Blacks and Their Bad Spending Habits

This Google search sends more people to my site than any other. Again, I must say that anyone that continually posts the USA Today article without pulling out a calculator is a dripping wetbrain. Please do a little research before you pass on the stupidity contained in this article.

I know, I know, it makes more sense to simply press "Forward" than to actually think about what is contained in the article, but rest assured, USA Today is a rag. It is NOT legitimate news.

Here we go AGAIN: From my August 20, 2005 post entitled What Black Folks Think of Black Folks

The Article: (with commentary)

USA Today article on Black Spending Habits:

These are tough economic times (Despite all the evidence to the contrary), especially for African-Americans, whom the unemployment rate is more than 10%.(Actually 8.7%, but who's counting?) Alarmingly, rather than belt-tightening, the response has been to spend more. In many poor neighborhoods, one is likely to notice satellite dishes and expensive new cars. (Did it ever occur to these people that maybe some folks CHOOSE to live in cheaper neighborhoods and drive nicer cars?)

According to Target Market, a company that tracks black consumer spending, blacks spends a significant amount of their income on depreciable products. (As does every other race in the world)

In 2002, the year the economy nose-dived (This said even though the FACTS show exactly the opposite. The economy turned down in 1997, and has been making a recovery since 2001); we spent $22.9 billion ($22,900,000,000.00) on clothes, $3.2 billion ($3,200,000,000.00) on electronics and $11.6 billion ($11,600,000,000.00) on furniture to put into homes that, in many cases, were rented. (A stupid point, but one I will dissect. There are approximately 39.4 million Black people in this country. This is from the 2000 Census. This clothing figure breaks down to $581.00 dollars for each of the 39.4 million people. This does not seem odd to me. Clothes SHOULD always be worn when you are in public. $81 for each on electronics. It seems somewhat low, but they are the figures cited. And a whopping $279 for furniture. The numbers look really daunting out of context, which they are in the article, but here are the totals. Cited figures only amount to $941 per year for each Black person. It just doesn't seem scary now, does it?)

Among our favorite purchases are cars and liquor. Blacks make up only 12% of the U.S. population, yet account for 30% of the country's Scotch consumption. (Whites account for almost 100% of Britney Spears album sales) Detroit, which is 80% black, is the world's No.1 market for Cognac. (What in the Hell is the point here? I'm guessing that Detroit is also the Number One market for Pistons jerseys, too. Nashville is probably the Number One market for banjos and somewhere that has alot of Polka dancers probably invests in a lot of accordians, which is worse? I guess this would bother me if Detroit was the Number One market for child pornography, but oddly enough that is San Francisco which has relatively few minority folks.)

So impressed was Lincoln with the $46.7 billion ($46,700,000,000) ($1168 per person) that blacks spent on cars that the automaker commissioned Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, the entertainment and fashion mogul, to design a limited-edition Navigator replete with six plasma screens, three DVD players and a Sony PlayStation 2. (And you know that Puffy's was the leading selling Navigator of all time, right? Well not exactly. They have not been released and there will only be 100 made. Plus they will sell for $85,000 and Puffy has financed the deal) The only area where blacks seem to be cutting back on spending is books (The same as everyone else. It means that people are finding their information in other venues like Project Gutenberg); total purchases have gone from a high of $356 million in 2000 to $303 million in 2002. This shortsighted behavior, motivated by a desire for instant gratification and social acceptance, comes at the expense of our future. (Hey, might as well just say, "Yo' Mama!" This is about Blacks telling Blacks that they are immature and insecure. Try that at my family reunion and you might get cut)

The National Urban League's "State of Black America 2004" report found that fewer than 50% of black families owned their homes compared with more than 70% of whites. (This is not alarming either. History has shown that the Black population in this country is more migrant than the White population. Why buy a house if you are going to move? I would like to see these stats broken down into age, then there could be a comparison of something that was worthwhile.)

According to published reports, the Ariel Mutual Funds/Charles Schwab 2003 Black Investor Survey found that when comparing households where blacks and whites had roughly the same household incomes, whites saved nearly 20% more each month for retirement, and 30% of African-Americans earning $100,000 a year had less than $5,000 in retirement savings. (These figures ignore the size of the household, and provide no background for the study. I can't find anything regarding the study either. The base figure for people that invest in retirement income IS actually 68%, so that 70% figure is HIGHER than the norm.)

While 79% of whites invest in the stock market, only 61% of African-Americans do. Certainly, higher rates of unemployment, income disparity and credit discrimination are financial impediments to the economic vitality of blacks, but so are our consumer tastes. (Opinion passed off as fact is still not fact and the stock market is more volatile than the bond market, so who's the impulsive race now?)

By finding the courage to change our spending habits, we might be surprised at how far the $631 billion (631,000,000,000.00) we now earn might take us. (This is part of the mob mentality thing that captivates the Left. That money is most definitely NOT in a pool somewhere for all to sup. Vote Democrat because they are more in tune with the needs of the Black race!)

We all send thousands of jokes through e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages regarding life-affirming choices, people think twice about sharing. So please pass this on. (Because we all send thousands of jokes through e-mail. Don't fall for this propaganda, folks. Use your brain to discredit the liars and thieves that want your money)

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