Month: July 2020

Top Stories for the Week of July 20th to July 26th

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We have about 70 Stories this week we a large number of economic stories

Top Stories

Protest

  • Strike for Black Lives – On July 20th,  In many cities across the US, essential workers protested working conditions. (Philadelphia Inquirer) (NPR) (USA Today) (NBC New York) – The video and descriptions do not show a very large crowds.
  • Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Dwayne Wade Launch Fund to Support Black Community (Hollywood Reporter) (Social Change Fund)
  • African-American businesses need more than “buy black” campaigns (Economist) – One man finds his niche in guitar pedals

Coronavirus / PPP

  • Evictions are likely to skyrocket this summer as jobs remain scarce. Black renters will be hard hit (Washington Post)
  • Faulty data collection raises questions about Trump’s claims on PPP program (Washington Post)
  • How will minority-owned businesses fare in CARES 4.0? (MarketPlace)
  • Capital Access for Minority Small Businesses: COVID-19 Resources for an Equitable and Sustainable Recovery (US Senate)
  • Extra unemployment aid expires as virus threatens new states (Philadelphia Tribune)

Systemic Racism

  • New initiative hopes to fix systemic racism in Central PA (News 21 Harrisburg)
  • Senate Democrats Propose $350 Billion Plan To Invest In Communities Of Color (Forbes)

Jobs / Workers / Labor / Unemployment

  • Coronavirus Unemployment Calculator (Propublica)
  • Why unions are crucial to empowering Black workers (Fortune)

Inequality

Straight Up Econ

  • Employment and Earnings of African Americans Fifty Years After: Progress? (Institute for New Economic Thinking)
  • Black Economist’s Research Finds A Blindspot On A Theory Of Innovation (NPR) – Dr. Lisa Cook’s story about trying to publish a paper on racial violence stifling Black innovation.
  • Top 100 online Economists (2020)  (Richtopia) – Large number of Black US economist are listed: Darrick Hamilton (62), William Darity(83), Lisa Cook(84), Trevor Logan (92) and William Spriggs (95), Arnan Walker (99).  The list is based on online followers and press mentions. You can check the ranking methodology here.
  • What are Top Economists worried about now? (World Economic Forum)
  • Chicago Booth School of Business has a similar survey (IGM Forum) – July 20th 2020. Unemployment will remain at 10% or higher for the rest of the year and the economy won’t return to normal until the first half of 2022.
  • Americans Are Drowning in a Sea of Monopolies (Medium)
  • America’s Monopolies Are Holding Back the Economy (The Atlantic)

Old Econ

Black Business

  • In Baltimore, a struggling, black-owned nursing home keeps covid-19 at bay (Washington Post)
  • Behind the Fall of Ebony: Accusations of Fraud and a Fight Over Control of a Black Media Dynasty (Wall Street Journal)
  • Magic Johnson’s EquiTrust insurance and MBE Capital Partners (MBECP),  an asset-based lender, are funding over $100 million in PPP loans to Minority and Women Owned businesses. (BlackPressUSA)
  • Hippin Hops Brewery, Atlanta’s First Black-owned Brick-and-mortar Brewery unloading tanks in East Atlanta Village Today (Reddit)
  • Fred McKinney (opinion): Why white consumers should buy from Black-owned firms (CT Post)
  • Study: Black entrepreneurship in the United States (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) (Phys)
  • This entrepreneur wants to bring the 21st century economy to 52nd Street (WHYY Philadelphia)
  • These Black Women In Wine Are Redefining The Industry (Zoe Report)
  • Yelp report 18 times more searches for Black Businesses (Yelp Economic Average)
  • BizSense Assembly recap: Black Entrepreneurship in Richmond (Richmond BizSense)

Minority Business

  • First Ever Minority Owned Stock Exchange — Dream Exchange (Business Wire)
  • Black Economic Alliance endorses minority business resiliency act (BEA Press Release)

Agriculture / Farming

  • Why a new generation of Black farmers is getting into the business (CNN) – Soul Fire Farms

People

  • Ahmad Thomas is the New CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group  (SF Gate) – First African American. (The Almanac)
  • Princell Hair named President & CEO of the Black News Channel (North Dallas Gazette)

Big Business

  • Target raises minimum wage to $15 an hour months before its deadline (CNBC)
  • Black artists feel used by big businesses in Blackwashing campaign (NY Times)

Banking / Finance / Fin Tech

  • MoCaFi To Launch Revolutionary Banking Platform Targeting Communities Impacted By Economic Shifts (AIthority) — Also a Black business
  • Sammons Financial Group Pledges $100,000 to The Directors Council. Contribution provides seed money to grow Black-owned small businesses (Global News Wire)

Discrimination

  • Black Business Owners Had a Harder Time Getting Federal Aid, a Study Finds (NY Times) – White customers got better treatment when asking for PPP loans.

