Wealth Gap; The Truth Is In The Numbers

By Charlene Crowell, NNPA Columnist –

In the 25 years since the federal government began publishing demographic data on Wealth, the worst disparities emerged for 2009. A newly-released analysis by the Pew Research Center found that the median Wealth of white households is 20 times that of Blacks, and 18 times that of Latinos – a gap that nearly doubled in size for these same three racial groups more than 20 years ago.

Further, when Pew compared Wealth Gaps for 2005 to those of 2009, the clear conclusion was that the combination of the housing market bubble and the subsequent recession were the underlying causes for these record disparities. In 2005, just before the housing bubble burst, white median net worth was $134,992. Comparable figures for Latinos and Blacks were respectively $18, 359 and $12,124.

By 2009, all three groups lost Wealth; but Black median net worth was less than half of that recorded for 2005: $5,677; Latinos families were only slightly better at $6,325. Yet for white households, the median net worth decreased to $113,149.

According to Pew, household wealth is determined by subtracting all debts owed from the accumulated sum of all assets, including real estate, cars, savings and checking accounts, retirement accounts, stocks, etc. (from: www.blackvoices.com)

{People lie, but Numbers don't. The Truth Is In The Numbers. I don't know what this means to you, but the when I read that the net worth of Whites was 20 times that of Black, I was flabbergasted & disgusted. How is that we live in a country were we were enslaved and then so-called freed, but we still have yet to make any real progress financially? Wake up people! We need to stop "balling" and "blowing money fast." We need to stop wasting money on cars, clothes and other materials things and start investing in ourselves and support black-owned and operated businesses. On the path we are currently on, we will most certainly be obsolete as a people by the time the next survey is released.}