Americans are the richest they have ever been (loan, mortgages, property taxes)

[Nik4me]

Originally Posted by k374

The US Household Net Worth has hit records! This is totally at odds with the media narrative that so many people are suffering, so many people are living paycheck to paycheck etc.

Nationwide Housing prices are skyrocketing and people are falling hand over fist to buy them which only has to mean that there are way too many people with wads of cash for a down payment and getting wads of cash as income since qualification guidelines are still very strict. Many of these homes are crazy expensive too and still have hordes of buyers.

TSLA is having record deliveries which implies demand for a very expensive luxury product, which is what I consider Tesla to be, is at all time highs. This makes no sense if everyone has no money like you ready daily in the media.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/...virus-pandemic

I have a billion dollars and the guy on the street is homeless and begs for food.
The 2 of us if counted together is worth 1/2 a billion each

[HJ99]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

It is almost like a saying those who own A Bentley are richer than those who own a Ford ....people are homeowners because they have the resources to be homeowners ....most renters are renters because they don’t have the money to buy .

Renters are a much broader group from poor to wealthy ..but most are renters only because they can NOT afford to buy ..

So homeowners are homeowners because they were a wealthier group to start with

And the only single family housing being built is barn size for the upper middle class. Housing that is NOT affordable without a very good paying job. And even if you win the lottery and buy it outright, taxes on such probably higher than lot rentals. You arent seeing the 1000sqft to 1500sqft houses being built that ARE AFFORDABLE. While on other hand low end rental rates are increasing at an exponential rate making it difficult to just come up with monthly rent at low end, let alone save anything to ever think about purchasing a house. Keep em poor and subservient!!! The good paying blue collar jobs have left the building so to speak. Oh there are some high skill blue collar trade/tech jobs available, but not the good paying unskilled blue collar factory jobs of yesteryear. If you could wave a magic wand and all those current service job employees could suddenly have skills for the unfilled blue collar high tech jobs, then those jobs would pay lot less. There simply are not enough good paying jobs for everybody to have one no matter their education or training. So you get the perpetual poor or barely getting by class of people. Moving from that to upper middle class would be considered one of the major feats of Hercules in ancient world. Its not as simple as not buying latest cell phone, living on bologna sandwiches, and magically getting that Hogwarts PhD. there are logistics involved. The devil is ALWAYS in the details.



Face it, by exporting good manufacturing jobs, we are widening the income gap by huge chasm and ending up with one of those third world economies where top 5% have all the goodies. Course this is the end goal of capitalism. Consolidate, consolidate, consolidate until the winner has it all. It really is like the board game Monopoly. Its not a good long term economic system. Least not without lot govt intervention to keep it super competitive and fair to all. Capitalism only works when there are lot competitors and there is not a high hurdle to get into the work you are best suited for. Capitalism works best when there is a small jump from lowest paid to highest paid, not the ever widening chasm we have today. The wealthy will always tend to try and protect their wealth and position in society with lot rules and hurdles to jump. Meritocracy if it ever truly existed, is dead at this point.

[Liberal4Trump]

I think we get so rich that we become complacent somewhat and that’s why all our “tensions” are basically constructed “social ills”.

We basically bicker with each other because we don’t have any major problems to worry about.

I mean worrying about being killed by a cop or something (for any race) is like worrying about being struck by lightning. Yet, THAT is like the biggest issue we talk about for months.

We are bored.

[ddeemo]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

It is almost like a saying those who own A Bentley are richer than those who own a Ford ....people are homeowners because they have the resources to be homeowners ....most renters are renters because they don’t have the money to buy .

Renters are a much broader group from poor to wealthy ..but most are renters only because they can NOT afford to buy ..

So homeowners are homeowners because they were a wealthier group to start with

The data was that the median net worth of homeowners ($231,400) increased 15%, renters or other nonhomeowners saw their median net worth fall 5% to $5,200 from 2013 to 2016.

As EDS said - Homeowners have 44.5x the wealth of renters.

Renters also tend to be younger - Median net worth by age:
< 35: $11,100.
35-44: $59,800.
45-54: $124,200.
55-64: $187,300.
65-74: $224,100.
75+: $264,800.

[ddeemo]

Originally Posted by Nik4me

I have a billion dollars and the guy on the street is homeless and begs for food.
The 2 of us if counted together is worth 1/2 a billion each

That is average, not median. The median is the middle value - half higher and half lower. The first guy has a billion, the second guy is homeless and has $100 from begging, the third guy is a renter and has $5000 - the median is $5000.

