US Household Wealth Falls Record $5.1T

Combined five-quarter drop is nearly as big as US GDP for 2008

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 12, 2009 2:19 PM CDT

(Newser) – The wealth of US households fell at a record pace in the last quarter of 2008, as drops in home values and stock prices accelerated, Bloomberg reports. Net worth for households and non-profits fell $5.1 trillion to $51.5 trillion, nearly twice the decline... Read full story »

COMMENTS

Read the comment policy

You need to Log in to Newser to comment. Don't have an account yet? Sign up now!

3 comments

A snapshot of the day's best news stories.

View Larger Grid

All Today Yesterday Pick a Date

What's Popular Now on Facebook

Miami Face-Eater Identified

'Serpent Pastor' Dies of Snake Bite

Bloomberg (Source Grid »)

Money • US

stock market • United States • GDP • home prices • home values • economy • recession depression

More Newser Stories

Obama's Economics Are Working

Ignore the political crowd, the president's been great for business

(NEWSER) - President Obama doesn't get much political credit for it, but the numbers show his economic policies have been a resounding success. Since he took office, the S&P 500 is up 41%, credit spreads have narrowed, commodity prices have surged, and housing prices have stabilized, writes Mike Dorning of Bloomberg . GDP grew 5.9% in the fourth quarter, far more than analysts predicted, and job losses have slowed. More»

Crash May Have Been Worse Than Thought

Nate Silver sees bad things in long-term GDP graph

(NEWSER) - Need a pick-me-up given today's depressing stock news ? Then be advised that Nate Silver's column in the New York Times is not for you. The stats guru plots GDP going back to 1877 and sees signs that our recent "economic crash was even worse than economists had previously believed ... and that the recovery has been even more timid." GDP is currently about $13.3 trillion "when it 'should' be $15.7 trillion based on the long-term trend," writes Silver. More»

18% of US Wealth Up in Smoke Last Year

Fed figures show $11 trillion was wiped out Americans' net worth last year

(NEWSER) - Last year's stock market and housing slumps wiped out nearly a fifth of the wealth of American families, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Federal Reserve announced yesterday that $11 trillion—more than the output of Britain, Germany and combined—was erased from the net worth of households in 2008, the biggest loss since it started keeping records. More»

Odds of a Depression? 1 in 5

Economist crunches historic stock-market data to gauge the chances of depression

(NEWSER) - The bad news is that this recession is likely to be America's worst since WWII—but the good news is there's only a 20% chance it will become a depression, Robert Barro writes in the Wall Street Journal. The Harvard economist crunched numbers from 251 stock-market crashes in 34 countries to determine the odds of a 10% or higher economic decline that defines a depression. More»

GDP Drop Worst in 26 Years

Worse than anticipated

(AP) - The US economy contracted at a staggering 6.2% pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in more than a quarter-century, as consumers and businesses ratcheted back spending, plunging the country deeper into recession. That's drastically worse than the 3.8% the government originally estimated, and the 5.4% economists predicted. Looking ahead, economists predict consumers and businesses will keep cutting back spending, making the first six months of this year especially rocky. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

US Household Wealth Falls Record $5.1T

Combined five-quarter drop is nearly as big as US GDP for 2008

stock market • United States • GDP • home prices • home values • economy • recession depression

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Obama's Economics Are Working

Ignore the political crowd, the president's been great for business

Crash May Have Been Worse Than Thought

Nate Silver sees bad things in long-term GDP graph

18% of US Wealth Up in Smoke Last Year

Fed figures show $11 trillion was wiped out Americans' net worth last year

Odds of a Depression? 1 in 5

Economist crunches historic stock-market data to gauge the chances of depression

GDP Drop Worst in 26 Years

Worse than anticipated

About Us

Site

Community

Site Maps

Tools

More News

What is Newser?