The gain in net worth to $81.76 trillion was driven by a $758 billion increase in the value of residential real estate and a $361 billion rise in corporate equities.

U.S. banks are easing credit standards in search of a safe and profitable middle ground after an era of reckless home lending gave way to the stiffest rules in decades, putting a damper on the housing recovery.

Wells Fargo (WFC:US) & Co., the biggest U.S. home lender, two weeks ago cut its minimum credit score for borrowers of Fannie Mae-and Freddie Mac-backed loans to 620 from 660. The step followed moves by smaller lenders, such as the U.S. unit of Canada’s Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), which lowered down payments to 3 percent without requiring mortgage insurance for some loans.

Banks ratcheted up borrowing requirements after the most severe housing crash since the Great Depression, preventing as many as 1.2 million loans from being made in 2012, according to an Urban Institute paper. Lenders rode a wave of refinancing until a spike in borrowing costs last year gutted demand, forcing the biggest banks to cut more than 25,000 mortgage jobs. Now they’re removing barriers to mortgages for some borrowers in hopes of reviving a shrinking market.
~snip~
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-05-01/easier-bank-credit-for-homeowners-compels-wells-fargo-mortgages

The gain in net worth to $81.76 trillion was driven by a $758 billion increase in the value of residential real estate and a $361 billion rise in corporate equities.

American Dream Slipping as Homeownership at 18-Year Low
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-30/american-dream-erased-as-homeownership-at-18-year-low.html

Homeownership falls to 19-year low: Here's why
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101624168

Most Of The Jobs Added Since The Recession Pay Low Wages
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/04/28/3431351/recovery-jobs-low-wage/

Recovery Has Created Far More Low-Wage Jobs Than Better-Paid Ones
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/28/business/economy/recovery-has-created-far-more-low-wage-jobs-than-better-paid-ones.html?_r=0

Low-wage jobs proliferate as middle class ones disappear: job growth patterns since the recession
http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/04/low-wage_jobs_proliferate_as_m.html

Low-Wage Jobs Replace Middle-Income Work, Study Finds
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/31/low-wage-jobs_n_1846733.html

Careers Are Dead. Welcome To Your Low-Wage, Temp Work Future
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jmaureenhenderson/2012/08/30/careers-are-dead-welcome-to-your-low-wage-temp-work-

Top 1% get 121% of income gains since 2009 (100% of new income + 21% from your old income)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022384139

How the 1 percent won the recovery, in one table
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/11/how-the-1percent-won-the-recovery-in-one-table/

Recovery for the Rich, Recession for the Rest
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/recovery-for-the-rich-rec_b_3910615.html

The Rich Get Richer Through the Recovery
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/the-rich-get-richer-through-the-recovery/

Incomes Flat in Recovery, but Not for the 1%
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014400736

U.S. corporate profits stronger than ever, workers' wages fallen to lowest-ever share of GDP (CNN)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021922334

U.S. Income Inequality Now Worse Than Many Latin American Countries
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022268073

Ranks of working poor increasing
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022200197

Inequality Rages as Dwindling Wages Lock Millions in Poverty
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022198286

The Middle Class In America Is Being Wiped Out – Here Are 60 Facts That Prove It
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022144851

Child poverty rates increase unabated
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022268450

40 Percent of Americans Now Make Less than 1968 Minimum Wage
http://www.democraticunderground.com/111631016

Corporate Profits Have Grown By 171 Percent Under ‘Anti-Business’ Obama
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014372334

US poverty on track to reach 46-year high; suburbs, underemployed workers, children hit hard
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002998131

Poverty, hunger among retirees increasing
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002748342

The Economy is "Recovering" By Creating More Low-Wage Jobs... Increasingly Filled By Graduates
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022602162

"Recovery" in US is lifting profits, but not adding jobs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014414149

Obama to use pension funds of ordinary Americans to pay for bank mortgage settlements
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002205218

What Recovery? Across America, People in Distressed Cities and Small Towns Face Economic Catastrophe
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022545596

Real wages decline; literally no one notices
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11172387

Wall Street Soars with Wealth as Wages Stagnate, Jobs Remain in a Slump
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12526154

Wages for bottom 90% declined 1.2% during 2009-2011 recovery, top 1% income grew 8.2%
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022271466

Three Minimum Wage Jobs Needed To Afford Two-Bedroom Apartment
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022578738

Wages have fallen to a record low as a share of America’s gross domestic product.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022183930

The Real Numbers: Half of America in Poverty -- and It's Creeping toward 75%
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002290698