This week on CounterSpin: Virtually every newscast will contain some item about “the economy.” It’s always been a very inexact way to talk: The economy encompasses many factors and many actors. But as a new report underscores, even if we’re just talking about people’s economic well-being, speaking in broad terms doesn’t just miss a lot, it’s anti-explanatory; it obscures more than it reveals. The report is called The Road to Zero Wealth: How the Racial Wealth Divide Is Hollowing Out America’s Middle Class. It explores why that wealth gap exists, and how we might intervene to turn it around. Because if we don’t, we are driving the country toward what authors describe in no uncertain times as a “racial and economic apartheid state.”
Dedrick Asante-Muhammad is one of the report’s authors. He is senior fellow, racial wealth divide, at the group Prosperity Now.
Transcript: Without Investment, People of Color Never Will Be Able to Catch Up
Plus we take a quick look back at recent press, including Trump’s North Korea threats and the Senate’s massive military hike.
THREE-CLASS SOCIETY
25% most wealthy — 75% of wealth
25% middle-class — 25% of wealth
50% laboring-class — 0% of wealth, no usable healthcare
Wealth is the property we own above what is needed to have a comfortable life.
PRISON LABOR — VICTIMS OF KILLER-COPS
40% black laboring men
39% white laboring men
19% Hispanic laboring men
Poor and lower middle-class whites need investments as well since they have also been losing ground for the last 37 years