So while the poor got poorer, the rich got even richer than that.
this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
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This is why average is a shit metric for this.
Well, the mean is a bad average to use. The median would be an average more representative of the general population.
But they did use median.
Oh. Good.
They used median
The survey showed other stark contrasts. While Black households saw their median income fall by 2% - versus a 3% rise for all families - their median net worth shot up by 60% to outpace all other racial and ethnic groups during those three years
The poor got richer
How the hell do you make less money and increase net worth? Is this only surveying home owners?
Assets ballooned and especially homes
64% of the population owns a house so you don't need to only survey homeowners, they're a big part of the population
Because most people got money from the government during the pandemic.
Despite Black families experiencing the largest growth in median net wealth — a 60% bump from 2019 — their 2022 levels remained the lowest among all other racial or ethnic groups, and they also saw incomes falter.
The 37% rise in net worth, which was more than double the next-largest upswing on record, was largely fueled by asset growth — specifically home values and stock market gains that far exceeded consumer price inflation, Fed researchers said.
Figured_ I would add a bit more context to your argument. You can't gain in net wealth if you have nothing to gain with. Emphasis in above quote is mine.
It says black households, and you said "the poor". I think that's sad.
Well an increase from $1 to $1.60 is richer, I guess. Yay
So, basically what you see going on in this thread is Americans who are unable to square these statistics with their lives experience. I think the critical thing here is that net worth surged, and net worth is usually bound a lot more closely to illiquid assets like housing, stocks, etc. So while everyone's living paycheck to paycheck, the stonks and real estate value that you can't easily use to buy groceries are on a rip. Others here have pointed out that assets tend to remain pretty stable in value relative to inflation; that's still true, and probably a big reason why the worth of those things has surged so much in the last few years.
So, tldr: people's assets increased in value, largely driven by inflation, but that really isn't helping anyone live better or more comfortably for the time being.
Other issues too... If everyone's house is worth more, you're not going to be able to afford to move any easier than you were before.
TL;DR: Rich people made a lot of money at everyone else's expense.
Thank goodness for those billionaires keeping up that average!
Real, or inflation-adjusted, median net worth
Yes.
The median removes outlets like billionaires
So, from my personal perspective, mine and my wife’s wages did go up during those years. Quite substantially, I might add. Mine by $5/hr to $20/hr and hers by nearly $10/hr to $24/hr. Not without some time with us both being unemployed during the pandemic.
However, none of that helped us. We had to declare bankruptcy. Both our cars died and we couldn’t afford new ones, so we borrowed one until IT died and saved some money for a new (to us) car. Now we’re in more debt than before the bankruptcy thanks to that car and credit cards that I had to take out for us to be able to afford to eat during some hard times.
We’re paycheck to paycheck. Barely. Literally everything is more expensive. It took our entire savings (about $6k) just to move down the road to another apartment that wasn’t going to jack up our rent by $300/mo. Almost every dime goes to paying bills.
My net worth is negative. Has been since I was born. And I see no way out.
That's probably because house and vehicle values have inflated so much.
This is true. Assets like houses are somewhat immune to inflation. If prices go up 10%, houses will just go up 10% too.
Read the fine print. "Americans" means "Jeff Bezos".
yeah, how about their net costs
Rip inflation