil could definitely follow the fate of coal, if, say, tomorrow a cheap way of thermonuclear fusion is invented. Apparently, it won't go away at all or the demand for it will decrease immediately, but the prices will be affected significantly.

[hologram]

No one knows for sure, but oil could definitely follow the fate of coal, if, say, tomorrow a cheap way of thermonuclear fusion is invented. Apparently, it won't go away at all or the demand for it will decrease immediately, but the prices will be affected significantly.

Good point, and oil have a lot of usage in industry too. They will not lose revenue (It's cause of that i don't trust big oil conspiracy). But OPEP will lose something very important for them, political power.

[tee-rex]

No one knows for sure, but oil could definitely follow the fate of coal, if, say, tomorrow a cheap way of thermonuclear fusion is invented. Apparently, it won't go away at all or the demand for it will decrease immediately, but the prices will be affected significantly.

Good point, and oil have a lot of usage in industry too. They will not lose revenue (It's cause of that i don't trust big oil conspiracy). But OPEP will lose something very important for them, political power.

So the oil of tomorrow will be Helium-3 (which is rare on Earth but abundant on the Moon)  

[hologram]

maybe deuterium, boron or just hydrogen. I think would be good if it's something in the sea 

[picolo]

Americans have a lot of bitcoins, Oil and human capital but they are too much in debt and their industrie is getting relatively way smaller

[GangkisKhan]

Americans have a lot of bitcoins, Oil and human capital but they are too much in debt and their industrie is getting relatively way smaller

Assets are capitalized and debt are socialized. So there are still handful of people with a lot of money.

[hologram]

America need a smaller government to stay prosperous. And close the EPA.