tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9495772853379716562024-03-13T05:35:22.257-07:00The Evil Black Economist<center><b>We have moved to Black Economics and Business Network !!! Our new webiste has all your favorite posts and more.</b></center>
<center><b>When cynical just isn't good enough; get some evil </b></center>
<center>A Black economic and business blog with a focus on jobs, unemployment, consumer <br> behavior and overall economic happiness.</center> Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.comBlogger559125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-87297842741503484272020-06-25T06:45:00.003-07:002020-06-25T06:46:59.651-07:00Evil Black Economist is Moving<br /><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="6">We are happy to announce we are moving !!!</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="6"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="6">Please visit our new blog at:</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="6"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blackeconbiz.com/"><font face="verdana" size="6"><b style="background-color: #b7e1cd;">Black Economic and Business News</b></font></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="6"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="6">We now feature weekly updates of all Black Business and Economic Stories plus new and interesting and exciting new content. </font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="6"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">As always, if you have any comments, suggestions or story ideas, please send them to:</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="6"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="6">Chris@BlackEconBiz.com</font></div>Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-51688641640774262512020-06-01T08:27:00.001-07:002020-06-01T09:18:26.921-07:00Top Black Business and Economic Stories for the Week of May 24th to May 31st<br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Top Black Business and Economic Stories for the </span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Week of May 24th
to May 31<sup>st</sup></span></h2>
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<h4 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Protest Related</span></h4>
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<o:p>Minneapolis has some of the worst inequality in the US (<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/30/minneapolis-racial-inequality/" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>)</o:p></div>
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<a href="https://news.berkeley.edu/story_jump/protests-in-minneapolis-and-country-rooted-in-systemic-racial-issues-berkeley-report-says/" target="_blank">UC Berkeley News</a> has a piece about ignoring the advice of the Kerner Commission called <a href="https://belonging.berkeley.edu/road-not-taken" target="_blank">"The Road Not Taken: 50 Years After the Kerner Commission."</a></div>
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Here is the <a href="http://www.eisenhowerfoundation.org/docs/kerner.pdf" target="_blank">Kerner Commission Report Executive Summary</a> and the <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/8073NCJRS.pdf" target="_blank">Kerner Commission Report.</a> </div>
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In 1968, The Kerner Commission Got It Right, But No One Listened(<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/1968-kerner-commission-got-it-right-nobody-listened-180968318/" target="_blank">Smithsonian Magazine</a>)</div>
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Quick Summary: The riots were caused by segregation(White flight) and lack of economic opportunity. Duh.</div>
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<o:p>Blackout Day is July 7th</o:p></div>
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Social Media is calling for Blackout Day on July 7<sup>th</sup>. A
nationwide boycott of all spending by Black people. In addition people should spend 15% of their incomes with Black people. <o:p></o:p>The campaign is called Blackout 2020.</div>
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The hash tag is <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CAvN-BWh1AW/" target="_blank">#BlackOutDay2020</a> on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CAvN-BWh1AW/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/blackoutdaymovement/learning_content/" target="_blank">Facebook</a>. There are details at the <a href="http://blackcoalition.org/">BlackCoalition.org</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/texas/blackout-day-2020-july-7-social-media-campaign-racial-injustice/285-4d7002b2-0bf8-4928-83fa-d024277dc795" target="_blank">KHOU in Houstion has a write-up.</a></div>
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Camille Squires (<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/05/local-target-store-was-no-angel/" target="_blank">Mother Jones</a>) asks the right question: "How much do looted stores really contribute to the local community?"<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Marijuana
Industry should deliver social justice (<a href="https://www.potnetwork.com/news/cannabis-industry-promised-social-justice-moment-demands-we-now-deliver" target="_blank">Pot Network</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">If any industry owes something to Black people, it's the Marijuana Industry, which is controlled by rich, White men.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Covid-19</b></span></span></h3>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Black
New Yorkers hit with high layoffs(<a href="https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/coronavirus-layoffs-hit-black-new-yorkers-hardest-poll" target="_blank">NY Patch</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Black
business is Boston try to stay open (<a href="https://www.boston25news.com/news/health/black-businesses-working-solutions-stay-open/6BBV73ROJFHZHJYA2YWCV6XBIY/" target="_blank">Boston 25 News</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Black barbers and stylist work from home (<a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-28/coronavirus-salon-barbershop-black-south-los-angeles-closed" target="_blank">LA Times</a>)</div>
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Work in the hair industry is difficult with social
distancing(<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/african-americans-hair-industry-covid-19-social-distancing/story?id=70840838" target="_blank">ABC News</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink">Massachusetts business look for equitable development and recovery (<a href="https://massinc.org/2020/05/20/actionable-ideas-for-equitable-small-business-recovery/" target="_blank">Mass Inc</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Racism
is the reason the US has such a weak social safety net(</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-05-30/racism-is-the-biggest-reason-u-s-safety-net-is-so-weak" target="_blank">NoahSmith writes in Bloomberg opinion</a>)</span></div>
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Older piece from 2019 on same topic(<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ingrained-racism-is-the-reason-americans-cant-have-nice-things-2019-08-12" target="_blank">Marketwatch</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Black
Wealth 2020 details “equality” policy proposals to lawmakers(<a href="https://www.charlestonchronicle.net/2020/05/27/in-letter-to-congress-black-wealth-2020-sends-plea-for-unity-in-pandemic-relief/" target="_blank">Charleston Chronicle</a>). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Black
people invest in the stock market at much lower rates than others. (<a href="https://www.investors.com/news/investing-in-stocks-racial-wealth-gap-connection/" target="_blank">Investors Business Daily)</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The
stock market since 2008 has been a great investment</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Discrimination </span></h3>
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Massachusetts Attorney General wins $380,000 settlement with ENE Systems over false claims of hiring minority subcontractors.(<a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2020/05/29/a-g-healey-gets-380-000-settlement-with-company-that-failed-to-hire-minority-and-woman-subcontractors" target="_blank">WGBH</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Human Rights Watch has produced a report on the <o:p></o:p>Tulsa Race Riot / Greenwood Massacre Reparations study(<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/29/case-reparations-tulsa-oklahoma" target="_blank">Human Rights Watch</a>)</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">General Economics</span></b></h3>
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Many of the problems in US society and Black communities can be linked to de-industrialization. Senator Marco Rubio(R-FL) believes de-industrialization reduced Black opportunities which contributed to covid related deaths among Blacks.</div>
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De-industrialization(<a href="https://www.thehour.com/news/article/Marco-Rubio-warns-of-instability-without-15298410.php" target="_blank">The Hour</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sen. Marco Rubio proposes industrialization to close Black White income gap.(<a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/29/rubio-argues-for-industrialization-as-solution-for-white-black-earnings-gap/" target="_blank">The Federalist</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Seventeen medical schools with the highest percentage of
African Americans(<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/17-medical-schools-most-african-161227623.html" target="_blank">Yahoo Finance</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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A majority of first round NFL picks have Black agents.(<a href="https://blackpressusa.com/majority-of-nfl-first-round-picks-have-black-agents/" target="_blank">Black Press USA</a>)(W<o:p></o:p></div>
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State budget under huge pressure as Lottery Sales have fallen off(<a href="https://www.tapinto.net/towns/newark/sections/business-and-finance/articles/lottery-sales-plummet-bad-luck-for-state-worker-pensions-22" target="_blank">NJ TapInfo</a>)</div>
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Andrea Harris, leader of Black economic development, dies (<a href="https://abc11.com/society/minorty-economic-development-trailblazer-andrea-harris-dies/6199536/" target="_blank">ABC 11 Raleigh - Durham</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">History Lesson</span></h3>
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<a href="https://pendergastkc.org/article/biography/sarah-rector" target="_blank">Sarah Rector</a> was a Black female millionaire during the 1920s. She made her money when oil was discovered on her family’s
land. The US Government forced the land to be given to the family by the tribe who held her family as slaves.</div>
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How native Americans adopted slavery from White Americans. (<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/native-americans-adopted-slavery-white-settlers-181225180750948.html" target="_blank">Al Jazeera</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Members of five Native American nations, the Cherokee,
Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole Nations (known as the Five Tribes) owned black slaves.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">From last week</span></h3>
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Less than 40% of Black Business still open (<a href="http://jacksonvillefreepress.com/less-than-40-of-african-american-businesses-are-still-operating/" target="_blank">Jacksonville Free Press</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-57113178508127065292020-05-27T06:18:00.004-07:002020-06-02T11:00:43.797-07:00Top Black Business Stories for Week of May 18th to 24th<div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Economic Indicators:</b></span><br />
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"Real" Black Employment Rate 24.8%<br />
Unemployment U-3 14.7%</div>
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DJIA<span> </span>24,995<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Tyler Perry Plans to reopen studio</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://tylerperry.com/tyler-perry-will-safely-lead-the-way-toward-a-return-to-production-this-summer/" target="_blank">Tyler Perry productions</a> plans to re-open it's TV studio this summer. They plan to start production on at least two TV shows. They will follow strict workplace safety measures. </div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Study find Black and Spanish businesses are not receiving PPP loans</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Unidos US, Color of Change and Global Strategy Group
surveyed 500 Black and LatinX business owners and 1200 Black and Spanish
workers.<span> </span>They found that up to 45% of
Black and Spanish business owners may close by the end of the year.<span> </span>More than half of the business (51%) have
