Monday, August 22, 2016

Based on the Obama Administration’s own latest available statistics, black Americans are worse off today than they were on Inauguration Day 2009

Real, inflation adjusted, median income among black households sank from $35,954 in 2009 to $35,398 in 2014 — a fall of 1.5%. Even more striking: blacks were the only group whose median household income fell over this period. Hispanics saw a 1.2% rise (from $41,973 to $42,491), Asians went from $72,340 to $74,297 (up 2.8%), and even non-Hispanic whites eked out a minimal 0.3% rise, going from $60,094 to $60,256. But black median income actually fell. In addition, poverty rates for blacks and Hispanics are considerably above those of whites and Asians. Black and Hispanic poverty rates moved in different directions during the Obama Years: 2009-2014. The Hispanic poverty rate declined from 25.3% to 23.6%, while the black American poverty rate rose from 25.8% to 26.2% in 2014 — up 1.6%. Interestingly, the white poverty rate also increased over this period – from 9.4% to 10.1%. Increased poverty among low-income working class whites undoubtedly fuels much of their enthusiasm for Donald Trump’s campaign. To the extent that Hispanic immigrants are displacing black Americans in the work force, a Trump Administration would do a better job of lowering black poverty than one headed by Hilary Clinton, who proposes to rush through “comprehensive immigration reform” — an Amnesty/Immigration Surge. In June 2016 the unemployment rate for black adult males was more than twice that of whites, and nearly twice that of Hispanics.

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