Seven devastating economic facts affecting Black Americans

[PJABBER]

George Will had an interesting take on a new book about this phenomenon about a month ago.

In "Spoiled Rotten: How the Politics of Patronage Corrupted the Once Noble Democratic Party and Now Threatens the American Republic" — a book more measured and scholarly than its overwrought title — Jay Cost of The Weekly Standard says the party has succumbed to "clientelism," the process of purchasing cohorts of voters with federal favors. This has turned the party into the servant of the strong.

Before Franklin Roosevelt, "liberal" described policies emphasizing liberty and individual rights. He, however, pioneered the politics of collective rights — of group entitlements. And his liberalism systematically developed policies not just to buy the allegiance of existing groups but to create groups that henceforth would be dependent on government.

Under FDR, liberalism became the politics of creating an electoral majority from a mosaic of client groups. Labor unions got special legal standing, farmers got crop supports, business people got tariff protection and other subsidies, the elderly got pensions, and so on and on.

Government no longer existed to protect natural rights but to confer special rights on favored cohorts. As Irving Kristol said, the New Deal preached not equal rights for all but equal privileges for all — for all, that is, who banded together to become wards of the government.

In the 1960s, public-employee unions were expanded to feast from quantitative liberalism (favors measured in quantities of money). And qualitative liberalism was born as environmentalists, feminists and others got government to regulate behavior in the service of social "diversity," "meaningful" work, etc. Cost notes that with the 1982 amendments to the Voting Rights Act, a few government-approved minorities were given an entitlement to public offices: About 40 "majority-minority" congressional districts would henceforth be guaranteed to elect minority members.

Walter Mondale, conceding to Ronald Reagan after the 1984 election, listed the groups he thought government should assist: "the poor, the unemployed, the elderly, the handicapped, the helpless and the sad." Yes, the sad.

Republicans also practice clientelism, but with a (sometimes) uneasy conscience. Both parties have narrowed their appeals as they have broadened their search for clients to cosset. Today's Democratic Party does not understand what one of its saints understood — that big government is generally a patron of the privileged, a partner of rent-seekers.

When vetoing the 1832 bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States, Andrew Jackson said, "It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes." When government goes beyond equal protection by law and undertakes to allocate wealth and opportunity, "the humble members of society -- the farmers, mechanics and laborers -- who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government." As Cost rightly says, "With the exception of the tea party, there is no real faction out there making the Jacksonian case for an end to special privilege."

If, indeed, Black Americans can now be considered vassals of the Democrat Party, there is no reason for that Party to favor them. Their loyalty is so secure that they can be safely ignored outside the occasional flowery speech of promises to come.

 

[Svnla]

pretty much like Southern Dallas politics....these communities that are predominantly black continue to re-elect corrupted officials no matter what because of their skin color. These officials always the play the race card at the expense of their constituents.

Pretty sure that this happens in many other cities as well...

I reckon you hear about John Wiley Price, one of the Dallas County Commissioners...."the black hole"

Edit: and the Mayor pro term and his ilks. They are all in prison now due to shake down and kickbacks from Section 8 Housing developers.

 

[Doppel]

The prevailing Black culture is one that clearly foments failure in ways the rest of society measures it. Blacks do very poorly economically, they are more prone to crime, they are more likely to have splintered families. I certainly would not expect a single political party to ever have the desire nor means to correct this. Particularly in light of the fact that most of us dare not even criticize the failures of the Black community without some relative anonymity, do we expect it to get better? Is it not true that to solve a problem one needs first admit there is one?

The truth is most people separate themselves from the Black community, so when they hear about how badly it's doing their first thought is "I'm glad that's not my problem.", and really it probably isn't their problem.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Govt doesn't create jobs, the market does and the fed distorts the market.
Every dollar invested by the govt is one less dollar that can be invested by the market.

Blacks, as a group, are kept disproportionately poor because of the monetary bureaucracy, the war on drugs, the social security tax, the minimum wage, the davis bacon act, and the welfare state, the last of which discourages many of them from working. I would expect whites, as a group, to have not more than 10x the wealth of blacks in a free society.

We should also note that 22x figure is a median, not a mean. I'm sure there is less difference in the mean of net worth, because 80% of the nba is black and because they're disproportionately entertainers to their percentage of the general population. OTOH, Allen iverson went bankrupt and 80% of the NBA smokes crack...

