Topic: USA Today Article on Black spending habits.
- Jun 22, 2006 04:00pm by Reach. - Peace and oneness,
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[quote:a24d0dffe0][u:a24d0dffe0][b:a24d0dffe0]Tough choices for tough times[/b:a24d0dffe0][/u:a24d0dffe0]
By Yolanda Young
These are tough economic times, especially for African-Americans, for whom the unemployment rate is more than 10%. Alarmingly, rather than belt-tightening, the response has been to spend more.
In many poor neighborhoods, one is likely to notice satellite dishes and expensive new cars.
According to Target Market, a company that tracks black consumer spending, blacks spend a significant amount of their income on depreciable products. In 2002, the year the economy nose-dived, we spent $22.9 billion on clothes, $3.2 billion on electronics and $11.6 billion on furniture to put into homes that, in many cases, were rented.
Among our favorite purchases are cars and liquor. Blacks make up only 12% of the U.S. population, yet account for 30% of the country's Scotch consumption. Detroit, which is 80% black, is the world's No. 1 market for Cognac. So impressed was Lincoln with the $46.7 billion that blacks spent on cars that the automaker commissioned Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, the entertainment and fashion mogul, to design a limited-edition Navigator replete with six plasma screens, three DVD players and a Sony PlayStation 2.
The only area where blacks seem to be cutting back on spending is books; total purchases have gone from a high of $356 million in 2000 to $303 million in 2002.
This shortsighted behavior, motivated by a desire for instant gratification and social acceptance, comes at the expense of our future.
The National Urban League's "State of Black America 2004" report found that fewer than 50% of black families owned their homes compared with more than 70% of whites.
According to published reports, the Ariel Mutual Funds/Charles Schwab 2003 Black Investor Survey found that when comparing households where blacks and whites had roughly the same household incomes, whites saved nearly 20% more each month for retirement, and 30% of African-Americans earning $100,000 a year had less than $5,000 in retirement savings. While 79% of whites invest in the stock market, only 61% of African-Americans do.
Certainly, higher rates of unemployment, income disparity and credit discrimination are financial impediments to the economic vitality of blacks, but so are our consumer tastes.
By finding the courage to change our spending habits, we might be surprised at how far the $631 billion we now earn might take us.
Yolanda Young's next book is SPADE: A Critical Look at Black America.[/quote:a24d0dffe0]
I would've liked Young to have written this piece more analytically (it's far too statistic-heavy), but she makes a lot of good points.
Discuss...
- Jun 22, 2006 04:48pm by MILES - [url]http://www.MilesBonny.com/[/url] Location: KCK
that renting furniture thing is unfortunate to me. Just the concept. I'd rather own something from a thrift store or a garage sale than rent it.
- Jun 22, 2006 04:51pm by Reach. - Peace and oneness,
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[quote:6f824b2f68="MILES"]that renting furniture thing is unfortunate to me. Just the concept. I'd rather own something from a thrift store or a garage sale than rent it.[/quote:6f824b2f68]
I think you misunderstood. What she was saying is that the furniture purchased, in many cases, went into rented homes.
- Jun 22, 2006 04:54pm by MILES - [url]http://www.MilesBonny.com/[/url] Location: KCK
gotcha. I did misunderstand.
- Jun 22, 2006 05:03pm by JDFlow - [url=http://www.my.rawkus.com/profile/jdflow]JDFlow on Rawkus[/url]
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[quote="Reach."][quote:bc694fa2aa]The only area where blacks seem to be cutting back on spending is books; total purchases have gone from a high of $356 million in 2000 to $303 million in 2002.[/quote:bc694fa2aa]
I'm sure this includes USA Today. If you know the audience who needs to know these things probably isn't even going to read it, why print it? Thanks for makin us look even more ignorant Yolanda. You know what I'm sayin? She knows her target audience is white, then she puts something like that out.
If you've seen Bamboozled you know what this is. This is the picture she has painted with that bullshit. Her piece should have been printed in a black publication.
[img:bc694fa2aa]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i293/Harlings/pict0169.jpg[/img:bc694fa2aa]
- Jun 22, 2006 05:24pm by Reach. - Peace and oneness,
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Hence the reason why I was so upset with Bill Cosby when he began his misguided ranting a few years back.
He stood up and spoke right to policymakers across the country.
*Ahem* "Poor Blacks are shiftless and good for nothing..."
Great thing to say to the people who have the power to effect their lives in such a way that it reinforces many of the conditions they suffer under.
There's a way to say everything...
And certainly these issues need be discussed, but the timing and placing are critical.
That's why I wish she would've taken some thought to analyze the numbers a bit. Rather than throwing raw numbers at us.
- Jun 22, 2006 05:53pm by phism
she forgot to mention education.
- Jun 22, 2006 09:20pm by Reach. - Peace and oneness,
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My point exactly. No analysis of those numbers.
- Jun 23, 2006 01:16am by phism
i understand what she's doing, and i don't think she's wrong, but she could be giving financial management seminars to predominately black high schools instead of wasting her time writing a book that racist republicans are going to quote.
- Jun 23, 2006 07:02am by Reach. - Peace and oneness,
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You said it.
Give this message to those that truly need to hear it.
More importantly though... Look inside the numbers.
Analysis is key to truly understanding the information she's compiled.
- Jun 23, 2006 10:10pm by crimestoppers - I'M NOT A BUNNY, AND YOUR NOT A FROG SO LETS NOT JUMP TO ANY CONCLUSIONS
It'd be nice to see a report like that wich depicts WT american's.
