According to the The Federal Reserve’s 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances the median net worth for Black households was only $17,600, one-tenth of the $171,000 median for non-Hispanic white households; since 1995 African Americans have narrowed the college completion gap by 15 percent but the net worth gap has widened by 4 percent; the statistics point to the terrible inequality that still exists in America today and that wide reaching change is desperately needed; Forbes lays out five big ideas that need to be considered; two of them—improving access to capital for Black-owned businesses and reparations for descendants of slaves—aim directly at historic and current barriers that have made it so hard for African-Americans to build wealth; three others—Baby Bonds, partial student debt forgiveness and incentives for emergency savings—would help any Americans, particularly young ones, struggling to build assets without the cushion of inherited wealth; there is always a lot of lip service paid in times of crisis, now is the time for less talk and more action to make the country fairer for all. Forbes.