Reparations

  • Reparations to Black Americans for Slavery Gain New Attention (Wall Street Journal)
  • It’s Time for U.S. Business Leaders to Talk About Reparations (Harvard Business Review) – Good high-level summary of reparations discussion.
  • Why we need reparations for Black Americans (Brookings) – Older reparations discussion with detailed proposals. All of the proposal are for descendants of the enslaved. The reparations include direct payments, free college tuition, student loan forgivness, housing down payments, and business startup grants.
  • Money won’t fix US racial problems. We must first change the belief that White people matter more than others (Marketwatch)
  • Los Angeles activists drill down who deserves reparations for slavery and why (Onmenews)      

Affirmative Action

Editors Note: We are keeping a close eye on ACA5, a California constitutional amendment to overturn the ban on Affirmative Action. The measure will overturn proposition 209 passed in 1996. Californians will vote on November 3rd.

  • Ballot Measure To Overturn State Ban On Affirmative Action Moves Forward (LAist)
  • UC Board of Regents unanimously endorses ACA 5, repeal of Prop. 209 (University of California)
  • California effort to restore affirmative action divides Asian Americans (San Francisco Chronicle)
  • In California, A Vocal Minority of Asian Parents Helped Defeat Affirmative Action Once Before. This Time It Could Be Harder. (LAist) – While a majority of people favor affirmative action, a vocal group of Asian Americans was able to defeat proposals in the past.

Education / Teaching

  • Occupational wages in Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
  • N.C. A&T among 11 universities to share in Dominion Energy’s $35 million initiative (Triad Business Journal)
  • Number of teachers of color disproportionate to students of color in North Carolina (News 11 Raleigh Durham)
  • Black Lives Matter Protests Spawn Push for Athletes to Attend Historically Black Colleges (NYTimes)

Real Estate / Segregation

  • Leading Civil Rights & Housing Groups Condemn President’s Effort To Gut Fair Housing, Use Of Incendiary Racial Rhetoric For Political Gain (National Community Reinvestment Coalition) – Trump ended the “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” AFFH rule. The rule requires localities to documents steps they are taking to end racial segregation if they receive federal funds.  This site has a good collection of comments.
  • Suburban Americans should reject Trump’s regressive housing offerings (TheHill)
  • How zoning laws exclude Black families from areas of economic opportunity (Fortune)
  • Race matters: Understanding how the Central Area was gentrified (KUOW Public Radio) – How Seattle was gentrified
  • Flawed policies lead to ‘Black exodus’ from California (Orange County Registrer)

Government

  • California may ban menthol cigarettes (Black Voice News)
  • Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan (Joe Biden) – it’s a lot, but very detailed and well thought out.  Someone’s been talking to Elizabeth Warren.
  • Biden can create a ‘new’ New Deal (AlJazeera)

Conservative / Alternative View

  • C.E.O.s Are Qualified to Make Profits, Not Lead Society (NY Times) – Argues that CEO have a responsibility only to shareholders not stakeholder, employees or communities. Otherwise decisions can be confused.

History Lesson

  • The presidential election of 1876 was one of the most contentious and controversial presidential elections in American history, and gave rise to the Compromise of 1877 by which the Democrats conceded the election to Hayes in return for an end to Reconstruction and the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.

Not Black But Interesting

  • Increased Consumer Activity in May Correlates with COVID-19 Hot Spots in June, According to the Yelp Economic Average (Yelp Economic Average)

SBA Paycheck Protection Program Loan Level Data

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Paycheck Protection Program Loan Level Data

North American Industry Classification System Files

This PPP data is an amazing snap shot of business in the US.


I see four quick trends without doing a lot of deep analysis.


