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Thread: America's first black billionaire says Trump economy has been good for African-Americans

  1. #1
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    America's first black billionaire says Trump economy has been good for African-Americans

    BET founder Robert L. Johnson, America’s first black billionaire, said during a CNBC appearance on Friday that black Americans should be encouraged by the growing economy under President Trump.

    “Something is going right,” said Johnson, owner and chairman of Bethesda-based asset management firm RLJ Companies.

    He cited the December jobs report showing that unemployment among black workers was at its lowest since the Labor Department began tracking the data in 1972.

    Black unemployment did fall to 6.8 percent in December, before rising and dipping again to 6.9 percent in March, according to the latest jobs numbers released Friday. But black unemployment remains nearly double the white unemployment rate of 3.6 percent, even though the gap has narrowed somewhat.

    Johnson, during his appearance on “Squawk Box” on Friday morning before the March jobs report was released, was optimistic about how black Americans will continue to fare economically.

    "You have to take encouragement from what's happening in the labor force and the job market," Johnson said. "When you look at African American unemployment, in over 50 years since the Bureau of Labor Statistics has been keeping the numbers, you've never had two things: African American unemployment this low and the spread between unemployment among whites and African Americans narrowing.

    “That absolutely means the jobs market is soliciting employees who have been out of the labor force, some of it just based on discrimination, some of it based on changes in education, access and technology changes,” he continued. “And so when you look at that, you have to say something is going right.”

    Johnson praised the current U.S. business environment, “if you take into account the Trump tax cut,” he said. “I believe the economy is on a strong growth path.”

    The December tax cuts were the largest one-time reduction in the corporate tax rate in U.S. history. The GOP bill, sold on the promise that it would drive up wages and increase job growth, also lowered taxes for the vast majority of Americans, as well as small-business owners...

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.8120dae20f91

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  3. #2
    Just highlighting this and moving on.

    While Trump often claims credit for the lower black unemployment rate — touting it in his State of the Union address in January and even tweeting a CNBC story about Johnson's comments Friday — the brightening economic outlook preceded his presidency. The black unemployment rate had steadily declined during Barack Obama's two terms, from nearly 17 percent in 2010, after the recession, down to 7.8 percent by the time Trump entered office in January 2017.

    "Most of the programmatic work was set into motion before the last administration was leaving," said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau.

    Some economists criticized Johnson's rosy assessment of the economic picture for black Americans.

    "A 6.9 percent unemployment is perhaps in a historical sense something to be happy about, but if the white unemployment rate were at 6.9 percent, we would consider this catastrophic and be very alarmed," said Darrick Hamilton, an economics and urban policy professor at The New School.

    Hamilton noted that the structural nature of work has changed drastically since the government began tracking employment statistics, with very different implications today in regard to job security, wages and retirement benefits.

    "Work is more precarious today than it was in the past, and in particular, black individuals are more likely to be in precarious employment scenarios with jobs that face greater wage and work-hour volatility," Hamilton said. "Bob Johnson's in the billionaire's club with Donald Trump, so it's not surprising that they align in their vision on labor."

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by FaithfulOne View Post
    While Trump often claims credit for the lower black unemployment rate — touting it in his State of the Union address in January and even tweeting a CNBC story about Johnson’s comments Friday — the brightening economic outlook preceded his presidency. The black unemployment rate had steadily declined during Barack Obama’s two terms, from nearly 17 percent in 2010, after the recession, down to 7.8 percent by the time Trump entered office in January 2017.

    “Most of the programmatic work was set into motion before the last administration was leaving,” said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington bureau.

    Some economists criticized Johnson’s rosy assessment of the economic picture for black Americans.

    “A 6.9 percent unemployment is perhaps in a historical sense something to be happy about, but if the white unemployment rate were at 6.9 percent, we would consider this catastrophic and be very alarmed,” said Darrick Hamilton, an economics and urban policy professor at The New School.

    Hamilton noted that the structural nature of work has changed drastically since the government began tracking employment statistics, with very different implications today in regard to job security, wages and retirement benefits.

    “Work is more precarious today than it was in the past, and in particular, black individuals are more likely to be in precarious employment scenarios with jobs that face greater wage and work-hour volatility,” Hamilton said. “Bob Johnson’s in the billionaire’s club with Donald Trump, so it’s not surprising that they align in their vision on labor.”
    This is all argument by declaration with a tinge of class warfare ..

    That Obama turned a what should have been a v shaped recession into something more L shaped is simply an empircal fact

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    Quote Originally Posted by FaithfulOne View Post
    Just highlighting this and moving on.
    Of course. I totally expected the obligatory qualification from the left to discredit anything Trump does that's positive. You really didn't think the writer of the article wouldn't include the attempt to discredit his remarks did you? And of course I'm sure Bob Johnson is just an Uncle Tom anyway.

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