On the March 13 edition of CNN's American Morning, personal finance editor Gerri Willis falsely claimed that “household net worth, according to the Federal Reserve, down almost 18 percent since last year,” falsely suggesting that the figure represented a decline occurring in part after President Bush left office. In fact, that figure is what the Federal Reserve reported as the drop in household net worth for all of 2008, and it does not include any activity in 2009. The Federal Reserve issues household net worth data as part of its quarterly Flow of Funds report, and its latest release, from March 12, reported data for the fourth quarter of 2008, as well as selected figures, including change in household net worth, over all of 2008.

From the March 13 edition of CNN's American Morning:

ROB MARCIANO (co-host): Seeing opportunity in a sea of red. There are some great buys out there -- really good buys, as a matter of fact, right now. And making the right moves could give you a head start when things turn around. Personal finance editor Gerri Willis has a few deals for us. And this, of course, [co-host] Kiran [Chetry], is if you have money to throw down for some of these great deals.

WILLIS: We have some for people who have money, and we have some for people who have no money.

MARCIANO: OK.

WILLIS: So we've got all kinds of deals.

OK, well you know the bad news: foreclosures up 30 percent this month; unemployment at its highest level in 26 years; household net worth, according to the Federal Reserve, down almost 18 percent since last year. You may want to run and hide, but the experts out there are saying you have to look past today's bad news to be a good investor.