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The Richest Have Never Been Richer: US Household Assets Rise To Record $97 Trillion (As The Poor Get Poorer)
In the quarter ended September 30, 2014, household net worth did something it hasn't done since 2011: it declined, as a result of the dip in the stock market which pushed financial assets lower by $200 billion. Well, since then ECB announced and then launched Q€, not to mention the expanded BOJ QE in November, and predictably financial assets rose.
Which means that in the fourth quarter, US household net worth jumped by $1.5 trillion to $82.9 trillion, driven by a rise in total assets to $97.1 trillion, even as the long awaited increase in "good debt", that of mortgage debt, remains elusive and Mortgage debt hasn't budged from $9.4 trillion in 8 quarters! This, even as the total US housing market is said to have kept rising, which can only mean one thing (a thing we have explained many times in the past): the bulk of home purchases in the US take place "all cash" with zero incremental leverage (whether because the potential buyers don't want to incur the debt, or don't quality).
Ironically, even as household liabilities remained flat for the second year in a row, real estate assets rose from $23.2 trillion to $23.5 trillion as America's ultra-luxury segment (which is now the New Paranormal's "secret Swiss account") continues to drive housing higher while every other segment is contracting.
But the biggest jump in Q4 assets was once again in financial assets, driven by a $492 billion increase in Corporate Equities as well as $323 billion added from Pension Funds. And as usual, financial assets remained at precisely 70% of total assets (a curious ceiling which we will discuss shortly).
In short: almost $100 trillion in household assets, with the vast bulk of these belonging to America's "1%".
This is what the household balance sheet looked like at December 31, 2014.
And here is who benefits:
For everyone else who is poor enough and doesn't feel like their household net worth is represented by the above, Janet Yellen has some advice: it's important to get rich. Oh, and once that fails, there's always more debt.
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it's the recovery, stupid!
Does anybody else think that the following chart may be the reason why the rich (i.e., Banksters) may be getting richer?
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/AMBNS
Who do you think gets first access to all that currency?
I just know it's definitely not the guys depicted in this film:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3263996/
Any monpoly on the use of force must maintain a critical mass of wealthy devotees. This is government 101. if you don't take care of the wealthy, you find yourslef out of a job.
This is the problem.
Now that Greece popped the cork, time for the US to go after that juicy $20 trillion in pensions just sitting there waiting to be assraped.
Arrest the evil parasites. Spray them with Raid.
82 T ?!? Time to cash it all in, but not everyone at once now!
That's right. There were lots of billionaires in Zimbabwe.
fuckers
Working perfectly. Don't touch the settings.
http://i.ehow.com/images/a05/90/kn/oil-framing-nailer-800x800.jpg
Gold prices seem poised for going to $1100.
Feudal Society almost complete
Serf's up dude !
I wonder if there will be 100 trillion dollars worth of stuff to buy with all that 'wealth'.
I have stuff - have a $100 Trillion Zimbabwe note hanging on my wall at home
You can always stuff your Kids' Christmas stockings with rubber dog shit made in hong kong.
The rich hold the poor's debt is how it should have read
The problem with the super rich nowadays is they hide it all away and money that doesn't move is merely used toilet paper.....
How do we get rid of 100,000,000 people who contribute nothing to society?
It's like trying to fly with an anchor around your neck.
Any suggestions.
Many of them are armed.
Biological weapons.
Just half /s...
Alcohol. Drugs. Fast food that can be bought using SNAP. Poverty itself.
Oh, and you have to wreck the healthcare system.
It's not fast enough.
Get those GMO's and vaccines laced with killer nanotech released already.
The stock market needs to return to fundamentals again.
Killing them is good for the rest of us.
War is good.
Peace breeds lazy people.
Divorce.
I vote for Grid-down.
mission accomplished
easy come, easy go.
The neo-conservatives really did it. Congrats!
They did not like the enlightenment so they backed work with debt so people worked themselves out of freedom and into serfdom.
Now they need to get rid of the seperation between church and state and destroy religious freedom.
not a downvoter but Google Leo Strauss
"the godfather of the neoconservative movement"
He basically re wrote the protocols in his book to eliminate the overt racist element while keeping the essentials such as an intellectually superior ruling elite who preside over the donkeys, lie to them, create enemies to bond and bind them...the whole works...it's all there.
