“Black household wealth has collapsed so completely there is no statistical possibility......

[marmar]

......of ever reaching parity with whites under the existing economic system – period.”


from Black Agenda Report:



State of the Union 2015: Lethal, Predatory, Delusional
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

[font size="4"]“The economy inhabited by the vast majority of Americans grows smaller and more cutthroat, with nearly all the new wealth accruing to the rich.”[/font]

Tuesday night, in his next-to-last State of the Union address, President Obama flashed the suckers a bag of tricks that has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Congress, but will allow his apologists to claim that the genuine, more progressive Obama is revealing himself in his final two years in office. Of course, the final-years Obama could have accomplished his modest 2015 agenda, and much more, back in 2009 and 2010, when Democrats dominated both the House and the Senate and the Republicans were in despair and disarray. Which is precisely why Obama chose, instead, to put his party’s perishable congressional majorities at the service of bankers, Wall Street, private insurers and Big Pharma. Now that Democrats are the endangered species on Capitol Hill, Obama hangs a piñata of subsidized community college education, additional tax deductions for child care, seven days paid sick leave, higher capital gains taxes on the wealthy, and billions in fees on casino bankers.

On closer examination, his grab bag of bills and requests for legislation contains even less than advertized – a vapor-thin rhetorical veneer for a center-right presidency whose real accomplishment has been to re-inflate the Wall Street casino, flush the last vestiges of secure employment out of the economy, and put the imperial war machine back on the offensive. Corporate pundits describe Obama’s antics as an appeal to his party’s “base.” In a world in which words actually mean something, a politician’s base would be composed of the people whose interests he actually serves, rather than those he victimizes. But, such logic does not apply in late capitalist America, where both parties cater to the needs of the moneyed classes; one, shamelessly, without inhibition, the other through deployment of talented liars like Obama.

“The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong,” said Obama, reflecting the corporate consensus that the rich can safely get on with the business of appropriating to themselves the wealth of the world. “Over the past five years, our businesses have created more than 11 million new jobs,” he said, failing to clarify that the vast majority of these jobs are low wage and highly insecure, or that five million workers have dropped out of the job market – half a million in December, alone. The economy inhabited by the vast majority of Americans grows smaller and more cutthroat, with nearly all the new wealth accruing to the rich. Yet, “the shadow of crisis has passed....”

Obama celebrated the “resilience” of the “strong, tight-knit” American family, exemplified by a Minneapolis couple that have both regained employment. “Our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999,” said Obama – bad jobs, in a nation of growing inequality. For Blacks, wages relative to whites have regressed to 1980 levels, and Black household wealth has collapsed so completely there is no statistical possibility of ever reaching parity with whites under the existing economic system – period. .......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.blackagendareport.com/node/14635

[LuvNewcastle]

1. We now have more shitty jobs than ever.

Wallow in the prosperity, working class America.

[1StrongBlackMan]

2. Wow ...

In the time it took me to read and post to another OP, this OP fell off the GD front page ... without a single additional comment from when I first saw it!

I read; but rarely, agree with anything coming out of BAP, largely because of the anti-President Obama spin they put on every OP.

BTW, the title of the DU OP, has very little to do with the BAP OP, which was BAP's typical anti-President Obama screed.

[KingCharlemagne]

3. By 'BAP,' do you mean "BAR" (for Black Agenda Report)? I like Glenn Ford b/c his

line runs very close to my own.

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. Yes ...

my smartphone is too smart, again.

I see Ford as filling the contrarian niche of the thought of the Black community

[KingCharlemagne]

6. I'm a white guy and so wouldn't presume to guess as to the thought of the

black community (or communities). But I'm a Marxist and Ford's analysis seems to closely match my own. Ford's line has been fairly consistent over the past 6 years, AFAIK, although I did not start reading him regularly until about 2-3 years ago. Based on what I do know, Ford's analyses (like my own) are pretty fringe-y with respect to the mainstream discourse(s). But then, so were John Brown's back in 1858-59

[XemaSab]

38. I would never look to Black American Princesses

for economic analysis.