1. They were handing out money left and right. The shoveled out $4.4 billion in NJ in three months. It looks like anyone who applied for money got money.  

2. The number of self-identified Asian businesses is huge in NJ. Black businesses are minuscule and the number of Hispanic business is small.

3. I looked at my town, Teaneck, and a lot of doctors and doctors offices applied and got money.  In Teaneck, only one Black business got any money.  A barber ship got $25,000.

4. There were a lot of restaurants and beauty salons on the list

5. It’s not clear how many jobs were saved because of self-reporting data inaccuracies.


It also really shows how poorly Black people have done in terms of starting businesses. I looked at the list and we are pretty pitiful. 


The data is dominated by unclassified (white) businesses but some self-identify.  

Editor’s Note: To make the analysis easy, you have to assume people self-identify (or don’t) at a consistant ratio. In other words, people who don’t self report can be split by the same ratios as people who do self report.

The number of Asian businesses in NJ is amazing.  We are probably number # behind CA and NY. 


You will need the NAICS code description to see what the business actually does.

Top Stories for the Week of July 13th to July 19th

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We have 47 stories this week related to Black business or Black Economics plus and a summary of William Darity’s discussions about his reparations book: “From Here to Equality

Top Stories

  • The economics behind racial coronavirus disparities (PBS NewsHour) – Nice watchable summary of current economic state of Black America.
  • William Darity discusses reparations in a (TED Talk), and with his co-author A. Kirsten Mullen in a video session (Economic Policy Institute). They cover their new book: “From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century.”
  • Why are there so few Black owners and workers in central Pennsylvania’s construction industry? (Harrisburg Patriot-News) — Here’s why it’s hard for Black businesses to compete.
  • To Make Orchestras More Diverse, End Blind Auditions (NY Times) – A transparent metaphor for society with no right answer. But there is also a warning that classical music may die off, if it does not diversify.
  • The 15 white coats promotes Medicine as a career choice (Cancer Health)

Employment / Unemployment

  • Half of Black workers in Minnesota have lost work during pandemic (Star Tribune)
  • Stress rises for unemployed as extra $600 benefit nears end (Philadelphia Tribune)
  • Black Workers, Already Lagging, Face Big Economic Risks (NY Times)
  • The Bakery That Makes Ben & Jerry’s Brownies Will Hire Anyone — Yes, Anyone (Daily Meal)

Coronavirus / PPP

  • A $2 Trillion Rescue Leaves America’s Black Neighborhoods Behind (Bloomberg Businessweek)
  • “The everyone economy”: how to make capitalism work for all (Financial Times) – Author argues for automating low wage, low productivity jobs, strong social safety net, higher taxes on the rich and job creation subsidies.
  • The economics behind racial coronavirus disparities (PBS NewsHour) – Nice watchable summary of current economic state of Black America.
  • White Americans got their stimulus checks faster than Blacks and Hispanics (CBS News)

Inequality / Structural Racism

  • African Americans got left out of the urban economic boom (Quartz)
  • US wealth and inequality raises debt risk (Moodys) – Inequality raises event risk to events like coronavirus.
  • Federal Reserve policy has failed Black Americans for decades. Now is the time to fix that. (Business Insider) – At least they are thinking about it, but it’s not clear on what the Federal Reserve can do to combat racism.

Reparations

William Darity discusses reparations in a (TED Talk) and with his co-author A. Kirsten Mullen in a video session (Economic Policy Institute). They cover their new book: “From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century.” There is also a good overview on (NPR).

Talk/Book Summary

Slavery’s effect is still all around us. Jim Crow segregation still affects us. “Reparations is an acknowledgement, a redress and a closure for a grievous injustice.”

Wealth is the best way to measure the lack of Black economic progress.  Wealth measures economic security. “Wealth captures the cumulative intergenerational effects of White supremacy in the US.” The goal of the redress component of a reparations program is to close the Black-White wealth gap.” A reparations should consist of direct payments to descendants of slavery.

The professor calculates that the US promised 40 million acres of land to former slaves and that, that land, is worth about 3-4 Trillion based on the present value.  That should be the lower bound of the reparations payments. The authors also calculate it would take 10-12 trillion dollars to close the racial wealth gap.

He then answered some common questions.

What type of reparations should be made?

