Income Gap Between Families Grows

Source: By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press Writer

Nov 13, 7:04 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Decades after the civil rights movement, the income gap between black and white families has grown, says a new study that tracked the incomes of some 2,300 families for more than 30 years.

Incomes have increased among both black and white families in the past three decades - mainly because more women are in the work force. But the increase was greater among whites, according to the study being released Tuesday.

One reason for the growing disparity: Incomes among black men have actually declined in the past three decades, when adjusted for inflation. They were offset only by gains among black women.

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"Overall, incomes are going up. But not all children are benefiting equally from the American dream," said Julia Isaacs, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank...."

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INCOME_GAP?SITE=OHCIN&SECTION=AMERICAS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Are the statistics for white families grouped in with America's corporate elite?

If they are, it might throw the data off some. I think all of us in the middle class has seen income depreciation. Not only has our earnings stayed stagnant or dropped, but we've also been paying george Bush's secret war tax, in the form of inflation.

The government tries to cover-up the rate of inflation, but for most of us who actually have to ask how much something cost before we buy it, we've seen the raise in the cost of goods.

Inflation's probably running at about 10%.

So all of us took a 10% pay cut this year.....

Sucks.

I was watching the news last night about a small black community in Cleveland. This particular area had the highest sub-prime default rate of any area of the country. I think it at least 50% of the homes were foreclosed on and vacant.

That's bad enough. But the harshest thing about it was not the foreclosed houses, but it was the people who were left behind. They didn't do anything wrong, they bought houses they could afford and are making their payments. But with the sub prime melt-down they are getting the brunt of it.

In their case, since so many homes have become vacant, the neighborhood has become unlivable with a very high crime rate. ANd they cant even sell as their are obviously no buyers. Looks like the neighborhood is gonna turn into a ghost town where good people will be forced to walk away from their homes.

A disaster for everyone.

I hope it's not a harbinger of things to come.

"The national graduation rate for the class of 1998 was 71%. For white students the rate was 78%, while it was 56% for African-American students and 54% for Latino students."

Median earnings (25 yrs old+), less than high school diploma: $15,344
Median earnings (25 yrs old+), high school diploma and above: $29,294

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_baeo.htm

Poor black men have been commodified via the prison industrial complex. From chaos = profit for vendors, contractors, and side men.

The study did not differentiate between single and two parent families.

In addition to disparities in pay, blacks have a higher percentage of single parent families than whites.

"Morial blamed the disparities on inadequate schools in black neighborhoods, workplace discrimination and too many black families with only one parent."