Yes fordy, I'm doing copy / paste. :P

The Federal Reserve just released its Survey of Consumer Finances, the only government survey of wealth in America. The Survey is conducted every three years. This survey, conducted in 2010, is the first one to reflect the effects of the Wall Street Meltdown in 2008.

How does it look? Bad. Really, really bad.

The median wealth of American families (meaning half above and half below) dropped from $126,400 in 2007 all the way down to $77,300 in 2010. That's a 39% slide. It puts the median net worth of American families at its lowest level since 1995, fifteen years earlier.

About 12% of American families have a negative net worth. Meaning that they're broke.

Among Americans with no high school diploma (15 percent of the adult population), median wealth plunged from $34,800 in 2007 to $16,100 in 2010, a 54% drop. That is the lowest level since at least the Fed's 1983 survey, maybe earlier. So three decades of progress have been wiped out.

Among minorities, median wealth plunged from $29,700 to $20,400. That is the lowest level since 1992. White median wealth is now 540% higher than minority median wealth.

The median value of American homes dove from $209,500 in 2007 to $170,000 in 2010. But the median mortgage was almost completely unchanged: $74,700 in 2007, $74,100 in 2010. So debt payments increased from 7% of income to 11% of income.

In 2007, the bottom 25% had a net worth of $14,800 or less. In 2010, the bottom 25% had a net worth of $8,300 or less, a 44% decline.

In 2007, the top 10% had a net worth of $955,600 or more. In 2010, the top 10% had a net worth of $952,500, a decline of less than 1%.

Let me sum it up for you: In the greatest economic crisis that the United States has faced since the Great Depression, the rich barely lost a nickel. But the poor definitely got poorer. And people in the middle were crushed.

If this continues any longer, then we can invite a priest to administer last rites to the American Middle Class.

The age of "robber barons" and "serfs" has been brought back from the dead. We MUST stop these "cycles" that are caused by the greedy bunch. Reinstate the Glass - Steagal Act. STOP the corporate "sweatshops"! For those that don't know, a sweatshop is a place where an employer pays 1 person a small hourly wage to do the work of 5 people, has them working 16 hour shifts because: A. they can use the extra cash. B. Another employee called in sick but because they already have everyone else pushed beyond their limits they can't "make do" with those that did come to work.

Those "corporate sweat shops" happen to be a godsend in those 3rd world countries, did that ever cross your mind? Look at Apple in China!, 8k applications of people that want to go work there! Just a thought....

War Time you are an absolute f'ing idiot if you cannot figure out why these numbers are what they are.

What does a Non HS Grad do for employment?

What does the upper class College/Post Secondary School grad do for employment?

Which sector has dropped off the most with the burst of the housing bubble?

There is no conspiracy or secret key to unlocking the mystery here. Low level construction, production, and assembly jobs were higher in 2007 than today. WOW shocker right.

If you already had amassed wealth and were invested in diversified portfolios then you have taken a loss in some areas and gained in others so now you are at a net 0 (no gain, but no substantial loss)

yeah real age of "robber barons" here.

No one with one good eye and half a brain is going to buy your load of bullfluff.

To be fair, this means even when going back to work after losing one of those higher paying construction and factory production jobs, you have to take what jobs are being created. Mostly service industry jobs that will pay 1/2 as much. So poor people are getting poorer. Richer people as you said, will be able to hold most of their money if they're invested right.
Really comes down to getting large companies to bring manufacturing jobs back here instead of overseas. Which you cant make them do, and from a business stand point, why would they?

Right, Popcom, if you make a product that you can sell for $10ea but costs you $9ea to make here and you can build it for $2ea overseas, its a no brainer....

Yes Popcom you are right on the money.

To take it one step further let's add this to the equation:

As a person looking to hire an employee if you have A B C standing in front of you and A has no HS Diploma, B has a HS Diploma and C has an AS Degree you are PROBABLY going to hire C.

Once again widening the gap of uneducated unemployed and the educated employed.

No trick, no magic... just the way it is.

Precisely my point. They have turned OUR country into a third world country!

YOU helped by buying and demanding low prices!

You've already lost your argument because you've proven that you've "swallowed their line, bait, hook and sinker"!

During 1968 I was a union roofer taking home $238 a week. That was a time when when I paid 35 cents for a gallon of gas, 25 cents for a loaf of bread, 50 cents for a gallon of milk. In order to equal my "buying power" then, in todays money I'd have to be paid $5,000.00 a week!

It depends on where they lived. In California, in 1965, I had friends that lost their jobs. College educated, masters degrees and batchelors degrees but still could not find another job period! One even resorted to trying to get a job as a "sanitation engineer", (garbage man), they would not hire him because he was too educated for the position! He wound up committing suicide because he was very depressed about being unable to feed his family and put a roof over their heads.

The short answer? The middle class. The better answer? The guy bringing home over $100k a year that felt real comfortable in his job so he went and bought a new car, moved his family into a nicer house, then got screwed over by his greedy assed employer!

