French Roast News

Anne is reading …

Families’ median net worth fell nearly 40% between 2007 and 2010, plummeting to levels last seen in 1992, the Federal Reserve said in a report issued today. Writes WSJ:

Median net worth of families fell to $77,300 in 2010 from $126,400 in 2007, a drop of 38.8%–the largest drop since the current survey began in 1989, Fed economists said Monday. Net worth represents the difference between a family’s gross assets and its liabilities. Average net worth fell 14.7% during the same three-year period.

The drop was driven in large part by the collapse of the housing market, leaving home owners with a median home equity of $75,000 in 2010, down from $110,000 in 2007.

Family incomes were also hard-hit with a drop in median family income to $45,800 in 2010 from $49,600 in 2007. Average income fell 11.1% to $78,500, down from $88,300.

Meanwhile, families worked to drive down their level of debt. Fewer families reported having debt of any kind in 2010 than three years earlier: 74.9% of families had some sort of debt in 2010, down from 77%. However, among families with some kind of debt in 2010, the median value of their debt was unchanged from three years earlier and the fraction of families with debt payments larger than 40% of their income remained nearly constant. Read on at WSJ.

Related: Bye bye McMansions. Hello renting and downsizing. That’s the main message of a new study by the Demand Institute division of the US Conference Board.

Forbes contributor Males Poulos writes an excellent piece Memo to Mitt Romney and Barack Obama: Neither Sector is “Doing Fine”.

Women’s Strike Force: New Girl in Town

In late March, AOC reported on the amazing success of the newly-formed Virginia Women’s Strike Force PAC, formed after the debacle of VA’s proposed vaginal ultrasound bill, with the singular purpose of electing pro-choice candidates.

The Richmond Times Dispatch jumped on Strikeforce in late May, saying that while it claims to be bi-partisan, the group is really a who’s who of Democratic activists: Mame Reilley, a Democratic consultant who chaired the women’s caucus for the Democratic National Convention; Leslie Byrne, a former Democratic member of Congress; Kristen Amundsen, a Democratic state lawmaker from Mount Vernon; former Democratic Del. Robin Abbott; and more.

Republican Katherine Waddell, President of the Women’s Strike Force has called out the Richmond Times Dispatch, sharing not only her Republican credentials but a long list of Republicans who have joined Democrats and Independents in creating campaign coffers for pro-choice VA politicians.

Waddell has been a Virginia Republican for many years, serving as a State Central Member, Virginia Federation of Republican Women for many years. WSF also boasts the support of outstanding former Virginia leaders Panny Rhodes, Jim Dillard, Bob Bloxom, Mary Helen Morgan and Jan Schar, writes Waddell.

Women’s Strike Force is a bi-partisan PAC that will recruit and support Republicans, Democrats and Independents, men and women who favor women’s reproductive rights. The WSF mission is to defeat Virginia state legislators who voted in favor of trans-vaginal ultrasound and personhood bills.

The Republican War on Women — with the help of select Democrats — has forgotten that both Republicans and Democrats have been unified for women’s reproductive rights for four decades. Simply stated, the girls are fighting back — and across party lines.