Bob Johnson Just Give POC 14 Trillion For Reperations

[GURPS]

"The taxpayers will pay for this because for two reasons, particularly," Johnson responded. "One, it is an atonement for 200-plus years of slavery, segregation, Jim Crowism, and the denial of people opportunity rights. But, the result of that payment would be to bring African-Americans equal to White Americans in terms of opportunity, wealth and income.

"Instead of looking at it as a payment, look at it as an investment in 40 million African-Americans who deserve equal treatment and equal opportunity."

Johnson added that the return on that investment would include more African-Americans "taking responsibility to build their communities [and] families [and] to become successful businesspeople and entrpreneurs who pay taxes and contribute to society."


https://www.foxnews.com/media/bet-founder-bob-johnson-slavery-reparations


and you do away with EVERY Housing Program and JOBS Program

 

[Gilligan]

Oh good grief.

 

[glhs837]

Yeah, baby......... CAn't imagine this turning out like he imagines. He's thinking some Watt's to Wakanda dream. Suuuuuure. Take a look at how lottery winners turn out.

 

[GURPS]

Take a look at how lottery winners turn out.

OH No ..... POC will totally be responsible with there reparations

 

[SamSpade]

I guess my biggest concern with this is - it is an expensive effort - and it won't end anything.

Suppose for instance, your child was killed by police - and that state offered up 10 million to you, in reparations.
Are you going to FEEL better about it? MAYBE the cost hurt them - but it's not going to assuage your anger or take away the pain.
If they were killed by, say, hateful people - will it make their hate go away? Of course not. WHAT will it do? Perhaps make national leaders - who think like lawyers - feel better that they DID something. I got them a payout. Wow. I guess that should do it. Perhaps - you're already a rather affluent African American, and the money really doesn't do much for you - does it change you?

My second biggest concern - do reparations go to every African American, regardless of how they got here? Is the argument made that every African American is a victim of slavery, regardless of whether or not they are descended from slaves? So African Americans who came here from abroad just in the past few years - they'll be eligible? How much "slave" do you have to have then - if I am one eighth descendant of slaves - even though I am white - do I get anything?

We just passed a bill whose price tag was so very expensive, we'll be paying it for years - but it was done for the very reason we rack up costs during say, a war - the cost of NOT passing it was higher. Desperate measures. What will nearly doubling our national debt cost and what will be the benefit?

Overall, the main reason I am concerned about the idea is, it won't accomplish anything. I simply cannot see the upside of it. You know, I know people say things that suggest MLK really didn't get results. Oh yes he did. He did the one thing that does get results - he changed people's minds. Compelling people to make expensive amends does NOT do that.

 

[GURPS]

I guess my biggest concern with this is - it is an expensive effort - and it won't end anything.

Sam you have seen poor in Ethiopia ..... poor blacks here have Big Screen TV's. Air Con and Smart Phones .......

They are not so poor, I think ... yeah there are still some racism, but its not ' institutional ' nor main stream, there will ALWAYS be outliers .....

There will ALWAYS be petty jealous people ...

 

[SamSpade]

Sam you have seen poor in Ethiopia .....

Sure - and you know what's weird? Some of those mud floor huts held together with bailing wire have wide screen TVs too. Satellite dishes nailed to the corrugated metal roof held down with rocks. You watch soccer indoors next to the goat and cow. And many have cell phones if only one or two sets of clothes. We saw our fair share of heart-breaking poverty. We were also delighted with the general kindness and friendliness and courtesy of your typical Ethiopian. If Canada has a national reputation for niceness, Ethiopians make them look like Nazis.

But I've said before, of the orphanages I've seen, the ones in the two we went to in Ethiopia, the children were strangely - the happiest. Their clothes didn't fit, the places were not always very clean and food was scarce. I remember feeling strange when the kids got excited for their afternoon snack - they lined up to get a thin orange wedge. But they were amazingly happy. Because they were loved there.

