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U.S. Census Bureau
Between 2005 and 2010, Generation X saw the biggest percent decline in median household net worth.
Almost everyone in America has good reason to throw a little pity party whenever they think about what the economic turmoil of recent years has done to their financial situation. A government report released Monday finds that the 35- to 44-year-old members of Generation X may have the most cause to feel sorry for themselves.
The Census Bureau study found that between 2005 and 2010, households led by 35- to 44-year-olds saw the biggest percent decline in median household net worth. For those households, median net worth declined 59 percent, from $80,521 in 2005 to $33,200 in 2010, adjusted in constant 2010 dollars.
In terms of actual dollars lost, 45- to 54-year-olds took the biggest hit. For households in that age range, median net worth declined by $54,881, to $90,434. That’s a 38 percent drop from 2005, calculated in 2010 dollars.
Overall, the study found that median household net worth in the United States declined by 35 percent between 2005 and 2010, to $66,740. The housing bust and stock market declines were mainly to blame for the drop.
The Census report is based on the annual Survey of Income and Program Participation, which takes a detailed look at the financial situation of Americans from all walks of life. The survey uses the renter or owner of record in each household to determine what age group the household falls into.
The Census data comes a week after the Federal Reserve released a separate survey showing that the median net worth of the American family dropped 39 percent from about $126,000 in 2007 to $77,000 in 2010.
The Census study looks at a slightly longer period and offers detailed breakdown by race, age, education level and region. But the two studies come to the same sobering conclusion: We’ve lost a lot of economic ground in recent years, and it will take a long time to work our way back.
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I would say we are a little better off on our debts, as we only have a car payment and one small credit card bill. We are mortgage/home equity free. As far as salary/retirement/savings, we are worse than we were a few years back. Basic living expenses and the worst of all health insurance/deductibles are really eating up any discretionary income we have. We are living by the motto, if we don't have the cash to buy it, we really don't need it.
As a Gen X'er who has worked since I was 14 I can say that my net worth lost 55% in 2007-2008. I bought a house in Oct 2006 (top of market) and have now lost all my equity. I am getting ready to put a kid through college and can only hope that he gets a job right out of college. I am dismayed and disheartened that many people my age are already forced to take low wage jobs. My pay has dropped 6K in the past 6 years due to a rise in benefit premiums not offered by my employer anymore but I can't go without some sort of health insurance. So now what? My only saving grace is that in 2 years when my son graduates from HS that I can move somewhere else and hopefully get a job with some kind of benefits and better pay and be able to split the bills w/ my sig other. If all else fails I'll be retiring to the trailer park w/ a airstream trailer...that will probably be my retirement plan...if I can ever retire:(
Most post-boomers have little but tragedy, poverty and despair to retire to.
Nobody under 50 can expect Social Security or Medicare to take care of them.
The Baby Boomers knew this was coming at least as far back as 1992 when
Ross Perot showed the nations trajectory on charts during his campaign adds; yet the oldsters continued to vote themselves more benefits from and already unsustainable Social security system.
The event that proves the Boomers are the ultimate generation of greed was when AARP twisted George Bush's arm into adding the prescription drub benefit to an already bankrupt Medicare program ensuring that even more of their children would be left with nothing.
Government can't give anything to anybody without first taking it from someone else. By the Boomers taking all they could get, they robbed their children into third world status.
The Baby Boomers are the worst generation to curse this once great nation.
Drama queen. You live like a thirld wold person? Really? Boomers aren't old enough to collect SS yet. SS can easily be solvent by making retirement age a year or two older and/or by changing the way SS is collected slightly. Some of the people collecting SS are the "Greatest Generation" (no, that's not your generation). The generation that fought and won WWII. Do you begrudge them their SS?
GoSteelers
Your claim that Social Security can be solvent through a few minor adjustments is cruel Bu11 $h1t. Social Security contains unfunded liabilities of $8.6 Trillion.
