Blacks Still Need To Worry About Putting Gas In Their Cars

Discussion in 'Politics' started by bugscoe, Jul 26, 2011.

  1. The article says all there is to say.

    Widest wealth gap between US whites, minorities
    By HOPE YEN
    2011-07-26 04:38 AM

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    The wealth gaps between whites and minorities have grown to their widest levels since the U.S. government began tabulating them a quarter-century ago. The recession and uneven recovery have erased decades of minority gains, leaving whites on average with 20 times the net worth of blacks and 18 times that of Hispanics, according to an analysis of new Census data. The analysis shows the racial and ethnic impact of the recent economic meltdown, which ravaged housing values and sent unemployment soaring. It also offers the most direct government evidence yet of the stark wealth divide, a disparity between predominantly younger minorities whose main asset is their home and older whites who are more likely to have 401(k) retirement accounts or other stock holdings.

    "I am afraid that this pushes us back to what the Kerner Commission characterized as `two societies, separate and unequal,'" said Roderick Harrison, a former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau, referring to the 1960s presidential commission that examined U.S. race relations. "The great difference is that the second society has now become both black and Hispanic."

    The median wealth of white U.S. households in 2009 was $113,149, compared to $6,325 for Hispanics and $5,677 for blacks, according to the analysis released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center. Those ratios, roughly 20 to 1 for blacks and 18 to 1 for Hispanics, far exceed the low mark of 7 to 1 for both groups reached in 1995, when the nation's economic expansion lifted many low-income groups to the middle class.

    The white-black wealth gap also is the widest since census began tracking such data in 1984, when the ratio was roughly 12 to 1.

    "What's pushing the wealth of whites is the rebound in the stock market and corporate savings, while younger Hispanics and African-Americans who bought homes in the last decade, because that was the American dream, are seeing big declines," said Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who specializes in income inequality.

    Stock holdings play an important role in the economic well-being of white households. Stock funds, IRA and Keogh accounts as well as 401(k) and savings accounts were responsible for 28 percent of whites' net worth, compared with 19 percent for blacks and 15 percent for Hispanics.

    "There's a good chance the wealth gap will widen further," Smeeding said, citing the stalled housing market. "What we need to do is help lower-income people move up."

    According to the Pew study, the housing boom of the early to mid 2000s particularly boosted the wealth of Hispanics, who were disproportionately employed in the thriving construction industry. Hispanics also were more likely to live and buy homes in states such as California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, which were in the forefront of the real estate bubble, enjoying early gains in home values.

    Those gains quickly shriveled in the housing collapse. After reaching a median wealth of $18,359 in 2005, the wealth of Hispanics _ who had derived nearly two-thirds of their net worth from home equity _ declined by 66 percent by 2009. Among blacks, who now have the highest unemployment rate at 16.2 percent, their household wealth fell 53 percent from $12,124 to $5,677.

    In contrast, the median household wealth of whites dipped a modest 16 percent from $134,992 to $113,149, cushioned in part by a stock market recovery that began in mid-2009.

    "The findings are a reminder, if one was needed, of what a large share of blacks and Hispanics live on the economic margins," said Paul Taylor, director of Pew Social & Demographic Trends. "When the economy tanked, they're the groups that took the heaviest blows."

    The latest data come as President Barack Obama and congressional leaders face an Aug. 2 deadline to figure out a deal to cut deficits and raise the debt ceiling or risk seeing the U.S. default on its financial obligations. Democrats and Republicans have been wrangling over proposals that could cut trillions of dollars from programs such as the Medicare health plan, mainly for older Americans, and the government's retirement plan, Social Security; they also are divided over whether to bring in new tax revenue, such as by closing corporate tax loopholes or increasing taxes for the wealthy.