[1StrongBlackMan]

39. He said that?

[hfojvt]

23. I find the title to be a load of crap

black households with more than $250,000 in wealth

1993 - 1.5%
2002 - 3.6%
2011 - 8.9%

black households with less than $0 net worth

1993 - 28.8
2002- 33.1
2011- 33.5

black households with less than $10,000

1993 - 56.9%
2002 - 55.3%
2011 - 55.1%

black households with more than $100,000

1993 - 7.13% (31.3%)*
2002- 12.9% (47%)
2011- 21.5% (52.1%)

(white households) * - percent in 1993 includes 6 million hispanic households (for example, including hispanic households in 2011 would reduce the percentage to 48%)

and the economy is better now than it was in 2011.

[Yo_Mama]

26. A few disagreements.

10K is worth a lot less now than it was in 1993.

Just comparing the median price of homes from 1993 to now gives you an inkling. You have to adjust those numbers for them to make sense.

I also wanted to point out that without age-adjusting these numbers, they are meaningless. In the US, virtually anyone of any race starts out with a negative net worth young, and then their net worth increases with age. The age function is so strong that it overwhelms all else.

I think you should rethink a bit; on this Census page look at table C7, and see what a huge perecentage of black children are living below poverty or double poverty, and compare it to white. There is a huge disparity. 36% of black kids below poverty line, versus lower numbers for all other racial groups. A staggering 63% living in poverty or near poverty (less than double).

There's a lot to worry about.

[hfojvt]

31. both of those points are valid

and I almost mentioned inflation, but there is no way to calibrate them. I mean the inflation calculator can tell me that $62,372.47 in 1992 is the same as $100,000 today, but the census of wealth cannot really tell me how many in 1992 had more than $62,000 in net worth, although I could perhaps use the medians.

Point is, the data is not showing any "collapse" even in 2011, a mere year or so into the tepid recovery - to say nothing of now when things are a fair amount better.

As for age, it does not determin everything. Yes, 48% of all households under age 35 had less than $5,000 in net worth in 2002, but even for 65 and older, there are still 13.6 percent with less than $5,000. And, on the other side, there were 4% of households under age 35 with more than $250,000 in net worth, and 12.2% with more than $100,000.

I don't however, have breakdowns by race and age (or if they are on the census page, I did not save that portion of data. In fact, 2011 was the only year where I pulled out median wealth and 2002 the only year where I got data on age and marital status and etc.)

I am only looking at wealth though, not income, which is how poverty is measured. There is quite a bit or correlation between the two, but not complete. For example, in 2002, 8.6% of households in the highest income quintile had net worth less than $5,000, and 7.6% of households in the lowest income quintiles had over $250,000 in net worth.

[Nye Bevan]

29. Thanks. I clicked on the article in the OP to see what statistics it cites to back up its claim,

but found none. I guess that makes it empty rhetoric.

[Agnosticsherbet]

4. Dereguatlion worked as planned for those who set it in motion.

to create a permanent underclass of the workingclass.

[ND-Dem]

7. K&R.

[kelliekat44]

8. And the very effective assault on unions assures that many whites will be joining them.

Union wages and protections, government hiring, and home ownership were the foundations for black prosperity...if not wealth, at least stability...stability in the family, in school, in the workforce. Everything the GOP and their supporters and white, conservative Dems attack is directed at destroying any hope of minority prosperity and equal justice under the law.

[ND-Dem]

9. will be? already have.

[TheKentuckian]

10. When the turds are stacked on us those at the bottom of the pile will have the most shit on them.

The disadvantaged always get the full brunt and the more already behind the 8 ball someone was the more fucked with fewer ways out they are.

[uponit7771]

11. Wow

[Donald Ian Rankin]

12. Anyone who claims to be able to forsee "ever" is a fool.

It is certainly true that the odds of parity of income between white and black Americans in the forseeable future, however, are minute - at a bare minimum, it will take many generations.

[woo me with science]

13. Perhaps the most revolting, dishonest claim of Third Way politicians

is their shameless, outrageous claim to be the ones who *especially* care about racism....even while they are aggressively and relentlessly advancing policies that actually savage minorities and minority communities.

