“Post-Racial America”: Single Black Women On Average Worth $5…Repeat: Median Net Worth of Single Black Women Is F-I-V-E Dollars [HT: Reader Jon]

What You Should Know / March 11, 2010

www.post-gazette.com -- By Tim Grant, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteWomen of all races bring home less income and own fewer assets, on average, than men of the same race, but for single black women the disparities are so overwhelmingly great that even in their prime working years their median wealth amounts to only $5.In a groundbreaking report released Monday by a leading economic research group, social scientists turned a spotlight on the grave financial challenges facing an often overlooked group of women, many of whom could not take an unpaid sick day or repair a major appliance without going into debt.Among the most startling revelations in the wealth data is that while single white women in the prime of their working years (ages 36 to 49) have a median wealth of $42,600 (still only 61 percent of their single white male counterparts), the median wealth for single black women is only $5."Even for those of us who have been looking at the wealth gap for a while, we were shocked and amazed at how little women of color have," Ms. Lui said.

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6 Comments

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1. Diet Coke | March 11th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Tough shit my net worth is negative thousands of dollars.
2. Okurka | March 11th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Uh-huh, more like POST-GENDER black America. I don´t see any difference among single Whites.
There is vast disparity among blacks… all for hoes.
It´s funny how numbers change, when you know how to interpret them.
P.S.: Why no Asians?
3. Harry Ballsach | March 12th, 2010 at 12:23 am
I don’t doubt the data here, but the real issue is working class vs. owning class. And for every black woman worth fi’ dollahs, there are several white people worth less than fi’ dollahs.
4. twain | March 12th, 2010 at 10:07 am
“It’s not about behavior. It’s about government policies. Who does the government help and who is it not helping?”
“Our government knows how to build wealth for people. They’ve done it for others and they can do it for all of us.”
ROTFLMAO!!!
Sorry charlie, this is crack-head thinking.
The goverment never helped me in any way imaginable in the 35 years I’ve been in the workforce! (I’m Native American but look/talk white.)
No job EVER came my way because I was a white cauc male. (Just the opposite!)
And the GOVERNMENT has never done SHIT other than make my life (and that of every average hard-working, low-income white/black joe I’ve ever worked with) one hell of a lot harder.
Government help??? That’s so far from reality I can’t even begin to imagine how someone can believe it.
The fact is, the people I know who ware best off financially are single women, no kids, who got into a profession early and STAYED THERE…ya know, the ones who weren’t out partying every night possible (because, as a female, they COULD) and never let themselves get knocked up OR the ones who “married well” (ya know, doctor, engineer, business owner, inherited wealth).
REAL studies consistantly show that people (men,women,black,white) who enter the workforce and STAY THERE (ie: don’t drop out to have/raise kids and/or get divorces) have EQUAL INCOMES (given the same jobs).
“…government knows how to build wealth for people…”
Yea, but it sure as hell doesn’t do it since it amounts to getting government out of people’s lives…and that would put them out of a nice cushy job now wouldn’t it?
“The government” does NOTHING to help people generate and accumulate wealth.
The only way it CAN is to get off of people’s backs and you can bet your
last nickle that this article sure as hell isn’t refering to THAT method of
“help”.
No, what they want is to tax anyone who is actually still making a buck, hand it
to a bunch of government wonks (like them) who’ll use it to finance “programs” that will
let the government administrators skim off 95% and use the rest for weak-ass solutions like “training”, “loans”, etc that will never end up doing dick for the people
they’re whining about here.
It’s all about values, work ethic, and economy.
Given that all 3 are in the toilet this statistic doesn’t surprise me in the least.
5. brian | March 12th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Stop having children you can’t afford in and out of wedlock either intentionally or by a so called “accident” or an anchor baby to avoid deportation
6. geo8rge | March 12th, 2010 at 11:50 am
You need to include government income that the old middle class is just beginning to discover 😉 such as Section 8(housing), Food Stamps, Medicaid, Social Security, school fees. A 20 year old woman would pay about $500,000 for a lifetime annuity of $24,000/yr. The government programs are adjusted for inflation so that $500k is a kind of minimum. Without sounding too wingnut, in the current environment I could see welfare being worth $1,000,000, assuming you trust the government guarantee.
US income taxes are actually higher on poor people due to the Social Security and other payroll taxes which are not progressive.
Other policies like immigration policy also weigh on blacks in particular.
I used http://www.brkdirect.com/spia/EZquote.asp to find the price for a $2k/month annuity for a woman born 6/30/1990.