A contentious debate over a "Buy American" provision in the economic stimulus package poses an early test for President Obama on both domestic politics and foreign policy.
The Senate this week is considering an $885 billion bill designed to help mend the ailing economy, which requires all "manufactured goods" purchased with stimulus money to be made in the United States. The House already has approved a narrower bill mandating the use of domestic iron and steel.
To supporters, including labor unions that helped the Democrats retake the White House last year, a "Buy American" requirement is just common sense at a time of economic crisis and rising unemployment. Factories have been hemorrhaging jobs for years; manufacturing employment is now 12.9 million, down from 17.2 million at the end of 2000. If Congress doesn't insist upon the use of U.S.-made materials, taxpayer funds could line the pockets of European or Chinese workers rather than hard-hit Americans.
The country tumbled deeper into recession and probably logged its worst economic performance in a quarter-century during the final three months of last year as battered consumers and businesses throttled back spending.
The U.S. economy is deteriorating at an alarming clip as the housing, credit and financial crises — the worst since the 1930s — feed on each other in a vicious cycle that has proven difficult for Washington policymakers to break.
The Commerce Department is set to release a report Friday expected to show the economy shrank at a pace of 5.4 percent in the October-December period, a much faster descent than the 0.5 percent decline logged in the prior quarter. If economists’ forecasts are correct, it would mark the weakest quarterly showing since an annualized drop of 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 1982, when the country was suffering through a severe recession.
Dr. Boyce Watkins www.BoyceWatkins.com Brought to you by the Great Black Speakers Bureau, the #1 Speakers Bureau in America.
Happy New Year Peeps!
OK, if you want to start the New Year off with a laugh, here is the video of Jesse Lee Peterson of Fox News thanking White people for slavery. What's really funny is that Jesse is being dead serious. I also want to share my support for the great Cynthia McKinney, whose boat was attacked as she worked hard to provide humanitarian support for suffering Palestinians during the unfortunate conflict in the Middle East. May this year bring peace to that region of the world.
I just wanted to reach out and inform the members of the YBW family that my wonderful publicist, Tarin Donatien, is now pushing me back out into the crazy New York media for a brief tour to start the year. Our goal is to make the world aware of our new financial fitness program at FinancialLipo.com, which will focus on helping people learn to manage their bill collectors, cut their debts legally, gain financial literacy and get their financial situation right for the New Year (the site will be launched on January 6). Sign up for our Money Advice Email list to get free money tips and to stay briefed on the issue. We are also going to discuss the new TV show I am working on with Dara Cook from BET/MTV called "Ying Yang", in which the goal is to discuss the Ying and the Yang of various controversial issues (i.e. is Hip Hop too sexist? Does a Black President necessarily help black people? Are men or women the primary cause for troubles in the Black family?). If you have ideas for good show topics, please fee l free to share them with us.
Here's the break down:
On the morning of 1/8, I'll be on The Ed Lover Show in NYC. It's on Power 105.1, which I think is the #1 show in NYC. But Hot 97 is pretty strong, and so is WBLS. The New York Media market is pretty fierce.
I'll be on Hot 97 the following Sunday. Lisa Evers, the host of Street Soldiers, is one of my favorite people.
I'll be on The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet on the morning of the 9th at 9 am. The show is on National TV and probably comes on in your city. Here's a list of the affiliate cities.
Wendy Williams and I are going to be on the 9th at 4 pm. I love Wendy's show: she's crazy but professional. Our past appearances have always been pretty exciting.
Steve Harvey and I are going to talk money during the same week. The exact time has not been confirmed yet, but I'll let you know when that happens. I like Steve Harvey's show a lot. He is actually a funny dude in person.