Stop posting retard

 

[Jhhnn]

Heh. Can't figure it out? Here, graphic 4/8-

http://knowledge.allianz.com/demographics/migration_minorities/?664/multicultural-us

Notice that black populations are concentrated in some of the poorest parts of the country, the places where they've traditionally been most heavily repressed & discriminated against.

Prior to the civil rights acts of the 60's, they voted very republican, when they could vote at all, which changed when their white neighbors embraced the southern strategy of Thurmond & Nixon, the consolidation of white conservatives under the banner of the Repub party.

Righties can't handle the truth, anyway, particularly not wrt race, so we get topics like this, where conservatives try to blame liberals for racial disparities, when it was conservatives who created them and maintain them to this day.

It's not like slavery or Jim Crow were Liberal constructs, at all. In Lincoln's time, Repubs were the liberals, the radicals wrt race, and there were even fairly liberal repubs into the 60's, after which they were basically marginalized & driven out by more conservative elements, converted white southerners chief among them.

It's just the truth. Deal with it or deny it, but the truth won't change.

 

[MrColin]

SEVEN DEVASTATING ECONOMIC FACTS AFFECTING BLACK AMERICANS

The Obama economy has been brutal on all Americans, but especially so on black Americans.

Consider the following seven economic facts:

OK, but lets also realistically consider what the president could have done about each of these things.

27 percent of black Americans now live in poverty, a two percent increase since 2009.

Let's see, with Repugnicans blocking pretty much any policy making efforts, the remaining options for the president could be A)Have the military exterminate them. B)Drop money from helicopters. C)create new bureaucratic offices and staff it with poor black people.

According to last month’s Bureau of Labor Statistics report, the unemployment rate for black Americans now stands at a staggering 14.1 percent, a figure well above the already high national unemployment rate of 8.3 percent.

In addition to A and C above, the president was clearly asleep at the wheel for not creating a tax incentives for firing white people to balance these stats, huh?

White Americans now have 22 times more wealth than black Americans, a figure that has nearly doubled during the recession. According to the Census, in 2010, media household net worth for whites totaled $110,729. For blacks, the figure was $4,995.

Why is he holding back on the helicopter money? For a secret muslim communist illegal alien to be so racist is really surprising isn't it? You know as well as I that those numbers are skewed by astronomic wealth appreciation at the top of the food chain.

From June 2009 to June 2012, real median annual household income for blacks fell 11.1 percent from $36,567 down to $32,498. The drop for whites was 5.2 percent and 4.1 percent for Hispanics.

Maybe we should do away with having the president decide everyone's household income based on race. Oh wait, no, that is decided by the magical invisible hand of the market place isn't it? You know, that perfect efficiency finder that repugnicans always mention when they are trying to sell each other on a pro-monopolistic, barriers to market entry bill.

According to the Census, 26.4 percent of households who report receiving food stamp assistance are African American, despite the fact that black Americans constitute just 13 percent of the total population.

If only he had DARPA start working on those invisible hand detection glasses sooner, those people could be eating real food instead of stamps. The firing white people tax credit could have made a big difference here too.

A study by the AARP found that home foreclosure rates for African American borrowers over the age of 50 were almost double those of whites.

All I can say is that I'm glad the Repugnican party doesn't take bribes campaign donations from the investment megabanks, THANK GOD for that. Those (R) politicians have been screaming for the taxpayer funded money dropping helicopters for four years, why is he dragging his feet?

High school graduation rates, which strongly influence income and job hiring, continue to vary widely by race. A recent study found the following on-time high school graduation rates: 91.8 percent of Asian students, 82 percent of whites, 65.9 percent of Hispanic students, and 63.5 percent of African American students.

If only they didn't have to learn about evolution, or if the poorer public schools could be converted into sweatshops. When Mitt takes office he will be able to teach them the personal responsibility it takes to be born into a pile of money and social capital and all of these issues can be solved.

Come on PJABBER, I expect better than this from you. Why don't you try to promote some of the smart conservative ideas instead of trolling.

 

[MrColin]

George Will had an interesting take on a new book about this phenomenon about a month ago.



