Since 2013, minorities and Americans without high school diplomas showed greatest gains in wealth...

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post




Since 2013, minorities and Americans without high school diplomas showed greatest gains in wealth, Federal Reserve report shows

By Heather Long and Tracy Jan September 27 at 1:37 PM

Nearly all Americans have now emerged from the Great Recession with more money than before -- with African American and Hispanic families and Americans without high school diplomas showing the greatest gains, according to new data released Wednesday from the Federal Reserve.

It's a sign that the recovery from the devastating Great Recession and financial crisis of 2008 is picking up as more people are able to get jobs, pay off debt and invest more.

Household wealth for African-American and Hispanic families and Americans without high school diplomas rose the fastest from 2013 to 2016, according to the Fed's Survey of Consumer Finances, which surveys over 6,000 households about their pay, debt and other finances.

Every slice of America -- from young to old and rich to poor -- saw their incomes grow and the value of stocks, homes and other assets climb. But the Fed was also quick to point out growing inequality between the mega rich and everyone else, and between whites and non-whites.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/09/27/since-2013-minorities-and-americans-without-college-degrees-showed-greatest-gains-in-wealth-federal-reserve-report-shows/?hpid=hp_no-name_hp-breaking-news%3Apage%2Fbreaking-news-bar&tid=a_breakingnews&utm_term=.086752af700b

[George II]

1. Maybe that's because all the other demographics didn't have as much opportunity to improve?

[JonLP24]

2. They were the ones hit hardest by the great recession

I'm not sure what you're saying here but minorities were hit hardest by Reagonomics.

[George II]

6. What I'm saying is that minorities and those without high school educations are starting...

....at a much lower level, there's "more room to improve" so statistically it would appear that they're experiencing a "greater gain in wealth" (the word "wealth" being a gross misnomer!).

For example, some numbers (just for illustration), let's say a minority was making $200 a week and gets a $10 a week raise, that's 5%. But someone making $500 a week and gets twice the raise, $20, that's only 4%.

[JonLP24]

8. Makes sense

Thanks for the clarfication

[William Seger]

5. It's mainly because they were so far behind other demographics

... that even a small increase is a large percentage.

[George II]

7. That's exactly my point, when you start at the very bottom there's more room for "improvement"....

....than someone starting near the top, even though you're really not getting very far at all.

I said pretty much the same thing below a few minutes ago.

[hibbing]

3. ahhhh, the "Great Recession"

Gotta love that no name is attached to it. I have a hard time believing if the economy tanked under President Obama that it would be called the "Great Recession" and instead would be called the Obama Recession. But this is the nomenclature used by the corporate media and it is what will stick. Just like the narrative is that the athletes are protesting the flag, or the anthem.


Peace

[Stargazer99]

4. Oh, really! I am 76 yrs old and have seen a very different America

When I was a young adult the only homeless were drug addicts-now we have women and children homeless. There should not be one child homeless in this nation, shame doesn't exist for the rich and well to do. I would like the churches to start standing up like decent Christians and let it be known that this should never be in this country.
The problem is our god is PROFIT not the value of human life. Didn't the Good Book tell you the LOVE of money is evil? What is it that puts the majority of people in denial? ignorance? greed?

[genxlib]

9. I attribute this to the Construction Industry

The construction industry is a heavy employer of that demographic. It pays better than most of the alternatives for that level of education but it tends to be boom and bust.

It was big time bust starting before 2008 and especially after the downturn. It has steadily picked up and Contractors have actually been really busy the last few years.

There has been a lot written about how slow this recovery has been. The people analyzing it are clueless. A real estate bubble isn't like other bubbles. After the great tulip bubble, the flowers all died and there was a new marketplace for tulips the next season. After the dotcom bubble, there was lots of money lost but nothing lingered to continue dampering the market.

After a real estate bubble, the inventory that was inflated was all still there. No new construction or development was needed. Any recovery or growth was simply occupying buildings that already existed. It took years to work through that inventory until new supply was needed.

Aside from that, public spending was seriously curtailed for about 6-8 years. It has rebounded some in the last couple of years and is contributing to the Construction industry. Part of is confidence that their budgets have stabilized and part of it just a need to get stuff done after putting it off for years.

[FairWinds]

10. I'm very skeptical of the WaPo's economic reporting . .

on this issue. For example, if a low income family has $100 of net worth,
and it increases by $200, then it can be said to have "tripled."

Seriously, those are the sort of stat games that are playws in the
service of the ONE PERCENT

Check out Dean Baker's "Beat the Press" site which offers periodic
corrections of what passes for economics reporting in this country.

http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/

[YOHABLO]

11. Wait, What? I don't get it.

[Doreen]

12. Come to my county.

We have gone down and stayed down. They keep building fancy houses and they are filled by rich people who work in the big cities and try not to support our poor county. The want cheap fancy houses but not to support the local economy. I am flippin glad big cities are happy but we sure as hell are not.Walmart is hiring but that is because they had waited until it was pushing it way to much to make peoples schedules so unbearable while making sure they do not go anywhere near full time. Over just the last year I have seen the numbers of people in DSHS and the Soc-Sec office rise quit a bit. I see a lot more people in Worksource also. I talk to people who keep getting their hours cut or the jobs just go away. Reagan fucked us up and we have never came back fully. Obama actually made a little difference but since trump came in things are going down once again and I fear it will go lower than Reagan made it. I like how our repuke city councils try to make it look like we are doing well on paper but talk to the people of this county and you will know the TRUTH.