Quick thoughts on the New Year and how to make it work for you:
1) There are 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week and 8,760 hours in a year. That is a lot of time to accomplish whatever goals you have for yourself. At the start of each year, I budget the 8,760 million "time dollars" I've been blessed with and figure out how I am going to make my life better. You'd be amazed at how much you can change your entire life in just one year of consistent focus. Most of us have so much BS around us that we lose our center and disconnect from our true purpose in life. Find your purpose right now, write it down and read that note every day.
2) No matter what your age, your life should ALWAYS be moving forward. You should always aim to get educated, pick up a new skill, overcome another weakness, etc. When a living thing stops growing, that is when the thing starts dying. The velocity and direction of an object means far more than its current position. In other words, where you are doesn't mean much of anything: it is where you are going that determines where you end up. We are all becoming SOMETHING, and it is our day to day actions that determine what that thing is. For example, someone who plays basketball every day is becoming a good basketball player, even if they are not very good right now. Someone who eats cupcakes all day is becoming overweight. Someone who studies every day is becoming a good student. Ask yourself honestly, "Based on my day to day actions, what am I becoming? Are my words in line with my activities or am I lying to myself?"
3) Remove the toxins from your life. Wasteful activities, negative people, bad relationships and ugly habits have no place in your existence. Start the process of extracting the negatives today to remove the weight that keeps you from being where you want to be. Either kill or redefine the relationships that stand as barriers between you and your destiny. It's scary and people might get angry, but you must do it right now. When people see that you are serious, they will move the hell out of your way.
4) Mistakes of our past can be the cancer that causes us to destroy our future. A young man at 28 years old told me that he was down on himself for never going to college. 10 years later, I saw the man and told him that if he'd started going to school the minute we'd had that conversation 10 years earlier, he would be a doctor by now. Mistakes of our past can be like a cancer in our foot. Rather than cutting off the foot and being healthy, we let that cancer spread to the rest of our body, killing us slowly. Sometimes, we are so angry at ourselves about the past that we throw away our future by remaining determined to drown in the depths of self-pity, laziness and low self-esteem. Learn to forgive yourself for mistakes and keep moving forward. Life is too short to waste time.
5) Only crazy people become Great Black Achievers. I say this because you must see the vision before anyone else does, and only crazy people see things that are not there. There was a time when a "nobody" named Barack Obama saw himself as President of the United States and people thought he was simply delusional. But had he not been able to see the vision clearly for himself, he would never have been able to paint the vision for the rest of the world and his confidence would have been swayed by those who truly felt that a Black man could not be President of the United States. See your vision, believe in that vision, craft that vision, have a strategy to live that vision. Then bust your butt to fulfill that vision with deliberate actions and daily activities that inch you closer to your objective. The bed called "Your Life" is made by your day to day actions and choices. Most of our existence is nothing more than a product of what we choose to do on a daily basis. Success DOES NOT happen by accident.
Here is a YBW Family Slogan we can use for this year: "Greatness is mine in 2009". Kill off the haters and give birth to your dreams. Always set goals. Inspire those around you with your courage. Set empowering examples for your children. When you shine your light the brightest, those around you find the light within themselves. Your destiny is to be outstanding.
Media reports show that many Americans are not quite sure of what to do with their money. Watching banks fail left and right, people are logically afraid of what might happen to their savings. This fear is justified, as we are seeing our accounts beaten and stomped by the global financial meltdown.
This grave concern is magnified by the fact that those we’ve trusted are the ones who’ve left us vulnerable. Our most cherished financial experts handled our retirement accounts like flashy vehicles on a Nascar speedway. Our elected officials allowed executives in the banking industry to run rampant like 3-year olds with dirty diapers. Then, when the crash came, a massive bailout package was created for those most responsible for the damage, while the rest of us were left holding the tax bill.
This begs the question: Why in the hell should we trust the government?
I recall that during the failure of Enron, one of the most respected companies in America at the time, the firm made several statements designed to create confidence in the company’s financial condition. Like captains of the Titanic, company leaders explained that there was nothing to worry about, even as they themselves were preparing their lifeboats. When the company failed, those who did not protect themselves reminded us of one grim and fundamental truth: when the “you know what” hits the fan, it’s every man for himself….and every woman too, in case you’re wondering.
