Joint Center President and CEO Ralph B. Everett joins Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick and Elsie Scott of Howard University to welcome participants to Howard University's Fourth Annual African American Economic Summit on February 1, 2013.

Scholars gathered for the African American Economic Summit at Howard University on Friday sketched an alarming picture of the financial ills afflicting the black community even as the nation recovers from the recession.

The white-black wealth disparity is more than 20 to 1. Black homeownership has declined. Black joblessness is up. Black income is down.

As the conferees gathered, the government released new figures showing the black unemployment rate at 13.8 percent, nearly double the 7.0 percent for whites. The overall jobless rate is 7.9 percent.

As bleak as the economic picture is for black Americans, the immediate prospects for improving it are worse, many participants said. They agreed that chances are remote for the kind of aggressive, targeted action needed to combat those problems and close the economic disparities that have long separated blacks and whites.

“We are basically talking about an economic system that is shot through with discrimination,” said Bernard E. Anderson, a former assistant secretary of labor.

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During the depths of the crisis, Obama often said he wanted to build a better, more durable economy in the recovery. Conference participants said they are challenging him to live up to his word.

“We would all like to see him pursue that course,” said Ralph B. Everette, president and chief executive of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which co-sponsored the event.

Read more at The Washington Post.

A national summit of scholars from universities and policy think tanks will meet at Howard University on February 1, 2013, for the Fourth Annual African American Economic Summit to discuss and analyze policy options and initiatives they think should be considered during President Obama’s second term. A central theme of the Summit will be the remarkably persistent racial disparities in U.S. society and how policymakers should seek to address them.

Scholars from leading universities (Duke, Howard,  Georgetown, the New School, the University of Pennsylvania, and John Jay College), and think tanks (the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and Brookings Institution) will take a hard look at issues such as wealth and income disparities, unemployment and labor, housing, health, education and treatment of returning veterans.  Congressman Robert (“Bobby”) Scott (D-VA) and  Bernard E. Anderson of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School will examine the current economic crisis, especially with regard to its impact on African Americans, and offer policy prescriptions for the President’s second term.

Distinguished scholar and policy expert James (“Jim”) Carr, who has served in senior positions with the Opportunity Agenda, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and Fannie Mae, will speak on the challenges that continue to afflict the housing market.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies will be represented by President and CEO Ralph B. Everett and Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh, an expert on wealth accumulation and housing policy.

Download and read the entire press release by clicking the icon below.

A national summit of scholars from universities and policy think tanks will meet at Howard University on February 1, 2013, for the Fourth Annual African American Economic Summit to discuss and analyze policy options and initiatives they think should be considered during President Obama’s second term. A central theme of the Summit will be the remarkably persistent racial disparities in U.S. society and how policymakers should seek to address them.

Scholars from leading universities (Duke, Howard,  Georgetown, the New School, the University of Pennsylvania, and John Jay College), and think tanks (the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and Brookings Institution) will take a hard look at issues such as wealth and income disparities, unemployment and labor, housing, health, education and treatment of returning veterans.  Congressman Robert (“Bobby”) Scott (D-VA) and  Bernard E. Anderson of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School will examine the current economic crisis, especially with regard to its impact on African Americans, and offer policy prescriptions for the President’s second term.

Distinguished scholar and policy expert James (“Jim”) Carr, who has served in senior positions with the Opportunity Agenda, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and Fannie Mae, will speak on the challenges that continue to afflict the housing market.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies will be represented by President and CEO Ralph B. Everett and Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh, an expert on wealth accumulation and housing policy.
 

Read the entire press release by clicking the icon below.

For more than a year, Americans have heard a steady drumbeat about the dangers of the proverbial fiscal cliff from politicians, pundits and others.

When the clock strikes 12 on December 31, we've been told, an economic and financial time bomb will be triggered that will drag the country back into recession, cause stock markets to tumble, unleash another layer of unemployment and saddle middle-class Americans with thousands of dollars of additional taxes each year.

While dramatic, this scenario is unlikely to play out as forecast, said one local economist.

