 So for example, we ought to be able to agree that a person (whatever quintile he's in) who "owns" a home worth $000K with $000K left on the mortgage figures into the statistics as having a net asset of $00K. No, we don't agree, because (0) that person acquires equity with every monthly payment and (0) that person lives in a 000K home. Is that comparable to any other country, in the aggregate? How many of these cars and appliances we're talking about are one breakdown away from needing a replacement that the owners can no longer afford? How many of these homes are essentially coffins, inasmuch as the "owners" will die long before the home is paid off? Assuming this bleak scenario holds true across the board, what other countries present populations who are young, living in nice homes with the full range of conventional appliances, TV's, computers, food etc. Ooooh, let's do that with the top quintile, too. I think you'll find that that quintile is disproportionately wealthy in our society in a way that they are not in others. 