In response to such sentiment, the American consumer has been working overtime to protect his/her resources: people have (against my advice) moved their money away from the frightening stock market, they are diversifying money into different banks, and some are taking their money out of banks altogether. All of these actions are occurring in spite of government calls for calm in a world on the verge of financial panic.
The honest to goodness truth is that I don’t blame Americans for being afraid. I don’t blame them for not trusting the government right now. Trust must be earned in any relationship, whether it is a tough marriage of the relationship between a government and its citizens. Our government must work to regain that trust through sound and efficient financial management. It will NOT regenerate the public trust through excessive spending on meaningless wars, selfish pork-filled bills being passed through Congress and budget deficits that strain the resources of Americans everywhere.
I can’t tell you if the government is lying to you, but I can tell you this: There was a time when government guarantees such as FDIC insurance were as pure as the driven snow. There was a time when the United States Federal Government had pockets and resources so deep that even God himself could be bailed out with our cash. The sad truth, however, is that no empire lasts forever, and there is destined to be a day in the future when we are no longer the unquestionable economic super power that we once were. A country that can’t even afford its social security obligations is hardly a nation that has risen beyond economic risk.
Another sad truth is that if the financial world really were coming to an end, the citizens would be the last to find out about any such crisis. We would, simultaneously, be the first ones asked to suffer the burden of irresponsible behavior by our leaders. If that doesn’t justify a bit of skepticism, I am not sure what does.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University. He does regular commentary in national media, including CNN, ESPN, CBS and BET. For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.
Unlike babies, credit scores do not come from a financial stork. There are 3 major credit bureaus in the United States: Experian, Trans Union and Equifax. Companies subscribe to their services to obtain information about you to decide if you are credit worthy or not. Under the old system, the credit scores ranged from 375 to 900. Under the new VantageScore system, they range from 501 to 990. The new system is more consistent among various credit bureaus, so you don’t end up with scores that go all over the place.
How can I get a copy of my report?
I personally go to a site called Myfico.com, where you can order reports from all 3 bureaus or just one. You can also go to freecreditreport.com (you know, the site with the really funny commercials). The law says that you are entitled to at least one free credit report every year. Also, if you are denied credit for any reason, you can write the bureaus, sending along a copy of the rejection letter, and request a copy of your credit report. If you choose to pay for your report, it will likely cost you about $8 dollars.
What factors go into calculating a credit score?
The factors that go into calculating a credit score are a little vague and it’s protected like the recipe for KFC chicken. While the formula is well-guarded, we do have some guidelines on what factors are theoretically used to determine whether or not someone should loan money to you.
The factors are broken into what they call “The Four C’s of Credit”: Character, collateral, capacity, capital and conditions.
Character is their way of trying to decide if you are a good person or not. I don’t agree with this, since having bad credit does not make you a bad person. It just makes you a person who does not have a good track record when it comes to borrowing money.
Capacity is represented mostly by your income level and how much money you’re expected to earn in the future.
Capital is noted by the amount of cash you have in reserves and other liquid assets at your disposal. If you have capital, that means you can withstand a short-term decline in income and still make payments.
Conditions are reflected by the environment in which you live. It might include the state of the economy, your line of work and other external factors that might impact your credit report. For example, during the liquidity crisis in America, conditions for lending are very, very bad.
Now you know where credit scores come from. You probably have more questions, since there is a lot of ground to cover. To get more information, please feel free to learn along with me and my students by visiting http://www.drboycefinance.com/.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University. He does regular commentary in national media, including CNN, ESPN, BET and CBS. For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com
One of the groups that was not bailed out during the recent financial crisis has been the American consumer.Congress took care of the firms on Wall Street, but they didn’t take care of the millions of Americans forced to confront the realities of bankruptcy, foreclosure and uncomfortable confrontations with menacing bill collectors.It appears, sadly, that every man and woman must find their own way through this financial tragedy.