Paul Wolfowitz was his protege, and studied under Leo Strauss directly at the University of Chicago.
Interesting read indeed.
no text
There is no "separation of church and state", that is a catch phrase created by social nitwits.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" , now do those two mean the same?
They need to subtract the debt of the poor from the wealth of the wealthiest because the poor are never going to pay it back anyhow.
2 points
1. Having done both, I can state absolutely that being weathy is INFINITELY better than being poor.
2. Too many people are born into poverty due to the stupidity, incompetence and selfishness of their parents, BUT staying poor is the result of individual intelligence, motivation, and choices.
someone once told me "success is when preparation meets opportunity". when a ruling class consolidates industry using false measures, and cuts off opportunity to those who have earnestly prepared, you converge toward tyranny... jefferson spoke of a natural aristocracy, that which would arise with a TRULY competitve political economic contruct... your points are valid, just not at this point in the space time continuum
Could you net out government and personal debt against that and let me know how we do!
Show this shit to the next fucking moron that supports Barack Sucking Cock Obama....fools
Somebody help me with the math. I have read that the retail investor is not in the stock market. So, I assume they have bonds. And I know that the total bond market dwarfs the equity markets. Where are bonds? If in "other assets", why is that category so small?
Good thinking & analysis.
The reason for the discrepancy is that the chart shows "household balance sheet assets", and while as you pointed out, "the total bond market dwarfs the equity markets", most of the bonds are held by institutions (eg banks, insurance companies, pension funds, etc), not households.
Yes thank you, all based on Dollar valuations!
Just wait a few weeks and redraw those charts :-)
2140 on the SPX within a month or less. Each dip being bought and NATH on tap. This pattern will wedge all the way to 2180+ before either:
a) Breaking into another new breathtakingly [stupid] uptrend
or
b) collapsing with such intensity that it ushers in a new Dark Age......
cocksucker
^1 because Al is fuking the man. One of the great series of all time - great tag line
Sorry for brining down the % of households owning stocks. I got out of that game after I learneded about it.
blah blah milion zillion--a $1500 pickup truck will get you anyhere you want to go on the road just as well as a $300K superlux what ever-- and $10k in the hand will buy more that $10 million in shaky "illiquid investments"-(aka subprime loan bundles) et al ---jut saying---rich don't mean you live long and healthy--
Those of us not in the "1%" apparently SUCK at competitiveness.
So what do we do about it?
Quick, take this down! If Obama sees it, he might get ideas; everyone knows he gets all his info from the "news". Probably hasn't discovered ZH yet, but this is like a dinner bell... think of all the food stamps... oh wait, he already campaigned on redistributing wealth, shit. This still isn't enough to pay back US liabilities, but it would be a good start, no?
Play the stock market right and you too can be one of the richest. Or you can cry, bitch and moan about everything and not do shit.
exactly! It's unfortunate, but if you haven't participated in possibly the easiest bull market of all-time (the past few years), then you are officially a deer in headlights, soon to have your stagnant savings accounts run over by the fast approaching inflationary train soon to come around the corner. Earning no return on your investments during the past few years feels terrible, but just wait until you're earnings -5%+
As Sam Walton said in 1987 its all just paper. Better have a heavily guarded compound somewhere far from the masses because its all just paper assets backed by the full faith of bankrupt government.
Thats right, they better enjoy it while they got it. I had to drive through a large swath of Tucson yesterday, near the downtown area in front of this big church I saw many tents set up right on the sidewalk. Then I drove by this one park, and could not believe the number of homeless people I saw, obviously habitating there; tents, sleeping bags, it was like an outtake of a crowd scene from a Woodstock movie. If our various societal sytems dont work for (most) everyone, in the end when it all comes tumbling down, it will work for no one. So party on, rich peeps like there is nothing wrong, and one of these days, sooner than later, it is *really* going to suck to be you.
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Duh!
Of course the richer get richer. That's what capitalism does!
Capitalism creates wealth, and someone has to own it. Surprise! Capitalists own most of the wealth that capitalism creates.
AND, the poor get RICHER under capitalism, NOT poorer!
The poor now have indoor plumbing, cell phones, and obesity problems.