Misery prevails

Opinion: February 17, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

By Eva Sanchis

McClatchy-Tribune

It’s frustrating to hear politicians proclaim that the recession is over.

“We are poised for progress,” President Obama said in his recent State of the Union address. “Two years after the worst recession most of us have ever known, the stock market has come roaring back. Corporate profits are up. The economy is growing again.” While the recession may be officially over, try telling that to millions of struggling black and Latinos.

Jobless rate

In January, unemployment rates for these groups were alarmingly high (15.7 for blacks and 11.9 percent for Latinos), and the future doesn’t look rosy. A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute predicts that the unemployment rate through 2012 will remain more than 15 percent among blacks and around 11 percent among Latinos, and that it could take up to a decade or more before pre-recession levels of unemployment are restored.

Families have long ago spent down their savings, and people are struggling to afford basic needs such as food, housing, transportation and medical care.

Black and Latino families are continuing to disproportionally experience economic hardship, points out another report from the Boston-based research organization United for a Fair Economy. They entered the recession with a meager cushion. In 2007, blacks had only a dime and Latinos 12 cents of assets compared to every dollar whites had.

“They don’t have the wealth to withstand and to endure economic hardships in the same way white families are able,” says Mazher Ali, a report co-author.

Eva Sanchis is a writer for El Diario-La Prensa. She wrote this for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues; it is affiliated with The Progressive magazine. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services