Bill Collectors really want their money, like the rest of us. Some of them seem to feel that it’s O.K. to resort to flat out thuggish intimidation to get their money back. That might work on The Sopranos, but it shouldn't work in real life.
Part of the reason abusive bill collectors can have their way with the public is because many citizens do not know their rights. Bill collectors prey on the uninformed in a terrible way: They may threaten to have you arrested, harass your relatives, call all hours of the night, and engage in other types of atrocious behavior to get their money out of your hide.
One woman successfully sued a rogue bill collector after he called her repeatedly with threatening language. The woman, a senior citizen, was told by the man to "Stop with the sob stories and pay your god d*m bill!"This kind of behavior is not acceptable, and bill collector harassment doesn’t have to keep you up at night.
The Federal Trade Commission states that complaints against bill collectors are rising, reaching the highest level they've seen in the past 3 years. Most of the complaints focus on vulgar language, trying to collect more than the amount of the true debt, and extra fees, such as court costs.
You have rights that can protect you from bad and malicious bill collectors. You want to keep these in mind as you work yourself out of debt:
1) There is something called "The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act". If you are not familiar with this document, get familiar with it. You can read it by clicking here.
2) A bill collector cannot contact you at work if your employer does not approve of the contact. Let the bill collector know that this is the case and they must legally stop contacting you at your job.
3) Bill collectors cannot call you before 8 am or after 9 pm. The only exception is if you give them permission to do so.
4) A bill collector can only contact your friends and family if they are trying to find a way to get in touch with you. However, some of them may do this in order to harass or embarrass you. If that is the case, you may want to tell your friends to tell the bill collector, "She does not live here and I do not know how to get in touch with her. Please don't call here anymore." Then, get the bill collector's information from your friend and reach out to them when you can.
5) You can get bill collectors to stop contacting you altogether by sending them a letter telling them to stop. You still must pay the debt, but they won't be calling you during dinner.
6) The bill collector cannot curse at you or use foul language and they must tell the truth about how much you owe. They cannot threaten to sue unless they are serious about it, and they can't touch your 401k or IRA.
7) If the bill collectors call you, you can demand that they send you a written notice of the amount you owe and who you owe the money to. If you do not believe that the debt is yours, you can write a letter to them stating that this is not your debt. They must then send you proof that the debt is actually yours.
If you feel that a debt collector has violated any of these rules, you can contact the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov. Remember that you are not powerless in this situation.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of Financial Lovemaking 101: Merging Asset with Your Partner in Ways that Feel Good.He does regular commentary in national media, including CNN, CBS, NBC and BET.For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com. This information does not constitute legal advice.For legal advice, please consult your attorney.
I should begin by saying that I am not a Finance Professor who happens to be Black.Rather, I am a Black man who happens to be a finance Professor.The goal of this work was not to create yet another book analyzing money to the nth degree, discussing stocks, bonds, charts and portfolios.I see money as a tool for the enhancement of life and the liberation of a people.I also see money as part of a nexus of critical issues that drive the world in which we live.
So, this book is not going to be about money throughout.It does not contain a long list of nuts and bolts financial advice.It is a discussion, by a Black social commentator who cares about his people, who also happens to be an educator and a Financial expert.So, imagine a person who is an expert at cooking steak, chicken and carrots, but insists upon making sure the plate has a little bit of each.I have never been one dimensional in my analysis, because linear, limited thinking is how one consistently misses the big picture.
In this book, you are going to get first hand analysis of how money plays a role in critical Black issues and leadership, from The State of the Black Union to Civil Rights.I will openly and honestly share my behind-the-scenes experiences with CNN, FOX, ESPN and other networks.You will hear about academia, as I take you for a quick trip into the ivory tower for a discussion of how economic incentives impact the value systems of today’s “Blackademics”.The trip will be long and broad, and won’t just focus on money.Rather, the focus is on capital of all types, not just financial capital.
