If black families were as rich as white ones, U.S. economy would be $1.5 trillion bigger

[Applewood]

If black families were as rich as white ones, U.S. economy would be $1.5 trillion bigger

The typical white family in America has 10 times the wealth of a typical black family—a figure that has barely changed in two decades and has actually widened in the current economic expansion.

This persistent, and growing, disparity has become a pressing issue for Democrats, with four presidential hopefuls making their case in June at the Black Economic Alliance Forum and a House Judiciary subcommittee debating reparations for slavery just this summer.

But it's also infiltrating corporate America. The consulting firm McKinsey this week issued an estimate of just how much the historic and current discrimination against African-Americans is hurting the broader economy. That estimate: Somewhere between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/racial-wealth-gap-costs-economy-1-5-trillion-dollars-report-finds/

[Sanguine]

I'm not going to CBS to read this, but are they talking equivalent families, the only difference being race/ethnicity? 

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

I'm not going to CBS to read this, but are they talking equivalent families, the only difference being race/ethnicity?

I did, and they didn't say, but that was my first thought.  The article basically blames it all on racist policies, pointing out there's about a 10x difference between average white/black family wealth, but I'd like to see a comparison of families of four with a (real) mommy and daddy.

[bigheadfred]

I'm not going to CBS to read this, but are they talking equivalent families, the only difference being race/ethnicity?

Doesn't seem to say.

Here is the closing line.

Banks, the Bucknell professor, said it was "noteworthy that the issue of the racial wealth gap has been taken up by a mainstream consultancy," but added that the central concern should be on achieving racial equity—not economic benefits.

 

[Applewood]

I'm not going to CBS to read this, but are they talking equivalent families, the only difference being race/ethnicity?

Not sure what this McKinsey outfit used as criteria.  This just seems like something designed to bolster the reparations argument and create racial division. 

The report talks about black farmers being deprived of their land and assorted other policies which kept blacks from owning property and other areas of discrimination.  But that discrimination has been long gone.  There is no reason today why black families can't  accumulate the wealth of white people unless they fail to take advantage of the opportunities available.

[bigheadfred]

I did, and they didn't say, but that was my first thought.  The article basically blames it all on racist policies, pointing out there's about a 10x difference between average white/black family wealth, but I'd like to see a comparison of families of four with a (real) mommy and daddy.

Right. I thought that also. The STEREOtypical white family is two parents with two kids.

[truth_seeker]

I believe other sources, including Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Larry Elder AND OTHERS,

can "normalize" such data, to paint alternative comclusions.

Dem candidte Marrianne Williamson, is all in for bigtime reparations.

But what do you call the massive wealth transfers, since Civil Rights, Since the Johnson era social programs?

[bigheadfred]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_family_structure

African-American family structure

The family structure of African-Americans has long been a matter of national public policy interest.[18] A 1965 report by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, known as The Moynihan Report, examined the link between black poverty and family structure.[18] It hypothesized that the destruction of the Black nuclear family structure would hinder further progress toward economic and political equality.[18]

When Moynihan wrote in 1965 on the coming destruction of the Black family, the out-of-wedlock birth rate was 25% among Blacks.[19] In 1991, 68% of Black children were born outside of marriage.[20] In 2011, 72% of Black babies were born to unmarried mothers.[21][22] In 2015, 77% of Black babies were born to unmarried mothers.[23]

snip

The American economists Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell argue that the significant expansion of federal welfare under the Great Society programs beginning in the 1960s contributed to the destruction of African American families.[29][69] Sowell has argued that "the black family, which had survived centuries of slavery and discrimination, began rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized unwed pregnancy and changed welfare from an emergency rescue to a way of life."

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

I believe other sources, including Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Larry Elder AND OTHERS,

can "normalize" such data, to paint alternative comclusions.

Dem candidte Marrianne Williamson, is all in for bigtime reparations.

But what do you call the massive wealth transfers, since Civil Rights, Since the Johnson era social programs?

Intentional

[IsailedawayfromFR]

I wonder what the authors would propose to provide 'equality' here?  It cannot be widespread reparations as the well-off black families would be too advantaged to be given more money.  And what about the fact there are more poor white families than poor black families?  How would reparations help them?  Seems they would just be hurt more.

Finally, their conclusion was that the economy is $1.5 trillion deficient due to the wealth gap.  Taking money from one segment and giving to another does not create more wealth for the economy.  So how does this wealth get created?  It is certainly not through redistribution.

It can only be done via the policies we see Trump trying, sometimes successfully, like getting more American products made here and resources mined here rather than purchasing them elsewhere.

[skeeter]

Imagine how big the economy would be if black families were as rich as the average asian family? Even larger.

But that wouldn't send the message CBS wants to send.

[Fishrrman]

Please point out which nations in the world where blacks (as a racial group) do as well or better economically than any other racial group (whites, Asians, etc.)...?

[bigheadfred]

12 Monkeys

Yes, bighead that is right, @Sanguine

Ten Little Indians Jumping On The Bed...

Five Little Monkeys...

Put velcro on the ceiling...

Idiomocracy.

But I went down to the demonstration
To get your fair share of abuse
Singing, "We're gonna vent our frustration
If we don't we're gonna blow a fifty-amp fuse"
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need

I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red

I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was "dead"

I said to him
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need

[Sanguine]

@bigheadfred I'd settle for some honesty.  A little truth now and then.  Is that too much to ask?

[bigheadfred]

@bigheadfred I'd settle for some honesty.  A little truth now and then.  Is that too much to ask?

I'll answer that on another thread.