Nobody under 50 will be taken care of in their old age. It can't happen. Most of those now paying into Social Security have no retirement to look forward to but the grave.
Social Security has been called an Intergenerational Ponzi Scheme at least as far back as Ronald Reagan. It was recognized then as theft, and it is theft now.
A change in a home's net worth does not in any way equate to being the hardest hit generation. The hardest hit group is the one that lost the highest percentage of jobs and has not been able to bounce back because of corporate misconduct like rampant age discrimination, or a government that stops counting unemployed people after 99 weeks. Just because your house is now worth less does not mean you have been hit and devastated with job loss. Apples are not oranges. Please write a realistic article about true job loss.
I'm unemployed for 15 months. Good health, great shape, college educated and unemployable. You see, the only jobs in my profession that are available are entry level. I don't even get offers because of my age and what I earned previously. I am a victim of my own success. I have been retired by downsizing at 53 and soon will be a statistic of the so called great recession. I'm officially a baby boomer, but fit the demographics of a Gen Xer better. I have no shared experiences with someone who was born in the 1940s or the first half of the 1950s. Gen Xers birth years cover only 9 years. When journalists pit one group against the other, I think they forget about people like me who really don't fit the narrative.
I'll paraphrase Ronald Reagan, A depression is when your neighbor loses their job, a depression is when you lose your job, and the recovery begins when Obama/Biden lose their jobs.
If you spent your life voting for Democrats and/or Republicans, than you voted for your fate. A vote for the Democrats or Republicans was always a vote to ruin this country so as to benefit the OLD at the cost of the Young. The Federal Government is now first and foremost a mechanism to harvest resources from the young to spend on the old.
If you have been voting for Liberty in every way you could; if you have been voting for Ron Paul, the Libertarian Party, Ross Perot and other third party candidates over the years, , than I have sympathy for at least then you did not vote to destroy the economy as most Americans have.
When Democrats took control of congress after the 2006 election I predicted to my coworkers that Democrats would find a way to crash the economy so they could blame Bush for the upcoming 2008 election. Back then they thought I was crazy, now they think I'm a genious. I started pulling out of the stock market in 2007 and bought up gold at $620/ounce. Then I predicted when the DOW was around 15,000 that if Obama was elected the DOW would crash down to 7,500. At 7490 I started buying up stocks again. Thank you Obama for making me a fellow 1%er (he is after all in spite of his pretending part of the club). I did my part to warn people what a disaster an Obama administration would be but they didn't listen, so for this election, go ahead, vote for Obama, I could always use another million. Barack and I will be on the golf course while the rest of you 99%ers are out demonstrating.
Your genius has led you too your own trap.
The thunder of the Democratic Cavalry has arrived
The reason why the Boehner and the extreme right wing hate education funded by the government.
Did you know that during the Clinton Administration the reason why so many college loans were taken out? Those loans were taken out by Republicans hoping to destroy the image of Clinton by not repaying the loans so that the Republicans would have something to campaign against Democrats to smear their political party into the ground with.
Another link to the Republicans Extremist hating education is two fold.
The first is the word classes. In the plural form the word has a seperate word asses. The Republicans that hate education because they think that they are personification of what is contained in their religious textbooks hate to be made asses, or the Democratic Icon, the Donkey out of because those who are educated know that they are not the reborn spirit of those in religious texts. More importantly though the Republicans who act in this manner know they are not the spirits of those from their religious textbooks but are merely con artists and scammers of which the educated make asses out of such people on a daily basis.
In the singular form of class the word ass is present where everytime the Republicans see the word ass as it is once again associated with the Democrats Icon, the Ass or the Donkey. Thus creating in their mind an image not of a Donkey but of a proud and powerful Stallion that they cannot compete against. The Republican and their elephant cannot compete against the Stallion for the simple fact that the ass is part of the Republican no matter how much they hate it. The ass will always chase them down no matter where they go because they cannot get away from their own asses.