Money, like any other powerful object, can either be incredibly constructive or horrifically destructive.It can ruin families or make people strong.It can liberate, enslave and do everything in between.You can improve the lives of those you love or ruin your relationships with loved ones.Money can do many amazing things in a capitalist society. Therefore, understanding money, embracing the power of money and controlling the power of money is clearly, without question, an undeniably meaningful part of the movement toward equal rights.
This was an introduction to the forthcoming book "Black American Money", written by Dr. Boyce Watkins. For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.
Dr. Boyce Watkins and Marc Lamont Hill appeared on the Rev. Jesse Jackson show to discuss educational policy.Rev. Jackson asked Dr. Watkins and Dr. Hill to make recommendations on the educational achievement gap and how to support the problems experienced by black males.Marc Lamont Hill is a Temple University Professor and Boyce Watkins teaches at Syracuse University.Both men are regulars on CNN, FOX and BET.
Jesse Jackson runs the Rainbow Push Coalition, which is going to make the dropout problem one of its key initiatives this year.Jackson is putting together a panel consisting of Marc Lamont Hill, Boyce Watkins and other experts specifically to address this issue.
During the discussion, which took place on The Jesse Jackson Show, Jackson asked the panelists if race still matters in America.Both men agreed.
“There is a litany of statistics showing that black students don’t get the benefit of the doubt in our school systems,” says Dr. Hill.“Race matters in America and it matters in our schools.”
Dr. Watkins, who wrote the book “Everything you ever wanted to know about college” agreed with Rev. Jackson and Dr. Hill.He also added that money is critical to solving the problem.
“America is more capitalist than it is racist, sexist or democratic,” says Dr. Watkins.“If we do not put resources into the schools, the educational problems will continue to persist.”
Dr. Hill and Dr. Watkins are going to meet with Jesse Jackson this summer at the Rainbow Push Coalition meetings to further discuss this issue.Al Sharpton and other black leaders are expected there as well.
Oprah Winfrey’s support for Senator Barack Obama, while certainly admirable, has cost her some support among fans. According to a recent poll, Winfrey’s approval rating was 74% before the election, dropping to 61% after turning her support toward Obama. At the end of the Jeremiah Wright controversy, her approval rating dropped further to 55%.
I admired Oprah a great deal for stepping out in support of Senator Obama. I also knew that she would pay the greatest price for this bold political move. What surprised me about Oprah’s support for Senator Obama was the fact that she was willing to do damn near the exact opposite of what made her a billionaire: take political sides in a nasty race. She also had the audacity to support a highly qualified black man over a well-respected, powerful woman. When reporters asked me about Oprah’s decision to step out on the limb of controversy, I simply said “Damn, I thought I was the only one crazy enough to do things like that. Oprah’s going to get fried for it.”
Entertainment is based on popularity. The more of a jelly-like spine you have, the better off you’re going to be. You have to be able to move with the crowd and makes folks feel good. DL Hughley from Def Comedy Jam even appeared on several shows referring to the black women from Rutgers University as “Nappy Headed Hoes”, all so he could build a little extra fame on the back of a very serious issue. Entertainment moguls like Oprah Winfrey and Bob Johnson are the best when it comes to telling people exactly what they want to hear, and they’ve become quite wealthy for it.
But it is Oprah’s willingness to take a serious stand on critical social issues that will serve as the dividing line between the legacies of billionaires Winfrey and Johnson. Oprah will be celebrated and remembered 100 years from today. People will only think that “Bob Johnson” is the name of an exotic sex toy. Johnson’s time capsule will contain DVDs of BET (Booties, Exploitation and Thugs) videos, while Oprah’s capsule will contain pictures of the young women attending the school she built in Africa. I am not a woman, but even I am empowered by someone who stands up so firmly for women’s rights. So, I give a big “You go girl” to Oprah for doing something that many wealthy black entertainers with predominantly white audiences are not quite willing to do.
