Study finds median wealth for single black women at $5

[gleet]

Ummm hmmmm. Just enough to get my her did.

Tuesday, March 09, 2010
By Tim Grant, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Women of all races bring home less income and own fewer assets, on average, than men of the same race, but for single black women the disparities are so overwhelmingly great that even in their prime working years their median wealth amounts to only $5.

In a groundbreaking report released Monday by a leading economic research group, social scientists turned a spotlight on the grave financial challenges facing an often overlooked group of women, many of whom could not take an unpaid sick day or repair a major appliance without going into debt.

"It's rather shocking," said Meizhu Lui, director of the Closing the Gap Initiative based in Oakland, Calif., who contributed to the report "Lifting as We Climb: Women of Color, Wealth and America's Future."

Among the most startling revelations in the wealth data is that while single white women in the prime of their working years (ages 36 to 49) have a median wealth of $42,600 (still only 61 percent of their single white male counterparts), the median wealth for single black women is only $5.

"Even for those of us who have been looking at the wealth gap for a while, we were shocked and amazed at how little women of color have," Ms. Lui said.

Researchers at the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, based in Oakland, Calif., analyzed data from the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances, a voluminous report the Federal Reserve Board issues every three years that examines household finances in this country.

Wealth, or net worth, measures the total of one's assets -- cash in the bank, stocks, bonds and real estate; minus debts -- home mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and student loans. The most recent financial data was collected before the economic downturn, so the current numbers likely are worse now than at the time of the study.

Black women, in general, were more likely to have participated in the subprime loan crisis with upper-income black women being five times more likely to have received a high-cost mortgage than upper-income white men.

"The popular image is they spend too much, which is the reason they are running up credit card and consumer debt, but the cost of living has risen faster than income, and they need to go into debt for basic daily necessities," Ms. Lui said. "It's compounded because unemployment is twice as high in the black community than it is in the white community."

For all working-age black women 18 to 64, the financial picture is bleak. Their median household wealth is only $100. Hispanic women in that age group have a median wealth of $120.

"That means half of [black women] have a net worth of more than $100 and half have a net worth of less than $100," Ms. Lui said. "So that gives you an idea of how far in debt some women of color are."

Married or cohabitating white women have a median wealth of $167,500. Married or cohabitating black women have a median net worth of $31,500.

The reasons behind the daunting financial challenges black women face are numerous and complex.

"There are excuses and circumstances that have evolved in society, which put black women where they are," said Esther Bush, executive director of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, who said in Pittsburgh more than 70 percent of African-American families are headed by single women.

The recession has hit single mothers especially hard.

According to a recent report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research and the Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania, more than four out of 10 families headed by single mothers in Pittsburgh and more than one in three in Pennsylvania, live in poverty.

In Pittsburgh and across the country, the financial burdens of single parenthood fall mostly on women, but black women are more likely to endure the work and responsibility of raising children on their own. They are more likely to be the backbone of their families and communities, with greater responsibilities to support struggling friends and families.

In a 2008 study of black women and their money, the ING Foundation found that black women -- who frequently manage the assets of their households -- financially support friends, family and their houses of worship to a much greater degree than the general population.

They also are more likely to be employed in jobs and industries -- such as service occupations -- with lower pay and less access to health insurance. And when their working days are done, they rely most heavily on Social Security because they are less likely to have personal savings, retirement accounts or company pensions. Their Social Security benefits are likely to be lower, too, because of their low earnings.

Rather than strictly comparing income, researchers in the Insight study looked at the wealth gap. The current economic crisis has shown that a person's wealth affects not only retirement security, but also a person's ability to handle financial setbacks such as a job loss or a health emergency.

High unemployment and high incarceration rates for black men also lower the likelihood of single black women finding a partner to help build a more secure financial future.

Ms. Lui said the Insight report would be used to encourage the government to close the wealth gap and improve the outlook for women of color, just as it did for Americans who received land through the Homestead Act, and education through the GI bill.

"If wealth was based on hard work, African-Americans would be the wealthiest people in our nation," she said. "It's not about behavior. It's about government policies. Who does the government help and who is it not helping?

"Our government knows how to build wealth for people. They've done it for others and they can do it for all of us. They need to focus some attention on women of color. Look at the situation and see what we need."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10068/1041225-28.stm

[Hog's Big Ben]

If wealth was based on hard work, African-Americans would be ____________

The jokes just write themselves.

[DonTheTrucker]

It's not about behavior. It's about government policies.

I want to stab this faggot in the throat. How is the government responsible for a black person making $30,000 a year buying a $300,000 house with nothing down and as a result being worth $5?

