Saturday, December 21

Tag: wealth

How Do We Undo The Deep Roots Of the Racial Wealth Gap
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Journalism

How Do We Undo The Deep Roots Of the Racial Wealth Gap

In the more than 150 years since the end of the Civil War, Black American wealth remains a fraction of that held by White Americans. Just after emancipation in 1865, African Americans owned 0.5% of national wealth. By 2019, that percentage had not risen above 2%. An analysis by the Brookings Institution found that the median wealth of White families stood at $188,200 while the median wealth of Black families was a mere $24,100. What’s worse is that this chasm has continued to grow. Between 1983 and 2016, adjusting for inflation, median White wealth increased by 33%, according to the Institute for Policy Studies. The median Black family, in contrast, saw their wealth decrease by more than half during that period. The pandemic has only exacerbated the situation. While closing this divide is...
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Biden Tried Taxing US Billionaires’ Wealth – Why It Will Never Work
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BUSINESS

Biden Tried Taxing US Billionaires’ Wealth – Why It Will Never Work

Beverly Moran, Vanderbilt University The speed with which a tax on billionaires came and went as a means to pay for President Joe Biden’s economic agenda shows why it’s so hard to tax wealth in the U.S. Democrats unveiled their proposal on Oct. 27, 2021, and it was nixed that same day, replaced with a surcharge on millionaire incomes. The idea of taxing the richest Americans’ fortunes has been batted around for some time, and perhaps with good reason from a tax perspective. The total wealth of U.S. billionaires soared by US$1.8 trillion during the COVID-19 pandemic as of mid-August. And recent reporting has found that despite their massive riches, billionaires tend to pay very little in taxes. As an expert on tax policy, I have observed that there’s a big obstacle standing in the way o...
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‘Real Housewives’ Opens Up A Debate On Wealth, Control And Intimate Partner Abuse
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TELEVISION

‘Real Housewives’ Opens Up A Debate On Wealth, Control And Intimate Partner Abuse

Erika Girardi's divorce sparks questions from fans — and speaks to larger issues of financial control in marriage. Jennifer Gerson Originally published by The 19th In December 2020, class-action lawyer Tom Girardi was sued by a class of his former defendants from the 2018 Lion Air flight crash in Indonesia. Tom Girardi, they said, defrauded them and funneled cash from settlements to his personal accounts. Some of that cash, the lawsuits say, went to his wife, Erika Girardi, one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and a chart-topping dance pop performer who went on to write a New York Times-bestselling memoir and star on Broadway in the long-running musical “Chicago.” (Both Girardis will be referred to by their first names in this article for clarity.) When the Bravo show’s 11...
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The Fed Doesn’t Have The Right Tools To Fix Huge Racial Income And Wealth Gaps
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POLITICS

The Fed Doesn’t Have The Right Tools To Fix Huge Racial Income And Wealth Gaps

BUSINESS Paul Wachtel, New York University Central bankers and economists from around the world are convening remotely for the annual Jackson Hole symposium on Aug. 27, 2021, to discuss the future of monetary policy. For the second year in a row, the annual conference will be virtual and the theme – Macroeconomic Policy in an Uneven Economy – seems appropriate given that the road out of the pandemic recession has been bumpy, with Black Americans lagging behind. Indeed, how central banks should address racial inequities in the distribution of wealth and income is a likely topic for discussion at the virtual retreat and could get a mention in Fed chair Jerome Powell’s highly anticipated speech. A ‘critical role to play’? It certainly is an issue that needs attention. Despite the vast cha...
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Trump’s Wealth May Be The Best Medicine In Fighting COVID-19
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COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

