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US Household Wealth Hits Record $130 Trillion As Top 1% Have Never Been Richer While Poor Drown In Debt
by Tyler Durden
Thursday, Mar 11, 2021 - 02:25 PM
The Fed s latest Flow of Funds report released at noon today showed the latest snapshot of the US household sector as of Dec 31 2020, which confirmed that not long after the biggest drop in household net worth on record when $8 trillion was wiped out in Q1, 2020, in the 4th quarter of 2020,
the net worth of US households soared by $6.93 trillion - the second biggest quarterly increase in history - to a record $130.2 trillion.
As usual, the biggest swing factor was in the value of market-linked securities: in Q4,
January 2021 Real Income Grew Due To Stimulus
The data continues to be affected by the pandemic. Expenditures improved month-over-month (but is in contraction year-over-year) whilst income improved month-over-month mostly due to the stimulus payments.
Analyst Opinion of Personal Income and Expenditures
The note from the BEA says it all:
The increase in personal income in January was more than accounted for by an increase in government social benefits to persons as payments were made to individuals from federal COVID-19 pandemic response programs. The increase in other benefits primarily reflected economic impact payments distributed through the CRRSA Act. Unemployment insurance also increased, reflecting an increase in pandemic unemployment compensation, including supplemental weekly payments to unemployment beneficiaries re-introduced by the CRRSA Act
December 2020 Real Income Grew and Real Expenditures Declined
The data continues to be affected by the pandemic. Expenditures declined month-over-month (and is in contraction year-over-year) whilst income improved month-over-month (and is in expansion year-over-year).
Analyst Opinion of Personal Income and Expenditures
The note from the BEA says it all:
The December estimate for personal income and outlays was impacted by the response to the spread of COVID-19. Many provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act continued to wind down before the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act was enacted on December 27, 2020. Additionally, new restrictions and closures took effect in some areas of the United States. The full economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be quantified in the personal income and outlays estimate because the impacts are generally embedded in source data and cannot be separately identified.
November 2020 Real Income and Expenditures Declined
The data continues to be affected by the pandemic. Expenditures declined month-over-month (and is in contraction year-over-year) whilst income also declined month-over-month (but is in expansion year-over-year).
Analyst Opinion of Personal Income and Expenditures
The note from the BEA says it all:
The November estimate for personal income and outlays was impacted by the response to the spread of COVID-19. Federal economic recovery payments slowed as pandemic-related assistance programs continued to wind down. The full economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be quantified in the personal income and outlays estimate because the impacts are generally embedded in source data and cannot be separately identified.