Today’s Washington Post has a rather frightening article about the effect, to date, of the recession on U.S. consumers. Here are the opening paragraphs of the story:
The brute force of the recession earlier this year turned back the clock on Americans’ personal wealth to 2004 and wiped out a staggering $1.3 trillion as home values shrank and investments withered.
Net worth, or the value of assets such as homes, checking accounts and investments minus debts like mortgages and credit cards, declined 2.6 percent in the first three months of the year, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.
Those months were some of the worst of the recession so far for job losses, and the stock market sank to its lowest point of the year in March. Since then, some signs suggest the economy is stabilizing.
Still, partly because of the carnage earlier in the recession, Americans are putting plans on hold until the economy improves.