Farm operator households also hold nonfarm wealth in their portfolios. This chapter focuses on the wealth of farm operator households. Findings include the following: Total farm household wealth includes farm and nonfarm wealth. Farm wealth is the dominant share of total farm household wealth. Median wealth of farm households is close to five times the median wealth of all U.S. households. The distribution of farm household wealth and the relative importance of nonfarm wealth vary across farm households. Farm households incur debt secured by both farm business and nonfarm assets.

The distribution of household wealth for all U.S. households was considerably more skewed than for farm households. For example, if wealth were equally distributed (so that each 10 percent of households held 10 percent of wealth), the distribution curves would not be bowed upward but would be a straight line. Thus, the greater curvature for nonfarm households indicates that their wealth is more unequally distributed across households.

Levels of wealth increase with age and education (of head of household) for both farm and nonfarm households.

http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/WellBeing/farmnetworth.htm

State revenue officials say Wisconsin’s economy is showing signs of a rebound, but the recovery in employment and personal income is not expected to start until 2010.

The latest quarterly forecast, issued by the Department of Revenue on Friday, shows the national economic recession remains severe but adds that "the bottom is in sight."

Wisconsin’s economy is showing "signs of improvement," but a slow recovery is expected, the report says. And unemployment will continue to be a problem.

"We will be bleeding jobs almost through the end of the year," said John Koskinen, chief economist for research and policy for the state Department of Revenue.

MB: Though there are signs the recession may be nearing the end, the damage has already been done.  From 2007-2009 Wisconsin will have lost a total of 155,000 jobs or 5.4 percent of its work forces.  The rate at which employment will increase after a recession is substantially slower than other economic indicators such as CPI.  Companies will have to be in a position in which they are growing before they are likely to hire more employees.  There is no doubt that it will take time to replace over 155,000 jobs.

http://applicant.com/from-4-129-the-state-of-unemployment-across-us/

The frozen food franchise wants to open 650 Midwest stores in four years.

MyMenu has skewered such enthusiastic sales from Madison-area residents for its frozen chicken kabobs, steaks and onion soup that it expects to open 650 stores in seven Midwest states over the next four years, an executive of the Canadian company said this week.

One year ago, MyMenu opened its first stores in the U.S., with five locations in the Madison area and three in Fort Wayne, Ind. Patterned after its M&M Meat Shops, a chain of about 480 stores across Canada, MyMenu offers a variety of frozen foods, from appetizers to entrees to desserts.

"The Wisconsin and Indiana markets have proven to be excellent launching pads for us. They are nice replicas of our targeted consumers," said Jennifer Dodd, MyMenu’s U.S. divisional vice president, in Chicago. "Our stores in the Madison market are performing at parity or better than what we have seen in the Canadian market with similar launches," Dodd said.

http://host.madison.com/business/article_4b25eb53-40da-59ae-8e31-40a950f28b0a.html