applied for assistance ($20,000 dollars or less), only 12% got anything.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://www.unidosus.org/about-us/media/press/releases/051820-UnidosUS-Press-Release-COVID-19-Survey-Black-and-Latino-Small-Business" target="_blank">Here's the press release</a>. You can also view a summary presentation <a href="http://publications.unidosus.org/bitstream/handle/123456789/2051/UnidosUS-Color-Of-Change-Federal-Simulus-Survey-Findings.pdf" target="_blank">here.</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/morgansimon/2020/05/22/congress-needs-to-act-before-half-of-the-uss-black--latinx-owned-small-businesses-close/#4b08f30e3b24" target="_blank">Forbes Magazine has a write-up</a><o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paycheck-protection-program-black-hispanic-business-owners-shut-out-survey/" target="_blank">CBS News has the story also</a><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Working black business drop by 40% </span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/25/black-minority-business-owners-coronavirus/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reports that Black businesses are having a difficult time during the Coronavirus Pandemic. New research show that in April up to 450,000 active Black businesses have closed.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">NAACP call for more PPP lending by congress to Minority Communitie</span>s<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.naacp.org/latest/naacp-minority-financial-institutions-call-equity-congressional-response-covid-19/" target="_blank">NAACP would like to see more minority lending in the PPP program</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>How to help Black businesses in Baltimore</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: "guardian text egyptian acbj web", georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 17.5px;"><font size="2">Wayne Frazier, writing in the <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2020/05/22/next-mayor-must-focus-on-minority-business.html" target="_blank">Baltimore Business Journal</a>, has some ideas for assisting minority businesses. </font></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Robert Smith offers advice on getting PPP loans</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-ppp-loans-ceo-robert-smith-minority-business-owners/" target="_blank">Robert Smith appeared on the CBS Morning news with Gayle King.</a> Robert Smith, CEO of Vista Equity Partners, is the richest Black Billionaire in the US with a net worth of $5 billion dollars. He is known for paying off the entire student debt of last years graduating class at Morehouse College. </div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Reality TV
Personality Charged with Bank Fraud</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/reality-tv-personality-charged-bank-fraud" target="_blank">The justice department</a> charged "Arkansas Mo", real name Maurice Fayne, with Bank Fraud. He is a reality TV start on Love
and Hip-Hop: Atlanta.<span> </span>He owns Flame
Trucking. He is accused of misusing a $2 million dollar PPP loan for personal
items rather meeting his business payroll. <span> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Magic Johnson and NAN help loan $100 Million</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://nationalactionnetwork.net/newnews/earvin-magic-johnsons-equitrust-funds-over-100-million-in-ppp/" target="_blank">Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s Equitrust Funds Over $100 Million In PPP Loans For Minority And Women-owned Businesses</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Credit denials by race to be collected</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://lasentinel.net/fair-credit-denials-limit-wealth-building-for-black-consumers-and-businesses.html" target="_blank">CFPB lawsuit settlement forces agency to collect data oncredit access.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>President Trump meets with Black leaders in Michigan</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-listening-session-african-american-leaders-ypsilanti-mi/" target="_blank">President Trump</a> met with Black leaders in the Ford
Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan before touring the plant. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The president read a prepared statement of accomplishments
and generic remarks which included his hits: “China is responsible for the
virus” and “Black people had the lowest unemployment rate ever.” He ended with
remarks opposing mail-in voting.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?472355-1/president-trump-meeting-african-american-leaders-michigan" target="_blank">C-Span has the video</a></div>
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Several of the leaders work directly for him. One leader is
a senate candidate in Michigan. Here is a partial list: <o:p></o:p><br />
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Ben Carson Sr., M.D., Secretary Department of Housing and
Urban Development<o:p></o:p></div>
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Scott Turner, Executive Director, White House Opportunity
and Revitalization Council<o:p></o:p></div>
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John James, Senate Candidate - Michigan<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ja Ron Smith – Assistant to President for Domestic Policy<o:p></o:p></div>
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Karen Whitsett, State Representative, Michigan<o:p></o:p></div>
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Pastor Darrell Scott<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">You may have missed</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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City Lab has a good story on under investment in Black
neighborhoods. <a href="https://www.citylab.com/perspective/2020/05/know-your-price-book-alabama-community-development-racism/611254/" target="_blank">The City Lab link is here.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/" target="_blank">Joe Biden released a plan</a> for Black America called “Lift Every
Voice”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The plan address proposes to “improve economic mobility,
close racial wealth gaps, improve education, and end health disparities by
race." There are also some justice related ideas such as promoting a fairer
justice system, increasing voter access and addressing environmental issues.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Our View: While the proposals are certainly needed, it’s a
rather small and timid grab bag of extensions to existing programs. It does not do much to tackle underlying issues. However, given where we are with the Trump administration, the plan is
a welcome change of tone and direction.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Interesting People</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.phillytrib.com/news/business/united-airlines-appoints-first-african-american-president/article_9414cbed-82e2-5979-b98a-a60a8f13e461.html" target="_blank">United Airlines Appoints Brett J Hart as President</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.archdaily.com/940138/american-architect-robert-t-coles-passes-away-at-90" target="_blank">Pioneer black architect, Robert Coles, passes away</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;"><b><font face="helvetica">Other</font></b></h3>
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 500 points to 24,995 on the hopes of opening the US economy and a vaccine. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-91391483762114234792020-05-24T18:02:00.001-07:002020-05-25T06:59:51.315-07:00National unemployment rate at 14.7%; Non-Farm Payrolls drop 20.5 million in April<h3>
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Unemployment in April signals long-term problems for US economy; Black Unemployment increases less than expected</span></b></h3>
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced depression level unemployment levels in the April employment situation report. Twenty two million people lost their jobs as the country shut down due to coronavirus. There was wide spread layoffs across all industries and across all racial and gender groups. During the past eight weeks about 30 million initial claims for unemployment were filled with state labor departments.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xMTLD2beTbU/XsrfeYugx4I/AAAAAAAAiio/LAkk8RJF_kQ3UviCjzE-WuaelWngw8NewCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/NFP%2BChanges%2BApril%2B2020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="818" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xMTLD2beTbU/XsrfeYugx4I/AAAAAAAAiio/LAkk8RJF_kQ3UviCjzE-WuaelWngw8NewCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/NFP%2BChanges%2BApril%2B2020.png" width="640" /></a><br />
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The official national unemployment rate was reported as 14.7%. The real rate is presumed to be around 25% based on weekly unemployment claims. The leisure and hospitality industry was the hit the hardest by the pandemic losing 7.6 million jobs.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cws07cx25ck/XsrfhlxGfiI/AAAAAAAAii0/zujxHaVceZc6_VPqJcTzX8V0Jzgapw30wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/US%2BU-3%2BApril%2B2020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="910" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cws07cx25ck/XsrfhlxGfiI/AAAAAAAAii0/zujxHaVceZc6_VPqJcTzX8V0Jzgapw30wCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/US%2BU-3%2BApril%2B2020.png" width="640" /></a><br />
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There was wide spread unemployment across all worker groups: White unemployment was 14.2%, for Blacks it was 16.7% and Hispanic’s 18.9%. The Hispanic rate jumped 12.9% while the White rate rose 10.2% and the Black rate moved 10%. It is probably the first time the Black rate rose less than all other rates. Many believe the reason is the type of essential jobs many Black people hold.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UMKJFkTdZjg/XssUoBDPhsI/AAAAAAAAijo/_ocVZKY3nBksm3Ru5IHCV63Lc_PqJNRUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/U-3%2Bby%2BRace%2BApril%2B2020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="910" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UMKJFkTdZjg/XssUoBDPhsI/AAAAAAAAijo/_ocVZKY3nBksm3Ru5IHCV63Lc_PqJNRUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/U-3%2Bby%2BRace%2BApril%2B2020.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Women have lost more jobs than men during the current crisis. During the last recession, it was men who got hit hardest. About eight million women lost jobs during April as compared to million men. The unemployment rate for women stood at 15.5% against 13.0% for men. Economist are not sure, but they believe the reason for the higher job losses is that women provide almost all of the child care and they are concentrated in vulnerable industries like hospitality and healthcare.<br />
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The labor force participation rate dropped -2.5% to 60.2% and the employment to population (EM) ratio tanked -8.7% to 51.3%. The EM ratio tells us that only 50% of the people in the US are working.<br />
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About 18 million people reported themselves as on “temporarily laid off” rather than permanent job losers. The number of people not in the labor force who want jobs was 9.9 million. Discouraged workers (who have given up looking) stayed flat at 574,000.<br />
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The “real” unemployment rate (U-6) stood at 22.8%. U-6 is everyone who want a job or more hours.<br />
The index of weekly working hours fell by 15%.<br />
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The diffusion index which captures businesses hiring trends stood at 5 of 100: The lowest ever. Anything above 50 is an expected increase in hiring. The index was 62 in a year ago (Apr 2019)<br />
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The US quarterly GDP is expected to fall by 8% to 10%. The stock market (DJIA) continued to bubble up slowly. The index was recorded at 23,625 about 2,000 points higher than its Coronavirus low.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ui3m0_VLjGM/XsrfesiwuoI/AAAAAAAAiis/KBXIzQ6byiwHgRYPwQwqO0fnJKVJdLgFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/NFP%2BMarch%2B2020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="818" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ui3m0_VLjGM/XsrfesiwuoI/AAAAAAAAiis/KBXIzQ6byiwHgRYPwQwqO0fnJKVJdLgFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/NFP%2BMarch%2B2020.png" width="640" /></a><br />
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<b>Business Survey Results</b><br />
