Saturday, March 18, 2006

Why Race and Politics Don't Matter

The census bureau puts out tables of data. You can look up all kinds of things. Things like family income as a function of race and marital status. Here is a summary of the data for 2004.

Black, married households have an average income of $63,934.
Black, single mom households average $28,408.

Source

White, married households average $81,408
White, single mom households average $37,917

Source

Here’s a chart.


That's pretty dramatic, but not surprising to some of us. As a single dad, I can list some of the drawbacks of being a single dad. It’s a pretty long list.

If you were in the media or politics and you wanted to attack the biggest domestic problem, wouldn’t this be it? So what do we hear all day long? The need for government social programs and the problems of racism.

Hmmm.

2 comments:

WomanHonorThyself said...

Yup ..Take more n more money from hard working middle class folks to ahem..donate to 'social programs'..ack!..Middle class parents cant afford to give their own kids tennis or ballet lessons b/c their taxes are busy paying for the inner city kids programs who get to enjoy that and more!

Jacob the Syrian Hamster said...

I've had the chance to spend time with congressional and senate staffers from both sides in the last few months.

To a person they are hardworking and well-intentioned. You'd welcome them as friends in your house.

They are also ill-versed in statistical analysis and terrified of appearing religious. Family marital status is the dominant feature in social problems and nothing else comes close.

You cannot attack crime, illiteracy and poverty without addressing single parenthood first and foremost.

That's the point we're trying to make.