We must provide direct payments. Indirect methods don’t work. Community based efforts don’t work in gentrifying neighborhoods. Reparations must be separate from funding educations and social services.  No social program will close the Black / White wealth gap. Sadly, education will not work to eliminate the Black/White wealth gap.  However, funding HBCUs as part of reparations might make sense.

Reparations would be paid out like a trust account.  The money would be paid over a long time horizon as an income stream. Or they could be structured like a long-term bond with a fixed maturity.

Editor’s Note: Don’t expect to get rich, but you might get a down payment on a house. If you do some quick back of the envelop calculations: There are 47 Million Black People in the US and they divide up 4 Trillion dollars then each person would get about $85,000.  Not really that much money.

Editor’s Note: Another problem is there is no Black business or investment infrastructure, so any money spent would quickly go back to the larger society..

Should rich people, like Oprah Winfrey get reparations?

Reparations are an act of justice not anti-poverty program.  There is no criteria related to current wealth regarding who can receive reparations.  If they want to give away the money, that’s fine. Holocaust and Japanese American reparations had no wealth stipulation.

Who is eligible?

Everyone who can prove they descended from a US slave. This specific reparation is for the formerly enslaved.  It is the cost of the failure to fix reconstruction at the end of civil war. In addition a person must have self identified as Black for 12 years before a reparations bill is passed.

Recent immigrants are not eligible.  Anyone who arrived after the end of the Jim Crow era (post 1960’s) would not be eligible.

Just want to mention another great discussion with Darity and Mullen is available from Economic Policy Institute. They are interviewed by Valarie Wilson from EPI who is a former student of professor Darity.

Finally, NPR has a quick, seven minute interview with professor Darity.

“From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century” by William A. Darity and A. Kirsten Mullen.

Reparations Again

  • Ashville NC city council approves reparations for Black residents (Ashville Citizen Times) – The resolution apologizes but makes no direct payments. It will fund a host of programs beneficial to minorities. It’s not clear if they even have any money.
  • Evanston, Illinois, finds innovative solution to funding reparations: Marijuana sales taxes (CBS News)

Black Business

  • Why are there so few Black owners and workers in central Pennsylvania’s construction industry? (Harrisburg Patriot-News)

Big Business

Discrimination

  • To Make Orchestras More Diverse, End Blind Auditions (NY Times) – A transparent metaphor for society with no right answer. But there is also a warning that classical music may die off, if it does not diversify.
  • Analytics and AI probably won’t help with Hiring Bias (Datanami)
  • My struggles to get loans despite sterling credentials illustrate how economic systems suppress Black Americans (Des Moines Register) – Flavored popcorn maker describes banking discrimination.
  • Netflix loses move to kill Mo’Nique’s discrimination suit (Deadline). Monique Hicks original suit is described in Hollywood Reporter.

Affirmative Action

  • Equal opportunity is not enough. Equality is in outcomes (Minneapolis Star Tribune) — It’s when success and failure among groups are proportional. Nice recap of recent racial inequality.

Careers / If I can see it, I can be it

  • The 15 white coats provides an example for K-12 student about medical career success (the15whitecoats.org)
  • The 15 white coats promotes Medicine as a career choice (Cancer Health)

Interesting People

Stacy Brown-Philpot, TaskRabbit C.E.O. to Step Down, a Blow for Silicon Valley Diversity (NY Times) – a little old but important.

Finance / Investments / Wall Street

  • Racial inequality could hurt U.S. credit rating, Moody’s warns (CBS News)
  • 5 steps the business community can take to better the lives of Black Americans (MarketWatch) – John Rodgers of Ariel Investments

Real Estate / Housing Discrimination

  • LendingTree Study: Black Homebuyers More Likely to Be Denied Mortgages Than Other Homebuyers (Lending Tree)
  • D.C. Releases New Development RFP With Emphasis On ‘Disadvantaged’ Bidders (Bisnow) – Bisnow covers the commercial real estate industry.

Health and Medicines

Finance / Investing / Wealth management

  • Black investment managers address asset management’s diversity problem (CityWire)

Education

  • How racially representative is your college / university (Urban Institute)
  • Doctor diversity matters: Having more black physicians could lead to better health among black men. (AEA)

Cultural Stuff / Conservative Stuff

  • African American museum accused of ‘racism’ over whiteness chart linking hard work and nuclear family to white culture (The Sun UK) – Does hard work really payoff for Black people?