If, indeed, Black Americans can now be considered vassals of the Democrat Party, there is no reason for that Party to favor them. Their loyalty is so secure that they can be safely ignored outside the occasional flowery speech of promises to come.

That article was much better than the first post. And spot on.

Romney's campaign has really shown some flair in the flowery speech department too. I saw a short newsclip on CBSnews.com and a totally unrelated 10 minute fluff piece auto loaded afterwards with the Robomneys talking about their perfect life. The emotional appeals of the piece were some of the most expertly crafted work I've ever seen from Madison Ave.

From a purely emotional standpoint it almost started to mitigate my disgust with the Malek the spit-roaster of Dogs involvement.

 

[SheHateMe]

Social programs must be ended, I dont care if others rely on them there stealing my money. Are you talking about that same drug war supported by democrats who also refuse to send there kids to public schools so they dont have to associate with black people

The War on Drugs was spearheaded by Reagan who was a Republican. His administration pretty much tackled the problem by throwing money at it. In Ecuador, the US Government forced them to abide by US policies when the Ecuadorian Government already had a plan. The US gave them millions of dollars and said "Here, take this money..use it to go after the poor farmers growing coca for the drug trade...but PLEASE, don't go after the militia thats actually running the trade and manipulating these people. derp". The US's plan involved burning crops with harsh chemicals that not only destroyed the Coca but everything else making the land useless for agriculture. Also, under the US policy, Ecuador has a US funded Military Police force who's sole purpose was to go after poor people caught in the trade and not the drug lords that ran them. It wasnt until Ecuador refused to follow along after some time that the US finally fucked off.

And...that's pretty much how Anti-Drug policy was carried out in Colombia, Mexico, and other Latin countries. US foreign policy on drugs has don't more harm than good. Look at Mexico....no chance for that country to ever recover from the trade.

The US's philosophy is to go after the victims of the drug trade, not the operators and because of that, traffickers have been allowed to operate, undeterred by any anti-drug policy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/obama-marijuana-legalization_n_1852741.html

There you go, US Drug policy at work.


Plus,

You're stupid.

 

[werepossum]

They shouldn't also just vote "R" across the line because that would lead to the same problem. The black community should diversify their voting choices among many political parties so as to ensure that more then just one political group has a desire to earn their votes. As for the rest of your spiel, it is nothing more then meaningless racial rhetoric of the past that has no meaning today other then to keep black voters in communities locked into one political party. A political party that doesn't have to provide better results as they just have to keep them (the black community) scared with assertions that if they don't vote for a Democrat they will be "picking cotton" regardless of the statistical and contextual facts which demonstrate the continual abysmal failure of such lock step and fear induced political rational to keep them voting the status quo.

QFT
As long as the Democrat Party owns the votes of black Americans, it can and will continue to use them to provide bennies to other groups such as teachers' unions.

 

[SheHateMe]

QFT
As long as the Democrat Party owns the votes of black Americans, it can and will continue to use them to provide bennies to other groups such as teachers' unions.

Well, there is no chance in this current election that blacks will vote republican...just because of the fact that the GOP seems intent on drawing racial divides between voters. I can't blame the Dems for going after easy votes, if these people arent going to vote for the party thats saying they are lazy and shiftless..why not vote for the party that makes them promises.

Im a black voter and I am not voting democratic because of race or anything like that. I watch the debates and I am pretty informed, I just can't vote for a party that thinks I'm a freeloader on welfare.

 

[MooseNSquirrel]

I thought for sure this thread was about white blue collar voters.

 

[PJABBER]

Well, there is no chance in this current election that blacks will vote republican...just because of the fact that the GOP seems intent on drawing racial divides between voters. I can't blame the Dems for going after easy votes, if these people arent going to vote for the party thats saying they are lazy and shiftless..why not vote for the party that makes them promises.

Im a black voter and I am not voting democratic because of race or anything like that. I watch the debates and I am pretty informed, I just can't vote for a party that thinks I'm a freeloader on welfare.

The Republicans have the greatest incentive for inclusion and have made very strong outreach efforts in that regard. I have not seen ANY indication of them pushing racial divides, please show me a few links where you have.

If anything, it is the Democrats that keep referring to racial minorities as unable to function without the hobbling hand of a government that only they can provide.

