[grania]

$422,126 in stocks and business assets for the average American? Then things are really skewed, because wouldn't the "average" put a US household in the top 5% or so? And how does that jive with half the US population receiving some form(s) of benefits?

If this statistic is true, it means that "averages" have become meaningless. A sensible statistician with no prior agenda would look at quartiles and medians.

JMHO

[hlmencken3]

Meaningless blog post. The meaningful number would be median, upper half and lower half.

Median net worth of US families is less than $100k, and it’s been going down under Obama.

[expat_panama]

$422,126 in stocks and business assets for the average American?

--the average American household.

You're right though, the word 'average' has it's limits.  iow, it screams "FOOD FIGHT!!!".  The Fed just posts the totals and here's how it's broken down:

	(billion)
Corporate equities	$12,885
Mutual fund shares	$7,620
Security credit	$893
Life insurance reserves	$1,259
Pension entitlements	$20,499
Equity in noncorporate business	$9,188

[oblomov]

A sensible statistician with no agenda would adjust for age of the head of household.