The corporate PR machine relishes seeking accolades for emoting about racial injustice and stoking anger between groups to enhance whatever division is possible in the electorate....But if you even begin to mention actual policies that affect minority groups, the defensive attacks begin....because the actual record of corporatists on policies and race is hideous:

Racial Aspects of Economy are Significant for White House to Address
http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/07/28/racial-aspects-of-economy-are-significant-for-white-house-to-address

The Astonishing Collapse of Black and Latino Household Wealth
http://www.alternet.org/economy/black-and-latino-household-wealth-has-collapsed

The Roots of the Widening Racial Wealth Gap: Explaining the Black-White Economic Divide
http://iasp.brandeis.edu/pdfs/Author/shapiro-thomas-m/racialwealthgapbrief.pdf

Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks and Hispanics
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2011/07/SDT-Wealth-Report_7-26-11_FINAL.pdf

The truth is that women and minorities can't afford more corporatism and are already dying because of it. The effects of *continued* corporate warfare on this nation will be a disaster for all Americans, but *especially* women and minorities.

It's all a viciously cynical rhetorical game. The Third Way will not protect values of racial *or* gender equality by supporting candidates whose policies are dismantling the very economic and democratic systems that make it possible for women and minorities to be empowered. They certainly won't do it with policies like Obama's and Hillary's that protect bankers, starve schools and communities, grow exploitative industries including private prisons, and militarize the hell out of police in marginalized communities.

If people think things are bad now, just wait until we see the status of women and minorities in this country when we are all working for Third World wages, Hillary's trade agreements have ramped up corporate power and the ability of predatory corporations to override our democratic laws and protections, and dissent in the new corporate America has been crushed.

It's a vicious agenda. It's the corporate agenda:

Poor minorities are worthless to corporations on the street. In prison they can bring in $40,000/yr
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023368969

Poor Land in Jail as Companies Add Huge Fees for Probation
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014158005

The Caging of America - Why do we lock up so many people
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002226110

The Obama administration is aggressively growing private prisons
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022568681

Obama's 2013 budget: One area of marked growth, the prison industrial complex
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/1002392306

Obama selects the owner of a private prison consulting firm as the new Director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS)
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/12/mars-d03.html

Private prison corporations move up on list on federal contractors, receiving BILLIONS
http://www.nationofchange.org/president-obama-s-incarcernation-1335274655

Federal Private Prison Populations Grew by 784% in 10 Year Span
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4362184

Prison Labor Booms As Unemployment Remains High; Companies Reap Benefits
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/prison-labor_n_2272036.html

Private Prison Corporation's Letters to Shareholders Reveal Industry's Tactics: Profiting from Human Incarceration
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022665091

Financial growth of private prison industry...Profiting from caging humans.

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/BshteP8i282pcaeH8pdUsA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTUyMA--/

We heard about private prisons...but do you know of the private probation industry?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025380204

NYT: Probation Fees Rise, Firms Profit and the Poor Go to Jail
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002893040

No Safe Place: How Cities Are Making It Illegal to be Homeless
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101699724

Thrown in jail for being poor: the booming for-profit probation industry
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024603515

The exploitation of Ferguson I: In 2013 the town issued over 24,000 arrest warrants..
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025404667

The exploitation of Ferguson II: The Seamy Underbelly Of Ferguson Starts To Appear
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025416747

The exploitation of Ferguson III: Ferguson Feeds Off the Poor: Three Warrants a Year Per Household
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025428157

[cheapdate]

16. You're playing a "cynical rhetorical game".

You're inventing a "consequentialist" definition of "racism" to suit your argument. It muddies the meaning of the word "racism" to include practically anything and everything that has any possible racial dimension.

"Neoliberal economics", "corporatism", "globalization" -- call it what you want -- it's bad or good, evil or virtuous, constructive or destructive according to your perspective.

Neoliberal economics fucks over ordinary people of every color and ethncity. It fucks over white people in Poland and Hungary, Oklahoma and Kansas, just as well as it fucks over brown people.

I'm not defending Hillary Clinton and her ilk's support of globalization and the rest, I'm not a fan, but I dispute the blanket charge of "racism" for "Third-Wayers."

[Rex]

17. A great amount of information, thanks woo!

It is too bad nobody cares enough to stop monsters from profiting off of prison. I guess we have no real values left in this country.

[bigtree]

22. +1

[cheapdate]

14. Made strong points until he called president Obama a "talented liar".

That shit turns me off. Disagreement or a different perspective or understanding doesn't make a "liar".

[Skittles]

25. OK, he gives purty speeches

[cheapdate]

27. Fine.

[woo me with science]

15. K&R Watch what Third Way politicians do, not what they say.

Rhetoric versus actual policies. It's a hideous picture, indeed.

