Mortgage Debt Down B.S.

I am reading this article on a Fed report on increased US household asset holdings and decreased mortgage debt, and all I am thinking is this a classic pantload or what.

Of course mortgage debt is down, what - 10% of all home owners have walked away from the house and went into foreclosure. Give me a break.

Also I am very suspect when I see these average figures because they tend to average in the top top tier people with the rest of us. If the top 5% are holding even say 40% of the wealth and they made out like bandits since March 2009 when the stock market started to ascend, of course they are more wealthy. They are averaging in that wealth with the bottom 95%. You can't possibly expect me to believe that the bottom 50% in our creepy economy are doing better. Cripes most of them are unemployed for god's sake. How can they possibly be gaining in wealth. Are we starting to count intentions as a real bonafide asset now?

CS Monitor: Mortgage debt is down, Americans' net worth up, but analysts call gains fragile

...a report released Thursday by the Federal Reserve, which showed a rise in household net worth and a decline in the level of mortgage debt.


The net worth of all US households reached a total of $58 trillion, up about $1 trillion from the previous quarter. Essentially, American net worth is back to 2005 levels, but still below its 2007 peak of $64.2 trillion.


Still, banks are expanding their loans to businesses, and other loans to consumers (such as credit card debts) have been rising as well.