black…MYstory

Okay, if this wasn’t such a big deal, I would laugh. It’s amazing to me how some people’s egos force them to deny reality. We have oil topping $100 per barrel, with no sign of going down, at least significantly (the price of oil has more than tripled in the past 5 years). You have two wars that continue to drain resources from the economy (by some estimates, it’s costing us about $275 million per day). On top of that, you have a housing market where the bottom has fallen out, causing major devastation to many American families.

But, according to George Bush, the economy’s only experiencing a “slowdown”.

So, Bush is out there pushing the whole “economic stimulus package”. You know, the Congress-approved band-aid-on-a-bullet-wound measure to help get the economy on track. We are expected to believe that if some single Americans are given $600 and some married couples are given $1200 (plus, a little extra if you have kids), the economy will be jump-started. This goes to show you just how naive some people are.

The belief that people will go out, spend this money and boost the economy makes a lot of assumptions. First of all, you assume that everyone will be able to treat this as disposable income. You have a lot of people who are behind on their bills and will use this money to catch up on mortgages, utility bills, car payments, etc. I’m sure that it would be welcomed for these families but, this will not help kick start the economy again. Secondly, you have people who have dipped into savings just to keep things afloat so, I suspect that, for a lot of folks, this money will be put into savings. Again, it’s needed but, not going to boost the economy. Finally, you have to realize that, for a economy to flourish, that money needs to circulate among various individuals or businesses in a population. Think about it this way — say you go out an buy a TV with your rebate. Who gets paid? Maybe the corporation that runs the store and a few employees. But, with so little manufacturing going on in the U.S., the money goes offshore to pay suppliers in foreign countries, leaving American workers out of the picture. This means that you end up with fewer middle-class folks who buy the houses, cars, etc. that keep the economy afloat.

I am saying two things:

1) We are dealing with more than a slowdown and
2) We need better ideas than this to get us out of this mess.

Right now, George Bush is much like the kid who cleans up a mess by stuffing everything into a closet, hoping that no one opens it, at least until he’s in the clear. Therefore, I think it’s time to be serious and say that, as a country, we should chalk up the last seven years and the year to come as a loss and gird ourselves to be ready to see just how big this mess is, once the truth is allowed to come out. I have a feeling that, once the next administration starts turning over the rocks, we’ll see just how much truth was hidden from us.

Popularity: 23% [?]

To put it bluntly, there has to be a special place in hell for people who do things to the least among us.

What am I talking about?

While you have people living in trailers some 2 1/2 years after they lost their homes to a hurricane and flooding, $600 million from a housing program that was supposed to go to housing is being used to hook up Bush cronies (surprise!).

Housing and Urban Development secretary, Alphonso Jackon, recently sent a letter to Mississippi governor Haley Barbour, approving the diversion of funds to a ports project that would include a casino and resort facilities.

So, once again, it’s screw the poor and one more big cash cow for Bush’s buddies. Come on January 2009!

Popularity: 23% [?]

While candidates bicker back and forth over who’s more presidential, there a big white elephant in the room that’s screaming for attention — the economy.

Last week, President Bush, with the support of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, announced an economic stimulus plan.  The idea is to give up to $800  to single people and up to $1600 to married couples in hopes to kick start the economy again and avoid a recession.

Let me publicly go on the record and say I think this is a horrible idea.  First of all, this, like the money for the Iraq war, will be borrowed money.  So, at some point in time, this will need to be paid back, with interest.  Secondly, what a we going to buy that will really help the U.S.?  Most of our manufacturing is done outside of the U.S. so, for example,  if a family buys a new T.V. or clothes, that money will likely go out outside of the country.

Well, to say the least, this economic stimulus plan was not well-received.  Foreign markets plummeted as investors sold off their shares in U.S. holdings.  In an emergency measure, the Federal Reserve cut the key interest rate by .75%.  This was sparked by fears of a huge drop in the U.S. stock market when it opened this morning.  At one point in time, there was an expectation of a 500-point drop in the Dow when markets opened today.  This news did little assuage investors and the Dow posted a 300-point loss in the opening minutes of trading.

One thing should be glaringly obvious in all this.  Who you pick for president is important.  As you can tell, their policies have a huge impact on your daily lives.  So, for whomever you consider voting, remind them of one thing — it’s still all about the economy.

Popularity: 24% [?]

