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In 2014, Obama Endorsed Bernie: Economic Inequality the Defining Challenge of Our Time
Last edited Fri Feb 12, 2016, 05:17 AM - Edit history (1)
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/12/racial-wealth-gaps-great-recession/
Work to Be Done on Inequality and Race, Obama Says
President Obama said that the recent debate about the state of race relations in the United States has been “healthy” for the country and that despite the situation in Ferguson, Mo., and the Eric Garner case in New York, black people are better off then they were before he took office.
However, Mr. Obama said that the income and wealth gaps between black people and white people have persisted and that there is more work to be done on inequality. He also said that he is looking forward to implementing recommendations on overhauling the police system so that black people are not unfairly targeted by law enforcement.
Mr. Obama also said that the causes of the recent uproar are not a new phenomenon, but that video and social media are bringing them to the attention of the masses.
However, Mr. Obama said that the income and wealth gaps between black people and white people have persisted and that there is more work to be done on inequality. He also said that he is looking forward to implementing recommendations on overhauling the police system so that black people are not unfairly targeted by law enforcement.
Mr. Obama also said that the causes of the recent uproar are not a new phenomenon, but that video and social media are bringing them to the attention of the masses.
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2014/12/19/work-to-be-done-on-inequality-and-race-relations-obama-says/
Black incomes are up, but wealth isn’t
By Drew DeSilver
2011
Since the 1960s, household-income growth for African-Americans has outpaced that of whites. Median adjusted household income for blacks is now 59.2% that of whites, up slightly from 55.3% in 1967 (though in dollar terms the gap has widened).
But those gains haven’t led to any narrowing of the wealth gap between the races. In fact, after adjusting for inflation, the median net worth for black households in 2011 ($6,446) was lower than it was in 1984 ($7,150), while white households’ net worth was almost 11% higher. And as NYU researcher David Low noted in a recent working paper, high-earning married black households have, on average, less wealth than low-earning married white households.
Exactly why income gains haven’t translated into wealth gains for blacks is something of a puzzle. Researchers have identified several possible factors — less intergenerational inheritance, higher unemployment and lower incomes, differing rates and patterns of homeownership, marriage and college education — without reaching any consensus on their relative importance. As Low commented, “[t]here is…little quantitative understanding of why the black-white wealth gap exists, despite an almost embarrassing number of potential explanations.”
By Drew DeSilver
2011
Since the 1960s, household-income growth for African-Americans has outpaced that of whites. Median adjusted household income for blacks is now 59.2% that of whites, up slightly from 55.3% in 1967 (though in dollar terms the gap has widened).
But those gains haven’t led to any narrowing of the wealth gap between the races. In fact, after adjusting for inflation, the median net worth for black households in 2011 ($6,446) was lower than it was in 1984 ($7,150), while white households’ net worth was almost 11% higher. And as NYU researcher David Low noted in a recent working paper, high-earning married black households have, on average, less wealth than low-earning married white households.
Exactly why income gains haven’t translated into wealth gains for blacks is something of a puzzle. Researchers have identified several possible factors — less intergenerational inheritance, higher unemployment and lower incomes, differing rates and patterns of homeownership, marriage and college education — without reaching any consensus on their relative importance. As Low commented, “[t]here is…little quantitative understanding of why the black-white wealth gap exists, despite an almost embarrassing number of potential explanations.”
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/08/30/black-incomes-are-up-but-wealth-isnt/
July 26, 2011
Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics
Twenty-to-One
By Rakesh Kochhar, Richard Fry and Paul Taylor
Executive Summary
The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.
These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.
The Pew Research analysis finds that, in percentage terms, the bursting of the housing market bubble in 2006 and the recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009 took a far greater toll on the wealth of minorities than whites. From 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 66% among Hispanic households and 53% among black households, compared with just 16% among white households.
As a result of these declines, the typical black household had just $5,677 in wealth (assets minus debts) in 2009; the typical Hispanic household had $6,325 in wealth; and the typical white household had $113,149.
Moreover, about a third of black (35%) and Hispanic (31%) households had zero or negative net worth in 2009, compared with 15% of white households. In 2005, the comparable shares had been 29% for blacks, 23% for Hispanics and 11% for whites.
