Achieving The American Dream

Quite often liberals accuse conservatives of being "one sided." Their claim is that we only read what those of like mind write, and listen only to conservatives. The following is proof that such is not the case.

What makes most conservatives differ from liberals is the fact that they have the wisdom and maturity to weigh both sides of the issues and then choose what is best for the United States and the American people. Unlike special interests groups who have just the one cause, or a single agenda that they want addressed while receiving preferential treatment, we right wing conservatives read all, so that we can present a truly unbiased opinion. How often have we heard, "Oh, NO! I'd never watch Fox News, they're so one sided?" They're not. Having watched all newscasts we can assure with much certainty that Fox News is indeed, the most fair of all. The same argument is used when referring to conservative blogs.

Still think we're one sided? Here's a glimpse at an email shared within a conservative group. Notice that the article in question was published by the latest conservative smearing partnership in the world of so called journalism; The Huffington Post and America Online, who by the way reported a pre-tax loss of $11.2m for the quarter. The company said Huffington Post "exceeded budgeted revenue" in the first quarter. Also, page views on Huff Po have plummeted since it was sold to AOL. I suppose that if we're going to throw figures around, we should note that our economy is in pretty bad shape, and everyone, not just minorities is suffering. The email below just happened to be written by Sister Two to our small thread of conservative friends. We felt the subject was a good way to end our hiatus and return to our usual blogging.

Stories like this (below) seldom point out the fact that many of these "minorities" or "non-whites" are immigrants who are a lot better off here in the U. S. than they were in their own countries. Many of them are uneducated, unskilled and have no interest in speaking English fluently or assimilating into American culture. The wealth gap will continue to widen as long as we mollycoddle immigrants and minorities instead of encouraging them to accept the fact that the American dream is best achieved through education and hard work, not through entitlement programs and preservation of their cultural heritage.

Many minorities/immigrants are ambitious and hard-working, but running little neighborhood businesses like restaurants, landscaping services, convenience stores, and nailshops is NOT going to make them millionaires. If they want to achieve real wealth.....the kind that will put them on the same level as wealthy whites....they are going to have to earn college degrees and wear suits and carry briefcases and work their way up the ladder of success the way most wealthy people do.

What angers me most is that liberals will use stories like this one to prove that Obama is right.....that things are unfair in America, that wealth must be redistributed, etc. etc. etc.

What BS!!

I'm not wealthy, but I have absolutely no problem with the gap between MY income and someone who earns millions. That's how America works. We are the land of opportunity, but our intelligence, our capacities, our talents....and even our LUCK.... are NOT equal. When we were promised a piece of the proverbial pie, no one said all the wedges were going to be the same size.


Wealth Gap Between Whites, Minorities, Widens to Greatest Level in a Quarter Century


WASHINGTON -- The wealth gaps between whites and minorities have grown to their widest levels in a quarter-century. The recession and uneven recovery have erased decades of minority gains, leaving whites on average with 20 times the net worth of blacks and 18 times that of Hispanics, according to an analysis of new Census data.
The analysis shows the racial and ethnic impact of the economic meltdown, which ravaged housing values and sent unemployment soaring. It offers the most direct government evidence yet of the disparity between predominantly younger minorities whose main asset is their home and older whites who are more likely to have 401(k) retirement accounts or other stock holdings.
"What's pushing the wealth of whites is the rebound in the stock market and corporate savings, while younger Hispanics and African-Americans who bought homes in the last decade – because that was the American dream – are seeing big declines," said Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who specializes in income inequality.
The median wealth of white U.S. households in 2009 was $113,149, compared with $6,325 for Hispanics and $5,677 for blacks, according to the analysis released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center. Those ratios, roughly 20 to 1 for blacks and 18 to 1 for Hispanics, far exceed the low mark of 7 to 1 for both groups reached in 1995, when the nation's economic expansion lifted many low-income groups to the middle class.
The white-black wealth gap is also the widest since the census began tracking such data in 1984, when the ratio was roughly 12 to 1.
"I am afraid that this pushes us back to what the Kerner Commission characterized as `two societies, separate and unequal,'" said Roderick Harrison, a former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau, referring to the 1960s presidential commission that examined U.S. race relations. "The great difference is that the second society has now become both black and Hispanic."
Stock holdings play an important role in the economic well-being of white households. Stock funds, IRA and Keogh accounts as well as 401(k) and savings accounts were responsible for 28 percent of whites' net worth, compared with 19 percent for blacks and 15 percent for Hispanics.
According to the Pew study, the housing boom of the early to mid-2000s boosted the wealth of Hispanics in particular, who were disproportionately employed in the thriving construction industry. Hispanics also were more likely to live and buy homes in states such as California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, which were in the forefront of the real estate bubble, enjoying early gains in home values.
But those gains quickly shriveled in the housing bust. After reaching a median wealth of $18,359 in 2005, the wealth of Hispanics – who derived nearly two-thirds of their net worth from home equity – declined by 66 percent by 2009. Among blacks, who now have the highest unemployment rate at 16.2 percent, their household wealth fell 53 percent from $12,124 to $5,677.
In contrast, the median household wealth of whites dipped a modest 16 percent from $134,992 to $113,149, cushioned in part by a stock market recovery that began in mid-2009.
"The findings are a reminder – if one was needed – of what a large share of blacks and Hispanics live on the economic margins," said Paul Taylor, director of Pew Social & Demographic Trends. "When the economy tanked, they're the groups that took the heaviest blows."
The latest data come as President Barack Obama and congressional leaders try to reach a deal to avoid a U.S. default on its financial obligations after Aug. 2. Democrats and Republicans have been wrangling over proposals that could cut trillions of dollars from programs such as Medicare and Social Security; they are divided over whether to bring in new tax revenue, such as by closing corporate tax loopholes or increasing taxes for the wealthy.