The other reason is that Republicans hate education is because of the word Ass being considered a swear before their good when they come across something hard dealing with education and they swear even in their mind. So it is better for them to only listen and be like slaves so that they are perfect in every aspect before God.
This is the reason why Boehner and his religious right wing are trying to have the government reduce its loan payout to Americans.
What a bunch of asses.
HAHA Is this serious? The supply side economic theory of the right wing starting with Reagan handing the US over to Wall St. is what began the crony capitalism, socialism for the rich, bubble economy and giant wealth divide.
This theory expanded to the criminal "global economy" and outsourcing of jobs while making our economic structure not one of production but one of consumerism. A service economy where most jobs are service in the form of "Do you want fries with that". Bush put the final nail in our industrial economy and economy overall with give aways to corporations, billionaires while spending money we didn't have on unfounded wars and war profiteering. Paying for nothing.
Wake up already.
Tough times, but I feel better off. I was caught in a RIF when my company was taken over by a "Management Company" in 2010 (much like Bain) and all management personnel were let go (after we trained our replacements from the Mgmt Co on our jobs). Woo Hoo! No severence, no good-bye recognition or party...after 20 years blood, sweat & tears! I used what savings I had to pay off my car and credit cards. I'm still unable to find work (I'm 65 but healthy and possess many skills. I planned to work until age 75). I collected Unemployment for awhile, and now manage to get by...as long as nothing breaks down and my health stays good. I have a small income and $400 in SS each month plus Medicare, so I'm better off than many, but living on the edge. A couple more years and my house will be paid for...if I hang on 'til then, things will be better.
Hmmm. Lets see are we really better off today than we were 3.5 years ago and the answer is "NO" Sorry you can't blame Bush any longer. Time for a change now before it is to late. Change and Hope is in the next election and it is not keeping the current administration. Oh yes, someone will cry foul, must blame others. Lets see, we need a Harry Truman who said the Buck stopped with him.
What you need is a Ron Paul who will actually try to solve the problems rather than only to serve the special interests to pay for the campaign.
Neither Romney nor Obama will cut spending, deregulate or withdraw our troops from foreign entanglements. Neither will actually solve anything and both can be expected to bury the nation deeper.
The LIBERTARIAN party is the only hope of the post boomers.
Actually, not everyone is worse off since Obama took office. In 2008 pre-office, it was stated Obama was worth 799,000 when comparing him to McCain. Now (2012) Obama is worth 11.8 million dollars. So his net worth went up 11 million dollars in the 4 years or a 1375% increase. Not bad considering all the $$$$ vacations that the taxpayers have paid for and his Hollywood parties inside and outside the WH.
Obama is actually also in the 1%. So while the majority of us are scraping by and hoping that there might be some change in the future, Obama has done really well for himself over the last 4 years and is looking for 4 more.
At least when Obama goes into the voting booth and he asks himself -- Am I better off than I was 4 years ago and will electing Obama really make the next 4 years even more fantastic" - He can vote with confidence and say YES they have.
Hope and Change really worked for Obama. Has it worked for you?
this isn't exactly about Obama... it's about a paradigm that was created long before obama, it's just that he and his croonies are perpetuating such nonsense.
Perhaps it's time to simply vote for a new governing structure.
Well, I would be agreeable to a viable 3rd party candidate. I was part of America elect 2012 and that went no where. I am an Independent voter that feels like I am stuck with little to no options for voting for president in 2012. I will be voting for Romney because 4 more years of Obama would be a disaster for just about everyone except for Obama (and Michelle)).
why should we have to suffer due to a paradigm that was created before us? Shouldn't we have the option to tear down and abolish the economic shackles that are oppressing us?
Come on Gen X, it's time to stop and say NO. There's more Gen Xers than there are "lawmakers", you'd think that Gen X would win the battle......
The thunder of the Democratic Cavalry has arrived
The reason why the Boehner and the extreme right wing hate education funded by the government.