Straight up Econ

  • 19 Black economists to celebrate and know, this Juneteenth and beyond (Fortune) – Worth repeating.

New / Interesting / Innovative

  • This discount card offers shoppers up to 40% off products from black-owned businesses (Glamour UK)

Apps / Technology / Websites

  • Jamii – Discounts for Black Businesses in the United Kingdom (Jamii)
  • Jumia – African internet site for on-line shopping and home delivery. (Jumia)

Travel

Old but good

Redlining Maps

  • Redlining maps from Home Owners Loan Corporation (DSL.Richmond.edu) – Original redlining maps from HOLC. The maps were commission by the federal government and used by banks to decided where to make loans for home purchases.
  • The World Economic Forum also has maps that compare the redlining maps to current segregated housing populations (WEF)

Top Stories for the Week of July 6th to July 12th

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We have 51 stories this week related to Black business or Black Economics

Top Stories

Black Strike Day – July 20th

  • Workers demanding union rights plan to walk off the job in nationwide Strike for Black Lives (CNN) – The strike for Black Lives is planned for July 20th. Works want the right to form unions and push for better wages, health care and sick leave.

US spend $115 Billion on Police

  • The US spends $115 Billion on the Police and $79 Billion on corrections (Urban Institute). While crime fell, the cost of cops has soared to $115 billion (Bloomberg)

DoorDash: The modern economy in one court case

  • Well DoorDash is being sued again. They are accused of stealing tips, misclassifying employees as subcontractors and charging monopoly fees from restaurants. DoorDash has settled lawsuits in 2016 for misclassifying employees. This is a really good example of how the modern economy works.
  • The complaint (Gibbs Law Group) – is a great introduction economics and the law. Its in plain English and very readable. Summary: The Doordash business model uses monopoly power to unfairly take profits from restaurants and delivery people.  The plaintiffs are asking DoorDash to at least pay the equivalent of the state or federal minimum wage. 

Interesting People

  • Jennifer McDonald started Jenny Dawn Cellars, a black owned winery in Witcha, KS. (Cuisine Noir) (KMUW)
  • Eddie Brown, founder of Brown Capital Management describes how Wall Street Works. I’m a black CEO. I’ve been discounted on Wall Street because of my skin color. (Washington Post)

Black Farming

Coronavirus / Covid-19

  • Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses at Risk: Impact of COVID-19 on New York City Firms (NYC Comptroller) – In the survey of 500 Minority and Women owned business, 85% said they could not survive for more than six months. And 35% said they could not operate at all during the coronavirus crisis.
  • Latino And African American Workers In Sacramento Region Face High Economic Hardship, Job Concerns As Pandemic Continues (Sacramento Public Radio)
  • The Fullest Look Yet at the Racial Inequity of Coronavirus (NY Times)
  • Virginia home health aides look for state relief in pandemic (AP / Richmond Times Dispatch)

Protest

  • Workers demanding union rights plan to walk off the job in nationwide Strike for Black Lives (CNN) – The strike for Black Lives is planned for July 20th. Works want the right to form unions and push for better wages, health care and sick leave.
  • While crime fell, the cost of cops has soared to $115 billion (Bloomberg)

Jobs / Unemployment

Sports

  • Patrick Mahomes signs the largest contract ever in the NFL. Here’s how much money Chiefs QB will actually make in ‘half-billion’ dollar deal (Sporting News)

Black Business

  • Even in best of times, Atlanta’s Black restaurateurs must work harder to find capital, earn respect (Atlanta Journal Constitution) – Good, long article about the Black restaurant business in Atlanta.
  • Jaylon Smith: We can close the wealth gap by investing in minority entrepreneurs (Dallas Morning News) — -Jaylon Smith played for the Dallas Cowboys and runs the Minority Entrepreneurship Institute.
  • African American Chamber CEO’s advice to Black-owned businesses as survey shows lag in loan support (WCPO Cincinnati) – Chair of local Black chamber of commerce discusses PPP loans and business.