"On January 1, we will have started down a path where a range of people in a wide swath of life will suffer. We're expecting a hatchet on January 1 and everyone will be bleeding but it won't work out that way," said Wilhelmina Leigh, Ph.D., a senior research associate on economic security issues at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Northwest. "I think there are some clear, negative likely implications if we go off the fiscal cliff. Lights wouldn't go off but people may have to burn lights six hours a day and eat two meals instead of three. All the cuts will be spread out over the next decade so you won't see its effects instantly. This might have been done for people to buy time or it might have been the least painful way – if you have to suffer, it's better to spread it out."

Read more at The Washington Informer.

The impending and dreaded so-called fiscal cliff is a deadline on a group of bills and legislative acts that currently govern almost all facets of the federal government, with many of the current laws, tax codes and more set to change or expire simultaneously.

This is a deadline that if not avoided by timely and effective congressional action, will trigger severe and nearly immediate funding cuts—sequestration—in federal programs and services along with tax increases estimated in the $650 billion range, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The major portion (approximately $500 billion) would be caused by increased taxes when the Bush and other tax cuts expire, combined with Congress’ refusal to patch the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

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Many in the nation’s economic community feel these actions, or Congress’ lack of action, by midnight Dec. 31, 2012., could possibly trigger another deep recession.

Economist Wilhelmina Leigh said this impasse is not due to any one thing, nor is it attributable to recent economic shortfalls, but has been brewing for years. Leigh is a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C.

“The U.S. has been on a collision course for the last decade or so, where we’re spending more and taking in less in revenues,” said Leigh. “We haven’t been able to change that pattern of behavior because members of Congress weren’t really willing to, and now all sorts of things have converged—our deficit each year has been adding up over time, so now we have a huge debt.”

Read more at Our Weekly.

After receiving poor marks for his performance in his nationally-televised debate with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, President Barack Obama received a much-needed boost from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report showing that unemployment fell to 7.8 percent in September, the lowest it has been in nearly four years.

The September report released last week is significant because, unlike in previous months, the rate did not drop because “discouraged workers” dropped out of the labor force.

Not all of the news was encouraging. Even though the unemployment rate for blacks dropped to 13.4 percent in September from 14.1 percent in August, it remained relatively flat for black men (14.2 percent in September vs. 14.3 percent in August).

The unemployment rate for white men decreased from 6.8 in August to 6.6 percent in September. The jobless rate for white women ticked down two-tenths in September to 6.3 percent. Black women saw the biggest decrease in the unemployment rate among adults, falling from 12 percent in August to 10.9 percent in September.

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“It’s a very mixed picture. I wouldn’t say that we’ve turned the corner, but I would say that unemployment rate is down some, but we still have a large amount of people working part-time for economic reasons,” said Wilhemina Leigh, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a public policy think tank.

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For many black men, the same set of circumstances that will prevent them from voting in the November 6 presidential election also block their ability to earn a living wage.

“A felony conviction is like an economic death sentence,” said David Bositis, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

The number and types of jobs are significantly reduced for ex-felons, said Bositis. Even though some companies have special programs to help ex-offenders return to the job market, they can’t keep pace in some southern states where 20 percent of blacks have prior felony convictions.

Read more at The Charlotte Post.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies collaborated with the Center on Race and Wealth at Howard University to host a discussion with asset-building coalition leaders from Illinois and Mississippi about the models they have used to develop their state policy agendas. Click here to view the full webinar or here for the webinar slides.

Danielle Deane, Director of the Joint Center's Energy and Environment Program, and Faith Taylor, Director of Sustainability for Wyndham Group Worldwide, discuss climate change, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability at a panel held by the American Sustainable Business Council. The panel was part of a larger event, "Summit for a Sustainable Economy," held by ASBC at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, September 6, 2012.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies collaborated with the Center on Race and Wealth at Howard University to host a discussion of how to develop and use indicators to measure economic mobility in Texas and in Mississippi on June 21, 2012. Click here to view the full webinar or here for the webinar slides.