All right, let’s get back to the real issues. As you might now, there continues to be a big fight in New Orleans as residents.

Last month, activists from the Coalition to Protect Public Housing clashed with police to fight for the rights of public housing residents who have continued to be displaced by plans of the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to tear down three housing projects. So, what we continue to see is a big land-grab, causing the ranks of the homeless to swell.

For example:

Since Katrina, the homeless population of New Orleans has doubled to more than 12,000 people. Despite what the New York Times on Dec. 2 called an “acute rental shortage,” HUD plans to spend $762 million to demolish public housing and replace it with only 744 new units of affordable housing. HUD will spend an average of $400,000 for each new mixed-income unit, while statements by HANO’S own insurance company have shown that many of the multiple-unit buildings to be demolished could be repaired for less than $10,000 per building.

So, with all the talk about “change” and “hope” going on right now, I “hope” that one of these candidates can tell me how they are going to “change” things for the better for the people of New Orleans.

Popularity: 33% [?]

Just in time for Christmas, George Bush again proves that, while wasting hundreds of billions in Iraq, he thinks that spending money helping kids at home is too expensive:

The Bush administration yesterday eliminated about $700 million a year in Medicaid reimbursements to schools, sidestepping an attempt by Congress to block such a move.

The new rule, issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is expected to save the federal government $3.6 billion over five years, transferring those costs to school districts.

Lawmakers this week passed legislation to place a six-month moratorium on Medicaid implementing the rule change, but President Bush had not signed the bill.

A wide range of medical services, such as speech and physical therapy, are furnished to students in schools. Medicaid, the government’s health insurance program for the poor, will continue to pay for those services for low-income children.
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But the new rule will restrict when schools can bill the federal government for clerical work associated with providing health care. For example, schools can no longer expect Medicaid reimbursement for planning student immunizations. Schools also will not get paid for transporting students getting speech or physical therapy to school or back home.

So, while Republicans bemoan the fake “war on Christmas” and claim that people are forgetting the meaning of the holiday, here’s a prime example of what the holiday is not about and smacks of the very antithesis of what Jesus was about.

So much for good will toward men or, in this case, children.

Popularity: 37% [?]

Once again, home foreclosures are up. The California-based company Realtytrac monitors trends in the mortgage industry and have concluded that, nationwide, home foreclosures in November increased by 68% over the previous November’s filings.

In November 2006, 120,334 foreclosures were filed. In November 2007, there were 201,950 foreclosure filings.

This meant that, for November, this was a rate of 1 foreclosure for every 617 households, which is a pretty substantial number.

This trend is not likely to reverse soon so, we will continue to see news about families across America, a disproportionate number of them black and brown, losing their homes.

Popularity: 20% [?]

My wife was sharing with me a story about somebody we know and was telling me how this person is asking that all the gifts that people give her child not be made in China. Given the volume of items made in China, that is an awesome challenge. My wife conveyed to me that she thought the request was kind of funny but, personally, I agree with this mother.

As I have posted here before, just because our government won’t acknowledge it, toy safety is a big concern. In recent news, we have seen story after story about toys manufactured in China containing lead paint. I even heard about a kids C.S.I. game that contained asbestos. As a parent, this bothers me greatly. A kid could inhale something or accidentally consume paint chips and, over time, develop some serious problems.

Recently, tests on more than 1,200 childrens’ products yielded some horrifying results. Researchers from 9 states, along with the national Center for Health, Environment and Justice encountered the following:

Tests on more than 1,200 children’s products, most of them still on store shelves, found that 35 percent contain lead — many with levels far above the federal recall standard used for lead paint.

A Hannah Montana card game case, a Go Diego Go! backpack and Circo brand shoes were among the items with excessive lead levels in the tests performed by a coalition of environmental health groups across the country.

Only 20 percent of the toys and other products had no trace of lead or harmful chemicals…

…Easthope said 17 percent of the children’s products tested had levels of lead above the 600 parts per million federal standard that would trigger a recall of lead paint. Jewelry products were the most likely to contain the high levels of lead, the center said, with 33.5 percent containing levels above 600 ppm. Among the toys that tested above that limit was a Hannah Montana Pop Star Card Game, whose case tested at 3,056 ppm.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a level of 40 ppm of lead as the maximum that should be allowed in children’s products. Lead poisoning can cause irreversible learning disabilities and behavioral problems and, at very high levels, seizures, coma, and even death.

