Tag: Economy

Racism has cost the US economy $16 trillion in the last 20 years

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  • Centuries of discrimination have created a cavernous wealth gap between Black and white Americans. 
  • Today, Black Americans own an estimated one-tenth the wealth of white Americans — $17,150 for Black families compared to $171,000 for white families.
  • This gap is not only bad for Black people, it’s bad for the US economy, too.
  • Researchers estimate that the racial wealth gap has cost the US economy $16 trillion since 2000. If the gap closed today, the GDP would see a $5 trillion boost in the next five years.
  • Read more stories from Business Insider’s “Inside the racial wealth gap” series »

Since the start of slavery, racism has cost Black Americans an estimated $70 trillion. Today, thanks to centuries of discrimination, the racial wealth gap between Black and white Americans is cavernous.

In 2016, the Brookings Institution estimated that Black Americans own about one-tenth the wealth of white Americans — $17,150

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Inside the Beltway: Money talks: Economy remains top voter issue

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Money still talks to voters. A new Gallup analysis released Monday reveals that the economy emerges as the No. 1 issue for voters as Election Day approaches, now just four weeks off.

“As the nation remains in a pandemic-induced recession, U.S. registered voters say the economy is the most important issue of 16 that may potentially affect their choice for president. Nearly nine in 10 registered voters consider the presidential candidates’ positions on the economy ‘extremely’ (44%) or ‘very’ (45%) important to their vote,” writes Gallup analyst Megan Brenan.

Among Republicans, 93% cited economy as their main interest, along with 85% of Democrats.

As it has been in past months, this is helpful factor for President Trump. Multiple pollsters have consistently confirmed over time that voters gave Mr. Trump higher ratings than Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden in economic matters. In some cases, Mr. Trump led his

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Checking the Pulse of the U.S. Economy: Too Much Debt?

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True or false?: The U.S. economy is dangerously over-leveraged, and thus particularly vulnerable to any economic downturn.



text: Checking the Pulse of the U.S. Economy: Too Much Debt?

© TheStreet
Checking the Pulse of the U.S. Economy: Too Much Debt?

Before I try to answer this question, I bet that most of you probably haven’t even thought about it. That’s because it’s human nature, when the stock market is at or near all-time highs, to not focus on what could go wrong.

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Just take 2007. The economy was about to go over a cliff because of an inability to service its debt, and yet few were worried. And I’m not just Monday morning quarterbacking for me to say that now: The U.S.A. Economic Policy Uncertainty Index, a comprehensive and objective measure of perceived economic uncertainty, reached its lowest reading ever in 2007.

Chalk up another win for contrarian analysis.

To be sure, the lack of widespread concern today doesn’t

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Business leaders say global economy faces worst crisis in a century

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  • Business leaders from the engagement group Business Twenty (B20) have called for urgent reforms to be made if the global economy is to recover from its worst crisis in a century due to the coronavirus pandemic.
  • “The global economy is in its worst state in a century,” warned Yousef Al-Benyan, chairman of the B20. 
  • B20 proposed 25 recommendations for the G-20 group that fall into three key areas, including empowering people, safeguarding the planet and shaping new frontiers.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Top business leaders around the world say the global economy is experiencing its worst crisis in one hundred years and have called for urgent reforms to be implemented in the G-20 summit hosted by Saudi Arabia in November.

The Business Twenty (B20), an engagement group of high-level CEOs worldwide seeking to represent the business community, put forward 25 policy recommendations on Monday for the meeting

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On The Money: Economy adds 661K jobs in final report before Election Day | House approves $2.2T COVID-19 relief bill as White House talks stall

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Happy Friday and welcome back to On The Money. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.



a person standing in front of a blue bench: On The Money: Economy adds 661K jobs in final report before Election Day | House approves $2.2T COVID-19 relief bill as White House talks stall | Stand-alone bill to provide relief for airlines blocked on House floor

© Getty Images
On The Money: Economy adds 661K jobs in final report before Election Day | House approves $2.2T COVID-19 relief bill as White House talks stall | Stand-alone bill to provide relief for airlines blocked on House floor

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THE BIG DEAL-Economy adds 661K jobs in final jobs report before Election Day: The U.S. gained 661,000 jobs in September, the Labor Department reported Friday in the final jobs report

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Why Has The Stock Market Soared While The Economy Sputters?

