Wealth Losses, Percentages Do Not Tell Everything

The NYT wrote a piece based on a new study from Pew that finds that Hispanic families were the ones hardest hit by the economic downturn. The basis for this assertion is that they experienced the largest percentage decline in median wealth. 

This is somewhat misleading. According to the study, the median wealth for Hispanics was just $18,400 prior to the downturn. The collapse of house prices led this to fall to just $6,200 in 2009, a 66 percent decline. However, it is possible to have such a...