Reply #34: Actually, it is economics... [View All]

for the most part. In absolute terms, white's wealth has decreased more than hispanic and black wealth has. It's just that hispanics and blacks had so little wealth to begin with that any drop is massive percentage wise. The reason for the drop across the board is because of the recession. So, the increased wealth disparity percentage wise is really just simple economics, and the poor have suffered more in this recession.

As for the wealth disparity before the recession, which is the real issue, economic mobility in the US is incredibly low. And blacks and hispanics are already at the end of the rung thanks to history and some other factors as well, like having many first generation immigrants from already poor backgrounds. But it is economic policy of the last couple decades that keeps economic mobility low, and therefore keeps blacks and hispanics having little wealth and being disproprotionally in poverty, but it targets all the poor, not just minorities. That's why Asians, with their history and advantages, still do relatively well.

Anytime there is a recession in an economy that has overwhelmingly favored the rich, the poor will suffer the most, and in the US, that means blacks and hispanics will suffer disproportionally.