We really are doomed. People have no fucking clue how to live anymore and run to the government for everything. It fucking disgusts me. I think we may be better off just failing as a nation and starting over from scratch when I see shit like this story.

Want to close the wealth gap? Stop forcing banks to loan money to people who can't pay it back. Shaniqua might have to rent a shitty apartment for her and her kids, but she'll have more than $5 in the bank.

[Ludwig]

Originally Posted by Hog's Big Ben

If wealth was based on hard work, African-Americans would be ____________

The jokes just write themselves.

but I dont like that you caved to PC pressure and typed "African-Americans' in an otherwise glorious racial comment

[Ludwig]

Originally Posted by DonTheTrucker

I want to stab this faggot in the throat. How is the government responsible for a black person making $30,000 a year buying a $300,000 house with nothing down and as a result being worth $5?

We really are doomed. People have no fucking clue how to live anymore and run to the government for everything. It fucking disgusts me. I think we may be better off just failing as a nation and starting over from scratch when I see shit like this story.

Want to close the wealth gap? Stop forcing banks to loan money to people who can't pay it back. Shaniqua might have to rent a shitty apartment for her and her kids, but she'll have more than $5 in the bank.

Dont forget about all the hair extensions & fake nails at the weekly beauty salon appointments. Your kids might be starving but at least your hair looks good.

[mikeybot]

Or how about you stop letting guys dump a load in you and keeping the kids?

[TheDrip]

Roughly $5 more than they're worth on the open market.

[icculus1284]

Originally Posted by mikeybot

Or how about you stop letting guys dump a load in you and keeping the kids?

I don't think they're letting them.

Didn't you know they suck at timing?

[Fustercluck]

Originally Posted by mikeybot

Or how about you stop letting guys dump a load in you and keeping the kids?

exactly, you aren't reading nearly as many stories in the news about white women having 6 kids with 5 different men. whites don't see having kids as a means on income from the gubment the way that the jigaboo does, proportionally speaking.

[Hudson]

Love the women payin with food stamps at the stores and then driving away in expensive cars.

[Warfarer]

I guess wigs don't hold their value well?

[CougarHunter]

So if the average she-boon is worth 5 bucks, where can I buy a 12-pack of em? My cotton crop ain't gonna pick itself.

Do I need to have a big buck around to keep them workin like chickens?

[Warfarer]

Originally Posted by CougarHunter

So if the average she-boon is worth 5 bucks, where can I buy a 12-pack of em? My cotton crop ain't gonna pick itself.

Do I need to have a big buck around to keep them workin like chickens?

It is sad to say but they are worth 5 dollars more than they were 150 years ago and owned by by people. Actually not as sad as I thought and more funny.

[Three Hole Puncher]

I'm not buying just yet... I'm betting that price is going to come down even further.

[Norm Stansfield]

The cause of this pretty meaningless statistic is government policy, such as the Community Reinvestment Act. Banks are forced to lend more to this particular ethnic group than they would normally, which is causing them to be in greater debt than other categories.

The main reason why the statistic is meaningless is that a lot of the money isn't going to be paid back, no one is expecting it will be paid back, so it can be written off (and is, by the majority of the banks, the ones who weren't bailed out after unrealistic accounting bankrupted them) as a form of taxation and welfare. They don't really have $5 , on average, it's just that some of them owe money, on paper. But in reality, they are pretty much free to live as if they didn't owe anything. There's even talk of preventing employers from discriminating against people who are in great debt.

"If wealth was based on hard work, African-Americans would be the wealthiest people in our nation," she said. "It's not about behavior. It's about government policies. Who does the government help and who is it not helping?

Actually, if we looked at all forms of government entitlements, and accounted for every penny someone was robbed of, and every penny someone received from the government for nothing, that would make for a realistic assessment of who the hardest workers are. I doubt it would be African Americans. Pretending otherwise is just a lie. That is all it is, not the product of some enlightened political philosophy.

[WhiskeyWhispers]

"Our government knows how to build wealth for people. They've done it for others and they can do it for all of us. They need to focus some attention on women of color. Look at the situation and see what we need."

I'm broke as fuck, but will gladly donate whatever I can to have 'em spayed, and trust me, that will benefit everyone.

[BOZ29]

It must be whiteys fault....

[WOWmagnet]

I'm ready for the country to fail. Got guns, a house in the country with water and generators. I just need a tanker of diesel.

[DocSavage]

Keep with the gubment programs and entitlements! They seem to be working, maybe we can reach $10 by next decade!