ECONORACISM

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Contents

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION.................................................1Econoracism............................................................1CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW............................................25CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY..................................................30CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS................................................37The Historical Background..............................................37Health and Health care.................................................73Housing................................................................84Education..............................................................94Employment.............................................................106The Continuing Rise of the Have-Nots...................................120The Next Steps or "Brother, can you spare a dime?".....................139GLOSSARY...............................................................173REFERENCES.............................................................177

Chapter One

Econoracism

Econoracism is not a well-known term but it will be. Economics is the driving force behind every activity that humankind performs daily. Economics determine where we live, where we work, whom we elect to govern, how we eat, and how healthy we are. When any academic study is undertaken, the economic position of people or a country are always present and this information is always important in understanding events and why the events occurred. This creates problems as economics causes discrimination to occur within cultures and societies. The ability to discriminate is rampant in societies around the globe. Christians discriminate against Jews. Hindus discriminate against Muslims. Whites discriminate against Blacks and Blacks discriminate against Hispanics. The list continues on to the thin discriminating against the fat and the fast discriminating against the slow. All these are scenarios of visible discrimination but the real discrimination occurs at a different level of the human experience. The real discrimination occurs at the financial level. Racism is rampant because the wealthy have an economic advantage over the poor. The poor are not just disadvantaged in the economic sense but in all areas of their lives: housing, education, employment, and health care. Being disadvantaged means barriers exist that must be overcome, but that feat might not be possible. This then becomes the real racism and Econoracism is the next great divide.

Economic discrimination is rampant worldwide and while there is much discussion about poverty, the poor are growing in numbers and real wealth and power are increasingly more concentrated in a handful of people. Being poor is an economic and societal problem that has widespread cultural and social problems attached to it. The implications of this economic discrimination are visible but seldom do the dots connect on a global map.

Poor people do not have ready access to health care, affordable and decent housing, employment that provides a living wage, police protection, or quality education. Many living in poverty have no access to clean water, stable food sources, or proper sanitation facilities. This lack of access to what most consider basic necessities then ensures that the cycle of poverty continues as without these necessities there is no way to leave the ranks of the poor. The widening gulf between rich and poor has also created points of discrimination that are more obvious than ever before. Wealth is increasingly more concentrated in the hands of fewer people. "The poorest 40 percent of the world's population (approximately 2,800,000,000 people) accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income" (Global Issues, 2009).

Racism is, in general, considered a form of discrimination based on race, and race is usually associated with color. There is an unlimited number of ways that discrimination can manifest itself based on someone's education, clothing, color, hair color, age, religion, weight, and social class, to name a few. In racism, discrimination seems to be based on the belief that one race is superior to another. Wealthy people can certainly discriminate against poor people by feeling superior. Doctors, hospitals, restaurants, and a variety of businesses can also discriminate based on the person's perceived ability to pay, and the quality of the service received is proportional to that perception. As racism is expressible individually and consciously, or socially and unconsciously, or individually and unconsciously, or socially and unconsciously, it creates an environment of separation. This separation is the Great Divide caused by Econoracism.

Racism is expressed through explicit thoughts, feelings, or acts, or through institutions that promote inequality between races and laws passed—from the number of police in a patrol area to the number of teachers in a school. It is observable in the opportunities or lack of opportunities that people have that would allow them to improve their status in society. The element that is missing is the awareness of people that a deeper form of racism exists, Econoracism. This is the systematic and invasive discrimination practiced all over the world. This is economic racism, as practiced by the rich and suffered by the poor.

People assume that racism is just that, a strong bias for or against one race of people or another. This view has always attributed racism to one's color; however, if one expands the understanding of racism, it would be obvious that this is poverty-linked discrimination and not just because of color. The reason that this goes undetected is that generally people of color are poor. Sociologists Noel Cazenave and Darlene Alvarez Maddern define racism as "... a highly organized system of `race'-based group privilege that operates at every level of society and is held together by a sophisticated ideology of color/'race' supremacy. Racist systems include, but cannot be reduced to, racial bigotry" (Cazenave and Maddern, 1999: 42).

This picture of poverty as a form of racism manifested itself to the world many times over the years but never more clearly than when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005. The pictures of trapped and abandoned poor people and elderly were overwhelming. Colin Powell, former Secretary of State and a black man, was asked whether he believed that the reason behind what was happening in New Orleans was because people were black. He answered that, "he did not think that race was a factor in the slow response but that many of those unable to leave New Orleans in time were trapped by poverty which disproportionately affects blacks" (ABC News Online, 2005). His meaning seemed clear. The color of the people was not the reason for their being trapped and abandoned in New Orleans but their poverty was the cause. Many had no access to transportation to leave town and many had a reluctance to leave because while they had almost nothing, the little they did have was in the city. It was no surprise to poor people that they were trapped and ignored and those who were not poor would not know the difference or understand as nothing had changed for them.

