With all the talk about the economy relative to the rich and the poor, tax inequity, disparities in employment, and high prices for the necessities of life, one very important consideration for Black people in the U.S. is cash flow – both individual and collective. Simply put, cash flow projections tell us how much cash is coming in and how much is going out. Good projections also allow us to get in front of an impending problem rather than having to react to it when it’s too late.

Businesses suffer when cash flow projections are improperly planned and “red flags” are not dealt with in a timely manner. Black folks are suffering because our cash flow is jacked–up, which means it continues in a negative mode rather than a positive one. We have much more going out than coming in, and that has resulted in our individual family net worth being less than $6,000 on average. And many of us have a negative net worth, which means even after we die, someone will have to continue to pay our bills.

In business, cash is king; unfortunately, that saying is not being applied in our neighborhoods and households, as we continue to outspend everyone else in this country, handing over our cash to any and every business we can find to support – that is, except our own. Cash is the life-blood of any community; if it flows through a community, via locally owned businesses, rather than out of a community, via businesses whose owners live in another community, the result is good economic health for the community.

It is unfortunate that, for the most part, Black folks only talk about “recycling” dollars while failing to actually implement the principle. But all is not gloom and doom; we still have time to change, and we do have a great deal of “disposable” income. Instead of “disposing” our nearly $1 trillion annual income among everyone else’s businesses, we must find ways to keep more of it among ourselves for a longer period of time. How can we accomplish that? Business development and business growth.

Entrepreneurship is the way out of our negative economic situation. Yes, we need to establish more businesses, but we must also grow those businesses to the point of being able to employ our people – our children. According to the last economic census, of the 1.9 million Black owned businesses in the U.S., only 106,500 have employees. And to add insult to injury, the number of those employees is a meager and embarrassing 909,000, all of whom are not Black.

If the vast majority of Black businesses continues to be sole proprietorships, our cash flow will stay on the negative side and our net worth will continue to be 20 times less than that of whites. If all we do is complain about being on the bottom, without kicking, scratching, and doing everything we can to move up economically as Malcolm, Garvey, Tony Brown, and many others have admonished us over and over, then we certainly deserve the negative result.

In order for Black cash flow to be positive, it must change its direction. Our dollars must start making more sense. Entrepreneurship is a major component of economic empowerment, thus, we must place more emphasis on it in our homes, our schools, our churches, and in our neighborhood circles.

Currently, Black cash flow projections are not looking positive at all. Our neighborhoods are in economic distress despite having significant cash on hand from week to week. However, as Michael Shuman noted in his book, Going Local (2000), “Being [classified as] poor doesn’t always mean being without resources. Anacostia is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., yet the total income of all its households is $370 million per year. Most of this money quickly departs in the hands of landlords, business owners, and bankers who live in more upscale parts of town…The principal affliction of poor communities in the United States is not the absence of money, but its systematic exit.”

Stronger and larger local businesses, hiring local residents and family members, play a major role in economic empowerment. So too does owning the houses and apartment buildings in our neighborhoods, many of which are on the market at very low prices. These basic economic solutions go a long way toward keeping our cash flow positive and making our self-reliance a reality rather than some nebulous feel-good term we like to use once or twice a year.

Economics is local. If we teach entrepreneurship, start businesses, grow our businesses through support and mutually beneficial relationships, and own the real estate, our neighborhoods will become genuine communities once again.

No Comments »

(Following is an article I wrote on January 2007 in tribute to MLK but also as a collective self-evaluation for us. Watch video at the end of article.)

Sorry for waking you up every year to celebrate your birthday, despite the fact that you would not be welcomed at some of the celebrations on your behalf. After all, your fiery and provocative rhetoric concerning the economic condition of your people is not what the sponsors of those celebrations want in return for their support.

No, they don’t want to hear you call for a redistribution of wealth in this country, higher wages, equity in public sector contracting, and certainly not a word on stopping this ridiculous war in Iraq. As I recall, you spoke against the Viet Nam War exactly one year prior to being assassinated. Oh yes, in your final speech you also told your audience to boycott various products in response to unfair treatment in the marketplace. No, Martin, it would have been a waste of your time to have made the rounds to those Kumbaya hand-holding celebrations of your life.

Many of the folks that attended MLK events, as they have for years, were only interested in “keeping the dream alive.” They are not concerned with carrying on the work you started and moving it to the next level; they merely want to revisit what you did and what you said, mourn your loss, and then go home and wait for next year’s MLK Day.

Despite your being an action-oriented leader, many of our so-called leaders today are content to just talk the talk. And you know what, Dr. King; every year it seems the number of folks who “marched” with you increases. Too bad most of those same folks didn’t go to jail with you.

Yes, there were lots of celebrations on your birthday, but most of them did nothing to make our dream a reality; their objective was to merely keep your dream “alive.” I guess as long as we keep the dream alive we don’t have to do any work, make any sacrifices, take any risks, make any waves, or disturb the status quo, right? But wasn’t that just the opposite of what you did?