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Non-farms payrolls also lost 20.5 million jobs in April 2020. All sectors and industries lost jobs. Major losses occurred in Leisure and Hospitality, Health and Education, Goods Production and Retail trade.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8E9r3pYjLqQ/XsrfhtHYiBI/AAAAAAAAii4/jQGmjxr0Kw8gJ5mNH--1nc3tTHrJUQcMgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nfp%2Bmajor%2Bcategories%2BApril%2B2020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="583" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8E9r3pYjLqQ/XsrfhtHYiBI/AAAAAAAAii4/jQGmjxr0Kw8gJ5mNH--1nc3tTHrJUQcMgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/nfp%2Bmajor%2Bcategories%2BApril%2B2020.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Certain kinds of business were especially hard hit: Restaurants and Bars lost 5.5 million positions, Retail lost 2.1 million, Education and Health lost 2.5 million and Business and professional services got rid of 2.2 million workers.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R2vtXfAQ_50/XsrfhE-PZpI/AAAAAAAAiiw/tpCEr5E_92YjDe-iGd2koForPofu8pC5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/NFP%2Bdetailed%2BCategories%2BApril%2B2020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="818" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R2vtXfAQ_50/XsrfhE-PZpI/AAAAAAAAiiw/tpCEr5E_92YjDe-iGd2koForPofu8pC5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/NFP%2Bdetailed%2BCategories%2BApril%2B2020.png" width="640" /></a><br />
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A lot of these losses were expected, but some other areas also shrank. These are important sectors to keep an eye on: Construction, down -900K; Cars and Trucks(725K), -381K in production and -344K in sales; Air Transport, -140K; Mass Transit, -185K; Movies and Music, -216K; Temporary Work, 842K; Outpatient Healthcare,-1,188,000; Child Care, -336,000; Amusement Parks, Gambling and Recreation, -1,062K; Hotels, -839K and Local Government, 801K.<br />
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There were two industries that actually added workers. Can you guess? It was “General merchandise stores, including warehouse clubs and super centers” which added 93,000 workers. And the “Couriers and messengers” category, which added 1,800 people. The industry sector with the best quality jobs and the least job losses was “Utilities” which shed only -3,000 jobs.<br />
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<b>The Black Unemployment Rate</b><br />
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The Black unemployment rate jumped from 6.7% to 16.7%. The number of employed Black workers went down from 19.2 million to 12.2 million a loss of approximately 3 million jobs.<br />
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The unemployment rate for Black men, 20 and order, was 16.1% while Black women in the same age group were unemployed at a rate of 16.4%. More than one million Black Women lost their jobs.The Black labor force participation rate another measure of employment fell 4 percentage points to 59%.<br />
The employment to population (EM) ratio fell to 49%. There are more Black people are <b>not </b>working than working.<br />
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For the first time ever, the Black unemployment rate increased less than the White rate. Also the difference between the Black and White rate fell to 2%, also the lowest ever. During the 2008 recession, the difference in rate was as high as 7%.<br />
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The chart below shows the Black unemployment rate and the black Labor Force Participation.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WMuvdHietq4/XsrfdxeLXcI/AAAAAAAAiic/0TsfntqXNTccW4K8SeZkOr-SSRXdXI1egCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Black%2BU-3%2BApril%2B2020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="664" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WMuvdHietq4/XsrfdxeLXcI/AAAAAAAAiic/0TsfntqXNTccW4K8SeZkOr-SSRXdXI1egCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Black%2BU-3%2BApril%2B2020.png" width="640" /></a><br />
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As is our custom, we calculate the real Black unemployment rate: about 25% in April. Both the Black unemployment rate and the US U-6 rate climbed to record levels in April. U-6 is basically anyone who wants to work and has looked in the past 12 months plus part time people who want full time work.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0ZkYNJ09vgc/XsrfeDYaRGI/AAAAAAAAiig/2kJKQ5W2c0w04QGSRGFWBo7wGF93p39MgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Black%2BU-6%2B2020.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="666" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0ZkYNJ09vgc/XsrfeDYaRGI/AAAAAAAAiig/2kJKQ5W2c0w04QGSRGFWBo7wGF93p39MgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Black%2BU-6%2B2020.png" width="640" /></a><br />
ADP reported -20.2 million employment changes from March to April: Small Business (1-49) lost -6 million staff; mid-sized companies lost -5.2 million and large companies laid off -8.9 million.<br />
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Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-86942894736730291502020-05-18T13:34:00.001-07:002020-05-26T06:28:44.131-07:00Top Black Business Stories for Week of May 10th to 17th<h3>
Top Black Business and Economic Stories for Week of May 10th to 17th</h3>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
DJIA<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>23,679</div>
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Unemployment (U-3,U-6)<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>14.7, 22.8<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
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US Covid-19 Growth Rate<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>~1.0%<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>COVID-19<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
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<a href="https://whyy.org/articles/racial-disparity-grows-as-the-coronavirus-disproportionately-claims-black-lives-in-pa-jersey-and-delaware/" target="_blank">Covid-19 hits Black Community Hard in Philadelphia Area</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/14/how-covid-19-exacerbated-americas-racial-health-disparities.html" target="_blank">CNBC on health disparities by race</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/14/black-communities-have-been-hit-hard-by-coronavirus-some-people-think-they-are-blame/" target="_blank">Washington Post ties “Racial resentment to beliefs aboutCovid-19 and African Americans</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.louisianaweekly.com/black-women-are-the-most-economically-affected-by-covid-19/" target="_blank">Black women are affected the most by the COVID-19 crisis</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://sacobserver.com/2020/05/black-barbers-beauty-professionals-push-gov-newsom-to-reopen-their-shops/" target="_blank">Black Barbershops and Beauty Salons want to open in California</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="https://www.publicsource.org/how-black-business-owners-in-pittsburgh-are-coping-amid-the-pandemic/" target="_blank">How are Black businesses in Pittsburgh doing during COVID crisis</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Paycheck Protection Program
(PPP) / Small Business Loan Program</b></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span></b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Charlene Crowell from the
Center for Responsible Lending writes about minority business being excluded
from the Paycheck Protection program.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://blackpressusa.com/349-billion-covid-19-small-business-program-short-changes-businesses-of-color/"><span style="color: blue;">Small Business Program short changes Businesses of Color</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://newsone.com/3934868/barbers-95-percent-black-owned-shops-shut-out-loan-program/">Black Businesses have trouble getting PPP loans (Newsone)</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/oig-reports/SBA_OIG_Report_20-14_508.pdf" target="_blank">The SBA released an audit report of the Paycheck Protection Program.</a><br />
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The Paycheck Protection Program does not even mention minority businesses but it does acknowledge it failed to reach them. In fact even the word "minority" is used only once in the document which quickly switches to the term: "under served." </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.americanbanker.com/list/cheat-sheet-7-measures-in-house-coronavirus-bill-that-matter-to-banks" target="_blank">Small amounts of aid to community banks and minority bank during crisis</a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">P. Diddy helps businesses
access the Paycheck Protection Program</span></b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sean "P. Diddy"
Combs created a <a href="https://www.ourfairshare.com/"><span style="color: blue;">website</span></a> to help Black business access
Paycheck Protection Program. </span>You can view the <a href="https://www.ourfairshare.com/"><span style="color: blue;">Our fair share website</span></a> here.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://tnj.com/sean-diddy-combs-launches-platform-to-helping-minority-owned-small-businesses-access-ppp-funding/"><span style="color: blue;">The Network Journal has the story here.</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
---<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><b>Urban Planning</b> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.citylab.com/perspective/2020/05/know-your-price-book-alabama-community-development-racism/611254/" target="_blank">City Lab has a good story on under investment in Black neighborhoods</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<o:p>---</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Economic News</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/full-transcript-fed-chair-jerome-powell-60-minutes-interview-economic-recovery-from-coronavirus-pandemic/" target="_blank">Fed Chairman Jerome Powell say economy won’t be back for awhile</a> in a sixty minutes interview<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Highlights: 25% unemployment, no V-shaped recovery, demand
will be low as people save and at least 20% GDP shrinkage. Long interview with some
details.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The usual fed speak, but it was
60 minutes, so the fed is worried about the average consumer(worker a little less)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He
did mouth the administration Trope about: “Lowest Black unemployment ever,” so he loses
points. The rate was low because they ran out of people to hire. Check the participation rate and EM ratio. Also wage are the lowest they have been for 40 years. Plus job quality of work life stinks. So, they might be jobs, but they sure aren't good jobs. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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---</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Academic Journals</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://today.duke.edu/2020/05/middle-class-not-level-playing-field-blacks-new-duke-research-finds" target="_blank">William Darity at Duke University has a new research paper on the Black Middle Class</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blackeconomicalliance.org/app/uploads/2020/04/Black-Economic-Alliance-PPP-Stimulus-Proposal1.pdf" target="_blank">Black Economic Alliance Covid-19 relief <o:p></o:p>proposal</a></div>
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<br /></div>
---<br />
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<br /></div>
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<b>Unemployment</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lots of Unemployment stories, so we will pick three good
ones<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.toc.htm" target="_blank">BLS April Unemployment Report</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The BLS released the April Unemployment report on May 8<sup>th</sup>
with depression levels of joblessness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
narrow national unemployment rate was recorded at 14.7%. The boarder, U-6 (everyone
who wants to work plus people who want more hours) stood at 22.8%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than twenty million payroll jobs were
lost. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The unemployment rate for Black spiked at 16.7%, but the
Black/White unemployment rate gap narrowed, meaning more Whites were laid off
than Blacks (proportionally).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leisure and Hospitality lost a staggering 7.6 million jobs
of which 5.5 million were restaurants and bars.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/27/those-600-unemployment-checks-delayed-in-some-states.html" target="_blank">Unemployment payments continue to lag</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/many-americans-are-getting-more-money-from-unemployment-than-they-were-from-their-jobs/" target="_blank">Unemployment benefits can exceed salaries for some job categories</a></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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---</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Politics</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/" target="_blank">Joe Biden releases plan for Black America called “Lift EveryVoice”.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/">https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The plan address proposes to “improve economic mobility, close
racial wealth gaps, improve education, and end health disparities by race.