Real Wages

On November 3, 2009, the United Nations International Labor Organization (ILO) published a report on the decline of real wages. "Real wages appear to be stagnating worldwide for the second consecutive year, underlining the fragility of any potential recovery from the global economic crisis, the United Nations International Labor Organization (ILO) reported today. The ILO's annual study of global wages shows that growth in real wages—measured across 53 countries—declined from an average of 4.3 percent in 2007 to 1.4 percent last year. In some of the biggest economies sampled, real wages actually fell by 0.2 per cent last year" (UN News Centre, 2008).

Real wages are an important indicator in determining the wealth of a nation's people and the nation's economy. Real wages refers to the income of an individual after taking into consideration the effects of inflation on purchasing power. It is also applicable to a country or a business. If real wages decline, it affects the purchasing power of each consumer, tax revenue, and employment. Real wages is what drives nations to declare a minimum wage. The minimum wage is involved in this as minimum wage is the minimum an individual can earn to survive, according to federal standards. When real wages decline, poverty numbers increase.

United States Census Bureau Numbers

The studies from the US Census Bureau paint the picture of increasing poverty and decreasing incomes in the United States. Year over year, the Census Bureau creates their reports and publishes them. Year over year, these statistics seem to be ignored by policy makers and decision makers. There were centers for poverty studies formed, yet the work that is communicated from these centers does not equate to action.

Year 2005 Data Published in 2006

Statistics from the US Census Bureau data published in August 2006, using 2005 data, demonstrate the inequalities in earnings between rich and poor by race. "In 2006, the South continued to have the highest poverty rate at 13.8 percent. The other three regions had poverty rates that were not statistically different from one another—11.5 in the Northeast, 11.2 percent in the Midwest and 11.6 percent in the West" (US Census Bureau, 2006:14). The US Census Bureau also noted a 4.2 percent poverty rate for Whites, a 3.5 percent poverty rate for White, not Hispanic, a 10.9 percent poverty rate for Black, a 5.1 percent poverty rate for Asians and a 7.7 percent poverty rate for Hispanic (any race) (US Census Bureau, 2006:15). These numbers are for those who are at 50 percent of poverty level. The numbers for those at 100 percent of poverty level are: Caucasian 10.3 percent, White not Hispanic 8.2 percent, Black 24.3 percent, Asian 10.3 percent, and Hispanic (any race) 20.6 percent.

The numbers for those under 125 percent of poverty level are White 14.4 percent, White, not Hispanic 11.4 percent, Black 30.7 percent, Asian 14.1 percent and Hispanic (any race) 28.9 percent. Poverty exists in every group in the United States and is not limited to just one race. The picture stays constant year over year with some numbers moving and up and some down but not in any significant proportions. Then the numbers in year one of the recession went into publication.

Year 2008 Data Published in 2009

In 2008, the US Census Bureau announced that real median household income in the United States fell 3.6 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $52,163 to $50,303. This broke a string of three years of annual income increases and coincides with the recession that started in December 2007. The nation's official poverty rate in 2008 was 13.2 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2007. There were 39.8 million people in poverty in 2008, up from 37.3 million in 2007. Meanwhile, the number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008, while the percentage remained unchanged at 15.4 percent. All of these facts are from the US Census Bureau data in the studies on poverty published annually. These findings are contained in the report, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2008. The following results for the nation were the compilation from information collected in the 2009 Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC).

Between 2007 and 2008, the real median income of non-Hispanic white households declined 2.6 percent (to $55,530); for blacks, it declined 2.8 percent (to $34,218); for Asians, it declined 4.4 percent (to $65,637); and for Hispanics, it declined 5.6 percent (to $37,913). Except for the difference between the declines for non-Hispanic white and Hispanic households, all other differences between the declines were not statistically significant, according to the study.

Between 2007 and 2008, real median household income declined in the South by 4.9 percent (to $45,590). It also declined in the Midwest by 4.0 percent (to $50,112) and declined in the West by 2.0 percent (to $55,085). Income in the Northeast was statistically unchanged ($54,346). The apparent differences in the declines in median household income between the South and Midwest and the Midwest and West were not statistically significant. The apparent difference between the median household incomes for the West and Northeast was not statistically significant, according to the statistics.