Big Companies

  • Black Representation in Hospitality Industry Leadership 2020 (Castell Project) – Black workers are 20% of employees but only 1.5% of executives. Black women are only 0.1% of CEO /President level positions.
  • Netflix CEO donates $120 million to black colleges in an effort to ‘reverse generations of inequity’ (CNN)
  • Goya foods CEO praises Trump and triggers boycott (FOX Business) — CEO Robert Unanue said the US was “truly blessed” to have Trump as a leader.
  • Bubble Boy turned Goya CEO Unanue was surprised that his comments led to a boycott (NBC News)
  • Skin lightening in South Asia is why we have an anti-Blackness problem (NBC News)
  • MacDonalds and it’s relationship with Black America (MarketPlace.Org)

Discrimination

  • I’m a black CEO. I’ve been discounted on Wall Street because of my skin color. (Washington Post)

Retail

  • As Black buying power grows, racial profiling by retailers remains persistent problem (CNBC)

Government / Politics

  • Biden releases U.S.-centered economic plan, challenging Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda (Washington Post) – Biden proposes $700 billion plan for R&D and purchasing US made products.
  • Biden’s New Economic Nationalism: Better Than You May Think (American Prospect)
  • Divided Philly risks losing recent economic gains, warns former city commerce director Harold Epps (Inquirer) – This is great example of how things work in big city economic development.
  • SC Sen. Tim Scott: Focus must be on improving Black outcomes, not tearing down systems (The State)
  • Let’s Defund the Pentagon, Too (Scientific American)
  • Missouri will vote on August 2nd on Medicaid expansion (St. Louis American)

Economy

  • Employment won’t recover for a decade, CBO says (Politico)
  • US economy may be stalling out as viral outbreak worsens (AP)
  • The myth of closing the racial wealth gap through personal responsibility (Axios) – It’s inter-generational wealth and opportunity hoarding, stupid. Nice an short summary.

Farming / Agriculture

  • A new generation of Black farmers and faith leaders are cultivating the future of food sovereignty (Rewire)
  • Less than 2% of Kentucky farms are Black-owned. This company is trying to change that (Courier Journal)
  • Black Soil Life is a Black Agrotourism website promoting Black farming.

Affirmative Action

Reparations

  • This Is the Perfect Moment to Push for Reparations (Nation)

New / Interesting / Innovative

Straight Up Econ

  • Economics Journals Faulted for Neglecting Studies on Race and Discrimination (Wall Street Journal)
  • How Violence and Segregation Destroyed African American Innovation (IEEE Spectrum) — Lisa Cook’s paper on racism and violence repressing Black patents is getting traction.
  • A mostly white Federal Reserve can’t fix our diverse economic problems (MarketWatch) – Federal Reserve Board has only one Black female economists. There are none at senior levels.

Law

  • This is the latest class action suit against DoorDash (Gibbs Law Group) – Highly recommended and very readable.  Written in plain English.  Summary: Doordash’s business model is to use it’s monopoly power to take profits from restaurants and delivery people.  The plaintiffs are asking DoorDash to at least pay the equivalent of the state or federal minimum wage. 
  • This is a really good example of how the modern economy works. And it’s a good way to learn a little law and a little economics. It also shows why we need basic regulations like paying the minimum wage, stopping wage theft, stopping employee misclassification, and limiting monopolies. 

Interesting people

Entertainment

  • African American-Focused Networks Embrace Their Mission (MultiChannelNews) — Didn’t know fox has “Soul TV” steaming service

Education

  • HBCUs doubly hurt by campus shutdowns in coronavirus pandemic (CNN)
  • University of California welcomes our next president: Michael V. Drake, M.D. (University of California) – UC regents elected it’s first Black president. (EdSource)
  • Study Shows Excellent Preschool Experience Can Narrow Racial Achievement Gap (Chronicle of Social Change)
  • Local group gets a grant to launch HUSTLE Academy (Local 12 News Cincinnati) – Intersting list of grantees teaching Black business skills.

Other

  • How cycling could help drive racial equality (WE Forum)
  • Yelp has 4678 self-reported Black businesses.

Old but good

  • Living in a poor neighborhood changes everything about your life (VOX)

Top Stories for the week June 29th to July 5th

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We have 74 total stores this week related to Black Business or Black Economics.