If you consider that the Rs have recruited minority candidates for governorships (no minority Dems as governors!), have made appointments at the Cabinet level, have been grooming a whole lot of minorities for greater roles (a much stronger bench than the Democrats, if you care to drill that deep,) I would consider them much more welcoming than the Ds.

If you are not a freeloader on welfare (not all people on welfare are freeloaders either!) then the R message of individual empowerment is a strong one. Social welfare programs may keep people afloat but they are also very likely to keep people from taking the necessary steps for empowerment, ie gainful employment and entrepreneurship.

I am not a Republican (yet,) but I am a free market liberal and the Rs have been pushing for programs that empower rather than make for dependencies. I like that!

Remember that old saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime?"

The Dems are promising a whole lot of fish through deficit borrowing to those groups that they believe would love to have those handouts. The Rs are promising to make those same groups fishermen.

A big difference, and one I would hope would be more of a guide as to which side voters should choose.

 

[OutHouse]

Social programs must be ended, I dont care if others rely on them there stealing my money. Are you talking about that same drug war supported by democrats who also refuse to send there kids to public schools so they dont have to associate with black people

lets see in 50 years or so if you will be enjoying your SS check or using medicare to pay your medical cost.

 

[cybrsage]

One day, black America will wake up and realize that the DNC is taking them for granted. They will also see the DNC is continuing to keep them down, as they have done since the late 1700s.

 

[Moonbeam]

Leave it to the conservative masters of group loyalty to see the evils of group loyalty, but only in groups other than their own. All these hideous things that they see in black group loyalty they see because it is the truth about themselves they can't see.

 

[PJABBER]

Leave it to the conservative masters of group loyalty to see the evils of group loyalty, but only in groups other than their own. All these hideous things that they see in black group loyalty they see because it is the truth about themselves they can't see.

The issue is not that people can't recognize they have an affinity to a group or an individual. It is that most are not able to reject that affinity when they are confronted with the fact that it is harmful to their well being.

One would think that a minority group that comprises 17% of the entire population would have some significant diversity of political opinion.

But, if that diversity in normal times is limited to only 10% of the group, and to only 1% when a person with the same skin color is a candidate for the party the 90% are beholden to, there is little that they can expect for their allegiance.

That is the truth and it hurts as can be seen in the OP.

 

[Ldir]

One day, black America will wake up and realize that the DNC is taking them for granted.

Maybe, but for now they are awake to the fact the GOP is selling them back into servitude.

 

[Moonbeam]

The issue is not that people can't recognize they have an affinity to a group or an individual. It is that most are not able to reject that affinity when they are confronted with the fact that it is harmful to their well being.

One would think that a minority group that comprises 17% of the entire population would have some significant diversity of political opinion.

But, if that diversity in normal times is limited to only 10% of the group, and to only 1% when a person with the same skin color is a candidate for the party the 90% are beholden to, there is little that they can expect for their allegiance.

That is the truth and it hurts as can be seen in the OP.

The only truth it reveals is that the Republican party is so racist and inimical to blacks that it is obvious to most of them and overcomes any inherent conservative appeal that might otherwise exist. So while conservative denial is powerful enough to not see this, it is still obvious to blacks. You don't get called a bunch of racist white angry pigs for nothing, you know. It's something conservatives earn.

I have used just this point to point out the racist nature of the republican party. You do better among Hispanics and women, but the hideous nature of conservative thinking also messes them up there.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

So when a black clicks the straight party D ticket they are voting purely for other blacks... got it. OP if blacks would only listen to you and vote R, they'd finally be voting in their best interests! That'll be a relief to them once they all read your OP. The group loyalty you think they like is the loyalty that comes from picking cotton for someone else I guess... breitbartlolz

They're voting for Obama and that's all they care about. a "black" man as the president. I can't hit youtube from work, but I distinctly remember black voters coming out and saying Obama is going to pay their car note, ect. There were a lot of dumb voters that voted for Obama thinking they were going to stick it to the man. Guess what folks, the white half of Obama still screwed you.

Their loyalty to the D party pre-dates President Obama so it's clearly not predominantly a racial bias.

Frankly if I was a Black American, I'm not sure I'd have any reason to vote R unless I was an evangelical to whom social issues trumped economic. Even if I was an evangelical, I'd find myself sick of the Republicans being the party of 'do as I say, not as I do'.

