Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics

Pew Social and Demographic Trends
Released: July 26, 2011
Twenty-to-One
By Paul Taylor, Richard Fry and Rakesh Kochhar

Executive Summary

The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.
These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.

Full Story: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/07/26/wealth-gaps-rise-to-record-highs-between-whites-blacks-hispanics/

Widening wealth gap between whites, minorities has deep roots

CNN Opinion
By Ellis Cose, Special to CNN
July 27, 2011 4:23 p.m. EDT

Editor's note: Ellis Cose is the author of "The End of Anger: A New Generation's Take on Race and Rage" and "The Rage of a Privileged Class."

(CNN) -- No one who is remotely familiar with American demographics should be surprised to hear that Anglo families, on average, are wealthier than black or Latino families. Nonetheless, the magnitude of the disparity revealed by a new study is staggering.

The median wealth of Anglo households is now 20 times that of black households and 18times that of Hispanic households, according to the Pew Research Center.

Full Story:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/07/27/cose.wealth.divide.blacks.hispanics/index.html

A $95,000 question: why are whites five times richer than blacks in the US?

guardian.co.uk
Chris McGreal in Washington
Monday 17 May 2010 19.47 BST

A huge wealth gap has opened up between black and white people in the US over the past quarter of a century – a difference sufficient to put two children through university – because of racial discrimination and economic policies that favour the affluent.
A typical white family is now five times richer than its African-American counterpart of the same class, according to a report released today by Brandeis University in Massachusetts.
White families typically have assets worth $100,000 (£69,000), up from $22,000 in the mid-1980s. African-American families' assets stand at just $5,000, up from around $2,000.
A quarter of black families have no assets at all. The study monitored more than 2,000 families since 1984.

Full Story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/17/white-people-95000-richer-black
To see Brandeis study, go to: http://iasp.brandeis.edu/pdfs/Racial-Wealth-Gap-Press-Release.pdf (Press Release) and http://iasp.brandeis.edu/pdfs/Racial-Wealth-Gap-Brief.pdf (Research Brief)

To purchase "The Hidden Cost of Being African American" go to the AAAA Bookstore, p. 12: http://www.affirmativeaction.org/bookstore.html

The Wealth Gap Gets Wider

The Washington Post
By Meizhu Lui
Monday, March 23, 2009; A15

The chips are in.
Every three years, the Federal Reserve, in its Survey of Consumer Finances, takes a look at how U.S. households are doing and reports on our assets and liabilities. The euphoria of our gambling spree is over. In the harsh glare of morning, the hangover is tough. And the latest data are from 2007, so they don't even capture the worst of the decline.
The net worth of the average American family is less than it was in 2001. We borrowed more for that trip to Vegas than we brought home. Everyone knows this now.
But here's something being talked about much less: The gap between the wealth of white Americans and African Americans has grown. According to the Fed, for every dollar of wealth held by the typical white family, the African American family has only one dime. In 2004, it had 12 cents.
This is not just a gap. It's a deepening canyon.
The overhyped political term "post-racial society" becomes patently absurd when looking at these economic numbers. This week, experts on asset building in communities of color are meeting with members of Congress to talk about closing the wealth gap. While the government is rescuing failing financial institutions as a short-term measure, those at the two-day Color of Wealth Policy Summit will make the case that the nation's long-term economic future depends on the inclusion of all Americans in opportunities to build wealth.
Why such a big gap? The biggest predictor of the future economic status of a child is the net worth of the child's parents. Even modest inheritances or gifts within a parent's lifetime -- such as paying for college or providing the down payment on a home -- can give a child a lift up the economic ladder. And historically, white families have enjoyed more government support and tax-paid subsidies for their asset-building activities.
Let's look at the rules of the game in homeownership, for example.
During the Depression, the Home Owners' Loan Corp. was formed to rescue families whose homes were in foreclosure. Not a single loan went to a family of color. The black section of Detroit was simply excluded. After World War II, GIs received government-subsidized home mortgages, but there was no oversight to ensure that soldiers of color got their fair share. Of the 67,000 mortgages issued under the GI Bill in New York and northern New Jersey, 66,900 went to white veterans, as documented in Ira Katznelson's "When Affirmative Action Was White."

Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/22/AR2009032201506.html