Before I forget, let me tell about the celebration I attended in Philadelphia, put on by the African American Heritage Coalition. No, it wasn’t one of those hand-holding hymn-singing affairs; it was a serious event put on by some serious dedicated sisters and brothers, all in your name but also in remembrance of the question you posed in 1967, “Where do we go from here? Chaos or Community?” And guess who was there. Remember Dr. Walter Lomax, the brother who attended to you that time you got sick on the road? He still has that newspaper photo of the two of you. When he showed it to me a few years ago, I kidded him by saying, “You saved Dr. King’s life!”

I had the honor of being the keynote speaker for the event in Philly; it felt so good to be among brothers and sisters who were committed to taking the action steps necessary to move our people beyond your dream and into the reality of Black empowerment. I used your question, but I changed it just a little; I hope you don’t mind. I asked, “Where do we go from here? Complacency or consciousness? I wanted to know if they would continue status quo or finally do something about our condition.

I told them that naming streets after you is great, but let’s not stop there, especially if Black people don’t own anything on those streets. Besides, I know you didn’t do what you did to get your name on street signs; rather, you did it so we could get our names on things like deeds, businesses, development contracts, and other assets. You would be appalled to know that most of those streets named in your honor are not even safe for our children to walk and play. I know that hurts you, but I thought you should know.

Of course, I left some challenges in the City of Brotherly Love. I gave the audience a list of things they could do the very next day to start down the road to economic empowerment. That’s what you were telling the people that night in Memphis before you were killed wasn’t it? Forty years later and I have to give the same message. That’s wild! Do you think we will ever get it, Dr. King? And if we “get” it, do you think we will ever act upon the economic empowerment message? I sure hope so.

Anyway, as I said, the event I attended was just the right kind for me. I’m not in to the traditional celebrations where we get together simply out of obligation and just for show. I figure if we cannot come together on your birthday for more than recanting the “I Have a Dream” speech, we should stay at home. I mentioned to my audience in Philly that I could not picture Dr. King, if you were still alive, going somewhere every year and reciting that same speech for forty years.

I was encouraged in Philadelphia, and I want you to be encouraged too. There are some folks there who are seriously moving in the right direction for our people. I think you would be proud to know them.

But you go back to sleep now, and continue “your” dream. You may be disturbed again on April 4th, but that won’t last long either, so don’t worry about it. Please get a lot of rest before that date next year though, because it will be the 40th anniversary of your assassination. You’re really going to get a workout then. Give Sister Coretta a big hug for us; and we’ll see you again next year, Dr. King.

No Comments »

All this talk about tax cuts is falling on deaf ears for the more than 14 million unemployed folks in this country. I’m sure many of them are saying we gave the Wall Street bankers their bailout; we extended tax cuts for the one-percenters; and we continue to send billions to other countries to help them out of their financial woes. So where is the help for the unemployed and the people who have been evicted from their homes, many of whom are now living in cars and even worse? I am sure they are asking themselves when their relief will come. Tax breaks don’t mean a thing if you don’t have a job.

Extending the unemployment benefits is the least our government can do, but living wage jobs would be much better. It is so sad that we have turned into a two-tiered society, the “haves” who want even more, and the “have-nots” who can’t get a job.

What is our government doing? The latest disclosures of net worth, salaries, and millionaire status among members of Congress are truly eye-opening; or should I say “eye-popping and “jaw-dropping”?

We elect and send folks to Congress to represent us but they, sooner rather than later, start representing themselves and become millionaires in the process. Recent stats pointed out that one-half of the members of Congress are millionaires. In addition, the median net worth, excluding home equity, of House members more than doubled between 1984 and 2009, to $725,000 from $280,000, according to an analysis of financial disclosures by the University of Michigan’s Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Meanwhile, the net worth of the median American family dipped to $20,500 from $20,600, The Washington Post reports. (Newsmax.com)

As Marvin Gaye said, “What’s going on?” Certainly everyone should be able to earn as much money as he or she can via honest means, but it seems to me this system is all jacked-up now as it pertains to folks making financial decisions that drastically affect poor people, while they are living lives of luxury unaffected by those decisions. Isn’t there some kind of moral imperative in this scenario somewhere?

Are we so enamored by politicians, so enthralled by the emotions of politics, so engrossed in the symbolism of politics, and so caught-up by the hype of politics to notice what is happening to us? How is it that we elect folks to lord over us, to make rules for us, and to preside over us, and all the while they are getting richer and richer and we are getting poorer and poorer? Something is definitely wrong with that picture.

Look at Black people in this country and how we relate to the political system. Since Obama was elected we have heard cries of neglect, oversight, marginalization, and even abandonment of Black folks by this administration. We have engaged in discussions on whether we can say anything critical about Barrack as it relates to where Black people stand in the latest political landscape. It has been suggested that we should just sit back and take it because, after all, he is the “first” and he can’t do or say certain things on our behalf. Mistake!

