Americans Poorer by $1 Trillion Each Month

Friday, December 12, 2008 10:59 AM

Nearly $3 trillion of wealth was erased from households' blotters in the third quarter of 2008, the largest quarterly decline on record, wrote Merrill Lynch economist Sheryl King in a note on Friday.

In 2008 alone, households lost about $10 trillion, King estimated, about a decade's worth of equity earnings.

"Persistent negative wealth effects from the slide in housing and equity prices should reinforce the uptrend in the personal savings rate, creating a highly disinflationary environment as job losses mount and unemployment rate rise toward 8.5 percent in the coming year," King wrote.

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