There are also some justice related ideas such as promoting a fairer justice
system, increasing voter access and addressing environmental justice issues.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our View: The mild plan is a welcome change of tone and direction.While the proposals are certainly needed, it’s a
rather small and timid grab bag of extensions to existing programs. </div>
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<br /></div>
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---</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Interesting People</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://houstonagentmagazine.com/2020/05/11/houston-broker-becomes-first-african-american-berkshire-hathaway-homeservices-franchise-owner-world/" target="_blank">Real Estate Broker, Tiffany Curry, becomes first Black Berkshire Hathaway Franchise Owner</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> ---</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Other</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/15/marcus-books-oakland-oldest-black-bookstore" target="_blank">The Famous Marcus Books in Oakland may not survive.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/5/12/21250766/census-2020-undercount-black-latino-asian" target="_blank">Pandemic may affect census counts in minority communities</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-11942451300546907232020-05-12T11:14:00.000-07:002020-05-13T13:57:39.135-07:00Weekly Unemployment Figures Signal Depression<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Weekly Unemployment Figures Signal Depression Level Job Losses</b><br />
<b>Unemployment rate is 15.% and continues to rise</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The weekly unemployment claims report for May 7th showed incredible number of job losses as people filed claims for unemployment insurance. For the week ending May 2nd reported that 3,169,000 people filed an initial claim for unemployment insurance. That's down 677K from the April 25th figure of 3,846,000 people. This months figure is <b>15 times</b> the average for the past year. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>Continuing Claims</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The May 7th report also captured 22,647,000 people who filed continuing claims for unemployment assistance for the weekly of April 25th, and increase of 4,636,000 claims. The estimated unemployment rate was 15.5%</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The Department of Labor weekly claims report is the go to report in these fast changing times. It's released every week. The report captures all the new people who have filed for unemployment relief and the people continuing to receive unemployment relief. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the detailed "Employment Situation" report on the first friday of each month. The April report, released May 8th, 2020 only partially captured how bad the job losses were from Covid-19. So everyone is watching the weekly report. </div>
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<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-48407347164444865112020-05-07T09:16:00.004-07:002020-05-07T09:16:30.834-07:00Interesting Readings for December 2019<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Black Celebrities try to buy Disney sports channels</b><br />
<br />
From February and May 2019, we reported that a number of Black celebrities had expressed interest in purchasing 22 TV sports channels from the Disney Company. The sports channels show local live sports like the YES channel in the New York area which has exclusive rights to broadcast the NY Yankees. Local sports has become a "must carry" so the channels have an almost guaranteed income.<br />
<br />
Disney was forced to divest on anti-competitive grounds.<br />
<br />
Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson) and LL Cool J (James Todd Smith) have reportedly bid on 22 television sports channels Disney was forced to sell. The asking price is between $15 to 22 Billion dollars. Apparently Ervin "Magic" Johnson and Will Smith were also part of the deal.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.thebeatdc.com/blog/2019/4/22/will-smith-and-magic-johnson-join-ll-cool-j-and-ice-cubes-effort-to-buy-sports-stations">https://www.thebeatdc.com/blog/2019/4/22/will-smith-and-magic-johnson-join-ll-cool-j-and-ice-cubes-effort-to-buy-sports-stations</a><br />
<br />
Sinclair broadcasting ended up purchasing 21 TV sports channels from Disney Company.<br />
<br />
Amazon also made a bid. The YES network bought the remaining rights to the Yankees.<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<b>Byron Allen Sues Comcast for Racial Discrimination</b><br />
<br />
<br />
Byron Allen brought a court case against Comcast for refusing to carry his entertainments channels.<br />
<br />
Byron Allen's company is here <a href="https://entertainmentstudios.com/">https://entertainmentstudios.com/</a><br />
<br />
Sean Combs (Puffy Daddy) own revolt.tv <a href="https://www.revolt.tv/">https://www.revolt.tv/</a><br />
<br />
And Oprah Winfry owns own network. <a href="http://www.oprah.com/app/own-tv.html">http://www.oprah.com/app/own-tv.html</a><br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<b>NY Times: Bank manager and customer detail bank discrimination at JP Morgan Chase</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/business/jpmorgan-banking-racism.html" target="_blank">NY Times</a><br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<b>Black Franchises Complain about cash flow issues</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/09/mcdonalds-black-franchisees-leave-chain-as-disparity-grows.html" target="_blank">CNBC</a><br />
<br />
<br />
National Black McDonalds Operators Association<br />
<a href="https://nbmoa.org/">https://nbmoa.org/</a><br />
<br />
National Hispanic Owner Operators Association<br />
<a href="https://mhoa.wildapricot.org/">https://mhoa.wildapricot.org/</a><br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Robert Johnson's Ex, Sheila Johnson, Operates a luxury hotel chain</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.salamanderhotels.com/">https://www.salamanderhotels.com/</a><br />
<br />
<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-5293265214967666462020-04-28T08:52:00.000-07:002020-05-10T13:13:23.101-07:00What were reading: April 2020<br />
<br />
<b>Coronavirus</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Small Business Loan Program</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Charlene Crowell from the Center for Responsible Lending writes about minority business being excluded from the Paycheck Protection program.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blackpressusa.com/349-billion-covid-19-small-business-program-short-changes-businesses-of-color/" target="_blank">Small Business Program short changes Businesses of Color</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://newsone.com/3934868/barbers-95-percent-black-owned-shops-shut-out-loan-program/" target="_blank">Black Businesses have trouble getting PPP loans (Newsone)</a><br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<b>Track the Relief Bill Spending</b><br />
<br />
The Committee for Responsible Federal Budget has a great coronavirus relief bill tracker.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.crfb.org/blogs/whats-2-trillion-coronavirus-relief-package" target="_blank">Coronavirus Relief Bill Tracker</a><br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<b>Black Barbershops face difficult times</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/28/business/black-barbers-coronavirus/index.html" target="_blank">CNN covers the story</a><br />
<br />
<b>---</b><br />
<b>P. Diddy helps businesses access the Paycheck Protection Program</b><br />
<br />
Sean "P. Diddy" Combs creates <a href="https://www.ourfairshare.com/" target="_blank">website</a> to help Black business access Paycheck Protection Program.<br />
<br />
You can view the <a href="https://www.ourfairshare.com/" target="_blank">Our fair share website</a> here.<br />
<div>
<br />
<a href="https://tnj.com/sean-diddy-combs-launches-platform-to-helping-minority-owned-small-businesses-access-ppp-funding/" target="_blank">The Network Journal has the story here.</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<b>Earl Graves, Founder of Black Enterprise Magazine, dies at 85</b><br />
<br />
Earl Graves was a long time champion of Black Business. He created Black Enterprise magazine in 1970 that showcased Black business and Black corporate executives. He wrote a well known book: "How to Succeed in Business without being White." He also served on the boards of major corporations including American Airlines, Rohm & Hass, and Federated Department Stores. He sat of several important board and ran the DC Pepsi bottling franchise for several years.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.blackenterprise.com/earl-graves-sr-founder-of-black-enterprise-and-ultimate-champion-of-black-business-passes-away-at-85/" target="_blank">Black Enterprise has the details</a><br />
---<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/04/22/shark-tank-investors-offer-1-million-masks-for-7-million/" target="_blank"><b>Daymond John reportedly tried to sell Florida N95 masks for $7 dollars a piece</b></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-shark-tank-star-daymond-john-tries-to-sell-masks-amid-coronavirus-20200422-lckaodlix5dvfggbbkb2o4qjvi-story.html" target="_blank">He denied the story in the NY Daily News</a>. The winning bid was priced at $7.50 per mask for 30 million masks.<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<b>Reparations</b><br />
<br />
Sandy Darity and Kirsten Mullen have an article in Newsweek explaining how Covid-19 has exposed the need for reparations. <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-making-case-black-reparations-clearer-ever-opinion-1501887" target="_blank">Coronavirus making the case for Reparations.</a> They also have a new book called <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469654973/from-here-to-equality/" target="_blank">"From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century."</a><br />
<br /></div>
<div>
</div>
<b>Marketing</b><br />
<br />
Tyrha Lindsey-Warren, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor of marketing in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business. Has identified the best storytelling ads during the Coronavirus Pandemic<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=218682" target="_blank">Storytelling ads during Coronavirus</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Media and Entertainment Business</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<a href="https://variety.com/2020/music/news/valeisha-butterfield-jones-recording-academy-diversity-inclusion-1234593774/" target="_blank"><b>Variety: </b><b>Recording Academy hires Butterfield Jones as Diversity Officer</b></a><br />
<b><br /></b>
The Recording Academy is the primary organizer for the Grammy Awards<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<b><a href="https://www.rbr.com/urban-one-moves-forward-with-radio-division-covid-19-cuts/" target="_blank">Urban One layoffs</a></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Urban One, is the successor to Cathy Hughes' Radio one. The layoffs were Coronavirus related.<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<b>Retail</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://wallethub.com/blog/coronavirus-shopping-survey/73706/" target="_blank">WalletHub reports spending patterns during Coronavirus Pandemic</a><br />
<br />
WalletHub, an internet financial planning website, surveyed 450 people about their spending patterns during the Coronavirus Pandemic . Overall people were spending less money during the Pandemic. The largest category was entertainment, alcohol, clothing and beauty products.<br />
<br />
WalletHub also projected it's survey results by scaling them up to the whole US. For example, 23% of people in the survey said they were spending more money during the pandemic. That equates to 58 Million people spending more money.<br />
<br />
<b>Restaurants and Food Service</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/food-safety-during-emergencies/best-practices-retail-food-stores-restaurants-and-food-pick-updelivery-services-during-covid-19" target="_blank">FDA promotes best practices for restaurants and food service</a><br />
<br />
The six foot distancing maybe unworkable in restaurants and kitchens<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-43659011685138065892019-12-08T09:22:00.001-08:002020-06-01T18:31:17.886-07:00What were reading. October/November Edition<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-in-black-america#" target="_blank"><b>Future of Work in Black America</b></a><br />
<br />
McKinsey Consulting has a October 2019 article on where the jobs will be in the future. They report that Black people are poorly positioned to take advantage of new jobs and new locations. The study looks at occupation and geographic effects of automation.<br />
<br />
The study documents how African Americans are in industries likely to be affect by automation. The good news is that geographically, Black people are well positioned for new jobs.<br />
<br />
The authors suggest education and retraining to manage the transition.<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/besol/color_of_wealth_report.pdf" target="_blank">Color of Wealth in Los Angles</a><br />
<br />
This is an old study from 2016 by the Federal Reserve in San Francisco on the wealth of different California populations. It is a really good detailed study of wealth and assets in Los Angeles. The conclusion is that African Americans in Los Angles have close to zero wealth. It includes a category called "African Black" for comparison.<br />
<br />
Report has some interesting tidbits. Between 2000 and 2014, the Asian Indian population jump 117% in California and 60% in LA while the Black population had 0% increase statewide and -10% decrease in LA.<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
Another Zero Black Wealth Story<br />
<br />
<a href="https://ips-dc.org/report-the-road-to-zero-wealth/" target="_blank">Institute for Policies Studies</a> also has a zero Black wealth study. This one is from September 2017.<br />
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<a href="https://www.doleta.gov/business/incentives/opptax/" target="_blank">Work Opportunity Tax Credit</a><br />
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I recently filled out an application for Bed, Bath and Beyond based in Union, NJ. They sent back a survey for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit. The WOTC gives a tax credit if you hire someone from a targeted group "that has faced significant barriers to employment.<br />
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The groups of people includes the following people Veterans, ex-felons, people get TANF, people between 18 and 40 who live in an empowerment zone, opportunity zone or renewal community, physical or mental disability, summer youth employment from opportunity zone, SNAP recipient, SSI recipient, family on long term family assistance, and long -term unemployed.<br />
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It was part of the PATH tax bill which updates business tax breaks every two year.<br />
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You can see the areas covered by empowerment zones on the <a href="https://www.doleta.gov/business/incentives/opptax/resources/" target="_blank">IRS website</a>.<br />
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Keeping it too real in the HR department<br />
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From April 2019, Cynet Systems was busted for post a job ad that specifically said "Preferably Caucasian"<br />