    In a White House meeting last week, the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and other black groups urged Obama to resist deep cuts such as in housing assistance or safety net programs including Social Security and Medicaid, a medical program mainly for the poor and uninsured, saying it would disproportionately hurt urban areas with some of the highest rates of poverty and unemployment. The U.S. poverty rate currently stands at 14.3 percent, with the ranks of the working-age poor at the highest level since the 1960s. Some analysts believe the poverty rate will climb higher when new figures are released in September.

    "Typically in recessions, minorities suffer from being last hired and first fired. They are likely to lose jobs more rapidly at the beginning of the recession, and are far slower to gain jobs as the economy recovers," said Harrison, who is now a sociologist at Howard University. "One suspects that blacks who lost jobs in the recession, or who have tried to help family members or relatives who did, have now spent whatever savings or other cashable assets they had."

    Other findings:

    _About 35 percent of black households and 31 percent of Hispanic households had zero or negative net worth in 2009, compared with 15 percent of white households. In 2005, the comparable shares were 29 percent for blacks, 23 percent for Hispanics and 11 percent for whites.

    _Asians lost their top ranking to whites in median household wealth, dropping from $168,103 in 2005 to $78,066 in 2009. Similar to Hispanics, many Asians were concentrated in states like California that were hit hard by the housing downturn. More recent arrivals of new Asian immigrants, who tend to be poor, also pushed down their median wealth.

    _Across all race and ethnic groups, the wealth gap between rich and poor widened. The share of wealth held by the top 10 percent of U.S. households increased from 49 percent in 2005 to 56 percent in 2009. The threshold for entry into the wealthiest top 10 percent, however, dipped lower: from $646,327 in 2005 to $598,435.

    The numbers are based on the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation, which sampled more than 36,000 households on wealth from September-December 2009. Census first began publishing wealth data from this survey, broken down by race and ethnicity, in 1984.
     
  2. From the LA Times:

    Are You Better Off Today Than Jan. 20, 2009?

    A slim 15% claim to be "getting ahead financially," half what it was in 2006. Fully 27% say they're falling behind financially. That's up 6 points since February.

    A significant majority (54%) says they've been forced to change their lifestyle significantly as a result of the economic times -- and 60% of them are angry, up from 44%.

    To be sure, 30 months after he returned to home cooking, George W. Bush still gets majority blame for the economy.

    But here's the breaking news for wishful Democrats: George W. Bush isn't running for anything but exercise.

    "More than a third of Americans now believe that President Obama’s policies are hurting the economy, and confidence in his ability to create jobs is sharply eroding among his base," the Post reports.

    Strong support among liberal Democrats for Obama's jobs record has plummeted 22 points from 53% down below a third. African Americans who believe the president's measures helped the economy have plunged from 77% to barely half.

    Obama's overall job approval on the economy has slid below 40% for the first time, with 57% disapproving. And strong disapprovers outnumber approvers by better than two-to-one.
     
  3. Mercor

    Mercor

    One solution would be to privatize Social Security.
    Then this would become a nest egg and an asset for wage earners.
    An asset that can be part of an estate, if the owner dies before they can collect.

    Even at minimum wage salary after 40 years of work there would be between 100k and 200k in Social Security investment.
    That money should belong to the estate of the family.

    It is appalling that the Government maintains ownership of this money. It is the poor and minorites that are cheated in the payback of Social security since they have a shorter life span.
     
  4. Ricter

    Ricter

    If it's any consolation (and it should be), the underclass elsewhere is worrying about putting food in their mouth.
     
  5. I don't disagree with that.

    What pisses me off is that these people buy into the class warfare and can't recognize it will always be them that suffers the most.

    When you punish the hand that feeds the food tends to runs low.
     
  6. lmao..skinny bastards wasting away. buying booze and lottery tickets with snapcards.
     
  7. Ricter

    Ricter

    Not always. Guillotines have been used before, and the technology is still available and effective. ; )

    Nutmeg: our poor are skinny??
     
  8. And you wonder why they go around beating up the white people?

     
  9. Lucrum

    Lucrum

    Most of them no, but they should be.
     
    #10     Jul 26, 2011