<p>
But you don’t “have” the house. You only have as much equity as you’ve built up, which for quite a while is a lot less than the value of the house. I suspect that most people who are first time home buyers have negative net worth for years.</p>
<p>There are many more poor white people in the U.S. than poor blacks and poor hispanics combined. Cherry picking statistics to promote a false agenda is a common and immature ruse.</p>
<p>
Well, talking about numbers when rates are more significant is another example of that.</p>
<p>Do we have any statistician here? What kind of confidence level will be for this survey of 36,000 households? </p>
<p>I don’t believe the data. It is impossible for a household with $650K to be in the top 10% in this country.</p>
<p>Thank heavens African-American men are still paying for my 85-year-old mother’s Social Security, even though half of them won’t collect a dime (and if we can just raise the retirement age…)</p>
<p>even though half of them won’t collect a dime (and if we can just raise the retirement age…)</p>
<p>didn’t they do that already?
My inlaws retired when they were in their 50’s so they could watch their ( other) grandchild.
My mother retired when she was in her early 60’s. ( my father died in his early 40’s)
I don’t expect we will ever be able to retire unless we move someplace less ( a lot less) expensive.</p>
<p>Yes, but the problem is that the top half of the population is now living five years longer than they did 30 years ago, while the bottom half (including the overwhelming majority of minorities) are living just one year longer. So there needs to be a way to drain more income away from the bottom half of the population to support my mother. The easiest way to do that is to raise the retirement age.</p>
<p>A lot of people in their late 40’s and their 50’s are now being forced to “retire” LOL a lot earlier than they expected…
That is what happens people at the elder end of the workforce, no matter what the qualifications, are laid off and cannot keep current in their field while they are unemployed, and they just keep getting older, and poorer… unless they are lucky and informed enough find a way to invest with positive returns or WIN THE LOTTERY! (assuming they have any savings to invest, let alone live on)</p>
<p>Please note that these are the same who are often sandwiched between providing for their kids even grandkids in some way and helping their own parents. Much inter-family subsidization is going on these days… Wealth distribution at its finest! A new version of philanthropy!!</p>
<p>Yes, this is not inner city poverty, but I think it bodes very poorly for this economy. A part of the engine is no longer productive.</p>
<p>net worth, elevated due to home values, was a sham from the beginning.
just like the stock market being so high before the housing market crashed.
the numbers were not real to most everyone.
only those who got out at the top or shorted the collapse came out good.
the net worth reflected in the earlier years were false and never were real.</p>
<p>So my millionaire mother has been collected $20k+ a year from Social Security for the last 23 years. She never spends any of it, doesn’t need, and invests it all. Did I mention she has THREE houses, and mortgage interest deductions on each of them? Because her life expectancy is five years longer than it would have been 30 years ago, it takes a lot more in the way of wealth transfers from the bottom half of the population - especially minorities - to keep her investments fat and sassy. Now they are having the nerve to actually live long enough to collect.</p>
<p>We can’t have that! Raise the retirement age!</p>
<p>mini, donate your inheritance to those who contributed to your mom’s retirement and quit worrying about it.</p>
<p>Oh, I have plans!</p>
<p>And, with any luck, they’ll cut the inheritance tax (after all, I “earned” it), and Obama’s extension of the Bush tax giveaways has been a great help! After all, my mother is a “job creator” - she occasionally employs a CNA (always a minority) at almost nine dollars an hour! (Now if they just wouldn’t live so long…)</p>
<p>That is a solution: shorten life expectancy and make euthanasia legal.</p>
<p>That’s already happened on a relative basis - the top half of the population gaining 5 years in the past 30, the bottom less than a year. But that’s still too much. Raising the retirement age is the racial solution that keeps on giving.</p>
<p>I gotcha covered, Mini. My husband paid (and many others) paid into SS for 27 years but won’t see any of it due to the WEP.</p>
<p>CNAs in HI got for much more–I believe they’re $20/hr & up! They also generally require a minimum # of hours & days/week to work for you.</p>
<p>The agency gets $20/hour, the CNA $8.90.</p>
<p>Some of these are independent contractors, so I don’t believe they have to share the cut with anyone.</p>
<p>Some (but very few, relatively speaking), as they are unable to deal with Medicare and long-term care insurance paperwork. But even at $20/hour, with a 30-hour week (which is what most average), they gross $30k, and are still subsidizing my mother, thank you.</p>
<p>(and then they have to do all the paperwork, for which they aren’t compensated)</p>
<p>Ah yes, paperwork is killing us small organizations & solos. As a non-profit, I have to have a bookkeeper (paid monthly) AND a CPA (just to file the mega tax form) so I can file the paperwork and stay in compliance. If I don’t do that, I can’t qualify to stay a non-profit and run the risk of all sorts of scary penalties and violations!</p>