Top stories

Blackout Day: July 7th, 2020 and 30-Day Buy Black Challenge

  • Blackout Day: July 7th, 2020. Do not spend any money at non-Black owned businesses. (USA Today) (Complex) (Insider)
  • #TheShowMustBePaused or TheShowMustBePaused.  There is a related site called Black Out Coalition
  • Blackout day is related to “The Show Must Be Paused” a national boycott of the music industry. The music industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry. An industry that has profited predominantly from Black art while providing little in return.
  • OneUnited Bank, largest black bank supports Blackout Day 2020 (Atlanta Daily World)
  • Several website are promoting Buy Black Challenges (Official Black Wall Street). The 30-day Buy Black Challenge encourages a purchase a day from minority owned businesses (CBS York, PA)

Black Stocks Surge

  • Investor have bought Black stocks in response to the social justice crisis (BankBlack) – Their investment page lists publicly traded stock for Black owned or operated companies.

The Mess at Essence

  • Anonymous Black female employees allege a culture of harassment, inequality and intimidation. (Medium)
  • Three of the leaders named in the article step down. (PageSix)

Beyonce’s Director of Social Responsibility

  • Ivy McGregor, Director of Social Responsibility at Parkwood Entertainment (Beyonce’s Company) (Oprah Magazine) (Forbes)

Discrimination in Tech keeps Blacks and Latinos out

  • Why are Black and Latino people still kept out of the tech industry? (LA Times) — Why are Blacks and Latinos only 3.5% of the tech workforce? Widespread discrimination.

Wonder what happened to the Black middle class

  • Here is the answer in five papers starting with: How the Disappearance of Unionized Jobs Obliterated an Emergent Black Middle Class (Institute for New Economic Thinking) Summary, Paper

Protest

Hollywood 4 Black Lives

  • Kendrick Sampson, Janet Mock, Idris Elba and 300+ Black Entertainers Demand Proof from Hollywood that Black Lives Matter!(BlackFilm)
  • Official Site for “Hollywood 4 Black Lives” (BLDPWR)
  • Kendrick Sampson, Tessa Thompson and Over 300 Black Artists and Execs Call for Hollywood to Divest From Police (Variety)

Coronavirus

Economy

  • The CBO released it’s economic outlook on July 2nd (Congressional Budget Office).  It’s going to take 4 years to recover from Coronavirus. The CBO projects a drop of 3.4% of GDP. The unemployment rate will drop from 14% to 6% at the end of 2024. The Gross Domestic Product, after dropping by 11% due to Coronavirus, is expected to recover by the middle 2022.

Unemployment

Black Business

  • NAACP promotes Black businesses with Arundel Green Book (Capital Gazette) – Hey, If Anne Arundel County, MD can do it, so can your community.
  • Black-owned businesses see sales surge amid racism reckoning (Philadelphia Tribune)
  • Local Leaders Show Support For Boosting Businesses Owned By Minorities, Women (Wilmington Business Journal)
  • Black business owners in Triangle see more community support in wake of racial protests (WRAL)
  • Meet the 2.5 Percent: Philly’s Black Business Owners in Fashion (Philadelphia Magazine) – Only 2.5% of businesses in Philadelphia are Black owned in a City that is 43% Black.
  • List of 300 Black businesses in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Magazine)

Really interesting people

  • Ivy McGregor, Director of Social Responsibility at Parkwood Entertainment (Beyonce’s Company) (Oprah Magazine) (Forbes)
  • Simon & Schuster names first Black publisher (Philadelphia Tribune) — Dana Canedy was named executive vice president and publisher
  • Four Black Architects You Should Know (The Manual)

Small Business

  • State of Black New Jersey and Black Businesses in NJ (NJTV)
  • Philly business owners express concerns about procurement regulations (Philadelphia Tribune)

Innovation / Entrepreneurship

  • Why it’s important to buy from Black and POC-owned cannabis businesses (WeedMaps)
  • Cannabis employees are in demand (Politico)

Finance / Investing

  • Study highlights the role stock ownership plays in the racial wealth gap (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) – Black households own only 1.5% of stock market equity.

Careers

Black Wealth Inequality

  • The myth of closing the racial wealth gap through using Black-owned banks (Axios)
  • The myth of closing the racial wealth gap through increased savings (Axios) – Blacks save at the same rate as Whites when you control for income.

