There were roughly 29m house sales in the United States between 2004 and 2007, compared with 115m households, and anyone who bought before then is probably sitting on a nominal profit.

ECONOMIST: Home ownership

In a nominal sense you have a twenty dollar profit, but in a real sense, you have suffered a loss.

FORBES: Musings on Warren Buffett's Tax Disclosure

U.S. corporate profits (which are expressed in nominal terms) have tended to rise and fall at about twice the rate of world nominal dollar GDP, suggesting double-digit profit growth again in 2006.

FORBES: Heard the Good News?