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<a href="https://diversity.com/blog/preferably-caucasian/">https://diversity.com/blog/preferably-caucasian/</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-company-apology-preferably-caucasian-applicants-2019-4">https://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-company-apology-preferably-caucasian-applicants-2019-4</a><br />
<a href="https://www.cynetsystems.com/">https://www.cynetsystems.com/</a><br />
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Black lottery winner reinvests in the community<br />
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<a href="https://www.theroot.com/black-lottery-winner-invests-winnings-into-rebuilding-f-1820392458">https://www.theroot.com/black-lottery-winner-invests-winnings-into-rebuilding-f-1820392458</a><br /><br />
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Role Models<br />
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I teach computers in a predominately Spanish speaking high school. I have a long running contest for finding a Latina or Spanish speaking woman who is recognized in technology. And the person must be Afro-Latino.<br />
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Me and my students have cumulatively spent hours on this search only to come up empty handed.<br />
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Well at least people are writing about the issue. Reveal has a long piece about secret diversity data in silicon vally.<br />
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<a href="https://www.revealnews.org/article/hidden-figures-how-silicon-valley-keeps-diversity-data-secret/">https://www.revealnews.org/article/hidden-figures-how-silicon-valley-keeps-diversity-data-secret/</a><br />
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Good old general inequality<br />
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The Congressional Budget Office has the graphs.<br />
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<a href="https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-07/55413-CBO-distribution-of-household-income-2016.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.cbo.gov/system/<wbr></wbr>files/2019-07/55413-CBO-<wbr></wbr>distribution-of-household-<wbr></wbr>income-2016.pdf</a><br />
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<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-22625016018740331122019-08-29T04:58:00.000-07:002019-12-25T10:48:36.502-08:00What were reading on July 24th, 2019<br />
<b>Black men have a 1 in 1000 chance of being killed by the police</b><br />
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Black men between 20 and 35 years old have a one in 1000 chance of being killed by the police. The research comes from a report in the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/07/30/1821204116" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>. The researchers used news reports and other publicly available sources to collect the information. The FBI, state and local police do not record police killings by race.<br />
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<b>Black women start business in record numbers</b><br />
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We just found a report from the KC fed on Black women in business. <a href="https://www.kansascityfed.org/community/smallbusiness/black-women-business-startups" target="_blank">The report is here.</a> The report has no date but was based on focus groups conducted in 2017 in Kansas City, MO.<br />
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The survey found that the number of Black women owned businesses increased by 179% during the period from 2002 to 2012. Business owned by Black women were concentrated in service, healthcare and social assistance and administrative support. Many businesses were small, employed few people and were community or passion related. The business owners reported trouble securing financing.<br />
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<b>Economist report manufacturing job losses 20 year late</b><br />
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In the "Closing the barn door after the horse has bolted" category, three economists report that multi-national corporations (MNC) were responsible for most of the manufacturing job losses in the US after China joined the WTO in 2001.<br />
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<a href="https://voxeu.org/article/offshoring-and-decline-us-manufacturing-employment" target="_blank">The Center for Economic and Policy Research has the story.</a><br />
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The story is sad on a lot of levels:<br />
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1) It's the year 2019 and they are coming out with the paper now. Not 20 or 30 years ago when it would have been useful to prevent the huge loss of good paying jobs in the US.. So there is a huge speed problem in academia related to useful policy research.<br />
<br />
2) Second, the researchers themselves could not even get the data. They had to develop their own data set. In other words, corporations <u>didn't want</u> the data collected and the government went along with them. We all looked the other way. This is another instance of the Senators and US représentatives directly hurting our economy by using their power to block data collection.<br />
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3) Third, the loss of good jobs played a direct role in electing president Trump. The large amount of the loss which was not replaced was in the US midwest. Coastal cities replaced much of their manufacturing with real estate, finance and technology.<br />
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4) Fourth, We all kind of knew what was happening. This writer was laid of twice during this same time period. It's just surprising how little was done to stop this devastating process.<br />
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<b>Tax cut in 2017 causes huge increase in deficit</b><br />
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The C ongressional Research Service has reviewed the 2017 tax cut. The tax act of 2017 added $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the long term, with only a short bump up in GDP from it's long term trend of 2.1%. A large amount of money was repatriated to the US and then used for dividends.<br />
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<a href="https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20190522_R45736_8a1214e903ee2b719e00731791d60f26d75d35f4.pdf" target="_blank">Congressional Research Service preliminary report on Tax Act of 2017</a><br />
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<b>Consensus view of economists is that deficits don't matter</b><br />
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However, most economist have moved to the position that deficits, below a certain level of GDP, don't matter. They believe the US is below that level. Instead the deficits were and are used a political weapon again government spending and entitlement programs.<br />
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<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-19/budget-deficits-still-matter-sorry-mmt-proponents" target="_blank">Deficits don't matter #1: Bloomberg</a><br />
<a href="https://qz.com/1517842/do-deficits-matter/" target="_blank">Deficits don't matter #1: Quartz </a><br />
<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-19/budget-deficits-still-matter-sorry-mmt-proponents" target="_blank">Deficits don't matter #2: The Conversation</a><br />
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A little annoyed that articles always run a picture of the photogenic AOC<br />
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<b>Let's beat up Labor</b><br />
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The Trump administration is one of the most anti-labor presidencies of all time -- <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-07-22/trump-attack-on-labor" target="_blank">LA Times</a>. I just can't figure out how they get away with it.<br />
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<b>Tipping's Racist Past -- Article</b><br />
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Rev. Dr. William Barber writes about tipping as racist in <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/07/17/william-barber-tipping-racist-past-227361" target="_blank">Politico</a>. His goal is to abolish the tipped wage. Herman Cain, Trumps favorite Black person, gets a mention in the story so you know it's good.<br />
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<b>Amazon hates cashiers</b><br />
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Amazon is spending on store without cashiers. According to the BLS, as of May 2018, there were about 3.6 million cashiers.<br />
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<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-07-18/amazon-s-most-ambitious-research-project-is-a-convenience-store">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-07-18/amazon-s-most-ambitious-research-project-is-a-convenience-store</a><br />
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<b>Looking at Black women's economic status</b><br />
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Black women's equal pay day is August 22, 2019. In other words, they have to work until August of the following year (2019) to earn what White men earned in 2018.<br />
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<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/06/08/report-black-women-are-working-hard-but-our-country-is-not-working-for-them/?noredirect=on">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/06/08/report-black-women-are-working-hard-but-our-country-is-not-working-for-them/?noredirect=on</a><br />
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Black / White wage gap may be due to Whites not sharing knowledge on the job with Blacks. The study notes how difficult it is for Blacks in a predominately White environment.<br />
<a href="https://voxeu.org/article/explaining-black-white-wage-gap" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="https://voxeu.org/article/explaining-black-white-wage-gap" target="_blank">Again on CEPR Vox. </a><br />
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Other stuff<br />
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This one is a must read<br />
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<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html" target="_blank">New York Times 1619 Project on the impact of slavery</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/19/upshot/race-class-white-and-black-men.html" target="_blank">We also had to go back to Raj Chetty's article on inter generational wealth.</a><br />
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Depressing as always.<br />
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Mr. Chetty also promotes a big data website on economic inequality called<br />
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<a href="http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/" target="_blank">Equality of Opportunity</a><br />
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A nice safe name to be sure. I guess "Reparation Now" or "Welfare for the Undeserving" were taken.<br />
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<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-55753302526266172992019-07-19T16:39:00.002-07:002019-07-19T18:20:45.057-07:00Congress votes to raise minimum wage in steps to $15 per hour by 2025<br />
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The US House of Representatives passed HR 582 on Thursday, July 18th, 2019 to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 dollar per hours by 2025. The vote was 231 to 199. It also abolishes the "tipped" wage. The bill, called "The raise the wage act" would raise the wage in steps over a six year period to $15.00, tie future wage increases to median wage growth and repeal the "tipped" and "training" wages for all workers.<br />
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<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/18/house-passes-raise-the-wage-act-15-per-hour-minimum-wage-bill.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/18/house-passes-raise-the-wage-act-15-per-hour-minimum-wage-bill.html</a><br />
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The <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/55410" target="_blank">Congressional Budget Office</a> predicted 17 million people would be directly affected by the measure. Ten million more are expected to be a bump up if they are near $15 dollars already.<br />
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In related news, The Congressional Budget Office release a report on July 8th, 2019, examine the effects of the "Raise the Wage Act." They determined that the bill would increase the wages of about 17 million people directly and 10 million more indirectly. It would lift 1.3 million people out of poverty. The report estimates that 1.3 million people would lose their jobs. The economy creates about 2 million new jobs each year.<br />
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Report said the wages would come from decreased business profits and higher prices.<br />
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Interestingly, a couple states have no minimum wage: South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana.<br />
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While Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Wisconsin pay the federal minimum wage of $7.25.<br />
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Heidi Shierholz has been working on this issue for years. She was chief economist in the department of labor under the Obama administration. She is currently a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. Michael Farren is at the Mercator center.<br />
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<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?462584-4/washington-journal-heidi-shierholz-michael-farren-discuss-efforts-raise-federal-minimum-wage">https://www.c-span.org/video/?462584-4/washington-journal-heidi-shierholz-michael-farren-discuss-efforts-raise-federal-minimum-wage</a><br />
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They argue about the studies on minimum wages for a little bit. Both debate the quality of the studies used by the CBO for the estimate.<br />
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Darren argues that economic supply and demand will set wages based on a workers value to the firm. Shierholz discusses that employers are suppressing wages, so we can raise the minimum wages without increasing unemployment.<br />
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Both economists agreed that raise the wage would also push up other wages. Sheirholz noted it would increase demand as well.<br />
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Sheirholz stated she was not afraid of automation while Farren worried about the effect of the wage.<br />
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A caller mentioned that raising the minimum wage would lessen the dependency on federal and state programs..<br />
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<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-80305086701656331412019-07-14T09:54:00.001-07:002019-07-14T10:41:31.796-07:00Top computer stories we are following July 2019<br />
Here are some interesting computer and software finds...<br />
<br />
<b>Skippable Introduction</b><br />
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<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/11/the-fed-chairman-says-the-relationship-between-inflation-and-unemployment-is-gone.html" target="_blank">Federal Reserve Chairman Powell recently testified</a> that the <a href="https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Global_economics/Phillips_curve.html" target="_blank">Phillips Curve</a> has broken down and has not worked in 30 years. <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4806495/aoc-asks-phillips-curve-fairy-tale" target="_blank">Rep. Ocasio-Cortez ask powell about the Phillips Curve.</a><br />