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Just as our news cycle has been dominated by the two warring political parties in this country, churning just under the surface are opposites of a different kind — the two economies in our country. The coronavirus-induced economic downturn has brought the contrast between the haves and have-nots, and the salaried and the hourly, into such stark relief. 

In the late 70s and early 80s, I believed in the merits of trickle-down economics. I was educated as a supply-side economist. But forty years later, I’m growing alarmed that the result of trickle-down economics has reared its ugly head as trickle-up economics instead. The pandemic has not only made this visible, it’s put us on an accelerated course that we may struggle to reverse.

THE CHALLENGES OF OUR CHANGING ECONOMY

It’s no secret that the U.S. economy hasn’t been a manufacturing economy for a long time — we’re now a consumer

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US economy gains 661,000 payrolls, unemployment rate ticks down to 7.9%

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The US economy saw another 661,000 jobs added back in September and a modest improvement in the unemployment rate, as the recovery in the labor market continues at a stagnating rate.

The Labor Department released its September jobs report Friday morning. Here were the main metrics from the release, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

  • Change in non-farm payrolls: +661,000 vs. +859,000 expected and +1.489 million in August

  • Unemployment rate: 7.9% vs. 8.2% expected and 8.4% in August

  • Average hourly earnings, month over month: 0.1% vs. 0.2% expected and 0.3% in August

  • Average hourly earnings, year over year: 4.7% vs. 4.8% expected and 4.6% in August

  • Labor force participation rate: 61.4% vs. 61.9% expected and 61.7% in August

The addition in non-farm payrolls marked the fifth straight month of net job gains. July’s payroll gains were upwardly revised by 27,000 to 1.761 million, and August’s were revised up by

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China’s Yuan Is Riding High as Economy Recovers, Foreign Investors Pump In Money

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The yuan is closing out its strongest quarter against the dollar in more than a decade, boosted by optimism over China’s economic outlook and by the country’s comparatively high interest rates.

From the start of July through Wednesday’s close, the yuan has strengthened 3.9% against the dollar. That puts the yuan on track for its biggest quarterly gain since early 2008, FactSet data shows. The only other bigger quarterly gains on record are from the 1970s and 1980s, long before China began reforming its currency market in 1994.

China’s resilience, as the first country to suffer from the coronavirus and then bring it under control, has helped, said Jason Brady, president and chief executive of Thornburg Investment Management. “What we do see is a strong Chinese economy, which is part of what’s behind the strong renminbi,” he said, using another name for the currency.

Having returned to work, China is

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Protect the economy or the population? The coronavirus dilemma facing governments as protests escalate

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Governments trying to contain the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic are facing increased political opposition to the measures they think are necessary to control an alarming new wave, with the number of new infections nearing all-time-highs in many countries.



a chair sitting in front of a building: A closed terrace of a restaurant in Marseille, southern France.

© Getty Images
A closed terrace of a restaurant in Marseille, southern France.

– In France, one of Europe’s countries worst affected by the new spike, the local lockdowns decided by the government are criticized by local authorities. In Marseille, the newly-elected mayor indicated the local police wouldn’t slap fines on restaurants that remain open in violation of a recent government decree.

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– U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing unrest within his own camp over his handling of the crisis. Steve Baker MP, a leading right-winger of the ruling Conservative Party, has asked for Parliament to have “prior approval” of “major measures (…) which take away people’s liberties.”

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Trump’s boasts about pre-coronavirus economy aren’t relevant, economists say

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As President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden trade boasts and barbs over the former and current state of the economy, analysts have zeroed in on Trump’s claims of record-high job creation — which comes saddled with significant caveats.

“The job market is still a shadow of what it was prior to the pandemic,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

The White House bragged about the jobless rate falling from a peak of 14.7 percent in April to 8.4 percent in August, but that decrease obscures the sobering deficit that still remains of more than 11 million jobs, compared to the pre-pandemic labor market.

The picture is even grimmer for some worker subgroups: By February, Black unemployment had already begun to creep up from the 5.5 percent low it hit in the fall of 2019. Black unemployment skyrocketed to 16.7 percent in April and then rose

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