Did you know that during the Clinton Administration the reason why so many college loans were taken out? Those loans were taken out by Republicans hoping to destroy the image of Clinton by not repaying the loans so that the Republicans would have something to campaign against Democrats to smear their political party into the ground with.
Another link to the Republicans Extremist hating education is two fold.
The first is the word classes. In the plural form the word has a seperate word asses. The Republicans that hate education because they think that they are personification of what is contained in their religious textbooks hate to be made asses, or the Democratic Icon, the Donkey out of because those who are educated know that they are not the reborn spirit of those in religious texts. More importantly though the Republicans who act in this manner know they are not the spirits of those from their religious textbooks but are merely con artists and scammers of which the educated make asses out of such people on a daily basis.
In the singular form of class the word ass is present where everytime the Republicans see the word ass as it is once again associated with the Democrats Icon, the Ass or the Donkey. Thus creating in their mind an image not of a Donkey but of a proud and powerful Stallion that they cannot compete against. The Republican and their elephant cannot compete against the Stallion for the simple fact that the ass is part of the Republican no matter how much they hate it. The ass will always chase them down no matter where they go because they cannot get away from their own asses.
The other reason is that Republicans hate education is because of the word Ass being considered a swear before their good when they come across something hard dealing with education and they swear even in their mind. So it is better for them to only listen and be like slaves so that they are perfect in every aspect before God.
This is the reason why Boehner and his religious right wing are trying to have the government reduce its loan payout to Americans.
What a bunch of asses.
Whoa Jackass!! How's that hope and change working for you?
Shifting Gears...Actually from a financial standpoint quite a bit better.
Current sales in our company had record numbers in Jan, Feb, March ...then tailed off when the price of gas skyrocketed.
They are now back up to the March numbers.
We have hired since late 2010 over 350 people and have almost reached the total of employees that we had in 2006 - total 850 people.
My 401k has increased to a value just slightly higher than it was in 2006.
So yes...I am better off with Hope and Change!
Welcome to Globalization!
The Globalists could not bring the Standard of Living of the World up to Americas so they did the next best thing, they brought Americas Standard of Living down to the World. More precisely, they made our Labor costs equal to the Third Worlds and they did it with the Bush Sub Prime Melt Down. After the Bush Sub Prime Melt Down the Value of the Dollar was destroyed. What better way to make our Labor Costs equal to third world labor costs. Now our Labor will be forced to compete with Third World Labor.
Peter17, Stick it. This is my Theory and I am sticking with it.
There will be pain and anger for some time but some say it will float all boats.
We shall see, but for now the Dollar clearly does not but what it used to before the Bush Sub Prime Melt Down. The Globalists won and a few generations of American Working Stiffs will pay the price.
We had economic globalization well before we were even a nation. Ever hear of Marco Polo?? As a young nation we sold "king cotton" to Europe to finance the economic growth of many cities in our more northern states. After WWII we had the only major economy left standing and we took advantage and sold to the world. Now that the global economy is coming back into more of a balance, the whiners are out in force complaining that they don't like it. Too bad! Deal with it!!
Peter, Peter, Peter!
Do you know Betty Davis?
Having bought a home in 2007 in Florida, that decision ate up my net worth then (the value of said home plummeted from around $250,000 to $90,000 within three years). I was 31 at the time of purchase of the home. I fortunately was able to short sell that home, which enabled me to at least remain financially solvent once I had to take a pay cut in 2011 (I was and am employed in a land development-related industry). Now, at 36, least I am able to make maximum contributions to retirement, and have a decent emergency fund. I am still chipping away at student loans from grad school, but at least I am making progress, versus being over $100,000 underwater on a home that would never recover its value.
In 2005, I admit I was somewhat reckless financially. I was shopping, eating out, living with a "cushion" of credit card debt. Now, not so. Eating in, diligently paying off the credit card each month, and paying off the car next year. The past few years were a wake up call. My frugality has been hard-learned, but should serve me well into the future.
Good Girl! Now tear up any credit cards you don't need, starting with Bank of America!!!