The NAACP and other black groups urged Obama to resist deep cuts to housing assistance or safety net programs, saying it would disproportionately hurt urban areas with high poverty and unemployment. The U.S. poverty rate currently stands at 14.3 percent, with the ranks of the working-age poor at the highest level since the 1960s. Some analysts believe the poverty rate will climb higher when new figures are released in September.
"Typically in recessions, minorities suffer from being last hired and first fired. They are likely to lose jobs more rapidly at the beginning of the recession, and are far slower to gain jobs as the economy recovers," said Harrison, who is now a sociologist at Howard University. "One suspects that blacks who lost jobs in the recession, or who have tried to help family members or relatives who did, have now spent whatever savings or other cashable assets they had."
Other findings:

_About 35 percent of black households and 31 percent of Hispanic households had zero or negative net worth in 2009, compared with 15 percent of white households. In 2005, the comparable shares were 29 percent for blacks, 23 percent for Hispanics and 11 percent for whites.

 _Asians lost their top ranking to whites in median household wealth, dropping from $168,103 in 2005 to $78,066 in 2009. Like Hispanics, many Asians were concentrated in states like California hit hard by the housing downturn. More recent arrivals of new Asian immigrants, who tend to be poor, also pushed down their median wealth.

_Across all race and ethnic groups, the wealth gap between rich and poor widened. The share of wealth held by the top 10 percent of U.S. households increased from 49 percent in 2005 to 56 percent in 2009. The threshold for entry into the wealthiest top 10 percent, however, dipped lower: from $646,327 in 2005 to $598,435.
The numbers are based on the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation, which sampled more than 36,000 households on wealth from September-December 2009. Census first began publishing wealth data from this survey, broken down by race and ethnicity, in 1984.

As one reads the Huff Po report above there is a sense that minorities' income have decreased because of some implied, racism or discrimination. The same statistics about Asians as reported in the Huff Po were reported as a simple matter of fact in the blog 8Asians . There was no mention of the NAACP pleading with Obama It was objectively reported without a hint of complaint or recrimination. In the same blog the following was observed:

“Asian American teens spend an average $140.97 per month on fashion, the most of any ethnic group, while white teenagers spend the least amount ($111.58). Latinos spend the most per trip–$98.20–while again, whites spend the least ($81.41).

"Across all race and ethnic groups, the wealth gap between rich and poor widened."This statement from the article above, when read alone states a great deal that is overlooked. ACROSS ALL RACE and ETHNIC groups, which indicates that among those affected, whites must also be included. Let's face it folks, all but the obscenely wealthy are hurting in this recession.
It is a fact that whites have been a majority in the US for generations. They have had a head start acquiring their wealth arriving to these shores earlier, and being a driving force in its success. Another factor is their faith in the stock market and their investment in programs such as 401Ks.  Many minorities are not willing to take the risk, gamble on the market or invest in tax deferred programs.  Our country has always welcomed immigrants who come here legally, with the intention of assimilating and becoming American citizens.

It is also ironic that these statistics have changed for the worse during the tenure of America's first minority president who was elected on the promises he made of Hope and Change. We are now seeing through studies such as that of the Pew that the change that was promised was not what voters expected it to be.

We went to the Pew Research Center Website and found the following:

We ask that Americans read objectively, research their subject, and study all of the facts before coming to a conclusion. If you're reading this blog, you have Internet access. This is 21st Century America. Isn't it time that we stopped dividing ourselves and instead became just, unhyphenated Americans? Shouldn't we just treat one another as equals,  unite in a common goal, and stop the politicians and the media from using us as pawns in their power game? Shouldn't all of us have the same goal - to achieve the American Dream?