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Many people suspect the breakdown is due to changes in the global economy supported by information technology. (For more, read about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Productivity_paradox" target="_blank">Solow's productivity paradox</a>.)<br />
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If your an Information Technology(IT) or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) junkie, like me, you know whats' been going on for the past 20 years. Some of the system I implemented led to hundreds of layoffs including my own. But they also led to huge increases in productivity especially white collar, indirect-cost type of productivity that does not show up in statistics.<br />
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I still keep one eye on some of the latest offerings in the HR, scheduling and ERP market because of the large effect they have had on reshaping the economy.<br />
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A secondary reason to look at some of the IT products is because of the knowledge and business best practices built into the software. You can learn new things from other peoples software programs.<br />
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<b>Software Finds</b><br />
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The latest find is something called <a href="https://pubmatic.com/" target="_blank">Pubmatic</a>. It's an on-line advertising management tool. The tool lets on-line ad buyer pick their spots then serves up the ads. It really gives you a window into how sophisticated on-line advertising has become. Check it out here at <a href="https://pubmatic.com/">https://pubmatic.com/</a>.<br />
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Unfortunately, it does not look like a good place to work for minorities. I could zero visible minorities (Black and Hispanic) in their US photos. I saw two people over 40 years of age. Lot's of young people with beards or blonde hair. I did see one Asian woman featured prominently but she could be a model. But I digress...<br />
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On the smaller end, we also spotted <a href="https://www.shiftpixy.com/" target="_blank">ShiftPixy</a>, a restaurant human resource scheduling app to manage a contingent workforce. It let's employers fill shifts with freelance employees. It also handles Human Resource compliance issues.<br />
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and finally<br />
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<b>Test Driven Development</b><br />
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The nice feature is that you are no longer afraid of making an update.<br />
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development" target="_blank">Test Drive Development</a><br />
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<a href="https://medium.com/javascript-scene/tdd-changed-my-life-5af0ce099f80" target="_blank">We are reading Eric Elliott's great column in Medium</a>. I wish I had done some of this when I first started programming. I try to write unit test stub modules but I am so lazy.<br />
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<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-59442415841042897182019-07-14T08:25:00.000-07:002019-07-14T08:42:25.655-07:00Top Education Stories for July 2019<br />
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<b>Learn how how on-line advertising works</b><br />
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Google offers an on-line marketing training over the internet called <a href="https://landing.google.com/academyforads" target="_blank">Google Academy for Ads</a><br />
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They also have an on-line <a href="https://get.google.com/onlinechallenge/" target="_blank">Google Marketing Challenge</a> where they give away $10,000 in ads to academic teams. The teams produce on-line advertising for non-profits. Google then gets free publicity and marketing content.<br />
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<a href="https://get.google.com/onlinechallenge/" target="_blank">Link is here.</a><br />
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<b>Another on-line advertising training site</b><br />
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A google advertising rival, <a href="https://www.wordstream.com/learn" target="_blank">Wordstream pay per click</a>, has free training materials on web advertising. <a href="https://www.wordstream.com/learn" target="_blank">Link is here.</a><br />
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<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-11205256915185180662019-07-14T08:03:00.002-07:002019-07-14T08:41:42.220-07:00The Gig Economy under pressure after California court ruling: Court applies ABC Test from April, 2018<br />
Even though the story is from April, 2018, we thought the story was so important we are bringing it up again.<br />
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The Gig Economy under pressure after California court ruling from <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Gig-economy-faces-shakeup-after-California-high-12892622.php" target="_blank">San Francisco Chronicle</a>. <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Gig-economy-faces-shakeup-after-California-high-12892622.php" target="_blank">Link is here</a>.<br />
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The California's supreme court ruled that many contractors should be classified as employees. The state also presumes a person is an employee and puts the burden of proof on the employer justify the classification as a contractor. The state should use the ABC test to determine if a contract is actually and employee.<br />
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A) The worker is free from the "direction and control" of the employer in accomplishing tasks.<br />
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B) The work is outside the "usual course of business": i.e., a non-core activity. So a FedEx delivery driver performs a "core" function while a plumber fixing a leak at a FedEx warehouse does not.<br />
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C) The worker is "customarily engaged" in an independent profession. Again plumbing not picking in an amazon warehouse.<br />
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If the employer cannot prove all three then the worker is an employee.<br />
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The court also "threw out" the current contractor determination language that businesses use to evade Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) rules and classify employees as contractors.<br />
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The corporate perspective is mostly about how to comply with the law or avoid issues.<br />
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Here is a typical corporate legal web site from "Epstein, Becker and Green" which runs the "<a href="https://www.wagehourblog.com/" target="_blank">Wage and hour defense blog</a>". There law firms usually work for large, low ware employers and help HR departments comply with the wage regulations.<br />
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<a href="https://www.wagehourblog.com/2018/04/articles/california-wage-hour-law/california-supreme-court-adopts-abc-test-for-independent-contractors/" target="_blank">California Supreme Court adopts ABC test for Independent Contractors</a><br />
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<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-17606383806281136582019-07-13T15:07:00.000-07:002019-07-14T09:58:40.148-07:00What we are reading July 13th, 2019<br />
Article round up for July 13th, 2019<br />
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Michigan is one of the worst states for Black student enrollment and success the<a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/04/02/michigan-universities-black-enrollment/3290299002/" target="_blank"> Detroit News</a> reports <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/04/02/michigan-universities-black-enrollment/3290299002/" target="_blank">here</a>. The article compares the Black rate of public college enrollment to the Black general population.<br />
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The article on Michigan's under performance references a report by The Education Trust called <a href="https://edtrust.org/resource/broken-mirrors-black-representation/" target="_blank">"Broken Mirrors:Black Student Representation at Public State Colleges and Universities"</a><br />
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<a href="https://edtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Broken-Mirrors-Black-Student-Representation-at-Public-State-Colleges-and-Universities-March-2019.pdf" target="_blank">Here's the Link</a><br />
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It looks like the only states with large Black populations and Black public college enrollments are Massachusetts, New York and North Carolina.<br />
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<a href="https://www.pennbpc.org/pennsylvanias-great-working-class-colleges" target="_blank">Pennsylvania's Great Working-Class Colleges</a><br />
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Pennsylvania is struggling with college affordability. <a href="http://www.pennbpc.org/sites/pennbpc.org/files/KRC_PBPC_EnginesofMobility.pdf" target="_blank">The link is here.</a><br />
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An old Study from 2006 in the <a href="http://www.jbhe.com/news_views/50_no_black_economists.html" target="_blank">Journal of Black in Higher Education</a> found on 13 Black economists in Major Universities. <a href="http://www.jbhe.com/news_views/50_no_black_economists.html" target="_blank">Here's the link.</a> We have to look for an update.<br />
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<a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/07/13/how-californias-gig-economy-bill-will-affect-the-rest-of-the-country/" target="_blank">California proposes legislation to classify contractors as employees</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/07/13/how-californias-gig-economy-bill-will-affect-the-rest-of-the-country/" target="_blank">Salon has the story here.</a><br />
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An here is the court case that started the whole thing.<br />
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Gig Economy under pressure after California court ruling from <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Gig-economy-faces-shakeup-after-California-high-12892622.php" target="_blank">San Francisco Chronicle</a>. <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Gig-economy-faces-shakeup-after-California-high-12892622.php" target="_blank">Link is here</a>.<br />
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From April, 2018. The California's supreme court ruled that many contractors should be classified as employees.<br />
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<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-63592076124178339512019-07-13T07:41:00.002-07:002019-07-14T07:50:17.350-07:00Where has the Evil Black Economist been ??<br />
Working. The Evil Black Economist had to take a break in March. I have been teaching high school math and business classes. <br />
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I have also spent time developing a business simulation game as a teaching tool for business class. The game is based on running a food truck.<br />
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However, we are off for the summer, so we are going to start posting again.<br />
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Thanks for your patience<br />
<br />
EBE StaffEvil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-4348923512013743852019-02-24T12:43:00.001-08:002019-02-24T12:43:21.423-08:00January employment report shows 304,000 increase in jobs. Rate rises to 4%. Wages flat.<br />
This month we check in with the labor market economy. The Evil Black Economist has stopped following the monthly unemployment release closely since about 2015 because US has fully recovered the <u>number </u>of lost jobs since the recession. Since then, little has changed in the labor market and the problems faced by the US are larger than the unemployment rate.<br />
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Non farm payroll increased by 304,000 jobs in January 2019 as reported on the business survey. The unemployment rate moved up slightly to 4.0%. Average hourly earnings rose 3 cents (about 1/10 of one percent).<br />
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The long-term trends have not changed. Wage growth has split in two between the well educated professionals (with high wage growth) and everyone else (little wage growth). Inequality is growing. Millennials cannot find good jobs and have huge student loan debt. The top 10% has captured most of the GDP growth. Large corporations dominate the business world.<br />
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The recovery from the 2007 recession has provided incredibly stable growth. Stable growth provides a great chance to tackle difficult long term problem without worrying about recession. We have also learned the absolute amount of debt is not as important as the debt to GDP ratio. Deficit hawks were simply trying to make Obama look bad at the expense of the country.<br />
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These two trends: stable growth and "deficits don't matter as much" have given the country a great opportunity to improve it's social programs.<br />
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The big story: Wage Growth(or the lack of)<br />
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Why do the financial analysts and economists follow the wage growth number rather than the unemployment number?<br />
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Investors and the financial community are looking for signs of the next recession. They have bet real money on the economy. Wage inflation could signal higher employer costs and lower profits, which might signal a slowdown. The 2018 Christmas stock market crash revealed how jittery the market is. And no one wants to be the last investor to leave the stock market.<br />
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Economists are looking for the health of the labor market. Most economists are concerned about inequality, decent wages, and living standards. So they track the most important determination of individual happiness: wages.<br />
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The unemployment rate has changed little since October 2015, when it dropped below 4.5%. The US economy has grown for nine and half years and the number of new jobs created has exceeded those lost during the recession.<br />
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However, during the past 40 years, the pay and quality of jobs for the average American have deteriorated. Wages have grown slightly since 1980 on average, while the bottom 10% have lower wages during the same time period.<br />
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So most financial analysts and economist follow the wage number. Wage were up 3 cents (one tenth of one percent) which is basically zero. So both the stock market rally and economic anxiety will continue. </div>
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<b>Unemployment Report </b><br />