<-- That really proves how "blind" and brainwashed you really are. Reagan used our tax dollars giving out "corporate welfare to the rich", as incentives to move their companies and our jobs to third world countries! I mean hell, what did they have to lose? NOTHING! Cheaper labor, NO regulations and he passed his "Trade and Tarriff Act", meaning no tarriffs on the products those companies imported / exported back to the States!

Apparently, my "401b" was not properly invested. I lost 45% of the value due to the greedy banks. We should follow Iceland in that matter. They're prosecuting 90 CEOs and managers because of the collapse of their economy.

You should know because you obviously don't have as much as 1 good eye or even 1/10th of a brain. None of that is bullfluff. You should have checked before you overloaded your smaller than a pea brain.

I didn't need, nor did I want to have lower prices. I went and paid cash for a brand new, 1967 Chevelle SS. It cost me $1700.00! Not only American made but also UNION made!

The very Union that costs the manufacturer $40 an hr per line worker more than non Union manufacturers do, then you wonder why they went broke? LOL

Oh, ya, forgot to mention, Union fees, the grand majority go to supporting your Democrat party campaigns...

They actually went broke because of people like you shopping at wally world and buying toyotas instead of Buying American. It was thanks to Reagan and his Trade and Tarriff Act that you were able to buy them toyotas. :P

Ew, I hate toyota, I wouldn't own one if it was given to me free, I love my Beemers!

Oops, forgot, you rethuglicans can't think for yourselves. That's why they always "rubber stamp" assinine laws like Citizens United vs the FEC, which made corporations "people" and opened the doors for your billionaire buddies to buy elections. :P

At what point does the middle class stop defending the elite 1%. Media can only skew things for so long. A tipping point is all but inevitable if you look at how things have gone and continue to go.

The scary part is that no one wants to budge. So that means things get worse and then it gets radical.

Really, perhaps you failed to look at the latest rich list and see where their money goes...*coughDEMScough*

Frankly the article states that this drop is mostly due to the drop in housing prices. This goes back to Clinton and Greenspan with low rates and no documention loans building the bubble. And I am non-partisian on this, because I think Clinton was the best president we've had since Kennedy. But it is what it is.

War Time:

There are not a fluff load of houses going up right now are there? So there are a lot of roofers out of work. Same goes for plumbers, electricians.... and that is because of government over regulation of the housing market beginning with Clinton and being expanded by Bush. Again no magic no mirrors. Just fact.

Sorry to hear about your friend taking his life, but there are places not in someones back yard to work. If that means moving from Cali to Utah well then pack your bags. Point still remains there are more opportunities for better pay with more education.

You are right the middle class took the biggest hit. If someone made 100k a year and was extended to the max then they sank. Moral of the story; Put money away for a rainy day. Ever read the book, Who moved my cheese?

Apparently your 401b was not properly diversified. I also had investments that took a hit. When they began to come back up I dumped a large amount of money on them to increase the up and was taxed to death when I liquidated them. Oh well it happens.

You want to blame the wealthy for you being broke because they are wealthy.

Stop the madness. The government over regulation and over spending is what caused this "collapse"

Government incentivised business to go outside our borders to help bring prosperity to the rest of the world. You call it "Corporate Welfare" it is more accurate to call it "3rd World Welfare".

Yes Wal-Mart is a fluff employer and works their employees the max hours it can without "legally" giving them benefits. I refuse to shop there.

Open your eyes to what is happening. Stop blaming your neighbor and trying to take more of what they have earned.

Make the government get out of the way so this country has a chance of recovery.

Remember that in spite of what is currently going on we still have the best thing going on the planet. We can make change. We can elect new people. We have rights to be free if we choose to invoke them.

Khavic25

I don't blame the rich for my situation. I blame the speculators who drive up the prices and the bankers for gambling with our money.

There are 2 things that would help our situation AND prevent it from ever happening again. It doesn't matter which one happens first BUT they both need to happen.

Abolish the "Federal Reserve" which has absolutely nothing to do with our Federal Government. It's not only "privately owned", (ILLEGAL)but also Internationally privately owned, NOBODY can tell it what to do, they control (our) their currency, they "charge" us 3% interest for their "dollar" being in our pocket! The "Presidential dollar series", only costs them 8 cents to produce. In effect, the "FED" gives themselves an interest free, NEVER having to be paid back "loan" of 92 cents on each dollar! Small wonder why they would like to see it being used more than it is now.

IRS Code needs to be totally revamped. All through the code there are 2 words used together that is an "oxymoron", VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE! IF compliance is "voluntary", why then, are there penalties for volunteering to NOT comply? Taxation was originally intended to be a tax on your profits. Profits do NOT include wages / salary unless they consider income as YOU whoring out your "services".

Whoring out services? Prostitutes have to pay taxes????

War Time this may be the best post I have ever seen you make.

You are correct on both counts. IRS should be gone. Federal Reserve should be gone.

Smaller government that is of the people, by the people, and for the people.

"Profit" is based upon a product that you sell. You, working for a living, are not a product. That's why I said "unless they consider income as YOU whoring out your "services".

if you dont like the banks gambling with your money, leave the bank and go to a local credit union.

also, american automobiles blow ass, HARD, thats why they are broke.

the whole "buy american" movement is pathetic. the american way is to buy the best, and force the fluffty business next door to make a better product, instead of bailing your buddy out because hes too nice of a guy to see fail.

you sit here and whine and fluff about the govt bailing out banks and proping up the rich fluff, but then come back with buy ameircan? Im all for buying americn, but when the american product isnt as good as the german, japanese, korean, or italian product, i wont buy it. they should make a better product and you should demand that of them. period.

mdevol: That's pretty much what I did. Not a credit union, but I went with a regional bank that keeps most of their mortgages in house as opposed to selling them off to some large multinational bank. Out of lack of funds and laziness, I often don't really put my money where my mouth is on my morals (like avoiding Wal-Mart), but you're exactly right on this issue.

Another thing I somewhat agree with, but also find that people are letting themselves get screwed over on is the whole idea of predatory penalties on checking accounts. It is pretty ridiculous when NBC talks about some guy bouncing a check for $120 and getting hit with $100 in penalties, but first off, if you don't bounce checks, you don't have to worry about it, and secondly, if you go to a local bank, they tend to have more reasonable fees/penalties for overdrafts. (See all you right-wingers? I'm not all about eschewing personal responsibility.)

Also, I think you're right in the past about American cars, but I think the new innovations since the retooling of the American companies has greatly improved the quality of the cars. But yeah, especially in the 90s, American cars sucked. You really had to show loyalty to Ford, GM or Chrysler to look past how much better Honda and Toyota's cars were.

Ima buy me a Fiat :p

Actually I really like the Genesis 380 GT Hyundai came out with, its a nice looking coupe!

You guys are gonna make me tear up here!!! :)

I think I might love you....

War Time suggested shutting down the fed and getting rid of income tax.

mdevol threw out the idea of buy what's best, not what's the cheapest pile of crap you can lug home from Wally Hell.

Twain recommends banking with your local bank and not a conglomerate bank.



Smaller government, take action at the individual level, personal responsibility.

AAAHHH... give me minute to breath it in.

Lil by lil we are turning them into right wingers and they don't even know it! :p

I've already switched me money to a local credit union. It used to be in charter one bank that was bought out by citizens / rbs bank. Citizens / rbs will be getting hit with the largest "charge back" ever in the history of the world $12,000,000,000,000.00!

When it comes to things like furniture, particularly desks, dressers, bedroom sets,coffee tables, end tables, night stands etc., I buy quality items made from "hardwoods" such as oak. I refuse to buy "press board" from wally world (or any other place that sells it), and I also refuse to buy mahogany or teak because any of it sold in this country is illegally imported.

Our government went after "loan sharks" because they were supposedly charging "high" interest rates. Why do they allow credit card companies and banks to charge 29.95% variable rates? Especially when they got bailed out and get money from the taxpayers, Federal Reserve at 0 - .25% interest rate?

I love my local bank. My previous bank was bought out by PNC and we gave them a chance for about a year, but ultimately, they just kept changing the terms of service of our accounts.

I only wish we had actually gotten our mortgage locally (but we bought our house when moving to the area, so we didn't have a bank yet).

I dunno, from a certain perspective, maybe you all are turning into left-wingers. Buying local sounds an awful lot like a hippie kind of thing to do. Next you'll be buying all local organic produce and wanting to invest in sustainable energy. :P

Regardless, it's nice to see there are a few things we all tend to agree on instead of us just yelling back and forth at each other through our keyboards.

Oh, you mean like investing in Solyndra? Sounds very profitable!!!!!! LMFAO! What a SCAM that was promoted and pushed by Obama, billion$ of tax payers money GONE, epic fail!

Good for you KoH. We had harmony and you had to go and be a jerk again. :P

I'm not about harmony, read my sig :p

KoH we are not turning them conservative and they are not turning us liberal because honestly none of us are either of those things.

At the core most people feel pretty much the same way. All the talking heads and scare columnists try to make mountains of our differences. Once you work through it the differences are mostly semantics.

Government is working to polarize the masses so they can control us.

Don't drink the cool-aid. :P

I'm actually more of a Libetarian, imo, but I support conservatives cuz they're closer to what I'm about than liberals/progressives/whatever they want to be called.

ehh.. things are turning around, although it may take some time.

Labor prices actually went up a copule times in China, so pretty soon you;l have the Chinese buying american products and those made elsewhere :P

meh. we are going to have a 'lost decade' or longer just like Japan did.

Inflation is a factor for China but you are either oversimplying or neglecting the influence of currency manipulation. Plus manufacturing will just shift elsewhere like India.

We'll be taking the "mother" of all hits a lot sooner than anyone thinks.

Are you referring to when Israel hits Iran and the price of oil goes to 200 a barrel?

Nah he is talking about Russia.

pretty sure he's talking about the unsustainable national debt

you simply cannot cut and/or tax enough to sustain the debt payments, medicare, ss, and national defense....
just those four alone, w/o ANY other spending

the only question is when we get downgraded to under A rating, and the inflation ceiling breaks wide open

then comes the dollar being removed as the world trading currency

then we become the largest third world country on the planet.............