Austerity and Poverty are Not Shared in This Bush Depression: New UFE Report



United for a Fair Economy has a new pdf report (see here for free downloadable copy) on the greater impact of this Bush Depression on people of color, and focuses on the impact on black Americans and Latinos. A few of their conclusions are these:

Blacks earn 62 cents for every dollar of white income, and Latinos earn 68 cents for every dollar of white income; Blacks and Latinos are 2.9 and 2.7 times as likely, respectively, to live in poverty than whites; Black and Latino children are 3.3 and 2.9 times as likely, respectively, to live in poverty than white children.

These proportions of about three fifths have hung around now for many decades in the data we have on black Americans. The data on Latinos are not as lengthy, but these are likely true going back for decades too, for Mexican Americans and other Latinos. They provide much more detailed data on the economic situations of these groups.

They also make some very good suggestions for change, including programs to protect people with homes in loan trouble, getting rid of low taxes (Bush taxes) on the rich, and focusing on programs to help especially high unemployment areas. There is much good data in this report, and it is readable for students. It is noteworthy that the corporate-controlled mainstream media give little attention to the crisis level economic conditions in communities of color.