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The unemployment report was stronger than usually with businesses reporting they added 304K workers. The unemployment rate rose to 4.0% because of an 241K jump in the number of people reported as unemployed. The participation rate was up 0.15% to 62.3%, a pretty big jump. Wages did not grow in the month (+0.1% or 3 cents).<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dwJBEME9EW8/XHLw1P5I-rI/AAAAAAAAbq8/WF4p6_iGLB8BRchwDwMlancl-oklG6cdgCLcBGAs/s1600/NFP%2Brate%2Bchange%2BJan%2B2019.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="818" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dwJBEME9EW8/XHLw1P5I-rI/AAAAAAAAbq8/WF4p6_iGLB8BRchwDwMlancl-oklG6cdgCLcBGAs/s640/NFP%2Brate%2Bchange%2BJan%2B2019.png" width="640" /></a><br />
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Employment grew in the low wage industries of leisure and hospitality by 74,000 employees. Healthcare added 42,000 and Construction a huge 52,000. Transportation added 27K jobs and Retail Trade hired an additional 21,000 people.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sXgaYpl5wN4/XHLw08CBxzI/AAAAAAAAbqw/0zcy3A3NySceL1JK7eEYlYlCsjUT3BV0QCLcBGAs/s1600/NFP%2BDetails%2BJanuary%2B2019.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="818" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sXgaYpl5wN4/XHLw08CBxzI/AAAAAAAAbqw/0zcy3A3NySceL1JK7eEYlYlCsjUT3BV0QCLcBGAs/s640/NFP%2BDetails%2BJanuary%2B2019.png" width="640" /></a><br />
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Among the major ethnic groups in the US, the White unemployment rate was reported at 3.4%, the Black rate at 6.8%, the Hispanic rate at 4.9% and the Asian rate at 3.1 percent. The long term unemployed comprised 19.3% of the total unemployed and were counted at 1.3 million.<br />
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<b>A Closer Look at the Black Unemployment Rate</b><br />
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The chart above shows the Black unemployment rate and the LFP rate. <br />
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The Black unemployment rate rose to 6.8% from 6.6% in December. The Black participation rate increased to 62.8 in January as Black employment increase by 113,000. The unemployment rate for Black men, 20 and order, was 7.1% while Black women in the same age group were unemployed at a rate of 5.5%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Black men participate in the labor market at a rate of 68% while the participation rate for Black women is 63%. Black teenage unemployment was calculated at 21%.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As is our tradition, we calculate the "real" Black unemployment rate which is 10.9% in January. Both the Black unemployment rate and the US U-6 rate increased during the period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>U-6 is the broadest measure of unemployment. U-6 is includes who wants to work and has looked for a job in the past 12 months plus part time people who want full time work.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Wages</b></div>
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Hourly wages for all employees increased by by $0.03 cent in January to $27.56.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hourly wages are up about 2.5% (1.2% when adjusted for inflation) in the past year. Hourly wages for non-supervisory employees rose by 3 Cents. Over the past year wages have risen by 3.2%.</div>
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The average growth in wages has been below 1% after inflation between 2006 to 2019.</div>
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<b>Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey</b></div>
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Job openings, hires and quits have all rebound since the 2007 recession. </div>
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November NFP jobs were revised up from 176K to 196K (+20K). December was revised downward from 312,000 to 222,000 (-90,000).</div>
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ADP reported 213,000 non farm private jobs were
created.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The jobs were split among small
businesses (+63K), medium sized businesses (+84K) and large businesses
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business increased jobs by +68K while services hired 145K workers. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Paychex small business jobs index was down at 98.92; It's down -1.0% for the year. Paychex also report that hourly wages grew 2.5% in the preceding 12 month period.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-60224647586458934752019-01-31T08:38:00.002-08:002019-01-31T08:38:17.607-08:00We are doomed!!! Three key studies raise concerns over automation and job losses.Here are the references to the Oxford study, the Robot Study and the McKinsey study.<br />
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Over the past two years, the press has widely reported how robots and automation will reduce wages and increase unemployment. Three major studies confirm this process. The studies, from Oxford University, NBER and McKinsey, are the most widely quoted in the press.<br />
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Now's your chance to read them for yourself. This is some scary stuff.<br />
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The Future of Employment by Carl Benedikt Frey & Michael Osborne, Oxford University, Oxford Martin School<br />
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<a href="https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/future-of-employment.pdf">Oxford Study on the Future of Work</a><br />
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Best quote from summary: "According to their estimates, about 47 per cent of total US employment is at risk. They further provide evidence that wages and educational attainment exhibit a strong negative relationship with an occupation’s probability of computerisation."<br />
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<a href="https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/research/programmes/future-tech/">Oxford Martin School Program on Future Technology</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/519241/report-suggests-nearly-half-of-us-jobs-are-vulnerable-to-computerization/">MIT Technology Review Discuss the study</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/515926/how-technology-is-destroying-jobs/">MIT Technology Review </a>also has an older discussion from June 2013<br />
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<a href="https://economics.mit.edu/files/15254">Robots and Jobs: Evidence from US Labor Markets</a>, June 2018<br />
Daron Acemoglu, Pascual Restrepo<br />
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Best quote from summary: "According to our estimates, one more robot per thousand workers reduces the employment to population ratio by about 0.2 percentage points and wages by 0.37 percent."<br />
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<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/digital-disruption/harnessing-automation-for-a-future-that-works">Harnessing automation for a future that works</a><br />
Mckinsey Global Institute, January 2017<br />
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Best quote from summary: "In the United States, these activities make up 51 percent of activities in the economy accounting for almost $2.7 trillion in wages."<br />
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<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-13522311540536252912018-12-12T16:02:00.003-08:002019-07-13T12:36:20.105-07:00What we're reading on Dec. 12th, 2018<br />
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Just a quick round of stories for December 12th, 2018.<br />
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<a href="https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/financial-security-december-2018/" target="_blank">Bank Rate Monitor</a> has the original story on missing wage growth<br />
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Pew Research has a story from August, 2018 pointing out that wages for the average american have not increased for 40 Years. The actual point is some where in 1979 but liberal economist famously use the inauguration of Ronald Reagan in 1981 as the point wages stop growing because it's easy to remember.<br />
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<a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/" target="_blank">Pew Research on Stagnant Wages</a><br />
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A lot of people like(or don't like) the Atlanta Fed's Wage Growth Tracker. It lets you slice and dice wage data. But it's still flat<br />
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<a href="https://www.frbatlanta.org/chcs/wage-growth-tracker.aspx?panel=1" target="_blank">Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank's Wage Growth Tracker</a><br />
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Peter Navarro, who is trade adviser to President Trump, has a editorial in Real Clear Politics called<br />
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<a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/12/09/why_economic_security_is_national_security_138875.html" target="_blank">"Why economic security is national security"</a><br />
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<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-92123197447245305352018-11-29T09:44:00.000-08:002018-12-05T08:39:38.517-08:00Very good discussion of Merit in the Harvard Affirmative Action case<br />
As a Black professional, over the years, I have been called on to give an "opinion" on Affirmative Action.<br />
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I have heard comments like: "It just Black racism","Don't we want to hire the best?","They don't deserve to go to Harvard", or "it only helps middle class Blacks"<br />
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So, I have developed two common arguments to support affirmative action. You cannot really change anyone's minds, but you can ask them to understand someone else's position. That's the best you can hope for.<br />
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So I usually start with "I am not asking you to accept affirmative action, just understand why other people might support it."<br />
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The best counters against the idea of perfectly determined "merit" are two following arguments:<br />
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1. What sort of society do we want to live in?<br />
2. What is "merit" and who gets to decide?<br />
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Appiah argues that you cannot value one persons life over another. Society should provide the opportunity to flourish and lead a happy life to everyone including those who are not as successful in the "merit" game. His main ideas are: We should respect each others life choices and we should be expanding the pie of opportunity, not fighting over scraps<br />
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Mystal argues our definition of merit is wrong and favors the existing, educated classes not the people who most need the opportunity.<br />
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Read further for a deeper discussion<br />
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1. What sort of society do we want to live in?<br />
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<a href="http://appiah.net/" target="_blank">Kwame Anthony Appiah</a> in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/oct/19/the-myth-of-meritocracy-who-really-gets-what-they-deserve" target="_blank">Guardian</a> believes our current definitions of merit are damaging society. Merit is creating classes and cementing inequality the same way money, education, networks and power did in the previous century. Instead we want to create a society that values everyone including people who do not perform well on the merit "test".<br />
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He wants people to live their happiness lives, achieve their full potential and flourish. People should have the full opportunity to compete on merit and no stigma when they fail.<br />
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He also discusses how merit removes responsibility to help other and becomes self justifying.<br />
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Another great quote from the article: "Still, a significant portion of what we call the American white working class has been persuaded that, in some sense, they do not deserve the opportunities that have been denied to them."<br />
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"we also need to apply ourselves to something we do not yet quite know how to do: to eradicate contempt for those who are disfavoured by the ethic of effortful competition."<br />
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"We cannot fully control the distribution of economic, social and human capital, or eradicate the intricate patterns that emerge from these overlaid grids. But class identities do not have to internalise those injuries of class. It remains an urgent collective endeavour to revise the ways we think about human worth in the service of moral equality."<br />
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2. What is "merit"? Who decide what is meritorious, what is valuable and how is it calculated.<br />
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Elie Mystal writes a great discussion of defining "Merit" in the Above the Law website. How do we define merit and who get's to define it.<br />
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<a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2018/10/asian-american-affirmative-action-lawsuit-against-harvard-has-always-been-on-behalf-of-mediocre-white-people/" target="_blank">Affirmative action law suites again Harvard in Above the Law.</a></div>
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Here are some great quotes from the article:</div>
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"For the Class of 2022, Harvard received 42,749 applications and admitted 1,962 people or 4.6%."</div>
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"No matter what those 4.6 percent, and their parents, want you to think, getting into Harvard or any other top university is not all about “merit” so closely and illogically defined. The 4.6 percent who get in are not objectively “smarter” than the other 40,787 applicants. A school with an overabundance of choice is going to look at any number of factors in order to come up with a first year class. "</div>
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"A totally non-comprehensive list of factors could include: quality of high school, improvement over time, leadership opportunities, engagement with your civic or religious community, teacher recommendations, athletic prowess, artistic prowess, personal essay, geographic diversity, international diversity, alumni connections, criminal records, likelihood of matriculation, likelihood of dropping out of Harvard to start your own multi-billion dollar company, and also probably whether your Instagram is covered with Confederate Flags. "</div>
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"Perfect test scores are nice… but they are “one factor among many.” One would hope that Harvard would turn down a Brett Kavanaugh type: a kid with sterling academic credentials and a propensity to go to gang rape parties, if they had credible information about the latter."</div>
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"No honest person can say that admissions to top universities is solely about academic merit, whether those universities consider an applicant’s race or not. And no decent person would want them to be. If you can not see the “merit” of an applicant with a middling GPA who happens to be a world-class pianist, or the “merit” of an applicant who performed merely decently on a standardized test she prepared for under the hallway light at the homeless shelter, then your definition of “merit” makes you unworthy of admission to the Harvard Extension School, much less the undergraduate college."</div>