I'm not a social scientist. My world is numbers. The most significant set of numbers regarding African Americans in this country do not deal with poverty, income and so forth. They show a disintegration over the past two generations of the black nuclear family. Where it is strong, the other numbers are strong - where it isn't, everything goes to hell.

 

[GURPS]

Sure - and you know what's weird? Some of those mud floor huts held together with bailing wire have wide screen TVs too. Satellite dishes nailed to the corrugated metal roof held down with rocks.

Oh Interesting ..... I saw a news story in the past 8 yrs talking about how goat selling had changed in ' Africa '

Herders had cell phones and bid there animals over some network rather than having to drive them to market 1st.

Then the animals could be delivered directly to the buyer .... the villagers came into town once or twice a week to charge their cell phones and a truck battery they used to power a single bulb in the evenings in their one room huts ...

 

[SamSpade]

Oh Interesting ..... I saw a news story in the past 8 yrs talking about how goat selling had changed in ' Africa '

Herders had cell phones and bid there animals over some network rather than having to drive them to market 1st.

Then the animals could be delivered directly to the buyer .... the villagers came into town once or twice a week to charge their cell phones and a truck battery they used to power a single bulb in the evenings in their one room huts ...

That might explain the ubiquity of goat herds being driven through the capital and huge market areas where goat herds were separated on what looked like sales lots. Often what AMAZED me was seeing one of their huge cows being driven through the streets by no more than two young boys with sticks. And these are the kind of cows with the hump and the huge horns.

Once we were out of the city, the herds were larger and more likely to be on the road. Our interpreter told us that out in the country, small villages tended to band together and form a collective order from the truck, since very few people have cars and no one's going to pay for a ride just to shop for themselves. My daughter's father made a small living unloading those trucks once a week.

 

[vraiblonde]

Yeah, baby......... CAn't imagine this turning out like he imagines. He's thinking some Watt's to Wakanda dream. Suuuuuure. Take a look at how lottery winners turn out.

Beat me to it.

A friend of mine says that you could take all the wealth from the top 1% and give it to the bottom 50%, and within 5 years the 1% would have their money back.

 

[SamSpade]

Beat me to it.

A friend of mine says that you could take all the wealth from the top 1% and give it to the bottom 50%, and within 5 years the 1% would have their money back.

A story I've told often - I spent a season doing tax returns. I am sure if there are others here who have done the same, they could corroborate.

Our most frequent customer were the lowest earners, most of them without a bank account and getting the Earned Income Credit. At the beginning of tax season, easily half of our customers were these people. Truth is, anyone with a simple enough return and tax software can easily do their own return.

The most common scenario was someone eligible for the EIC (it's basically a kind of welfare in exchange for proof you've actually WORKED, which can be shown in a tax return). You bring in your W-2s, ID, and your personal information. I saw some of what was probably fraud, but I had no right to challenge it (i.e. people who did not appear to be married - because ID said they lived at different addresses and did not share a name - had SS cards for kids without their last name) but what WOULD happen is, they'd come in and show their ID and materials and evidence they worked for about 20 grand - and come out with a nice fat check for 4-5 thousand.

That's not the crazy part. I expected that. It is after all - welfare. No, the crazy part is, you had four options to get your money. One was to wait for a check in the mail - the longest wait. NO ONE PICKED THAT. Why? No bank account and don't want to wait for money. Another was direct deposit. Again, no bank account. Another was, wait for tomorrow for a check, which was in essence a LOAN, and if they agreed, they signed a bunch of more papers - AND TOOK A HIT on their refund. A big one. Maybe as much as a fifth of their return.

Some people took that. Most went for the last option - a check RIGHT NOW. They would lose as much as a fourth to a third of their return, but they got the check immediately. My boss said in all likelihood, they would then go to a check cashing place, and lose a bit MORE money in the transaction.

And they would tell me what they planned to do - buy a big screen - sound system for the game station - in their home at grandma's trailer. Yup. All that money given to them to reward actually WORKING for money - and a chunk was pissed away so they could get the money NOW - and it got wasted on "stuff".