Trump’s Wealth May Be The Best Medicine In Fighting COVID-19

With President Donald Trump testing positive for coronavirus, speculation has begun regarding possible outcomes. The reality is, it’s impossible to say for certain what will happen to an individual once they’ve contracted COVID. Some people might have no symptoms at all, while others might have far worse outcomes. It’s one of the many mysteries of the virus that scientists worldwide are working around the clock to untangle. When it comes to risk, we do know some things, but many remain uncertain. We can change some things, and some we’re stuck with. It’s now common knowledge that age is the most important factor driving the risk of worse outcomes from COVID. Being male, living with obesity, being from a non-White ethnic group and having long-term conditions—such as diabetes and heart dise...
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IN OTHER NEWS

New Study Shows Wealth Inequality Hits Communities of Color Hardest

And it’s not just about rich and poor. The racial wealth gap is damaging to the economy as a whole. The story of the growing inequality in the United States has many dimensions. There is the overarching story of the last four decades of polarizing income, wealth, and opportunity. But the many ways these inequalities manifest depend on people’s gender, race, age, immigration status, and other experience. One piece of the story is to understand how 40 years of public policies have worsened the racial wealth divide and enriched the top 1 percent. Wealth is where the past shows up in the present, both in terms of historical advantages and barriers. Measures of wealth—what you own minus what you owe—reflect the multigenerational story of White supremacy in asset-building. Fo...
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IN OTHER NEWS

How Funding Black Businesses Can Help Bridge the Racial Wealth Gap

The Runway Project is making entrepreneurship more accessible to Black communities. Richmond, California, native April Fenall didn’t grow up with aspirations of becoming an entrepreneur. But upon moving from Sacramento back to the Bay Area in 2015, she couldn’t find work. A past conviction—even though it had been expunged from her record—and severe scoliosis made it difficult to find gainful employment. So she became an entrepreneur out of necessity. “I wasn’t able to show up as my complete self,” Fenall said, referring to her struggle to integrate into the workforce. “And I made an assumption that other people were probably encountering the same thing, of having all of these different identities that make up a whole person but not being able to show up as that whole perso...
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

What School Lunches Have to Do With Fixing Wealth Inequality

Dismantling a capitalist food system could begin with schools, which nationwide spend about $3 billion on food contracts. Once a year, Russell Farms in Brackney, Pennsylvania, hosts a harvest celebration, where students from nearby Tioga Central School District in New York state get to visit, talk to farmers and pick apples from the farm’s 12  varieties. “It’s a great day because the kids can make the connection and see where their food is grown,” says Julie Raway, a registered dietitian for 15 New York school districts. And they are excited when the same fruit they sampled shows up in their cafeteria at school. Russell Farms sells apples to local school districts as part of a Farm to School initiative—a growing national movement that aims to create equity and redistribute wealth...
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Journalism

Why Co-ops and Community Farms Can’t Close the Racial Wealth Gap

Circulating local dollars can’t create wealth when there’s not enough to begin with. Residents of one Detroit historic neighborhood have been looking forward to next year’s opening of a food co-op. It will help bring to market produce from a community farm and is part of a larger community development project that will include a health food cafe, an incubator kitchen for food entrepreneurs, and space for events. The project expects to employ 20 people from the mostly low- to moderate-income area. Twenty jobs may not seem like a lot when unemployment in the approximately 80 percent Black city is 8.7 percent, twice that of state and national rates. But this is what economic progress generally looks like in many Black communities: cooperative ventures such as grocery stores and ...
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Journalism

Common Money Myths That Block Black People From Wealth

I have to start this one off carefully. This one is embedded in the psyche of the American way of life. I have even been guilty on some levels of perpetuating this myth in my life with varying results. I have come to realize that in the pursuit of real wealth, it can stunt your economic growth and keep you trapped financially. "Fake it Till You Make It." These six words can derail you from wealth and leave you fakin it forever. If you are pursuing an acting career and lack some credentials while on an audition, "fake it till you make it," may very well work in your favor. Putting yourself in positions where you have the skill but lack the experience, "fake it till you make it," can be your friend. When dealing with wealth and wealth building in particular, this philosophy becomes a myth, ...
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