Big Business

  • Two MacDonald’s executives allege racism and harassment (Atlanta Daily World)
  • The complicated history of McDonald’s and Black America (Marketplace)  — Discusses the book: Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America”
  • Edward Jones reviews pay, donates money and offers training for workers (PR Release) – Edward jones, based in St. Louis, is the largest investment company (employees) in the US.  They operate in every small and medium sized town in the US. Edward Jones is a great example of how hard it is to change the economic structure of the US.
  • Imagine a small town where all the business owners knows each and eats lunch together. (Editor’s note: When I was in school at Morehouse, I used to walk by Mary Mac’s tea room on Ponce De Leon Ave. and marvel at the Black waiters serving the White businessmen of Atlanta.)  Those are Edward Jones customers. They want someone they can trust, someone like them, for investments, not the highest rate of return.  We might call that discrimination, but they would call it common sense.
  • We Asked, Financial Advisors Answered: How Can the Industry Increase Diversity? (ThinkAdvisor)
  • Netflix will shift $35 million to Black banks (NetFlix PR) (MarketPlace)
  • The Private Sector Must Lead on Diversity (Barrons)
  • Supplier Diversity and the Black Lives Matter Movement (Spend Matters UK/Europe)
  • Amazon – Amazon is the single most important company in the US. Amazon (Vox Recode) – Long story on Amazon putting the screws to workers.
  • AT&T Nears $3bn Spending Commitment For Black-Owned Businesses (Data Economy)

Reparations

Straight up Economics / Black Economics

  • Blacks face economic inequality: eight charts (Equitable Growth)
  • Black progress has stalled since the civil right era: Charts (CNN) – Good introduction to the end of Black economic progress.
  • Mayors for Guaranteed Income (MGI) released a proposal for a basic income supplement to existing government programs. Eleven mayors support the measure including the mayors of LA, Oakland, Newark, Atlanta, Pittsburgh and St.Paul, MN.
  • What is universal basic income? (Business Insider)
  • Atlanta Mayor Bottoms supports Guaranteed Income Proposal (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
  • INET has taken an indepth look at the shrinking Black middle class in a forthcoming series of 5 papers. Fifty Years After: Black Employment in the United States (Institute for New Economic Thinking)
  • How the Disappearance of Unionized Jobs Obliterated an Emergent Black Middle Class (Institute for New Economic Thinking) Summary, Paper

Community Ideas / Cooperatives

  • How Centuries of Black Cooperative Strength Created a Blueprint for Economic Recovery (Medium)

Real Estate

  • The New Developers: In Harrisburg, PA, African American builders are revitalizing neighborhoods, cultivating community (TheBurg)
  • Black renters face eviction pressure (Bloomberg)
  • Eviction freeze set to expire July 25th (CNBC)
  • Evictions are likely to skyrocket this summer as jobs remain scarce. Black renters will be hard hit. (Washington Post)
  • Black Families Feeling Priced Out Due to Gentrification (Spectrum News Durham NC)

Technology

  • Why are Black and Latino people still kept out of the tech industry? (LA Times)
  • POC in Mobile: Why Jam City’s Michael Raeford believes education is key to diversifying the games industry (PocketGamer)
  • POC in Mobile: The Game Band lead animator Cedric Adams on why we need diverse main characters (PocketGamer)

Government

  • LA Black business leaders want more police (FOX LA)
  • More than 70% of US Fed bank board directors appointed in 2020 are white (Quartz)

Immigration

  • If Black Lives Really Matter, End H1-B Visa Giveaways (Inside Sources)

Labor / Unions

  • A construction company denied Hempstead’s Black residents jobs (NY Amsterdam News) – Hempstead’s Black residents want construction company to know that ‘Black Jobs Matter’

Religion

  • Episcopal Church deepens engagement with Poor People’s Campaign, racial justice work (Episcopal News Service)

NYT / WAPO– The duo that drives the media

  • How Robert F. Smith helped thousands of minority-owned small businesses secure urgent aid in Washington (Washington Post)
  • The big factor holding back the U.S. economic recovery: Child care (Washington Post)
  • Minneapolis had progressive policies, but its economy still left black families behind (Washington Post)

Other

  • What persuades Southerners to take down Confederate symbols? Hearing it’s good for business. (Washington Post)