Yeah but medians should be less sensitive to extremes than averages, and the median white wealth has increased from 2010 to 2014, albeit modestly. I suppose for whites, that 401(k) probably has rebounded to well past where it was at the bottom, and that is where the modest gains are. All that said, it is a tragedy, independent of the increase or decrease, that black and hispanic households are utterly penniless. It's indefensible when we consider how much money is up for grabs in the US.
Less sensitive does not mean insensitive. The lower and middle class believe that your greatest asset is your house. The upper class believe that your house is where you live. If you were lower or middle class and believed the hype, you bought a house in 2005 and lost it in 2008. if you were upper class and understood bubbles, you sold houses in 2005-2008 and then snatched up real estate for pennies on the dollar. In 2014, the lower and middle classes are about where they were in 2005. In 2014, the upper class owns all the houses that the lower and middle classes lost, and they're renting them out. My financial planner is mad at me because we aren't buying a house per year.