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Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-4596603607690740222018-11-17T08:04:00.004-08:002018-11-18T09:48:44.709-08:00Rare find. Oren Cass: Conservative labor market economist<br />
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<b>Listening to Oren Cass promote his new book on the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. </b></div>
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Here is the AUDIO of a Brian Lehrer interview on Public Radio station WNYC in New York</div>
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<a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/conservative-argument-workers" style="color: #1155cc;">https://www.wnyc.org/story/conservative-argument-workers</a></div>
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Here is his webpage</div>
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<a href="https://www.manhattan-institute.org/expert/oren-cass" style="color: #1155cc;">https://www.manhattan-institute.org/expert/oren-cass</a></div>
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<b>Summary</b></div>
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Started off strong, got the problem right, but then faded when asked for solutions. Put forth a proposal for a wage subsidy then got side tracked bashing environmental regulations. Kind of long winded even to someone who really into this topic.</div>
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<b>Here are some highlights</b></div>
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The US model of capitalism could be defined as supporting growth at all costs with a safety net for those who are left behind. This has been the US model since FDR. Both left and right agree on the model.</div>
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The model has flaws. It is based on material needs and wants only, not overall happiness. We analyze economic activity through the lens of the consumer: how much stuff can you buy? How cheap is it? What is your material living standard?</div>
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Our goal as a society should be a labor market that can support families and communities that allow people to lie healthy lives and to flourish</div>
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However, if you look at what drives peoples life satisfaction, their health, and their families health; it’s not about how much we consume, it's about the health of the labor market. Are people find satisfying jobs, are they good jobs. Can I support a family? Can they save for the future?</div>
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All long-term employment trends are bad. And the trends get worse each business cycle. We have the largest number of prime-age men outside the labor force. Wage growth is low. Both are on a downward slope.</div>
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Happiness studies show people recover from almost every life event but unemployment which leads to a permanent decrease in happiness.</div>
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<b>Then he pretty much dies on air….</b></div>
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He discusses happiness measures. Two important measures are the number of people who can make ends meet. Savings rate. I really like the savings rate one.</div>
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He proposes a wage subsidy.</div>
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Get trapped in discussing less environment regulation and then run out of time</div>
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Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-83681057118478807852018-10-21T13:53:00.001-07:002018-12-05T13:08:22.908-08:00Great Article on Merit by Kwame Anthony Appiah: Do we really want to run a society based only on merit?<br />
<span style="color: #202124; font-family: "google sans" , "roboto" , "robotodraft" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual;">Affirmative Action Again: Do we really want to run a society based only on merit?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #202124; font-family: "google sans" , "roboto" , "robotodraft" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Harvard University is back in the news. They are asking to consider race as one of the factors used in determining admission. An Asian-American group is asking Harvard to stopping using race in the admissions. </span></span><br />
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Harvard philosopher and ethicist, Anthony Appiah, argues that, we many want to give out society's rewards based on more than just merit. </div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/oct/19/the-myth-of-meritocracy-who-really-gets-what-they-deserve&source=gmail&ust=1540224476607000&usg=AFQjCNGPWrC-t9X5qSzt5gmehRL0WgEiWw" href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/oct/19/the-myth-of-meritocracy-who-really-gets-what-they-deserve" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Appiah in the Guardian</a></div>
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So, I am not doing justice to this great article but I am going to try to summarize.</div>
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The article does not take the standard approach of questioning "What exactly is merit ?" instead it considers what society would look like if everything was based on merit. Appiah is arguing that societies develop hierarchies to efficiently distribute resources. During the 1500-1900, ruling hierarchies were based on family ties and connections. In the 1900, we switched to merit based approaches. Merit maybe be good for assigning people to specific occupations. However, it also decreases the overall happiness in society, because of the contempt of the "winners" have for the "losers". No one can ever understand the true value of a individual. Instead we must make it possible for every individual to flourish.</div>
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Appiah proposes "an alternative vision, in which each of us takes our allotment of talents and pursues a distinctive set of achievements and the self-respect they bring."</div>
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An interesting aside, is that the "winners" (merit or otherwise) do everything in their power to assure their children are also winners including rigging the system or endowing their kids with money, education, and opportunity.</div>
Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-28671715901160527792018-10-10T11:18:00.004-07:002018-10-10T11:18:48.503-07:00More from International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Convention<br />
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If you want to see where Policing is going, check out the “International
Association of Chiefs of Police” (IACP) convention in Orlando.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides golf and hospitality suites, the
convention was packed with new technologies like body cameras, robots, flying
drones and expensive data-driven, AI-enabled, integrated, autonomous decision
support systems. And loads and loads of salesmen. <o:p></o:p></div>
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If there was one theme, it’s that body cameras are here to
stay, so let’s figure out all the repercussions on policing: from evidence, to
PR and personnel issues. <o:p></o:p></div>
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A search of the session topics at the convention included homelessness(6),
hate-crimes(3), juvenile enforcement and custody(3), <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>harassment and Discrimination(11) and Public
Trust(70). Community/Police relations had the highest number of sessions at 102.
Post-Shooting Personnel Support had 16 sessions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The good news is that not every session was a sales
job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were serious topics covered by
real researchers. Important sessions included “Improving Clearance Rates for
Serious Crimes,” “Improve Employee Accountability by Building Employee Trust”
and “Me Too, Now What: Shifting Social Norms in the Workplace and Leading the
Way.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also see “History as a Foundation
of Building Trust and Legitimacy: Civil Rights and Law Enforcement” and “Body
Cameras: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-84421380438907209492018-10-10T11:17:00.001-07:002018-10-10T11:17:07.950-07:00Body Cameras and the International Association of Chiefs of Police<br />
Body Cameras for All Police Officers<br />
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Laquan MacDonald was killed by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke. The key piece of evidence was a video showing MacDonald posed no threat to the officers and was walking away from the officer who killed Mr. MacDonald at the time of the shooting. <br />
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<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-laquan-mcdonald-jason-van-dyke-guilty-20181005-story.html" target="_blank">Chicago Tribune has story of the conviction</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/18/us/police-involved-shooting-cases/index.html" target="_blank">CNN Story on other non convictions</a><br />
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After the verdict, we wondered why there was no universal call for all Police Departments to use cameras in their daily policing routines. What might stop the implementation. It's certainly not the cost.<br />
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Axon Body 3<br />
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We looked closely at the Axon (Taser Int'l.) Body 3 camera which features high resolution, low-light camera with 4 microphones and a real-time data link. They also have software, evidence.com, that records the videos and provides cataloging and redacting services. It is expect to list at $700 dollars.<br />
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International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)<br />
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We also wanted to look in on the convention. <a href="https://www.theiacpconference.org/" target="_blank">The conference website is here.</a><br />
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If you want to talk about someone who has close to unlimited spending authority, its the chief of a police department. The money is flowing in from all sources. Grants, programs, local budgets and confiscation all support spending on the latest equipment by police departments. The vendors came from all different areas.<br />
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There would big vendors like Accenture, Harris Corp, Hitachi, IBM, Panasonic and Uber. And small vendors like Gunbusters, a gun and evidence pulverizing company.<br />
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Lots of clothing and equipment vendors for bullet proof vests, rain and safety gear, shoes and accessories. A niche where a Chief would have purchasing influence was represented.<br />
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There were a good number of training vendors focusing on implicit bias such as the Institute of HeartMath. Police skills "degrade" over time so they purchase a lot of training. But most of the training was for basic police skills.<br />
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Here are some interesting statistics about the number of vendors by category<br />
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Aircraft 4 Vendors<br />
Equipment 84<br />
Communication Equipment 39<br />
Education and Training 85<br />
Investigation/Surveillance/Detection 77<br />
Less-than Lethal Weapons 17<br />
Mobile Technology 89<br />
Professional/Consulting Services 49<br />
Software 112<br />
Robots and Unmanned Vehicles 12<br />
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It is nice to see a large number of education and training vendors. Police departments have big budgets for training. However, only a few of the education vendors focus on better community relations.<br />
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Seventeen of the vendors offered less-than-lethal weapons.<br />
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We are a little scared by the number of software vendors and consultants at the show.<br />
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And finally there were a couple of Chinese equipment manufactures.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">JIANGSU ANKEY ADVANCED MATERIAL TECHNOLOGY CO.,LTD</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fcfdfd; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Wenzhou Hongda Police Equipment Co., Ltd. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fcfdfd; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Shenzhen DCW Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fcfdfd; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Guangzhou Yakeda Outdoor travel products</span><br />
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<br />Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949577285337971656.post-38732896587115577762018-10-04T13:05:00.001-07:002018-10-10T08:31:09.294-07:00What we are reading in late September and early October 2018What we are reading in late September 2018<br />
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In case you missed it, Donald Trump, received a lot of help from his father in the form of tax-evading gifts. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html" target="_blank">Donald and Fred Trumps Tax Schemes</a><br />
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Fred Trump used GRAT (Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts) and low balled real estate appraisals to avoid large amounts of inheritance taxes as he passed assets to his kids.. GRAT let you "freeze" the value of an asset and transfer the asset to your kids after take some annuity income from the assets. Any appreciation passed to your kids. <br />
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Tech company founders typically put their company shares in a GRAT for their kids right before a company issues an IPO.<br />
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Did you know you know that in 2016 you had a 5.45 million lifetime exemption from estate and from gift taxes. The Trump's tax cuts and jobs act to $11.2 Million estate and $11.2 million for gift taxes per person.<br />
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Obama tried to change or close the GRATS loophole in 2011 and again 2015 as a way to raise revenue for the budget but was blocked by congress. <a href="https://www.schiffhardin.com/insights/publications/2015/obama-administration-targets-grats" target="_blank">Obama and GRATS.</a><br />
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Bloomberg reports a tiny chip implanted in SuperMicro motherboards gave Chinese spy's access to top US corporations. Here in <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies" target="_blank">Bloomberg BusinessWeek.</a><br />
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Finally, we, here at the Evil Black Economist, have long advocated a balanced immigration policy tied to the economic plight of poor people in the US (including existing immigrants). Immigration drives down wages for poor people in the US. And the US has no industrial policy to shift workers into new jobs.<br />
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A Business Week commentator has a similar idea. Here in <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-18/a-son-of-immigrants-makes-the-case-against-open-borders" target="_blank">Bloomberg BusinessWeek.</a><br />
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v2Evil Black Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547925422665973543noreply@blogger.com0