Wealth is an illusion. Truth wealth is complete ownership of an asset. A homeowner does not own their home as long as there is a mortgage. That mortgage is considered an asset by the bank, even though the loaned money did not even exist prior to the mortgage being created.
According to economist Peter Schiff, who predicted the current crisis years before it happened, "Our government for many years has been successful at hiding the problem and buying time". (Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit From the Economic Collapse