Q&A of the day – About Minority progress in the Trump economy
It’s the Q&A of the day. Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Twitter: @brianmuddradio
Facebook: Brian Mudd https://www.facebook.com/brian.mudd1
Today’s question comes from @MiamiHov…
@brianmuddradio Are you really going to say that minorities have prospered more than the white man?? How bout telling that to the Jewish community....You guys really get it wrong sometimes being objective when you want to...that's my opinion you guyssometimeish
Bottom Line:I’m thinking there’s a bit of confusion that goes beyond semantics. I haven’t specifically stated that minorities have prospered more than non-minorities – though on a relative basis that is true. What I’ve highlighted when the topic comes up is this... Here are all of the groups that’d experienced record low unemployment rates and record high incomes, even when adjusted for inflation, over the past year:
- Asians
- Blacks
- Hispanics
- Native Americans
- Women
In recorded American history all of those groups, on average, are doing the best economically that they ever have over the past year. The one group you don’t see represented – white men. I think that’s where the confusion over what I’ve stated comes into play. White men have benefited the least, on a relative basis, with the improvements economically over the past year plus. The point is that the economy has been improving enough to where those who were often left behind previously haven’t been this time and they generally stand to benefit the most from increased opportunity and rising wages – which has been the case. To illustrate the point here are the changes in unemployment rates from January of 2017, compared to January of 2019.
Rate of improvement:
- #1: Hispanic: 1% (5.9% to 4.9%)
- #2: Black: .9% (7.7% to 6.8%)
- #3: White: .8% (4.3% to 3.5%)
- #4: Asian: .6% (3.7% to 3.1%)
Hispanic employment has improved the most with Black unemployment next. Add in record wages for all Americans and you get the point. We still need to continue to make progress, don't get me wrong, but as you’ll hear me say... There are two sides to stories and one side to facts. The fact is that minorities have benefited most, on a relative basis, from the Trump economy and if he’s a racist, as Michael Cohen now asserts (after previously publicly saying he wasn’t) which is what brought this conversation back up again, he’s not a very good one.