The gap between white and African American families is getting wider.
According to this report from the Institute on Assets and Social Policy, the gap has more than quadrupled over the course of a generation. Whites are now five times richer.
It shows that the biggest gap is between the highest income blacks and whites. By 2007, the average middle income white household had accumulated more than four times what the average African American family owned. Indeed, one in four African American households had no assets at all. Furthermore, they were more likely to owe the banks massive amounts of debt.
The problem is the recession has made turned the gap into a chasm. New York Times writer Michael Powell says the average black family has traditionally had more of their wealth wrapped up in their home whereas whites, because of economic and racial history, tend to have more diversified portfolios. So with the crash of the US housing market, black families would have been wiped out financially. Even worse for them if they still owed the bank money.
Commenting on the report, The Guardian points out that only one in 10 African-Americans owns any shares, one in three doesn't have a pension plan, and among those who do the value is on average a fifth of plans held by whites.
The alarming part about the study is the widening gap between wealthy blacks and wealthy whites. While some African Americans are landing quality jobs, the pay off is not being passed on.
All of which highlights a fundamental sickness within the American economy that's not being fixed.
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