Tavis Smiley: 'Black People Will Have Lost Ground in Every Single Economic Indicator' Under Obama

[lostinblue 1,989]

Tavis Smiley: 'Black People Will Have Lost Ground in Every Single Economic Indicator' Under Obama

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/10/11/tavis-smiley-black-people-will-have-lost-ground-every-single-economic#ixzz2hUxzWln5

By Noel Sheppard | October 11, 2013 | 12:34

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PBS's Tavis Smiley made a comment Thursday that every African-American as well as liberal media member should sit up and take notice.

Appearing on Fox News's Hannity, Smiley said, "The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: My last question to you. You often do these seminars with the state of black America. I've watched them on C-Span and different channels, right?

TAVIS SMILEY: Right.

HANNITY: Are black Americans better off five years into the Obama presidency?

SMILEY: Let me answer your question very forthrightly. No, they are not. The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category. On that regard, the president ought to be held responsible.

But here's the other side. I respect the president. I will protect the president. And I will correct the president. He's right on this government shutdown. Republicans are thwarting the rule of law with the Constitution. If they let this debt go into default, they're trampling again on the Constitution.

Wow!

Now to be fair to Smiley, he has been hard on the president concerning how his policies are economically damaging the black community, but this is the first time I believe he's been this harsh on national television with such a large audience.

Sadly, he's right.

So why would this community re-elect someone doing so much damage to them economically?

Is it possible they're not aware of it because most liberal media members other than Smiley aren't reporting it?

Hmmm.

Travis just said what the tea party has been saying all along. Something the lamestream media will not report. There are NO gains for blacks and for that matter for almost all Americans under this administration. When the democratic party grants amnesty to illegal immigrants.it will be a nail in the coffin for most blacks. When 80% of black males cannot get past the 10th grade in many schools there will be zero jobs for them. Illegal immigrants will fill even the jobs that those blacks could do. With the new health care bill things WILL be worse. (job wise) The reason why business has been exempt from the health care bill for one year is to postpone the massive layoffs that will come from this new tax law. Massive layoffs will come.(or massive part time jobs) Further pushing low income blacks into a more dismal state. . Under the democratic party blacks have just gone from the plantations to the projects and the prisons. The community organizer just keeps on taking from the black community. Just throw the black community an obama phone ,,, that is all they need to keep them happy....So Sad.... The Hope and change thing just did not work out for black america,Soon it never will. More people (all Americans) on welfare,food stamps, SS disability (can work but cannot find jobs)All while the kenyan parties with Jay Zee drinking 800 dollar bottles of wine laughing at the " little people".. He sure does love that 1 percent now.... All a smoke screen when dealing with the low information voters.

[lostinblue 1,989]

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

That was the plan. It is one of Obama's biggest successes

More loyal Democrats dependent on goverment to continue voting for Democrats to expand programs making them more dependent.

It is a simple, very simple, formula. Offer benefits which far exceed the value of any income they could receive from working using the skills and education they have, require nothing in return and you have the perfect system to expeand the dependent class

Solutions?

1. Require each person receiving welfare benefits to work and/or go to school 40 hours per week.

2. Pay for the education for them

3. Do not reduce welfare benefits for working for 5 years.

4. Provide paid daycare if needed

5. Supplment their income so that employers pay only 50% the first year and 10% additional for each year they are employed. This makes them more attractive to employers

6. Shut down any business that exploits illegal aliens for profit. Close them, lock the doors, take their business license and seize their assets for payment of taxes due. This will free up 11-12 million new jobs which can be filled by people in the process of education and job training...for appropriate wages and benefits, of course. You will pay more for lettuce and to get your lawn mowed. Get over it.

In 5 years they will have AT LEAST an associates degree and 5 years working experience

In other words..."OK we are a big, wealthy country and we are going to help you and you are going to follow a path to help yourself. You are going to get educated and have work experience, we are going to give you the tools and opportunity you need"

This would apply to anyone on welfare, not just blacks, of course. The fact is that more white people collect benefits but as a percentage of their population, blacks have a much higher incidence of receiving benefits.

It will never happen.

There is not a single politician that wants it to happen. Democrats want loyal voters, Giving FREE stuff works. Republicans have no problem with paying whatever is necessary to keep blacks and white-trash out of the work marketplace. They are paying the freight to keep 18% of the population out of competition with their kids for jobs.

[Janelle2002 3,865]

I agree with some of the things above but I have a little more to add to it.

America was still a well racist country when Obama was elected. The raicist and closet racist were still well and alive. They just never thought Obama would be voted for by their white friends because they thought everyone was a closet racist with them. So racial discrimination rose drastically when they realized they had to see the face of a half black president for four years.

Then with the economy being bad, the toleration for blacks dropped to like 15%. And when toleration dropped, jobs also dropped. The economy was an excuse for many people to get rid of their black employees they did not want any way, but they were tolerating them just to proove they were so called not racist. I have a brother who went to apprenticeship school all kinds of OSHA, HVAC, HVACR, smart, all kinds of licenses and is a hard worker. He put his job before going home he don't know how to balance job and family, work is always first. He was working for an all white air conditioning company, two black guys, three Hispanic guys, the black guys were let go. No reason but they could not keep them employed. How did they come to the decision to let go both black guys.

