As estate planners and their clients are or should be keenly aware, net worth dollars are NOT real in the sense of "dollars actually in hand."  Particularly when those dollars are invested in stocks and other financial vehicles subject to fluctuations.  And even income figures for this period have been mighty suspect, depending on what you're trying to measure or on whom you are trying to pin blame for something!  What you're saying here may have the ring of truthiness, but it's not the big picture!