This is something to think about as we purchase toys for our little ones this year.

UPDATE: You can find more information at www.healthytoys.org. Right now, the site seems to be experiencing high traffic so, you may not get in right away.

Popularity: 34% [?]

A few weeks back, the President vetoed the Democrats’ domestic spending package. He accused them of acting like kids with a credit card.

I found this to be quite ironic, considering how he is paying for his war in Iraq. You see, he makes you believe that, because he cut taxes for the rich and is not raising income taxes on the middle-class, the U.S. must have enough cash on-hand to pay for war. But, this is not true. In actuality, we are borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars. So, if you don’t see Bush say anything about lead paint or asbestos in kids’ toys from China, you’ll just have to understand. You see, it’s hard to criticize someone when you owe them over $900 billion.

Please understand, while the President talks about Democrats “wanting to raise your taxes”, let’s be real. If you take out a loan, you have to pay it back or face the consequences. The bill will come due and we are going to have to pay up. The only issue is that either you pay now or pay later — with even more interest accrued.

I say all that to say this — Bush and Congress are burying us in debt. Right now, the national debt is rising at a rate of $1 million per minute. Think about the following:

It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States.

Even if you’ve escaped the recent housing and credit crunches and are coping with rising fuel prices, you may still be headed for economic misery, along with the rest of the country. That’s because the government is fast straining resources needed to meet interest payments on the national debt, which stands at a mind-numbing $9.13 trillion.

And like homeowners who took out adjustable-rate mortgages, the government faces the prospect of seeing this debt — now at relatively low interest rates — rolling over to higher rates, multiplying the financial pain.

So long as somebody is willing to keep loaning the U.S. government money, the debt is largely out of sight, out of mind.

But the interest payments keep compounding, and could in time squeeze out most other government spending — leading to sharply higher taxes or a cut in basic services like Social Security and other government benefit programs. Or all of the above.

Like I said pay now or pay (more) later. Don’t you think it’s long past time for us to ask the serious questions about our economy?

Popularity: 22% [?]

This is far from scientific but, it is a disturbing sign of the times.

Recently, at the Steelyard Commons shopping center in Cleveland, Ohio, some 6,000 people applied for 300 positions at a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Now, we are not talking executive position or highly-skilled roles. We are talking about low-paying retail jobs.

This pales in comparison two what happened at two Illinois Wal-Mart stores even smaller than the one in Cleveland. There, they had 25,000 and 15,000 applicants, respectively.

Experts say that this is “an indication not only of a less-than-stellar economy but also of a workforce short on marketable skills.”

So, what we may be seeing is an indication of what happens as the gap between rich and poor increases. Sadly, this is not the stuff of political stump speeches so, we’d better not wait for a candidate to address these concerns. For our families’ sakes, we need to speak on it, now.

Popularity: 43% [?]

As I think about the housing crisis, I can only think of the words of one of my favorite talk show host, Joe Madison, saying that black people are “undervalued, underestimated and marginalized.” You see, for many years, members of the Congressional Black Caucus have been railing against predatory lending. Of course, their warnings went unheeded. Now, we stand on the edge of financial catastrophe in this country, largely fueled by a lot of bad home loans — with a disproportionate amount of them made to people of color.

However, the question that’s not really been pursued in the mainstream press is “where minorities steered into bad loans when they could have otherwise been offered more conventional loans?” An article I read causes me to think that this was very likely the case.

In September, the Federal Reserve released a study that found 52.8 percent of African-Americans got a high-cost home loan when they refinanced in 2006, compared to 37.7 percent of Latinos and just 25.7 percent of whites in the same year.

A similar study by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known by its acronym ACORN, in September found the same pattern even when income was equal.

According to ACORN, upper-income blacks were 3.3 times, and Latinos 3 times, more likely than upper-income whites to have a high-cost loan when purchasing a home in 2006.

“I keep hoping one day I’ll do a study where race doesn’t play a part,” said Liz Wolff, author of the ACORN study.

“But clearly, there is a racial bias,” she added.

So, the foreclosures climb and more and more Americans are losing their homes. But, we have to ask, how many minority families are going to lose their homes because they were steered into loans by people who felt that it was okay to, basically, rip off people of color.

Popularity: 41% [?]