[Rex]

18. Investment bankers are immune to the law.

When the government fines them a billion, they just go out and steal 20 billion more from poor suckers.

[Octafish]

19. Glen Ford is a real journalist.

Calls 'em as he sees 'em.

Same for all of Black Agenda Report that I've read.

A favorite:

Is This Barack Obama's 2nd Term? Is it Bill Clinton's 3rd? Or Is It Ronald Reagan's 9th?

They say that elections do matter, and that there are real differences between Republican and Democratic presidents. But backing up the view to 30 years, that difference looks a lot more like continuity, both at home and in America's global empire.

By Bruce A. Dixon
Black Agenda Report managing editor

The answer is yes to all three. Ronald Reagan hasn't darkened the White House door in decades. But his policy objectives have been what every president, Democrat and Republican have pursued relentlessly ever since. Barack Obama is only the latest and most successful of Reagan's disciples.

SNIP...

In Barack Obama's case all he had to say was that he wasn't necessarily against wars, just against what he called “stupid wars.” Corporate media and “liberal” shills morphed that lone statement into a false narrative that Barack Obama opposed the war in Iraq, making him an instantly viable presidential candidate at a time when the American people overwhelmingly opposed that war. Once in office, Barack Obama strove mightily to abrogate the Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq which would have allowed US forces to remain there indefinitely. But when the Iraqi puppet government, faced with a near revolt on the part of what remained of Iraqi civil society, dared not do his bidding, insisting that uniformed US troops (but not the American and multinational mercenaries we pay to remain there) stick to the withdrawal timetable agreed upon under Bush, liberal shills and corporate media hailed the withdrawal from Iraq as Obama's “victory.”

Barack Obama doubled down on the invasion and occupation of large areas of Afghanistan, and increased the size of the army and marines, which in fact he pledged to do during his presidential campaign. Presidential candidate Obama promised to end secret imprisonment and torture. The best one can say about President Obama on this score is that he seems to prefer murderous and indiscriminate drone attacks, in many cases, over the Bush policy of international kidnapping secret imprisonment and torture. The Obama administration's reliance on drones combined with US penetration of the African continent, means that a Democratic, ostensibly “antiwar” president has been able to openly deploy US troops to every part of that continent in support of its drive to control the oil, water, and other resources there.

The objectives President Obama's Africa policies fulfill today were put down on paper by the Bush administration, pursued by Bill Clinton before that, and still earlier pursued by Ronald Reagan, when it funded murderous contra armies of UNITA in Angola and RENAMO in Mozambque. It was UNITA and RENAMO's campaigns, assisted by the apartheid regimes of Israel and South Africa that pioneered the genocidal use of child soldiers. Today, cruise missile liberals hail the Obama administration's use of pit bull puppet regimes like Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda, all of which shot their way into power with child soldiers, to invade Somalia and Congo, sometimes ostensibly to go after other bad actors on the grounds that they are using child soldiers.

CONTINUED...

http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/barack-obamas-2nd-term-it-bill-clintons-3rd-or-it-ronald-reagans-9th

"Cruise Missile Liberals." One shouldn't have to be a $5,000-a-plate A-List Invitee to know that hits home.

[hifiguy]

20. K & R for the truth.

[bigtree]

21. kick

... interesting take. More denigrating that I would agree with, but understandably highlighting a continued disparity in income; despite an actual narrowing of the income gap, somewhat. All boats rise in an improving economy, yet black income and wealth still lags far behind white counterparts, for example. Still, correct in that there will likely be no significant move toward parity in this administration.

[woo me with science]

24. kick

[WinkyDink]

28. God forbid public education actually educated students about such facts. No, instead, let's TEST!

[woo me with science]

30. We don't get information anymore. We get propaganda. nt

[WinkyDink]

36. How sad and how true. Rupert Murdoch and his craven media minions have done MUCH to ruin

our democracy and our very mind-set. THEY begat the "Angry White Male" Syndrome, harping on how Obama is a "dictator" and so on.

[woo me with science]

32. kick

[xchrom]

33. du rec.

[dembotoz]

34. yep

[ck4829]

35. All the more reason to get wealth out of politics. K&R.

[riderinthestorm]

37. Kick back to the top for an important read. Thanks Marmar! nt