At the same time, it was Oprah’s decision to be a BLACK woman (not just a woman) and support Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton that led to the backlash from her audience. Simultaneously, it was Bob Johnson’s allegiance to Senator Clinton that led to him being compared to Uncle Ruckass, the first class Uncle Tom from the TV show “The Boondocks”. Both billionaires shifted away from their policies, and both of them are getting hammered for it.
Oprah and Bob were reminded of a valuable lesson: Popularity and politics just don’t mix.
People don’t pay their black entertainers to take political stands. They pay them to dance, sing and make jokes. One can’t wear the white suit of entertainment and swim in the dirty waters of racially-divisive American politics.
One thing I know about money is that it can empower and liberate you. The problem is that money can also enslave you. Many black professors at top white universities fear losing their precious jobs if they speak out on social injustice. So, we spend our entire careers writing research papers that no one ever reads, while a world that starves for our intellect dies around us. There are hoards of angry black middle class Americans who fear opening their mouths because they won’t be able to keep up the payments on the Lexus. We all understand, on some level, the tradeoffs that Oprah, Johnson and Obama are forced to make.
One of the great dilemmas of the black experience is that we judge one another on our ability to obtain wealth, power and popularity, three things in short supply in our community. Rather than asking WHY Bob Johnson has a billion dollars, we presume that he is a great man only BECAUSE he has a billion dollars. Our measuring stick for success is one that provides prominence and respect to those who’ve been most willing to sell their soul to obtain scarce social resources. This creates a sticky set of incentives, as we keep our eyes on the carrots while taking our eyes completely off the prize.
You (Barack Obama) can’t get elected with 13% of the vote, so you are forced to engage in a disturbing amount of diplomacy and “bridge building”. You even become the only major politician to not show up in Memphis on the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination. In addition, you are asked to denounce a different black male associate nearly every week, while your opponents have equally questionable affiliations that receive no attention from mainstream media.
You (Oprah Winfrey) are a TV mogul who can’t earn a billion dollars from your black audience, so you build a predominantly soccer mom constituency that will penalize you for supporting a black presidential candidate. The audience helps you pay the bills, as long as you keep feeding them more Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil without even considering building shows for many black experts across the country who DO NOT have that annoying country accent.
You (Bob Johnson) can’t quite get your message onto a mainstream TV network, so you create a network for African-Americans and spend 20 years feeding them nothing but naked women, gold grills, jock-grabbing “gangstaz” with guns and other profitable garbage. You don’t feed garbage for the survival of the network; you feed it because you want to have a billion dollars instead of 100 million. That’s what makes you a “playa”.
The sacrifices are great, and it is my argument that we should not only question the merits of the sacrifice, but also whether the rewards are as valuable as they seem. For every billion dollars of income earned by Bob Johnson, I speculate that there is at least another two billion dollars in lost productivity from a generation of kids who memorized the lyrics from “Back that Ass Up” before they began kindergarten.
Perhaps it is time to reconsider our social currency.
Does Cornel West have to be at Harvard to be important, or will we respect him at an HBCU?
If Barack Obama loses the presidency for refusing to condemn another black man, will he get as much respect from his Black Home as he would from the White House?
Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama, to a measured extent, have earned my respect for putting their vast social capital on the line. As a Finance Professor, I understand Bob Johnson, since I have taught thousands of Capitalists to analyze money.
But one thing I know about money and democracy in a racist society is that if you measure your success by wealth, power and popularity, you end up with a Pandora’s Box of contradictions that keep you up all night and on the toilet all day.
Life is too short to work so hard on things that don’t matter. Perhaps we should set new standards.
Video: Dr. Boyce Watkins Speaks on Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama
