Household Net Worth Suffers Record Drop

Fed: U.S. Families' Wealth Plunged 9 Percent During 2008 Fourth Quarter

(AP)  The net worth of American households fell by the largest amount in more than a half-century of record keeping during the fourth quarter of last year.

The Federal Reserve said Thursday that household net worth dropped by a record 9 percent from the level in the third quarter.

The decline was the sixth straight quarterly drop in net worth and underscored the battering that U.S. families are undergoing in the midst of a steep recession with unemployment surging and the value of their homes and investments plunging.

Net worth represents total assets such as homes and checking accounts minus liabilities like mortgages and credit card debt.

Family net worth had hit an all-time high of $64.36 trillion in the April-June quarter of 2007 but has fallen in every quarter since that time.

The record 9 percent drop in the fourth quarter pushed total net worth down to $51.48 trillion, a level that is 20 percent below the third quarter 2007 peak.

After five straight years of sharp increases in home prices, the housing bubble burst in 2007, sending shockwaves through the financial system as banks were hit with billions of dollars of losses on mortgages and mortgage-backed securities.

The federal government created a $700 billion rescue fund for the financial system last October but so far that effort has shown only modest results in terms of getting banks to resume more normal lending patterns.

Households have also been battered by the recession that began in December 2006 and is already the longest in a quarter-century. That downturn has sent unemployment soaring to a 25-year high of 8.1 percent in February with 4.4 million jobs lost since the downturn began.

[clancy49]

This isn't a partisan issue. Our decline is continual and has been since the 1970's. It is all part of the plan to make us better little robots and grab at any scrap cast our way. We are the slum dogs begging for food from masters we could bite if we chose to do so. Once we are beaten down, and our intelligence is completely media controlled, the decline will increase at a rapid rate until we are led into genocides. It is population control at its easiest. Pit one group against another for the scraps. The chimpanzee groups are a fine example of killing each other for the fig tree. The big ape stays safe after leading the group into battle. Our fig tree is filled with diversity. It is a plan to make us hate each other, divide into groups, and battle each other to the death so the head big ape gets more of the figs. Again I repeat, this isn't about Dems or Reps. It is about big apes.

[omega39-2009]

The net worth of American households fell by the largest amount in more than a half-century of record keeping during the fourth quarter of last year.

What we need is one of those self regulating, globalized markets to generate untold wealth for the little guy. No pension plan, no problem. No health care, no big deal. No job, don't worry about it.....the greatest thing since peanut butter is working in your favor.

[mrs_conclusion]

Welcome to Obama nation where everyones net worth goes down. Thanks liberals!