I certainly feel the pain here with the younger fresh grads or those in their 20's (I guess they are called GenY). Its not easy, and over the years I have struggled (some due to to my own mistakes), but things are fairly decent now at 37 but I could get laid off anytime. Nothing is a gaurantee. One thing I find interesting here is the complaints at a start on life, raising kids, etc. I think all will have to readjust their expectations in life. Did anyone say you had to start a family? There are things we can control, and that is our expectation's out of life. Sure, none of us like to settle for less, but we just can't keep going up and up and up, and things have to give. Things will just have to be deferred for some, or altogether reconsidered. Owning a home is harder, getting a good retirement is harder, holding on to a job or making decent advances in salary is harder than my parents. This is our new reality. They bought my childhood home in 1973 for less than 30K and I would venture to say that was about my fathers annual income. I can tell you, for something comparable in todays world, that would be like me earning 200K a year. I sadly can tell you it is far below HALF that. The stardard of living is changing, and I dont think the ways of living in prior generations can be sustained for the masses like it once was, the proverbial "American Dream"
Why start a family when ready made families are already being imported?
I mean what American can afford a family unless you are a trust baby or a highly paid professional?
"nothing new" makes un clever, snarky comment re progressive and is shocked at being called out on it rather than coddled or back slapped?
Amusingly, "nothing new" perfectly personifying the mindset he erroneously perceives and snarks at, poor little fella
"A government report released Monday finds that the 35- to 44-year-old members of Generation X may have the most cause to feel sorry for themselves".
My ass! These folks should be agree with what America has done to them. Period.
All planned out. In early 1970’s both political parties endorsed and released “Workforce 2000” plans starting with the Fortune 500 companies. Workforce 2000 and NAFTA is Americas contribution to the new global economy. Jack Welch, then CEO of GE designed the model and the rest of the big leaguers followed in his foot steps. He started sending “Low Tech” devices like toasters and coffee makers over to get the farmers out of their fields. Look where they are today. I remember it well working for a large aerospace company in So. Cal.
We attended a four hour presentation on how America was going to change. We were to become a service oriented country. How labor intensive work was going to be out sourced. How Chinas average pay scale was a whopping .35 cents per day. The man hours it took us to build one large airplane would be an equivalent cost to the most expensive BMW motorcar. Were all our stock holder excited. The Demographics of America were also explained. Guess what? The Hispanic communities was going to be the major population in the LA basin area. That’s right. See where we are today. All part of the plan and don’t forget, all endorsed by both political parties. Then the whipshooding began. Jack Welch implemented a theme called, “Keeping the Ideas Coming”. Ref. March Fortune 500 article. With the threat, or inevitable loss of our jobs, he started a manipulation cooptation strategy to pick the employees brains and make them think they could compete and save their jobs/asses. The CEO’s, corporate leaders and politicians are raking in all the benefits.
So when I hear and read about this new economy BS, remember our government has it all under control. The part I have trouble with is if people are not working and or making half of what they use to make, income tax revenue will drop as well. How dose a tax system expect to sustain and pay for basic services, afford a healthcare program and frequent handouts to the world in trouble?
In 1992 United Auto Workers union, (UAW) predicted that only 4% of the American workers will be represented by a union. Police, fire services and a few more government jobs will be represented to show the world America is still labor friendly.
As Americans Change so to speak and our earning power diminishes Americans will eventually take what they can get. Just like other third world counties did. Its Americas turn to become the stepchild.
And now Obama has brought in Jeffrey Immelt CEO from GE. Immelt cut his teeth under Jack Welch and Harry Stonesypher. GE was the model corporation which has led to American’s loosing their jobs. And now a Muslim in charge of Homeland Security. Amazing how everything predicted is coming to pass.
Wal-Mart has become the new commissary to America.
Our future holds, “Beans, Blankets and Bullets.
Laos Deo
Has done the Homework!
