American’s (and many people throughout the world) became disillusioned with the workings of America’s political system when the U.S. government bailed out bankers with taxpayers’ money and then stood by impotently as financiers continued to pay themselves huge bonuses. America is not a particularly mobile place; a child born in the poorest fifth of society has only a 9% chance of making it to the top fifth. And because incomes have become much more unequal, it is much worse now to be stuck at the bottom. Chinese are prepared to put up with their system if it delivers growth. 85% of Chinese are optimistic about their County’s future compared to just 35% of Americans.
TWO years after house prices ended their precipitous fall, housing across America is beginning to look frothy again. New data released by Standard and Poor’s on February 25th showed the Case-Shiller index of 20 cities rising in December at the fastest rate for nine years.
The median net worth of American adults is now one of the lowest among developed nations—less than $45,000, according to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook That compares with approximately $220,000 in Australia, $142,000 in France and $54,000 in Greece. Almost a third of American adults have a net worth of less than $10,000.
