I wonder that the median would be if the top 1% of the population was taken out.

That would be good to know, Suranis.

The Pew survey is here, btw.

It's unlikely that the median would be affected much unless the distribution just below the median was very steep. The mean on the other hand might be more significantly affected.

I did notice some recent poverty numbers (will try to track it down) which showed that as a percent of all poor people, whites are (barely) in the majority.

(When measured as each race's poor percent of that race, of course black and hispanic are much, much higher.)

But I think it's unlikely that a lot of Americans' "face of poverty" (in their mind's eye) is a white one, necessarily.

I'm unfamiliar with net worth as an economic indicator -- what are its strengths and weaknesses? I would think it emphasizes property ownership. I wonder how net worth measurements have been affected in this recession, given the profound housing crisis component.

I saw a report yesterday that said in that time period hispanic net worth decreased something like 64% whilw white net worth declined by 16%. I need to look at that a bit more because I am curious where these declines come from. Can't be home ownership since poorer people tend to rent. Doubtful it is declining stock portfolios since the poor rarely have portfolios and markets aren't that bad.

I'll look into it. It interests me. I am now also curious about what my net worth has done. House got hit but not huge. Portfolios are hanging in there. Would be doing ok if it weren't for some huge uncovered medical costs from a few years ago.

Ok, I get why the net worth thing hit minorities so hard now.

Banks were lending money to buy homes to people who had no money to put down, were taking out interest-only loans with balloon payments at the end, with no verification of income, adjustable interest rates, etc. All well and good while housing prices went up and the economy was booming. According to this report 2/3 of hispanic net worth was in home equity.

But, booms end. Economy slows. Balloon payments come due. Interest rates rise. People can't pay their mortgages. 1/3 of foreclosures during this period were to hispanic first-time home buyers. Which of course completely wipes out any net worth.

Sad. And avoidable.

When Hubby and I bought our first house, the ARM loans were becoming all the rage. The lender pushed us hard to take out one of these loans. I just keep looking at how much my payment would eventually shoot up, but the lady kept insisting that we could refinance it before that happened. I am not an optimist, so I was very concerned that something would happen (like a downturn in the economy) and loans would not be as widely available. We ended up going with a traditional mortgage, but I can see how first time home buyers fell into the ARM trap. The lenders were pushing them hard and making it sound like refinancing would be a breeze.

So much wisdom for one so young!

Oh, and Wells Fargo is about to get walloped by the DOJ.