A man who was making $68,000 had to resort to food stamps and bankruptcy until he could be re employed again. He had to become a statistic, black men dont work, they collecting welfare and food stamps. Found new work for $40,000 now he does side jobs to make up for that extra income.

I have another brother, medically discharged from the military, degree and working on his masters. He is a budget analyst. His job left him in his office day in and day out without speaking to him. Wouldn't invite him to staff meetings or nothing. He finally just left after being treated so poorly. They had the police to harass him, even towed his car one day and said oops, sorry we thought it was parked in the wrong place.

When you have the blacks who are trying to do good, we are still unaccepted by society. How much do you think people can take? Everybody is not brave enough to face the uncertainties so they stay in the environment they know.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I agree with some of the things above but I have a little more to add to it.

America was still a well racist country when Obama was elected. The raicist and closet racist were still well and alive. They just never thought Obama would be voted for by their white friends because they thought everyone was a closet racist with them. So racial discrimination rose drastically when they realized they had to see the face of a half black president for four years.

Then with the economy being bad, the toleration for blacks dropped to like 15%. And when toleration dropped, jobs also dropped. The economy was an excuse for many people to get rid of their black employees they did not want any way, but they were tolerating them just to proove they were so called not racist. I have a brother who went to apprenticeship school all kinds of OSHA, HVAC, HVACR, smart, all kinds of licenses and is a hard worker. He put his job before going home he don't know how to balance job and family, work is always first. He was working for an all white air conditioning company, two black guys, three Hispanic guys, the black guys were let go. No reason but they could not keep them employed. How did they come to the decision to let go both black guys.

A man who was making $68,000 had to resort to food stamps and bankruptcy until he could be re employed again. He had to become a statistic, black men dont work, they collecting welfare and food stamps. Found new work for $40,000 now he does side jobs to make up for that extra income.

I have another brother, medically discharged from the military, degree and working on his masters. He is a budget analyst. His job left him in his office day in and day out without speaking to him. Wouldn't invite him to staff meetings or nothing. He finally just left after being treated so poorly. They had the police to harass him, even towed his car one day and said oops, sorry we thought it was parked in the wrong place.

When you have the blacks who are trying to do good, we are still unaccepted by society. How much do you think people can take? Everybody is not brave enough to face the uncertainties so they stay in the environment they know.

So you agree with me. There is racism and a lot of it is institutional. I speak of a system..not individual anecdotes. You have some friends or relatives that were, possibly, discriminated against. Another issue entirely. Unless you blame that on Obama.

You give examples of people not affected by the comments I posited. People who HAVE skills and education and ARE able to obtain and keep jobs that pay them a higher salary than the value of the welfare they could receive. A man who HAD a job paying $68,000 per year can get another job paying $68,000 per year, maybe more, because he has the skills and education to do it. No one took away anyone's education, certifications or skills, they most likely still have their own tools. They can go in business for themselves tomorrow, or go to work for a another HVAC contractor.

As for me I routinely (always) skip staff meetings and stay "out of the loop" as much as possible. No one even asks why anymore. "I was busy" Obviously they tolerate me because I am valuable outside of meetings.

A high school graduate that is functionally illiterate can get the benefits equivilent of $20 per hour income in my state. $29 per hour eqivilent in California. There is NO possibility of that person getting a job paying $20 per hour in this market. NONE. -0-. For that person, the BEST they can do for their family is to go on welfare, NOT work at all and have lots of children! That ain't right!

Obama's policies have increased welfare benefits making it MORE attractive to MORE people to go on welfare. In Vermont, you must now earn more than $45,000 per year to be "better off" working.

To reduce the number of people ON welfare, you need to reduce the number of people for whom welfare is a viable option, an attractive option. Education and job training are the keys to that.

Alla has done a lot of interpretation for people that are seeking welfare. I think a lot of them can speak English but it looks "better" if they cannot. They are almost all WHITE...if that matters to you. Doesn't to me. Since she interprets for Russian, there are only very few black people who need her services...but some from former African satellites of the Soviet Union speak Russian (seems they could learn Russian but not English. Go figure)

The state makes an effort to end benefits to people who do not deserve them and being on welfare takes a certain amount of work to conceal any income, marriages, other people living in your "household" who contribute income (except children who increase benefits)... so there is an amount of "work" to it. The people get "advocates" that know exactly what they should say and complete the forms for them. Fraud is rife...of course. The state does its (sort of) due diligence but there is little effort to really verify anything because...after all...if welfare is reduced, those people employed by the "welfare industry" will lose THEIR jobs. So unless the fraud is obvious, they simply overlook it and add another person to the "rolls" for whom they need funding. The system is worse for marriage for than Gays ever hoped to be. Many recipients avoid marriage or get divorced to increase benefits. "Are their any other adults in your household?" NO. "Anyone else have any income?" NO. Uh-huh. They do not even check birth certificates to see who the father is and if he is paying child support. Such investigation is considered "racist" Sort of like how requiring ALL voters to have photo ID is racist...against blacks...but no one else. It is not racist...it is EFFECTIVE. Reducing benefits by the amount of child support ordered would be a good step...but that would blow up the welfare industry and cost welfare industry workers their jobs.

