WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2009
Americans' Net Worth Rose in 2nd Quarter
Value of Homes and Stocks Plus Cash Savings Up Nearly 4 Percent, But Well Off Its 2007 High
-
(AP / CBS)
-
Timeline Financial Meltdown Track major events that lead to one of the most tumultuous times in Wall Street's history.
-
Photo Essay Market Mayhem Wall Street, world markets fluctuate amid fears of U.S. economic downturn.
Still, household net worth remains about 19 percent below its peak in the third quarter of 2007, before the recession began.
The Federal Reserve said net worth grew by $2 trillion to $53.1 trillion in the April-to-June quarter. Net worth, or the value of assets such as homes, checking accounts and investments minus debts like mortgages and credit cards, rose nearly 4 percent from the first quarter, the Fed said.
Even with the gain, Americans' net worth stands well below the $65.3 trillion it reached two years ago.
The second quarter increase in net worth was the first since wealth peaked. According to the Fed report, the pickup was led by gains in stock portfolios. The value of Americans' stock holdings rose 21.6 percent from the first quarter.
Net worth in the second quarter also was boosted by higher home prices. The value of real-estate holdings rose 1.8 percent, according to the Fed report.
This week, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the worst recession since the 1930s probably is over. Most analysts say the U.S. economy is growing in the current quarter, which ends Sept. 30, at an annual rate of 3 to 4 percent. The economy shrank at a 1 percent pace in the second quarter, much slower than in previous quarters.
Bernanke warned that the pace of recovery probably won't be brisk enough to generate solid job growth and keep the unemployment rate - now at a 26-year high of 9.7 percent - from rising.
Collectively, homeowners had 43.1 percent equity in their homes in the second quarter, according to the Fed report. That was up only slightly from 41.9 percent in the first quarter.
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 21 Comments
- How can that be when the USA just said 11 months ago that they are now in a ression? I love the way the numbers are always worked in favor to what the media wants to postfor the goverment.
- Reply to this comment
- So, I guess I am just hallucinating when I think I see all these families sleeping in their cars at night in the Walmart parking lot.
- Reply to this comment
- Wonder will Glenn Beck and O'Reily report that.
- Reply to this comment
- How about giving us net worth MINUS US Government liabilities?
That's a much more accurate picture of where America and Americans are headed. Provide it by median amount, and by quartiles, not average, which distorts it because it includes the mega rich who have gained so much at the expense of most Americans.
That's the fallacy of such a report. Most of the trillions in debt that the corrupt Wall Street gang accumulated with went on the books of every American thanks to the Fed and Congress. - Reply to this comment
- I can't believe some you will just take everything the fringe media says as gospel. You don't have to be a genius to find big holes in this story. The average citizen with a portfolio owns a house, a couple cars and maybe some stock and a 401K. Both the house and 401K lost nearly 50% in value over the past year. Stocks took an even bigger hit. It doesn't add up...
- Reply to this comment
- I can't believe some you will just take everything the fringe media says as gospel. You don't have to be a genius to find big holes in this story. The average citizen with a portfolio owns a house, a couple cars and maybe some stock and a 401K. Both the house and 401K lost nearly 50% in value over the past year. Stocks took an even bigger hit. It doesn't add up...
- Reply to this comment
- Does anyone know how many unemployed factory workers it takes to eliminate the positive effect of bank exec. bonuses on our national net worth? The rich are getting richer while the middle class is sinking into poverty.
- Reply to this comment
- "The Federal Reserve said net worth grew by $2 trillion to $53.1 trillion in the April-to-June quarter."
Ummmm...now if the Federal Reserve considered America to be a democracy, they'd split those oh-so-cheerful numbers out by income quintile. - Reply to this comment
- Our net worth is only two quarters?
- Reply to this comment
- It's mostly that the people have been paying off their debt. That increases your net worth...
- Reply to this comment
- This is another Liberal LIE. How can we the public be rolling in money, when almost a sixth of the population is unemployed or underemployed, many businesses have closed their doors, those that have lost homes, those that have lost everything and the rest of us are struggling. Maybe, he is refering to all of the people Obama paid off for voting for him. The union bosses, ACORN, Credit Card Companies, those Democratic led businesses like Freddi Mac, Fanny Mae and God only knows who all else. Between him and Princes P, there is no telling where all of our Tax dollars are going. They damn sure are not going into my mail box. Its all about POWER and how to keep it no matter what....or over who's dead body.
- Reply to this comment
-
- Same way it was a conservative lie that tax cuts for the wealthy created jobs...
Jobs are only created when a company has more work than the current staff can perform and that is done by people buying their product. Tax cuts don't and will never cause a sound company to hire more people. They pocket the money as Profit.
- lolll...nah, jtdev1...they pay the c-level suits more, so they can subtract that compensation out as an expense and pay less in corporate taxes.
Paints a rosier picture for the shareholders.
- Conservative evangelical types are raised to disregard factual information. Good news is bad news to them. Christian fundamentalist types prefer fantasy and irrationality over factual information and reality. This news is good news, even though the fundamentalist's consider it to be bad news. This news is truthful, even though fundamentalist types consider it to be false. Christian fundamentalist types consider good news to be bad news and consider fact to be fiction, if it does not support their delusion.
- Same way it was a conservative lie that tax cuts for the wealthy created jobs...
- Oh my God!!! Obama is giving my money away to lazy people that's why they are better off. And it won't last. As soon as this little bubble bursts, so will all of Obama's policies and he will be a one-term president. (said the republican)
- Reply to this comment
- Encouraging news, let's hope it can continue
- Reply to this comment
The road ahead in Afghanistan, and the crucial decision Obama faces.
