If the top 10% gets half, what does
that leave for the rest of us?
The first was an article by Webb Brewer who is representing Memphis and Shelby County in their case against Well Fargo (PDF) over alleged predatory lending practices.
In the article, Webb points out the three forms of “wealth loss” that predatory lending creates. You can go read the whole thing here but I think the key phrase is in the last paragraph:
When I point out the grim reality of these facts I am often accused of “playing the race card”. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that exploitative loans targeted at people of color have greatly widened the wealth disparity and has become the major civil rights issue of this era.
The second article looks at the overall loss of wealth in “Communities of Color” as a result of higher than average foreclosure rates brought on by predatory lending practices, and the current efforts in Congress to reform the financial system.
The fact is that the American Middle Class is shrinking, and if this shrink is the “Wealth Disparity” that Webb is talking about, then he and I are on the same page.
The only additional point I would make is that the shrinking Middle Class in America is not just focused on one racial or ethnic group, but nationwide and indiscriminate of any division outside of class. Certainly, some groups are less well equipped to handle the kind of financial difficulties that the past three years have brought due to decades of past and continuing inequality and prejudice, but the conditions are not limited to these groups alone.
This is a civil rights issue, as the nation lurches toward a new kind of separate-but-equal scenario that is based primarily on class rather than the racial separation of the past.
Whether you consider them the Captians of Industry or the new Robber Barons, there is no doubt that the landscape in this country is tilting ever-perilously close to not just favoring the few haves over the multitudes of the have-nots, but ignoring the have-nots altogether.