(ThyBlackMan.com) There is no question about it, the above title of this piece is correct; there is just no other way to put it. If we as African Americans (AA) do not become more attentive to economic decisions made in Washington, D.C., and do something about these decisions, we have no one else to blame for the havoc caused in our lives as a result of those decisions but ourselves. This is an economy built on a bubble; it is what I call euphemistically “a bubble economy” and that bubble can easily burst at any time. The Federal Open Market Committee controlled by the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) raised interest rates at its December meeting in spite of the economy clearly showing signs of weakness. It is the African American community who will be affected first when it comes to layoffs as a result of this anemic economy.
It is thought by well meaning people that African Americans have no interest in the economic decisions made by the federal government. These well meaning people say AA’s don’t want to read about the economy or hear about it; they would rather read about what are the latest fashions or who are the top money earners among black entertainers and athletes. Well, those who hold these views maybe right, however necessity is the child of change and that child within the AA community is crying out. You need only look at the black on black crime rate which is exploding higher in most AA communities.
It is no longer just the big cities that are being affected. As coming layoffs begin to increase because blacks are the first of the worker groups tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to be let go when the economy turns down, the anxiety and cries for relief will grow louder.
Economics does not receive the same bling-bling the police killings of blacks receive and rightfully so, because of the immediacy of the threat these killings pose to black lives. Nevertheless, the damage when it comes to the manipulation of key levers within the economy can be devastating to African Americans. The damage in this area will ultimately affect the ability of African Americans to effectively and vigorously respond to racial discrimination; in matters such as the killings of blacks by law enforcement and their agents. The fallout associated with economic decisions can drastically affect everyone, as we have all witnessed during the 2008 Great Recession.
The threat of future job layoffs is apparent due to the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) raising its key lending rate, the federal funds rate. Increasing interest rates tend to create layoffs and raise the unemployment rate as businesses seek to reduce their cost of doing business as money becomes more expensive. The key reason they are giving for raising interest rates is that the job market has potentially reached full employment and as a result will become a driver of inflation. This is a “BIG LIE!”
Factually, there is no evidence the job market is tight; not to the extent being suggested by the Fed! The Fed has painted itself into a corner in that it is politically obligated to use the measurement of unemployment recommended by the current administration. The Clinton administration in 1994, changed how the unemployed were counted and the end result is that the current unemployment rate published by the media is not a true reflection of the economic condition of the country. The current 5.0 percent unemployment rate fails to include in its measurement of unemployed those who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months. Nor does it calculate persons employed part time for economic reasons who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. If the Fed used the more accurate category that did include these measurements, not only would it be looking at a national unemployment rate that is currently at 9.9 percent ( which makes this a weak economy ), but it is also a rate that actually ticked higher for November from 9.8 percent in October.( see for yourself @ the BLS website, the U-6 category ( http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm ).
As African Americans, we need to pay attention to what’s happening with this economy and cry foul when dubious numbers are publicly used to describe our economic situation. Even under the current questionable BLS reporting system, for November, the black unemployment rate moved higher from 9.2 percent to 9.4 percent and the black male unemployment rate jumped from 9.2 percent to 9.8 percent! The rate for black females ticked downed to 8.0 percent from 8.1 percent. For those of you who need this laid out for you in the simplest terms, these numbers reflect that “Black America is losing jobs,” while the Fed is raising interest rates! Raising interest rates is a policy that will potentially cause African Americans to lose even more jobs. Is someone not getting the message?! Additionally the true African American unemployment rate for November increased and now stands at 18 percent. When you examine the white unemployment rate, it ticked down from 4.4 percent to 4.3 percent per the BLS in November.
What is even more asinine, the high unemployment rates of African Americans are not due to natural economic forces. In other words, blacks are not doing bad economically because there are things going on in this economy that cannot be brought under control, but because of misguided political policies. What is truly needed to right the economy and put it on a path of sustainable prosperity is a national job creation plan based on a fiscal solution. Raising interest rates in a weak and anemic economy is certainly not going to create jobs. Nevertheless, the question that will be answered over the coming weeks and months as we head into the winter is whether a weary and already hard pressed AA community can absorb another round of unemployment rate increases without blowing a gasket. Keep in mind, this is a community that has endured almost a decade of unemployment rates based on anybody’s measurements at “Great Recession era levels of 10.0 percent or higher, without any relief.” And these same rates are now moving higher as indicated above based on the Fed’s use of questionable data.
As African Americans, we can and should do something to change our economic situation and stop being played! There is at this time “another national civil rights meeting” being planned and advertised for January 8-10, 2016 in Philadelphia at Temple University. The organizer is the Black Radical Organizing Collective (BROC). It will most probably, like other national forums organized on our behalf, end with no detailed solutions being presented to challenge this administration and Congress, as with Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Million Man Anniversary March and the “Black Lives Matter” meeting held in Cleveland. The general objective of this gathering in Philadelphia is to “reclaim our future.” However, here is where you can make a difference. Simply e-mail a link to this article to their website at brtconference2016@gmail.com.
Let them know that the hard work of discovering a national job creation plan has been accomplished and information about it can be accessed at https://thyblackman.com/2015/11/20/african-americans-can-free-themselves-from-a-17-unemployment-rate-2/.
If nothing else, you will discover if these folks are “for real” and truly honest about their objective when it comes to advancing the causes of African Americans. Do the right thing, e-mail the link right now! Peace and Merry Christmas to all of you.
Staff Writer; James Davis
This talented brother is a graduate of Florida A. and M. University(FAMU), a former stockbroker, and a human rights activist who resides in Sanford, Florida. He was awarded the prestigious Governor Haydon Burns Scholarship to attend FAMU and while at FAMU was awarded the first Martin Luther King Scholarship. He is also author of three books, among them are “The Fix This Time,” Expanding Social Security Benefits to Create Jobs and Spur Demand( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MI3PD2M ) and “Hey…God’s Talking To You,” The Study Book ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GYI3VQW ).
He can be reached through his blog @, (http://www.thefixthistime.com).