Kudlow Finds It ‘Hard To Understand’ ….
Yup. There’s a macro for that too.
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No offense taken. I’m interested in hearing why you think the US has never been “like SA.”
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The black population in the US is about 14%. 79% of South Africans are black. Most black Americans are middle class economically. I don’t believe the same can be said of SA.
Maybe because I’ve seen so much change in that regard in my life that your post got my attention. As far as the present situation regarding police brutality, many relatives, friends and classmates became NYC police. The less time I spent with them the better. The culture of the Department was racist and even fair minded cops got swallowed up by the majority. Today it is less so because there are many more blacks, hispanics and asians on the force. But there is still a long way to go. Hopefully this activity will speed it along. Peace!
It’s not about the people who voted for Obama.
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“My gardener, Juan, agrees with me,” Kudlow later added. “He makes a sick quesadilla, by the way.”
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“My White neighbor voted for Obama, therefore racism doesn’t exist in America”
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I spent 2 years listening to Radio South Africa while working in the Peace Corps in Malawi in the 1980’s. They routinely held up the United States as a model for the justification of apartheid, both in terms of racial segregation based on melanin densities and the institution of reservations for First People in “homelands”. Some in Israel have also cited these as justification for policies related to the “Palestinian Problem”.
We may want to believe we are not South Africa, but what we believe and what other see don’t always mesh up…
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Some truth I guess but this American does not in anyway see that we are like anything like Afrikaners. I think it’s important to know where we are so we can move forward.
Thank you for the reply.
The fact that blacks are a large majority in SA is what I was acknowledging when I wrote that white fear was more existential in SA than in the US. If you look back in US history to times when white fears had peaks, you will usually find peaks in violence against blacks and efforts by lawmakers and law enforcement and extralegal groups to impose harsh restrictions, harsh punishment, and general terror on blacks. I consider this a difference in degree.
I haven’t looked at data about the portion of the US black population qualifying as middle class, but I’m unclear as to how that makes the US “not ever been like SA.” You are absolutely correct that the majority of black South Africans are not middle class. Again, I see only a difference in degree. The percentage of black Americans in poverty, about 22% in 2018 per the Kaiser Family Foundation, was 2.5x the white poverty rate. As in SA, the relative economic position of the black population is heavily influenced by historical suppression.
There has been tremendous progress, but I think the last period of heavy lifting on the racial-equality front was the period leading to the civil rights act and the subsequent years of fighting for enforcement of the act.
The GOP has been a force against racial equality ever since it moved to capture the votes of racist/fearful/“aggrieved” whites. We’ve seen decades of GOP success attacking affirmative action, suppressing black voters, concentrating black votes, reducing funding for and imposing harmful restrictions on anti-poverty programs, eroding support for public schools, and adopting laws and policing strategies that had a highly discriminatory and negative impact on black persons and their communities. Less-visible decisions in areas such as zoning and transportation planning/funding have made black Americans poorer and less healthy. Democratic voters and officials have not always been opponents of the changes, so we bear a portion of the responsibility.
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When comparing America 's history (and its lingering traces) to the Apartheid period in SA, there might be some comfort in noting differences, but discomfort with the similarities should weigh much heavier.
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Demography is destiny. The country is changing. Some are afraid. Others welcome it. Your list is impressive but no group is helpless to bring about change in their own community. As far the South Africa comparison you say it’s just a degree of difference. I see apples and oranges.
I agree. Let’s celebrate our agreement by helping our country eject Trumpp and every other GOP elected official from power.
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Sometimes, had to tell my teams at halftime:
‘The only thing worse than getting your ass kicked-- is kicking your own ass!’
Tough luck for the racist. It ain’t halftime.
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“Well I don’t believe in systemic racism,” Kudlow said. “I think the American system is the best system ever devised for mankind, for history. We are liberty, we are equality, we are fairness, we have come a long way in this country.”
“Here’s a thought: President Obama, the first black president, was elected twice, and he got 79 million white votes — 79 million in two elections,” Kudlow said. “Now therefore I find it hard to understand something called ‘systemic racism.’”
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Larry, the racism is very much still there, its just that day by day there are fewer white bigots like you, and a rapidly growing number of whites, blacks, browns, etc. who are increasingly welcoming each other into a civic partnership for the benefit of all, . . . except maybe you.
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Kudlow, as usual, is off blabbing about something other than what he needs to focus on. Krugman’s column noted the very big problem of shitty corporate debt, exacerbated by absurdly low interest rates.
Austerity was the idea of starving government of any debt-fueled stimulus, even when countercyclical policy said it was appropriate. What we see is that the total credit stock, total debt-to-GDP ratio, just continued to increase. When governments refrained from borrowing, companies just issued more bonds or borrowed more from banks. The US debt-to-GDP ratio is about 330% or $66 trillion, with about two-thirds of that private debt. The problem is that qualitative easing works in part by buying up corporate debt. Just as we have militarized every part of our existence into a “battlespace”, we have financialized our existence into a massive debt overhang. Very soon, the government is going to be picking winner and loser branches of the economy, because there will be no way to cover all the losses when the bond defaults start.
Yep, that type mentality also says stuff like, I can’t be racist my kids are mixed. You have to remind them the owner of plantations not only enslaved humans, but had mixed kids too.
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When the only person of color you see on a regular basis is the person in the guard house of your gated community, what do you expect from THESE
people?
But protestors? Not just a few bad apples, they are all rioters and looters
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