Oddly enough if the people at McDonald's get $15 per hour they will lose MORE than that in wefare benefits. They should be careful what they ask for.

I simply would say...let people have their benefits and require them to work on a "program" to eliminate their need for the benefits. Do not take away their benefits for 5 years. It is a dis-incentive to take away someone's benefits for accepting a barely adequate job...why would they do that?

I have no problem with welfare per se...I want to reduce the NEED for welfare.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The vast majority of America is worse off at the end of any President's term. That's been going on since Ronald Reagan. The rich are getting richer, the middle class is shrinking and the poor are getting poorer. That's America for the last several decades. There was a short period in the 90's where the middle class and those below gained some ground - just a little - but that didn't last very long.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Is America much if any better off than it was at the beginning of Obama's presidency?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Is America much if any better off than it was at the beginning of Obama's presidency?

Yes it is. Last I checked, we are not shedding three quarters of a million jobs a month nor is the economy contracting. The Republicans are working hard on bringing back those times but that would be on them.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Yes it is. Last I checked, we are not shedding three quarters of a million jobs a month nor is the economy contracting. The Republicans are working hard on bringing back those times but that would be on them.

While the job loss bleeding has slowed, the economy is far from good, for a variety of reasons. I would hardly call Obama's Presidency a success at this point. Some of the mess was inherited, some is stubbornness on both sides and some of it is a lack of ability to get things done, IMO. Unlike the majority here, I know that neither party has all the answers. Both sides have their good and bad points. The country has been run into the ground for the past 8 years.

[Darnell 8,479]

Is America much if any better off than it was at the beginning of Obama's presidency?

I don't peg the timeline on The Kenyan.

I peg the timeline when ACORN was disbanded.

[Danno 1,228]

America was still a well racist country when Obama was elected. The raicist and closet racist were still well and alive.

Which country should we strive to be like in this regard?

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

That was the plan. It is one of Obama's biggest successes

More loyal Democrats dependent on goverment to continue voting for Democrats to expand programs making them more dependent.

It is a simple, very simple, formula. Offer benefits which far exceed the value of any income they could receive from working using the skills and education they have, require nothing in return and you have the perfect system to expeand the dependent class

Solutions?

1. Require each person receiving welfare benefits to work and/or go to school 40 hours per week.

2. Pay for the education for them

3. Do not reduce welfare benefits for working for 5 years.

4. Provide paid daycare if needed

5. Supplment their income so that employers pay only 50% the first year and 10% additional for each year they are employed. This makes them more attractive to employers

6. Shut down any business that exploits illegal aliens for profit. Close them, lock the doors, take their business license and seize their assets for payment of taxes due. This will free up 11-12 million new jobs which can be filled by people in the process of education and job training...for appropriate wages and benefits, of course. You will pay more for lettuce and to get your lawn mowed. Get over it.

In 5 years they will have AT LEAST an associates degree and 5 years working experience

In other words..."OK we are a big, wealthy country and we are going to help you and you are going to follow a path to help yourself. You are going to get educated and have work experience, we are going to give you the tools and opportunity you need"

This would apply to anyone on welfare, not just blacks, of course. The fact is that more white people collect benefits but as a percentage of their population, blacks have a much higher incidence of receiving benefits.

It will never happen.

There is not a single politician that wants it to happen. Democrats want loyal voters, Giving FREE stuff works. Republicans have no problem with paying whatever is necessary to keep blacks and white-trash out of the work marketplace. They are paying the freight to keep 18% of the population out of competition with their kids for jobs.

right on every point..So simple...

[Danno 1,228]

right on every point..So simple...

But it never deals with the main question of

How do we care for the kids when they don't comply with the work-education requirements?

THese folks are already flunkies in the opportunities we have already afforded them, at great expense I might add.

I like a lot of the ideas too but we are dealing with masses of people who rarely showed up to class or work if they ever had a job.

when you subsidize any behavior... you get more of it.

Likewise people stop touching the stove when they realize there is pain involved...... however, they hold their kids as hostages and the ransom note reads

"Pay me or these kids will go without."

[RGinWA 816]

So Obama isn't biased towards blacks...does that about sum it up?

And maybe the Republican's not passing anything may have just a little to do with the lack of economic growth.

But go ahead and blame the one guy.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

While the job loss bleeding has slowed, the economy is far from good, for a variety of reasons. I would hardly call Obama's Presidency a success at this point. Some of the mess was inherited, some is stubbornness on both sides and some of it is a lack of ability to get things done, IMO. Unlike the majority here, I know that neither party has all the answers. Both sides have their good and bad points. The country has been run into the ground for the past 8 years.

This country has been run into the ground for far longer than the last 8 years. Try the last 30.