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It's an interesting question. Blacks have lower incomes than others in America, but the wealth gap dwarves the income gap.
Even after adjusting for income, blacks save far less So the real question is - why don't black people save money? And the answer must be that, on average, they are less oriented toward the future than others. They would rather spend their money now. This might be conected to the fact that their ancestors did not leave warm mother Africa tens of thousands of years ago and begin facing cold winters. There was never a compelling need to stockpile food or otherwise plan ahead for survival. So the traits that enable us to do this were never strongly selected for among those who remained in Africa.
No I think it is because us whites got free housing after ww2. You see after WW2, most whites who were in the war on return in the 1950s had special low mortgage financing backed by the government. this was not extended to blacks. And this is why I say most whites have some kind of inheritence. Prior to this, there was probably more or equal amount of poor whites as poor blacks per capita, because all the immigrants from Italy and Poland were even poorer than the blacks back then. You see in those days, to buy property you needed to have all the money up front, to build a house you either built it yourself in piecemeal for years or saved up until you were 50 and tried to buy it but the wages were too low, and everything cost too much. But then in the 50s when they gave vets the money and started building all the houses away to whites it let them build wealth easy. Because you see if I am a mid income white, I get a free house from daddy in a good neighbourhood and I get to save my money. If I am a high income black, I have to buy my house, start from scratch and you aren't saving anything with mortgage payments. To be a high income person of any race you have actually be fairly smart. So its not like high income blacks don't know how to create wealth, they just started off with less than whites. If I am a middle class white, maybe that $25,000 in 1949 house is now worth 500,000 in 2013. So i get free wealth. If you are a high earning black, how much you going to have to save to get 500k? Say you earn 80k a year. With the high local, state and municipal tax rates? Probably your whole life. So I can spend all my money on coke for 10 years then get my act together and still be richer than 95% of blacks, even if they earn 100k a year. Because with the 45% taxes they'll pay if they live in somewhere like nyc or chicago.
The irony is those high tax rates help keep hard working blacks who buck the trend down and us middle class white with lots of inherited wealth on top.
It is why I say that the democrats are the enemies of the black people, they want to make them dependent on big government and use the government to keep them down.
And just so you know africa has rainy and dry seasons they do stockpile food there. In the dry season it is like winter and they have to stock pile food for when crops fail.
So American Jews, Africans, Carribeans, Hindu Indians don't believe in god but north asians from china and korea don't but cambodians, Laotians and hmong who have lower education than black americans do? Indian American - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I'm curious because I travel a lot for my job and most of the locations I visit blacks are living in the "rough" neighborhoods. I know it's not only blacks, but for some reason it seems many people don't know. Is it due to education or just a lack of opportunity?
I think it is a mistake to look at wealth disparities today without recent historical and more long term historical contexts.
Wealth is very hard to obtain. For most of human history and still most people are extremely poor in this world.
Now you take a nation like America and there is a lot of ignorance about wealth generation and creation. Until very recently the vast majority of Americans were very poor and had little wealth.
The post WW2 years which involved huge government interventions enabled the creation of more shared prosperity.
Black people were denied participation in those huge government interventions.
An excellent book that goes over this is titled Black Wealth / White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality
I am a lower middle class white guy that didn't inherit a dime because my family did not have a clue about money. I was lucky and obtained a good education and have been steadily employed, except for a few years when I tried my own business, ever since. Now I am about to retire and with that backing I may try my own business again but I am more likely to just goof off until I get bored. I plan on leaving whatever estate is left to a couple of friends.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Dark Enlightenment
Why African Americans typically have no wealth?
It's an interesting question. Blacks have lower incomes than others in America, but the wealth gap dwarves the income gap.
Even after adjusting for income, blacks save far less So the real question is - why don't black people save money? And the answer must be that, on average, they are less oriented toward the future than others. They would rather spend their money now. This might be conected to the fact that their ancestors did not leave warm mother Africa tens of thousands of years ago and begin facing cold winters. There was never a compelling need to stockpile food or otherwise plan ahead for survival. So the traits that enable us to do this were never strongly selected for among those who remained in Africa.
Im assuming you dont realize how the growing season works in many parts of West Africa ? just because it is hot/warm most of the year doesnt mean their isnt a growing season and a drought season.
anyways, readjusting for income is not the same as readjusting for cost of living.
readjusting for income just means you kept the same percentages, but by making less money, it may also affect how much you can save, especially if cost of living is more in a lower income area.
There are many well to do black families. They have had wealth for some time.. They have black debutante balls and all the pomp and circumstance that goes along with wealth. In high school one of the wealthiest families in my school was a black family that lived in a large home in the best part of the area.
There are many well to do black families. They have had wealth for some time.. They have black debutante balls and all the pomp and circumstance that goes along with wealth. In high school one of the wealthiest families in my school was a black family that lived in a large home in the best part of the area.
Yeah and the schools in Mitchellville, Ft Washington and Friendly are all crap. The foreclosure crisis hit Mitchellville hard don't confuse income with wealth. Even blacks making over $100K have less wealth on average and are less likely to be invested in stocks than their white 100K+ peers.
Stupid people have a tougher time of it be they in America or Africa.
Man, as a black guy this stings.
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