The truth most here don't want to hear or see is that security once thought obtainable, taught to expect for the last 50 years or so in return for hard work, following the rules- has become an illusion- a carrot to be yanked away repeatedly by control you can't even see.
The best, most cost efficient slaves are those who don't even know they are slaves- perfected.
That box for checking off absent here- as the game is rigged of course, the "debate" pre-framed.
Listen Gen X'er's. In order to be successful you will need to learn foreign relations such as internantional business management and a language for the area that in the world that you are wanting to work in.
Pick a country and learn the language and then investigate the jobs that are needed in that country and make your way to that country.
The goal is too follow the jobs where ever they are at and to provide a service to the country that is need.
There is great oppurtunity in this world and do not hold yourself to that oppurtunity within one country.
Listen Gen X'er's. In order to be successful you will need to learn foreign relations such as internantional business management and a language for the area that in the world that you are wanting to work in.
Pick a country and learn the language and then investigate the jobs that are needed in that country and make your way to that country.
The goal is too follow the jobs where ever they are at and to provide a service to the country that is need.
There is great oppurtunity in this world and do not hold yourself to that oppurtunity within one country.
i really pity all you people who think Romney is gonna fix all this for you.....thats the biggest laugh of all...you still got that do nothing congress leaching off the taxpayers money and when the repugnicats grab all the control,....put your head between your collective A_— and kiss it goodbye. You are gonna go to war, reward the wealthy even more than you are doing now, throw the rest of the money to the corporations and banks while they continue to export jobs and then wonder where you went wrong. You can't fix the nation that fell prey to the 1%'s agenda cause they paid the supreme court to pass that law that allowed the superpacs....the end of your freedom. P.S. if you don't agree...who gives a damn...just keep your head in the sand and pretend none of this has happened. Ignorance is bliss as they say.
It isn't a question of who will fix what, it is more about who will do the least amount of damage to our weak economy, and that would be Romney. All the numbers show that Obama's liberal/progressive agenda is leading us towards financial disaster. We need someone in the White House who is NOT in an ideological pursuit of an anti-business, class warfare agenda. That will give the economy the decade or two it will take to overcome the insanity of Obamanomics.
Seriously Peter?
All the numbers show is we are slowly and progressively moving forward. What numbers are you referencing?
As far as the liberal / progressive agenda....ok how is that leading us toward finacial disaster? The current debt load on the deficit is hindering the growth; this debt load is due to tax cuts, wars, unfunded Medicare prescritions, privatized governmental services and outright theft by GWB regime.
What happened to the 2.3 trillion missing from the DOD days before 911 or for that mateer what happend to the 1.1 trillion a year after that? Take a look at the deficet by year starting right then.....see the explosion????????
Right there is when it went nuclear and is right now bordering on being unmanageble.
Romney is a pandering puppet for the cabal and will do nothing more than continue to skew the playing feild for further transference of wealth to the 1%.
If you can't see that you are not looking at the availible facts.
Literally making the same as I was in 2003, thanks to repeated salary cuts (hey, it was either take a salary cut or a job cut!), but paying almost twice as much for rent, food, electric, etc., so am definitely on the losing end of this situation. And yes, I am a Gen X-er.
As a gen x'r I blame all the greedy stupid flakes in power who despite the pillow talk of campaigns cannot and will not make good on any of their promises.. I also blame lil Dubber and his false flag attack boo boo and subsequent wars for bullsh*t and elbow grease... the never ending war for profit, Cocaine and all the other stupidity foisted upon us by plutocratic senile polititians and their bankster golfing buddies.. Why oh why must we drag the BAG! The only reasons that i can truthfully say that i am doing better off is becuase i never buy anything on credit, fix all my own things, plan for the eventuality of failure {i.e. tires,clothes,cars,roofs,paint etc} and save the money for or purchase replacement parts and items for future repairs on things i own. I do what i can to make my life run smoothly for its all i have. but its mine all mine.
You and me both. Couple that with multiple revenue streams and if one dries up...you don't go down.
If I learned one thing is do not trust anyone.