Hispanics and blacks are the nation’s two largest minority groups, making up 16% and 12% of the U.S. population respectively.
These findings are based on the Pew Research Center’s analysis of data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), an economic questionnaire distributed periodically to tens of thousands of households by the U.S. Census Bureau. It is considered the most comprehensive source of data about household wealth in the United States by race and ethnicity. The two most recent administrations of SIPP that focused on household wealth were in 2005 and 2009. Data from the 2009 survey were only recently made available to researchers.1
Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics
Twenty-to-One
By Rakesh Kochhar, Richard Fry and Paul Taylor
Executive Summary
The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.
These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.
The Pew Research analysis finds that, in percentage terms, the bursting of the housing market bubble in 2006 and the recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009 took a far greater toll on the wealth of minorities than whites. From 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 66% among Hispanic households and 53% among black households, compared with just 16% among white households.
As a result of these declines, the typical black household had just $5,677 in wealth (assets minus debts) in 2009; the typical Hispanic household had $6,325 in wealth; and the typical white household had $113,149.
Moreover, about a third of black (35%) and Hispanic (31%) households had zero or negative net worth in 2009, compared with 15% of white households. In 2005, the comparable shares had been 29% for blacks, 23% for Hispanics and 11% for whites.
Hispanics and blacks are the nation’s two largest minority groups, making up 16% and 12% of the U.S. population respectively.
These findings are based on the Pew Research Center’s analysis of data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), an economic questionnaire distributed periodically to tens of thousands of households by the U.S. Census Bureau. It is considered the most comprehensive source of data about household wealth in the United States by race and ethnicity. The two most recent administrations of SIPP that focused on household wealth were in 2005 and 2009. Data from the 2009 survey were only recently made available to researchers.1
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/07/26/wealth-gaps-rise-to-record-highs-between-whites-blacks-hispanics/
President Obama on Wednesday pointed to a combination of growing income inequality and a lack of upward mobility as “the defining challenge of our time,” arguing the government should take further steps to reverse a decades-long trend that has widened the gap between the nation’s richest citizens and everyone else.
“The basic bargain at the heart of our economy has frayed,” Mr. Obama said. He repeated later in his speech that “the combined trends of increased inequality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to the American dream, our way of life, and what we stand for around the globe.”
The president’s speech, from a community center in Anacostia, one of the poorest sections of Washington, D.C., is an attempt to reclaim the agenda for the remainder of his presidency. Still, he acknowledged that his administration’s “poor execution” of the health care law and a “reckless shutdown” that froze Washington for half of October, which he attributed to congressional Republicans, had taken a toll on the public’s trust of government.
"Nobody has acquitted themselves very well these past few months. So it's not surprising that the American people's frustrations with Washington are at an all-time high," he said.
During one of the longest speeches he has given this year, Mr. Obama paid homage to his predecessors, including Franklin and Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, who used government to create opportunities and weave safety nets for more people in the United States. It was a follow up on a speech he delivered in Osawatomie, Kansas – the site of Teddy Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism” speech a century earlier – to lay out some of the major economic themes of his 2012 campaign.
He warned that the social compact has broken down since the 1970s, when a combination of technological advancements, globalization, a breakdown of communities, weakened unions, and increased lobbying by businesses weakened the country’s economic foundation and vastly increased the income gap. To make his case, the president cited statistics about the growing percentage of the country’s wealth held by the top 10 percent (up from one third to one half, he said), a runaway gap between CEOs and their workers, and the decreasing likelihood that children born into poverty can escape it in adulthood.
“It should compel us to action. We are a better country than this,” he said.
"We're not going back" on health law, Obama says
Obama: This is a "make or break" moment for middle class
He also cited recent exhortations against rising income inequality by Pope Francis, echoing the Catholic leader’s question, "How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses 2 points?"
These trends, the president argued, are bad for both the economy and for democracy, as the ordinary people feel like they can no longer participate in government. He also urged people to move beyond what he called a “myth” that inequality runs only along racial lines.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-income-inequality-the-defining-challenge-of-our-time/
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