by justinb
30. November 2009 15:36
The current recession is still going strong especially for Blacks, so if you thought the recession was over - sorry think again. If you listen to the pundits and spin doctors you might be under the impression the recession is over, especially with all the talk about Black Friday spending being on the uptick. On the other hand, if you ask African Americans, from coast to coast, about the state of the economy you will get more of a real world picture. In essence, there is an overwhelming unemployment disparity between Whites and Blacks. How ironic is that as we just rap up Black Friday?
On one end, Black Friday which is pitched as some obligatory function that consumers are expected to participate in to help retailers make their numbers, but at the same time Blacks across the country are making high numbers in a dubious column - the unemployment rate. The national unemployment rate is 10.2% but the unemployment rate for African Americans is a whopping 15.7%. That's just crazy! That isn't the worst of it...Blacks make up more than 25% of those unemployed for more than six months. Oh, and for those who would want to say its a lack of education that's the problem - sorry - Blacks represent more than 13% of those unemployed with a college degree compared to 6% for whites.
What should be entering everyone's mind at this point - Black, White, other it doesn't matter - is what exactly is the massive $787 Billion dollar Federal Stimulus package doing to promote job growth? Where is the money going? Where has the money gone? We know the banks lined up and got their cut, but how did the average Joe benefit? Home foreclosures haven't slowed down, either, despite banks skimming off the top of the $787 Billion stimulus package. What a bad bad bad combination. In short, the recession is definitely still going strong especially for Blacks who face an undeniable disparity with unemployment in the current job market. So can someone please explain where's the job growth? More importantly, where did the $787 Billion Federal Stimulus dollars go? 