American Wealth Sets New Record -- June 10, 2016; GDP Now Forecast For 2Q16 Unchanged At 2.5%

From The Wall Street Journal:

The wealth of Americans reached a record of $88.1 trillion in the first quarter, with rising home values offsetting stock-market wobbles at the start of the year.

The boost to wealth was driven by a $498 billion increase in residential real-estate values around the U.S., while the overall value of equities declined by $160 billion, according to a Federal Reserve report released on Thursday.

The new data underscores just how much American fortunes have changed since the recession that began in 2007, and occurred along with a housing and stock market crash.

U.S. households lost more than $12 trillion during that period, with net worth bottoming at $55 trillion in 2009. Since then, wealth has risen by more than $33 trillion.

The figures aren’t adjusted for inflation, but with inflation generally low in recent years, wealth has rapidly outpaced inflation.

This comes on top of the recent reports (the past three or four years) in which the US has led the entire world in "change in total wealth."

Speaking of which, the most recent GDP Now forecast, June 9, 2016:

The GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the second quarter of 2016 is 2.5 percent on June 9, unchanged from June 3. After this morning's wholesale trade release from the U.S. Census Bureau, the forecast for the contribution of inventory investment to second-quarter real GDP growth ticked up from -0.27 percentage points to -0.23 percentage points.

Meanwhile, over in Great Britain, driving records are driving record gasoline consumption. Reuters is reporting these data points from John Kemp:

• road fuel consumption in Great Britain as fastest pace in more than a decade
• increased fuel consumption reflects a growing economy, increasing employment, and rising household incomes
• much of the increase cannot be explained on decrease in prices since taxes account for so much of the overall price
• the meme that fuel consumption had peaked in industrial economies proved to be temporary
• Great Britain's road fuel consumption accounts for only 1.6 percent of the global total but even that small amount puts it in 15th place

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Gun Rights

This is quite fascinating. With today's ruling on concealed guns, we now see the importance of well-written laws and state intentions.

The 2nd Amendment may guarantee the right to "keep and bear" firearms, but that may not mean that there is a right to carry them in public. It's actually quite fascinating. I guess it comes down to what it means to "bear" arms: when, where, why? And exactly what it means to "infringe" on that right to keep and bear arms.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

I think the language is pretty clear, but I've discovered many people don't think the same way I do on this issue, including my wife, and 7 out of 11 judges on the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Hypocrisy

The GOP establishment has much to fear. From the staunch Hillary camp in the March 14, 2016, issue of The New Yorker:

The question remains why the Trump phenomenon has proved so buoyant and impregnable. Some have earnestly ascribed it to broad social and economic forces, particularly the "new normal" of stagnating wages, underemployment, and corporate "offshoring" and "inversion." Yet these factors were at least as pronounced in the last election cycle -- and Republicans chose as their nominee the father of comprehensive health care in Massachusetts.

The socioeconomic forces are real, but Trump is also the beneficiary of a long process of Republican intellectual decadence. Paul Ryan denounced Trump but not the Tea Party rhetoric that propelled his own political ascent. John McCain holds Trump in contempt, but selected as his running mate Sarah Palin, the Know-Nothing of Wasilla, one of Trump's most vivid forerunners and supporters. Mitt Romney last week righteously slammed Trump as a "phony" and a misogynist, and yet in 2012 he embraced Trump's endorsement and praised his "extraordinary" understanding of economics.

Something tells me the likes of Paul Ryan are very, very concerned for their own political future. [Later, this story appeared which suggests to me Paul Ryan is in  deep trouble. The unfortunate thing is that Paul Ryan still has some integrity; the likes of Mitt Romney and Meg Whitman do not.]

On another note, if I had to name one person right now who I have really come to disrespect: Mitt Romney. Although he was not on stage when GOP presidential contenders were asked to raise their hands "swearing" to support whomever the GOP candidate turned out to be, one can surmise he would have raised his hand along with Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and all the rest, and now Mitt is going out of his way to tell us that he won't vote for either Trump nor Hillary in the fall. What a  chump. What a RINO. 

I wonder whom Colin Powell will be supporting? LOL. Or Barbara Bush, for that matter -- I wonder whom she will support? LOL.