Bob Law, national radio personality and community activist in New York City, recently wrote an excellent article in which he cited, “It was on May 7, 2011, that the National Institute for Latino Policy announced that the White House initiative for Educational Excellence for Hispanics swore in several new commissioners and held their inaugural meeting at the White House convened by Executive Director Juan Sepulveda. However Blacks are told that it would be unfair to expect such an effort on behalf of Black students since the President is the President of all Americans. In accepting that logic, Blacks may be the only group in the nation reluctant to pursue a strategy that will address the very real needs of their own group.” What that says to me is that same old Black mantra, “By and by, when I die…”

Closer to home is a more important issue: What do Black folks get from local Black politicians? The same thing we say about Obama can also be said, in most cases, about our local royal ruling class. Many of them make a decent living, have good pension plans, get large expense accounts, and all the other accoutrements that come with being elected to public office. On the other hand, Black people and poor people seldom get to share in the fruits of their labor. It’s the same as the national scene: High unemployment, which means tax cuts offer nothing in relief.

And so it goes; politicians talk about our needs but we continue to need to the things they talk about. Until work is plentiful again, all this rhetoric about tax cuts for the “working” people will continue to fall on deaf ears among the unemployed.

No Comments »

Every now and then I like to pull something out of my archives to share with my readers. Following is a piece on the political reality we face in this country. Let me know what you think.

Any time you throw your weight behind a political party that controls two thirds of the government, and that party can’t keep the promise that it made to you during election time, and you are dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that party, you’re not only a chump, but you’re a traitor to your race.
Malcolm X

Prior to the 2000 Presidential Election (or should I say, “Selection”?), I wrote an article titled “Will we be Gored or Bushwhacked?” Two years later, we all knew the answer to that question. The article was written to point out the similarities between the two candidates and the ridiculous nature of our so-called two-party political system. Even more important, I wanted to point out that no matter who was “selected” as our next President we would generally get more of the same. Right wing, left wing, who cares? They are both wings on the same bird.

If you look closely you can easily see the similarities of the left and the right. Sure their rhetoric is different, but they are more alike than different. A bird must have both wings to fly, a right wing and a left wing, and it’s the bird that makes the decision where to fly, how high to fly, whether to fly north or south, to take off or to land, and whether it will turn right or left. Just who or what is this political bird, the one that controls both the left and the right wing? Corporate America, that’s who.

We sometimes pretend that politics is so pristine and so untouched by corporate shenanigans, especially when election time rolls around. We pull out the banners of righteousness and character, we start beating the drum for honesty, and we dust off the old political clichés that conjure up the days of “Vote for me and I‘ll set you free.” Yes, we would love to think, even during a brief period of utopian thought, that our politicians, the ones we personally elect and send to various offices, are as pure as the driven snow and would never be swayed by the corporate temptations that lie in wait for them. We should awaken from that dream.

This is not to say that all politicians are bad people, and this is really not so much about politicians as it is about politics. As I have said before, if we could just take the politics out of our politicians, we would be much better for having done so. But for us to think that corporations are not in control of politics is Alice in Wonderland thinking. Both of the political wings attached to the corporate bird must be controlled by the corporations, and control them they will.

If you look back at how this country started and how it has been maintained, it will be quite clear to you that everything is based on economics. Of course we need a political system to keep things cool, but the bottom line is who controls the money. Procedures and organizations were set up in this country and in England, despite the political constraints and the outrage of some politicians, mainly to gain and maintain control of the world’s monetary system. The prime examples of that are the Federal Reserve System and the Internal Revenue Service.

Right wing, left wing, it does not matter who is in charge, and that’s just the way the rich and powerful wanted it to be. They couldn’t care less who wins office, and that means even the Office of the President of the United States. To paraphrase Baron Rothschild, he said as long as he could control the world’s finances it mattered not who was in political office. In case you have not checked lately, the Rothschild family is still large and in charge globally, hundreds of years after the master plan was developed.

As we approach yet another election, don’t be duped by all of the left wing versus right wing talk. Don’t get hung-up on the labels, i.e., Republican, Democrat, Conservative, and Liberal. And don’t fall yet again for the ridiculous practice of always voting for a person simply because he or she is in a certain party, or simply because he or she is Black. Haven’t we learned our lesson yet? A few decades ago most Blacks voted Republican; now most of us vote Democrat. What has that gotten us? Just take a look around and you can answer that for yourself very easily.
We must always remember that politics is about self-interest, so we should always vote for the candidates who will see to our interests, whether those candidates are white or Black, Democrat or Republican. Corporate moguls understand that and take full advantage of it by giving money to both parties. They obviously agree with old Baron Rothschild and continue to spread their money around, expecting and getting their needs met by whoever happens to be in office.

Left wing, right wing, it does not matter to the bird, for he knows he is always in total control of those wings and he can make them do whatever he wants – and needs – anytime he chooses. There may be two wings, but there is only one bird: The Big Business Bird; and maybe this time around it’s his right wing’s turn.

No Comments »