Many in my family fought in the War Of 1812 and for their 6 months service, they got land warrants for 160 acres in Missouri and Arkansas. The value of that land today is about $3,000 per acre. That means for just 6 months of service, they were paid a bonus of $480,000. That meant they had a net worth of $480,000 if they had no other assets. The bottom line is that back in 1812, the median family net worth was almost 10 times what it is today. What is the definition of "rich"? It is how much you are worth, not how much you make. That is the point of this blog.
I checked the data and found that today, the median family net worth is about $45,000; Just 10 years ago the number was about $55,000. With my 4th grade math, I calculate that our net worth has been going down at the rate of about $2,000 per year which is about the same as for the past 10 years. These are the starting facts. Now we need to see if we can figure out exactly "why" our wealth has been going down.
If a typical family was able to save 10% of their median family income of $50,000, how many years would it take for a median family to get back to as wealthy as we were back in 1812? My calculations show that it would take 96 years. Notice that most people do not live that long and all new people whether born here or are immigrants, most start with a net worth of zero. What we need are fewer of these "zero's" if we want to become a richer country.
I blogged in the past that no country in the world has ever gotten rich by value added labor. All the richest countries got rich by the exploitation of their natural resources and then divided that wealth by the fewest number of people. The math does not lie. If you can tell me how more immigrants are going to raise the median family income or net worth, I will change my tune. The immigrant kid from Somalia who tried to kill those students at Ohio State was on welfare along with his mother and her 6 other kids. Did that family raise the median family net worth or lower it? You have to be able to use your 4th grade math to come to the correct answer.
The USA used to be rich and we were able to give soldiers who served just 6 months 160 acres of land that is now worth about half a million dollars. Think about that one!!
PS--There is another point. Many of the soldiers who got the 160 acres sold that land or the warrants and then used that money or net worth to buy things like food and clothing that now has a value of zero. What we have been doing and are still doing is using up our net worth. It makes a lot of people feel richer when they are not. Our government does the same thing by borrowing money to add to the taxes they collect and then spend that on things that now have zero value. The affect is that the net worth of our country or government is also going down too.
PS--My family had gotten land warrants in Tennessee by serving in the Revolutionary War, but had 10 kids and that land or net worth had to be divided up and thus each person got poorer. The original wealth was 100% from natural resources and the addition of more mouths diluted that wealth and made all poorer. Don't you see that it is exactly the same with our current situation with massive immigration!!! They worked hard to create net worth by "value added", but it did not compare to the net wealth from natural resources----160 acres of land.
PS---Years ago, we gave new immigrants 160 acres of land under the "homestead act". This made them instantly rich. Now, most new immigrates are destitute and have zero net worth. This makes our median net worth go "down" and thus make us poorer and poorer along with our quality of life.
I checked the data and found that today, the median family net worth is about $45,000; Just 10 years ago the number was about $55,000. With my 4th grade math, I calculate that our net worth has been going down at the rate of about $2,000 per year which is about the same as for the past 10 years. These are the starting facts. Now we need to see if we can figure out exactly "why" our wealth has been going down.
If a typical family was able to save 10% of their median family income of $50,000, how many years would it take for a median family to get back to as wealthy as we were back in 1812? My calculations show that it would take 96 years. Notice that most people do not live that long and all new people whether born here or are immigrants, most start with a net worth of zero. What we need are fewer of these "zero's" if we want to become a richer country.
I blogged in the past that no country in the world has ever gotten rich by value added labor. All the richest countries got rich by the exploitation of their natural resources and then divided that wealth by the fewest number of people. The math does not lie. If you can tell me how more immigrants are going to raise the median family income or net worth, I will change my tune. The immigrant kid from Somalia who tried to kill those students at Ohio State was on welfare along with his mother and her 6 other kids. Did that family raise the median family net worth or lower it? You have to be able to use your 4th grade math to come to the correct answer.
The USA used to be rich and we were able to give soldiers who served just 6 months 160 acres of land that is now worth about half a million dollars. Think about that one!!
PS--There is another point. Many of the soldiers who got the 160 acres sold that land or the warrants and then used that money or net worth to buy things like food and clothing that now has a value of zero. What we have been doing and are still doing is using up our net worth. It makes a lot of people feel richer when they are not. Our government does the same thing by borrowing money to add to the taxes they collect and then spend that on things that now have zero value. The affect is that the net worth of our country or government is also going down too.
PS--My family had gotten land warrants in Tennessee by serving in the Revolutionary War, but had 10 kids and that land or net worth had to be divided up and thus each person got poorer. The original wealth was 100% from natural resources and the addition of more mouths diluted that wealth and made all poorer. Don't you see that it is exactly the same with our current situation with massive immigration!!! They worked hard to create net worth by "value added", but it did not compare to the net wealth from natural resources----160 acres of land.
PS---Years ago, we gave new immigrants 160 acres of land under the "homestead act". This made them instantly rich. Now, most new immigrates are destitute and have zero net worth. This makes our median net worth go "down" and thus make us poorer and poorer along with our quality of life.