For native and foreign-born households, including those maintained by a naturalized citizen, there were also declines in real median income between 2007 and 2008. Income was statistically unchanged for households maintained by a non-citizen. The decline for native-born households was 3.5 percent; the decline for foreign-born households was 5.3 percent; and the decline for those maintained by a naturalized citizen was 4.8 percent. The apparent differences among the declines in median income for native-born, foreign-born, and naturalized citizen households were not statistically significant.

In 2008, the earnings of women employed full time, year-round was 77 percent of men working full time year-round, and this number was not statistically different from the 2007 ratio. The real median earnings of men who worked full time year-round have declined by 1.0 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $46,846 to $46,367. For women, the corresponding drop was 1.9 percent, from $36,451 to $35,745. Many women are economically discriminated against and it is obvious in the wages earned as compared to men in the same fields of employment.

There is a means to measure income inequality and this is the GINI index. The GINI index is named for its inventor, the Italian statistician Corrado Gini, who died in 1965. GINI is the standard economic measure of income inequality, based on the Lorenz Curve. A society that scores 0.0 on the GINI scale has perfect equality in income distribution. The higher the number over 0, the higher the inequality, and the score of 1.0 (or 100) indicates total inequality where only one person corners all the income. The GINI index measures the extent to which the distribution of income varies from a perfectly equal distribution to an unequal distribution. In some cases, consumption expenditure can be tracked for individuals or households within an economy and this also would indicate the deviations. Income inequality was statistically unchanged between 2007 and 2008, as measured by shares of aggregate household income by quintiles and the GINI index. The GINI index was 0.466 in 2008. The GINI index is a measure of household income inequality.

It would come as no surprise to many Americans that the increase in the poverty rate between 2007 and 2008 was the first statistically significant annual increase since 2004. The 2008 poverty rate (13.2 percent) was the highest since 1997. In 2008, the family poverty rate and the number of families in poverty stood at 10.3 percent and 8.1 million, respectively. This was a significant increase from 2007 when the numbers were 9.8 percent and 7.6 million in 2007.

For married couples with families, both the poverty rate and the number in poverty increased by 5.5 percent (3.3 million) in 2008, up from 4.9 percent (2.8 million) in 2007. Both measures, however, showed no statistical change in 2008 for female-householder-with-no-husband-present families (28.7 percent and 4.2 million) and for male-householder-no wife-present families (13.8 percent and 723,000).

The Census Bureau explained the basis for the figures. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) produced numbers and then updated them for inflation using the Consumer Price Index. The weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2008 was $22,025; for a family of three, $17,163; for a family of two, $14,051; and for unrelated individuals, $10,991. These numbers seem large when compared with other statistics on the number of people who live on less than one dollar or less than two dollars a day, but based on the US national economy, these numbers demonstrate the depth of the poverty in the United States based on how big the US economy is.

In 2008, the poverty rate increased for non-Hispanic whites (8.6 percent in 2008, up from 8.2 percent in 2007), Asians (11.8 percent in 2008, up from 10.2 percent in 2007), and Hispanics (23.2 percent in 2008, up from 21.5 percent in 2007). The poverty rate in 2008 was statistically unchanged for blacks (24.7 percent). The report further noted that the poverty rate increased for children younger than 18 (19.0 percent in 2008, up from 18.0 percent in 2007) and people 18 to 64 (11.7 percent in 2008, up from 10.9 percent in 2007), while it remained statistically unchanged for people 65 and older (9.7 percent).

Similar to the patterns observed for the poverty rate in 2008, the number of people in poverty increased for children younger than 18 (14.1 million in 2008, up from 13.3 million in 2007) and people 18 to 64 (22.1 million in 2008, up from 20.4 million in 2007) but remained statistically unchanged for seniors 65 and older (3.7 million).

Among the native-born population, 12.6 percent (33.3 million) lived in poverty in 2008, up from 11.9 percent (31.1 million) in 2007. Among the foreign-born population, the poverty rate and the number in poverty increased to 17.8 percent and 6.5 million in 2008, up from 16.5 percent and 6.2 million, respectively, in 2007. The poverty rate in 2008 for naturalized citizens, 10.2 percent, was statistically unchanged from 2007, while the poverty rate for those who were not US citizens rose to 23.3 percent in 2008, up from 21.3 percent in 2007.

The Midwest and West experienced increases in both their poverty rate and the number of people in poverty. The Midwest poverty rate increased to 12.4 percent (8.1 million) in 2008, up from 11.1 percent (7.2 million) in 2007, and the West poverty rate increased to 13.5 percent (9.6 million) in 2008, up from 12.0 percent (8.4 million) in 2007. The poverty rates for the Northeast (11.6 percent) and the South (14.3 percent) were both statistically unchanged.

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Excerpted from ECONORACISMby RUTH E. TODD Copyright © 2011 by Dr. Ruth E. Todd. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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