Friday, April 30, 2010

11 Trillion Lost In Household Wealth So Far


“We’ve lost almost $11 trillion of household wealth in the last 17 or 18 months,” lamented Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat, on last Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” urging Congress to proceed with speedy deliberations on a finance reform bill.
Eleven trillion dollars! That’s over three-quarters of our current gross domestic product.
Where did all this wealth go? Did other folks get it? Or did it just go up in smoke?
For that matter, what precisely is “wealth”? Is it something tangible we can see, or is it something intangible – something merely imagined?
In an illuminating paper on asset values and wealth, the economist Michael Reiter defined wealth in a way that makes sense to economists:
“Wealth” is the present value of the expected stream of future utility [human happiness] that an “infinitely lived individual or a dynasty” [or a nation] could hope to extract from the real resources available now and in the indefinite future, assuming these real resources are allocated and managed now, and over time, so as to maximize that present value of future utils (at the “proper” discount rate).
Two practical points can be extracted from this abstract definition.
First, economists think of wealth not just in monetary terms — as cash, stocks, bonds and real estate — but in terms of human well-being.
Second, and most importantly, the wealth a nation believes itself to possess is based strictly on the citizenry’s expectations about the future. It is in good part a figment of the citizens’ imagination.

15 comments:

  1. sheeple

    Real wealth=gold & silver, storable food, water filter, guns & ammo.

    Better get your act together, the collapse is acoming, and there aint nutin you can do about it besides stock up!

    Or go back to watching your tv's and SHUT-UP!

    ReplyDelete
  2. $11 trillions lost in wealth?
    print $11 trillions more to replace the lost wealth. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. Change you can believe in. LOL

    Oprah had her couch potato sheep followers vote for Odumbell. Now he wants to take Oprahs wealth and spread it around. You can't make this shit up. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  4. yes it is
    MY
    House value down 40% -Check
    Value of my money down 10% - check
    taxes and fees Up - Check
    Pissed Off-O- Meter UP 40%

    welcome to Taxifornia USA

    ReplyDelete
  5. quit bitchin!! if u dont want nice road and schools, police.. which most american seem to want.. thenPAY for it thru taxes. This is called the "american theatrics" u know the shit on the loudspeakers at the airport that sounds like god warning u. if u want to be apart of the american theatrics then quit bitching.. if u dont want to be apart of it, then move the fuck outta here quietly and let the rest of them be.. im with ya.. im leavin but im sick of people bitching about facts. and being so sour about everything not being what it used to be.. point beign, ur better off with people who have nothing and gain it, like 2nd wrld countrys becoming modern, well invested, healthcare. rather than be a 1st wrld nation going down hill. one will ppreciate new things and the other is goiong to be sour when they lose services

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  6. "if u dont want nice road and schools"

    This is BS. The schools in Ca. are run down and over crowded. The heavy taxation in CA. is to support the ancor babys from Mexico. In 2007 my home town became a sanctuary city. That was the last straw. Good bye Mexifornia.

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  7. 1012 If you want...?

    A product of the CA. public school system.

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  8. this is change bush said you can believe in as he ruined everything in 8 years, things have been going down hill for a long time, obama has to clean up all the mess bush made, bush made change that ruined america forever, so choke on the truth!

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  9. Hey Dumbo,

    The funds for roads, schools, etc in your community come from local and state tax, not federal income tax.

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  10. dodd you are not worthy to to live in my pooper.

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  11. wee everyday the sheep
    that grew off the delusion of wealth are loseing it
    wait let me see
    oh yes my gold went up again
    its funny i use to get mad
    and like the dummy said 1012
    i was told i should quit bitchen and leave the country
    i was told that
    now that im getting rich off of gold
    they still cant bear the truth
    so let me say
    you cant save a fool from himself
    so buy gold and silver
    and save yourself
    and buy the idiot who said leave the countrys house for 2 gold coins
    and say you ust be crazy
    because not only am i rich bich
    iown your house

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great blog!!
    If you like, come back and visit mine: http://albumdeestampillas.blogspot.com

    Thanks,
    Pablo from Argentina

    ReplyDelete
  13. 11:18 Your one term president will be replaced with someone who doesn't make excuses.
    You have been watching Oprah too long.

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  14. 215 one term is better than a loser no term like yourself

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  15. The looting of America is proceeding well .

    The biggest legal money laundering machine for transferring money from one “American “ pocket of the elite to the other “Foreign” pocket perhaps in the Caribbean offshore bank is derivative bets.
    The hedge Funds and banksters like G.S.
    are so big that they can cooperate to manipulate the price of commodities like food and oil or currencies and derivitives bets might have a win or a loss. Either way those in the game that are in the know win.

    The big guys “in the know” that want to move their wealth out of one country simply bet against a “separate” branch of their own business or with pals in another country.

    When losses are made the government bails out the “loser” too.. As with AIG when billions of losing bets were paid out to GS and foreign gamblers and banks by The US government.
    As they are "too big to fail".
    Its all open and legal and not money laundering at all they say just "insurance" as the mafia used to say ,

    ReplyDelete

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