Why would you vote for a party dominated by old white guys, whose primary focus seems to be cutting the tax rate of the ultra-wealthy, who want to dismantle social programs that many rely on, who supports an ineffective drug war that disproportionally targets your demographic, and who has given your demographic very little representation in their platform.

It is a social bias in that voting for Dem = voting for the group that promises to keep giving you welfare.

Democrats just as much as Republicans support giving money to big corporations. In fact it is part and parcel part of their support of big government expansion of the system itself which demonstrates this as fact. Or do you believe all those government mandates and initiatives to get businesses to behave in a certain manner (be it to hire more minorities, or lend money to more minorities, or develop "eco-friendly") are not incentivized with tax payer dollars going to big corporations by Democrats politicians?

Sadly the real issue here is that you only focus on money you disagree with rather then money you believe is justifiable (but which other can argue against) without any understanding or conscious desire to focus on this act of providing subsidizes in general and how its often used to justify supporting other subsidized endeavors.




A war supported by big government and its supporters among the Democrat party. Of which the authority of said "War" is gained by bending and twisting the Constitution to further erode the rights of individuals which again helps the cause of those who favor big government as the solution to all our woes in life in order to push in their agenda into other spheres of politics, i.e. See the equally failed "War on Poverty".

Libs only cite "big oil" and the military idunstry as their sources of the evil large corporations sucking up tax dollars. They never mention GE, IE paid no taxes, and who's CEO is one of Obama's advisors, or all the failed "green energy" companies that courted Dem leaders and wasted Billions of tax dollars.

The current GOP's main selling point is that party on the outside seems to have come to grips with the fact that the government IS the problem. It's not the GOP's government and it's not the Dem's government. It's OUR government. Sadly, that is something WE built and it sucks.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Maybe, but for now they are awake to the fact the GOP is selling them back into servitude.

How so?
The only people selling blacks into servitude are other blacks. BET, Snoop Dog, 50 Cents, ect all perpetuate a stereotype of living "bling bling" lives and spending all your money on useless shit. Sadly the masses of uneducated blacks (and whites and hispanics) buy that crap up and try to emulate that lifestyle. They turn out thinking the only way to get ahead is to be a music star or sports star. So they don't try to graduate school and get an education.
Image is everything to them, and sadly, for most, image doesn't get you anywhere.

 

[xj0hnx]

Are you talking about the same drug war that punishes crack users far more than cocaine users, even though it's the same drug?

I am 100% for legalizing all drugs, but I really hate seeing/hearing this line over and over. They didn't just make the penalties for crack higher for fun, crack introduced a new form of cocaine, and cheap to a whole new world, unfortunately that world was the violent street gangs. Crack's harsh penalties aren't because it is mostly consumed, and sold by blacks, but because it carried with it a tsunami of street violence that the powder cocaine scene didn't see in this country.

 

[PJABBER]

The only truth it reveals is that the Republican party is so racist and inimical to blacks that it is obvious to most of them and overcomes any inherent conservative appeal that might otherwise exist. So while conservative denial is powerful enough to not see this, it is still obvious to blacks. You don't get called a bunch of racist white angry pigs for nothing, you know. It's something conservatives earn.

I have used just this point to point out the racist nature of the republican party. You do better among Hispanics and women, but the hideous nature of conservative thinking also messes them up there.

I think you will only find that kind of negative descriptive language and opinion coming from the New Black Panther Party, but if you believe this is mainstream American thought then the Democrat Party has brainwashed you sufficiently.

I had a thread going a while back asking if Paul Ryan was racist and the regular contingent of Dems and radical lefties here could not find the Dem talking points at Puff and Huff Post and the Daily Dross to respond at the time.

Now that the Dem Party and the Journolists are getting their spurious attacks together, they are probably discovering all kinds of code words to show that Ryan's Black American sweetie in college was not really all that.

The thread can be found here - Is Paul Ryan A Racist?

That was then and now is now. I am sure newly discovered racism is right around the corner.

 

[Jhhnn]

Is Paul Ryan a racist?

 

[PJABBER]

Is Paul Ryan a racist?

 

[Jhhnn]

Awww. Looks like I hit a nerve.

You don't have to be a racist to pander to racists- you just need to be very cynical & manipulative. Ryan is both.