My people would probably go something like this.
These are tough economic times for White Trash America. The unemployment rate is over 100%. We have spent 380 Billion dollars on Coors Light Beer. 300 Billion on Marlboro Lights. $0.75 on Clothes. $6 million on trailers that are on Lots we don't even own. The National averages are at an all time high despite the desperate economical climate of the past decade.
Focus Market a company that tracks White Trash comsumer spending on luxery items was unable to comment on data collected because they went out of buisness due to lack of data to collect.
Among our favorite purchases were Beanie Babies, gun cases, weed from Mexico, Stretch Pants, and The National Enquirer, and dvd's of the seasons 1-3 of Married With Children.
The only area where WT's seem to be increasing there spending is Books. A known trailer park resident purchased a book in the beginning of 2006 bringing the national total to an all time high of 2 books.
This behavior is attributed to the WT communities lack of ability to function within society, aside from areas of familiaraty i.e. Asda and Taco Bell where we seem to flourish.
- Jun 23, 2006 10:41pm by Reach. - Peace and oneness,
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*Dies*
- Jun 23, 2006 10:55pm by Atilla_Beatsmith - [email protected]
www.myspace.com/manwithahammer Location: the Beatcave, U.S.A.
lmao!!
- Jun 24, 2006 01:43am by phism
i don't really like the term "white trash"... not to put a damper on the fun, but i think a lot of poor whites get overlooked because they're white... it's too bad race is so important in america because we're missing out on all the class issues that other countries' lower classes pressure their governments to take care of. black people as a political bloc aren't powerful enough to enact a whole hell of a lot of national change without allying with the lower class as a whole.
end commie rant.
plus me and my friends used to get called white trash at rockhurst, which wasn't even accurate, 1) i'm not white, 2) white trash would suggest trailers and nascar and shit, and my friends were punks..
you're right though, being poor and white isn't much different from being poor and anything else, so they really should evaluate lower class spending habits rather than doing it by race. and fuck nascar, hunting, and toby keith, all that shit sucks.
- Jun 24, 2006 01:53am by Reach. - Peace and oneness,
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[quote:9967b314bb="phism"]black people as a political bloc aren't powerful enough to enact a whole hell of a lot of national change without allying with the lower class as a whole.[/quote:9967b314bb]
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
- Jun 24, 2006 02:39am by crimestoppers - I'M NOT A BUNNY, AND YOUR NOT A FROG SO LETS NOT JUMP TO ANY CONCLUSIONS
I'm okay with the term white trash. It doesn't bug me. I think it is funny, because I can laugh at myself and my family. It does piss people off big time. I remember calling my mom a Honkey when we were in a parking lot and taking a beating for it. That was funny. Out of nowhere I looked up to her and said "Mom, you're a honkey" I was about seven at the time. I went to school the next day and called my teacher a honkey. I got sent to Principal Tucker's office and he gave me a swat with the board with holes in it. It still makes me laugh today, I don't know what the hell I was thinking calling people Honkey.
- Jun 24, 2006 04:15am by Reach. - Peace and oneness,
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*Dies*
- Jun 24, 2006 08:38am by JDFlow - [url=http://www.my.rawkus.com/profile/jdflow]JDFlow on Rawkus[/url]
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[quote:3339936fc1="phism"]plus me and my friends used to get called white trash at rockhurst.[/quote:3339936fc1]
Boo fuckin hoo! 🙄
- Jun 24, 2006 08:39am by JDFlow - [url=http://www.my.rawkus.com/profile/jdflow]JDFlow on Rawkus[/url]
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[quote:cc58f2193a="crimestoppers"]I'm okay with the term white trash. It doesn't bug me. I think it is funny, because I can laugh at myself and my family. It does piss people off big time. I remember calling my mom a Honkey when we were in a parking lot and taking a beating for it. That was funny. Out of nowhere I looked up to her and said "Mom, you're a honkey" I was about seven at the time. I went to school the next day and called my teacher a honkey. I got sent to Principal Tucker's office and he gave me a swat with the board with holes in it. It still makes me laugh today, I don't know what the hell I was thinking calling people Honkey.[/quote:cc58f2193a]
Validation???
- Jun 24, 2006 05:22pm by phism
[quote:8a681a86d2="JDFlow"][quote:8a681a86d2="phism"]plus me and my friends used to get called white trash at rockhurst.[/quote:8a681a86d2]
Boo fuckin hoo! :roll:[/quote:8a681a86d2]
that was just an intro to the next sentence about it being used inaccurately, since i'm not white and we didn't fit that particular stereotype in the first place. but i guess those overland park rich kids probably consider a lot of things to be white trash or whatever. i definitely heard more than one occasion of them referring to leawood as "the ghetto" of ks.
i remember doing the "me chinese, me play joke" crap when i was little, and i'm part chinese. i'm homeschooling my kids at least til middle school so i don't have to put up with that bullshit. not to mention columbus day and the pledge of allegiance.
- Jun 24, 2006 06:01pm by JDFlow - [url=http://www.my.rawkus.com/profile/jdflow]JDFlow on Rawkus[/url]
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LOL, no I gotcha. Leawood? Ghetto? WTF!!!
- Jun 24, 2006 06:23pm by Reach. - Peace and oneness,
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Leawood...ghetto?
That's an oxymoron.
Leawood had restrictive covenants in many of its neighborhoods for a long, long time.