[CorporateCowboy]

Originally Posted by Liberal4Trump

I think we get so rich that we become complacent somewhat and that’s why all our “tensions” are basically constructed “social ills”.

We basically bicker with each other because we don’t have any major problems to worry about.

I mean worrying about being killed by a cop or something (for any race) is like worrying about being struck by lightning. Yet, THAT is like the biggest issue we talk about for months.

We are bored.

Not quite; being struck by lightning is random. To suggest poverty, unemployment (highlighted by the pandemic) and/or racism is due to our 'boredom' as a country is so outrageous, it's laughable.

[ddeemo]

Originally Posted by HJ99

And the only single family housing being built is barn size for the upper middle class. Housing that is NOT affordable without a very good paying job. And even if you win the lottery and buy it outright, taxes on such probably higher than lot rentals. You arent seeing the 1000sqft to 1500sqft houses being built that ARE AFFORDABLE. While on other hand low end rental rates are increasing at an exponential rate making it difficult to just come up with monthly rent at low end, let alone save anything to ever think about purchasing a house. Keep em poor and subservient!!! The good paying blue collar jobs have left the building so to speak. Oh there are some high skill blue collar trade/tech jobs available, but not the good paying unskilled blue collar factory jobs of yesteryear. If you could wave a magic wand and all those current service job employees could suddenly have skills for the unfilled blue collar high tech jobs, then those jobs would pay lot less. There simply are not enough good paying jobs for everybody to have one no matter their education or training. So you get the perpetual poor or barely getting by class of people. Moving from that to upper middle class would be considered one of the major feats of Hercules in ancient world. Its not as simple as not buying latest cell phone, living on bologna sandwiches, and magically getting that Hogwarts PhD. there are logistics involved. The devil is ALWAYS in the details.



Face it, by exporting good manufacturing jobs, we are widening the income gap by huge chasm and ending up with one of those third world economies where top 5% have all the goodies. Course this is the end goal of capitalism. Consolidate, consolidate, consolidate until the winner has it all. It really is like the board game Monopoly. Its not a good long term economic system. Least not without lot govt intervention to keep it super competitive and fair to all. Capitalism only works when there are lot competitors and there is not a high hurdle to get into the work you are best suited for. Capitalism works best when there is a small jump from lowest paid to highest paid, not the ever widening chasm we have today. The wealthy will always tend to try and protect their wealth and position in society with lot rules and hurdles to jump. Meritocracy if it ever truly existed, is dead at this point.

What BS - the average condo is 1200 Sqft, the average existing home is 1600-1650 SqFt and the median home listing price in the US is $226,800 according to Zillow. New housing sizes are bigger and may be more but you don't need to buy new. The cost of housing can vary with location- some areas much higher or lower but the average salary will buy the average home in the US. BTW - Whether you realize it or not, you pay property taxes with rentals also, they are in the payment you make - the taxes on a home are not higher than rent for an equivalent place.

You are trying to justify why you are not buying instead of looking how you could - normally rents are close to ownership costs if take into account the overall cost - the big difference is rents go up where mortgage costs do not. You don't need to be upper middle class to afford a house. As you get older, your income will likely increase to the point that you should be able to afford it if you can't right now. The rest of you post is just a rant. "Keep em poor and subservient!!!" - give me (and everyone else) a break, what nonsense.

[ddeemo]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

Since they pulled financial info out of the census and went to a small random sampling , no one really knows what we have ...I couldn’t even guess my own building it varies so much

This is a survey done every 3 years - not the census that is done every 10 years. Random sampling has long been used to get this type of data. The next data set I believe will be from the census being done this year.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

It is almost like a saying those who own A Bentley are richer than those who own a Ford ....people are homeowners because they have the resources to be homeowners ....most renters are renters because they don’t have the money to buy .

Renters are a much broader group from poor to wealthy ..but most are renters only because they can NOT afford to buy ..

So homeowners are homeowners because they were a wealthier group to start with

That's true but somewhat incomplete...........there are forced savings and forced investment components within home ownership that tend to be powerful wealth builders over time.

[k374]

most Americans' net worth is surging primarily because home prices have skyrocketed everywhere. Even in 2nd tier cities like Denver prices have increased 60-100% in the last decade and still going up due to the Fed induced bubble.