2 Trillion Wealthier?

The title of this CNN article is “Americans are $2 trillion wealthier”. The article states:

“After nearly two years of declines, the net worth of Americans rose by $2 trillion to an estimated $53.1 trillion in the second quarter compared with the first three months of the year.

The soaring stock market accounted for much of the gain. Stock holdings rose by 22% to $6.3 trillion, while mutual funds’ value jumped 15% to $3.7 trillion, according to a Federal Reserve report released Thursday.”

It would make more sense to argue that Americans aren’t $2 trillion wealthier, they are in the same spot, and the cash they are holding buys $2 trillion less than it did before the bailouts started. The government floods the market with cash to artificially prop up the stock market and create the illusion that the crisis is smoothing over all the while devaluing the taxpayers savings.

I’m really surprised they publish this nonsense on CNN. It doesn’t take much financial sense to know it is complete nonsense.