Americans are the richest they have ever been (real estate, paycheck, buy)

[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

[Zephyr2]

The key to that misleading article is "collective net wealth." Income inequality is huge, meaning that the big gains have gone to the uppermost wealthy with almost nothing trickling down onto the rest of us. Sure, the wealthy have plenty of income and wealth, which is jacking up the "net worth" numbers. "The median net worth of those in the richest quintile is $630,754. This allows them to afford a lifestyle that is vastly different than the bottom quintile. This group owns three times as much as the fourth quintile, and 10 times as much as the third." https://www.thebalance.com/american-...olitan-4135839

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Wealth is relative. It does not matter how much you have if everyone else is close or the same amount. You either are only a little more wealthy, or same. You must have much more than everyone else.

If we truly are richer than we ever been (compared to other countries), then should be hard for so many poor foreigners to arrive and open small ticket brick/mortar or service businesses. In order to operate and even enter into the market here, they must have our money. Our currency should be difficult to obtain as we grow wealthier.

Value of currency is representative of our wealth. Poorer countries and people have to exchange more and more just to obtain less and less of our currency. But once someone has enough, why even bother?

Why be a servant in heaven, when you can rule in hell ?

[1ondoner]

You're half right. While the rich have gotten richer, the poor are getting poorer. This situation has been perfectly captured by the gini index, a measure of wealth/income distribution within a country.

For the US, it currently stands at about 0.43 or higher depending on the source. Gini's greater than 0.4 lead to social unrest and it's no surprise that the US has been rocked with turmoil as people feel left behind or economically disadvantaged.

So yes, the rich are getting obscenely richer but that doesn't bode well for everyone.

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by k374

The US Household Net Worth has hit records!...
Nationwide Housing prices are skyrocketing ...
TSLA is having record deliveries...

My net worth going up by $100K does mean the mean/media/typical household is doing better.

Rising house prices affect almost no one. Most people stay put.

Tesla...you must be joking to say that the sales of one company are representative of the entire economy.

[roadwarrior101]

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

Collective net worth indicates that the total amount has increased substantially, which would be reflected in the mean. I'd be more interested in understanding the median net worth trends in this country. If the only beneficiaries of this higher net worth are the wealthy (primarily from stocks), would be interested in understanding how the median American is doing, as most do not own stocks and have been left behind in this economic recovery.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by 1ondoner

You're half right. While the rich have gotten richer, the poor are getting poorer. This situation has been perfectly captured by the gini index, a measure of wealth/income distribution within a country.

For the US, it currently stands at about 0.43 or higher depending on the source. Gini's greater than 0.4 lead to social unrest and it's no surprise that the US has been rocked with turmoil as people feel left behind or economically disadvantaged.

So yes, the rich are getting obscenely richer but that doesn't bode well for everyone.

IMO The GINI Coefficient is grotesquely overrated.

1. Many cities across the first world with excellent GINI numbers have poor overall economies.

2. Sudan and Spain have very similar, "good" GINI numbers.

3. Slovenia and The Slovak Republic have even, "better" GINI numbers. Poland has fantastic GINI numbers.

4. PPP GDP in The US is DOUBLE the same in Poland.

5. Generally speaking worldwide successful big cities have poor GINI numbers, clearly becasue poor people are attracted to cities.

[mitchmiller9]

Another point about "collective net worth"... that includes billionaires... and some have gotten billions richer since the pandemic. That alone should noticeably pull household "collective net worth" up without even including anyone else. This article is so typical of FOX re-appropriating statistics for their own agenda. FOX and MSNBC.. two of a kind.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...uring-pandemic

[Igor Blevin]

Welcome to the new housing bubble. Don't cry to me when it pops.


The Fed has exacerbated America’s new housing bubble

Rana Foroohar MARCH 17 2019


The latest Consumer Price Index figures show that almost all core inflation, which was weaker than expected, was in rent or the owner’s equivalent of rent (up 0.3 per cent). Core goods inflation, meanwhile, was down 0.2 per cent.

Very simply, this means that the housing market is once again completely out of sync with the rest of the economy. A decade on from the subprime bubble, housing, which is not only shelter but also the biggest financial asset for most Americans, is the only major component of the CPI with a national inflation rate that is consistently above the overall number.

Over the past decade, the cost of shelter has risen sharply compared with everything else, the report notes. It hit a historic high of 81 per cent of core inflation in the summer of 2017 and remains “the lion’s share”.

There have not been commensurate salary increases. Median household income adjusted for inflation remains hardly higher than it was at the turn of the century. (my emphasis)

The dysfunctional divide between incomes and asset prices is not just an American problem. It is observable in many international markets as well: including Hong Kong, London, Paris and Singapore. In the US, unsustainable real estate prices have recently begun to falter in bubble cities such as New York, something which historically foreshadows a national downturn.

The economic consequences are obvious. So are the political ones. The US looks more and more like an emerging market economy in the sense that the basics of the American dream — housing, education and upward mobility — have all been compromised.



https://www.ft.com/content/219aaa52-...8-96a37d002cd3

[Igor Blevin]

The current housing bubble is being fed by US Government liquidity (stimulus) and low interest rates, combined with tight inventories and a rush from high to low density.