Saturday, October 8, 2011

Should Couples Be Given a 2-Yr Renewal Option in Marriage?

Given the high cost of divorce, is there a better way?  A legislator in Mexico says he has one.

 

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Oprah Blows Away the Competition on the Richest Woman List

Oprah Winfrey dominates the list of highest paid women in entertainment

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Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Over 1,000 Millionaires Paid Zero Tax in 2009

black wealth, african american wealth

In 2009, 1,470 millionaires paid no federal income taxes, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

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Ryan Mack: 11 Tips for the Unemployed

ryan mack, black unemployment, african americans, black wealth

 

 

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Friday, August 5, 2011

College Students Seeking Out Sugar Daddies to Help Them Pay Tuition

By JasmineHughes

In light of the economic downturn, female college students are taking matters into their own hands. Now instead of working in McDonald’s, or shops for $8.00 an hour, many are finding it quicker and easier to seek older men and provide sex in exchange for tuition money.

 

READ MORE AT BLACKWOMENTODAY

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Getting the Wedding You Want with No Drama

by George James

The summer is a time for warm weather, vacation, family reunions and weddings. Many couples plan their wedding during the summer and fall months. Planning a wedding can bring a lot of stress and drama to the couple. From deciding when and where to get married, to working on the guest list and to figuring out how you will pay for the wedding. Stress and drama can also come from what other people want for your wedding and from handling major conflicts such as faith, money or where to live after the wedding. It is possible to get the wedding you want and not have any drama, even with all the possibilities leading up to the wedding.

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Friday, June 24, 2011

Wealthy Woman Leaves $40 million to her African American Nurse

And they say that good nursing can’t pay the bills…

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Thursday, June 23, 2011

Corporate America Now Has an Official Term for Excluding Black Businesses

The code language was revealed at the Rainbow Push Convention.

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Saturday, May 7, 2011

Jumping the Broom is Fourth So Far at the Box Office

Jumping the Broom is fourth so far….click to read.

Survey: Black Women More Likely to be Single Than Any Other Group

 

 

A new census bureau survey said that black women are the least likely of all ethnic groups to jump the broom.  Why is that?

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Friday, May 6, 2011

Friday Flash Feature: Denise Bolds Teaches Single Black Moms How to Raise Their Sons

Leslie DeTouche, Your Black World 

Many single black moms are not sure how to raise their boys.  Well, Denise Bolds has some solutions that work.

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“Jumping the Broom”: Just a Classier Version of Madea

"Jumping the Broom" is like a Tyler Perry movie with polish.

The ensemble comedy is about a wedding involving a bride from a family of wealthy African-American professionals and a groom from a family of working-class Brooklynites. It is well-cast, well-played and passably written.

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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Teen Joblessness, Violence Expected to Hit Record Highs This Summer Due to Cuts in Federal Funding

CHICAGO, Reuters — A record-low one in four U.S. teenagers will land a summer job in the coming months as a result of a still-poor job market and lost federal funding, according to a report issued on Monday.

As a consequence, urban studies experts said cities like Chicago — where summer unemployment among African-Americans aged 16 to 19 years approaches 90 percent — could experience a rise in street violence.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Black Unemployment More than Double Whites for Michigan Residents

 

Your Black World reports

A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute has revealed that the economic situation for African Americans is disproportionately bad for the state of Michigan.  According to the report, African Americans in Michigan have had an unemployment rate above 20 percent for every quarter since the start of 2009. Their 2010 annual unemployment rate was 23.4%.  White Michigan residents currently enjoy an unemployment rate of only 9.5% for last quarter.

The conditions are so bad that the lowest black unemployment rate since 2008 (12.2%) is only slightly lower than the highest unemployment conditions experienced by whites in Michigan (12.7%).  So, their terrible times are our good times and our horrible times don’t get attention from political leaders whatsoever.

Perhaps we don’t live in a post-racial America after all, since the unemployment picture is clearly different for blacks and whites.

Please join the Your Black World Coalition by visiting YourBlackWorld.com

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Regal Black Women from Around the World

Royal Report: 6 Regal Black Women from Around the World

 

 

Royal Report: 6 Regal Black Women from Around the World

 

Royal Report: 6 Regal Black Women from Around the World

 

Click here to read about these women and others on Black Enterprise

Friday, April 29, 2011

Black Americans Not Getting Good Financial Advice

 

by TEWire
Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspapers
Originally posted 4/27/2011

Only two out of every 10 African-Americans are on a path to achieve their retirement goals, according to a six-month-old survey of Blacks conducted by a major wealth manager.

 

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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

McJobs Are Not the Cure for An Ailing Economy

Job seekers wait in line at a one-day hiring event April 19 at a McDonald's in San Francisco. Hundreds showed up to apply.

Editor's note: Annette Bernhardt is policy co-director of the National Employment Law Project, a national advocacy group for the rights of lower-wage earners. She was lead researcher on NELP's recent report, "A Year of Unbalanced Growth: Industries, Wages, and the First 12 Months of Job Growth After the Great Recession."

(CNN) -- We are starved for signs that the economy is picking up. So when McDonald's threw its doors open to hire 50,000 workers nationwide, media networks scrambled to film applicants lining up across the country for that increasingly elusive piece of the American dream -- a job.

A Black Prof Discusses Racial Bias in Financial Decisions

Your Black World reports

Have you ever tried to get a loan, and felt that you weren’t being treated the same as if you were white?  What about watching that promotion at work being given to the white guy down the hall when you were the one slaving night and day for 20 years?  Well, this feeling is not uncommon.  A recent survey at YourBlackWorld.com showed that nearly 90% of African Americans feel that they’ve experienced some kind of discrimination in the workplace.  In spite of our having a black president and attorney general, new laws have not been introduced to help people of color fight discrimination in the workplace.

Another prominent type of discrimination is the racial bias in other kinds of financial decisions.  Millions of black people were victims of predatory lending during the recent financial crisis, leading to a massive decline in black family wealth over the last decade.  Additionally, the ability to build a business, get government contracts or do other things to create financial security for your family can be impacted by the color of your skin.  Prof. Stephanie Yates Rauterkus at The University of Alabama Birmingham speaks on the topic in the video below.

Click here to watch the video

To join the Your Black World Coalition, please visit YourBlackWorld.com.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Deborrah Cooper Explains What It Means for a Woman to “Submit” To Her Man

 

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World

Given the importance of the critical theme of black relationships (which we’re hitting from various angles this week on YBW), I had to get another perspective on some of the things that folks are quoting from the bible as it pertains to how black relationships need to be structured.  What does it mean for a black man to “lead” in his relationship?  What does it mean for a woman to “submit?”  One thing that many of us can agree on is the fact that black relationships have been falling apart for a very long time.  The majority of our homes are being run by a single parent, and far too many children are growing up without their fathers in shouting distance.  What some don’t acknowledge is that there is a direct correlation between the break down of the black family and the growth of the prison industrial complex.  Locking up men for decades for the sale of drugs that were brought into our communities has devastated many of us, and urban decay in the 1980s led to job losses with few viable alternatives to illegal activity.  A recent study in The Economist showed that a one percentage point increase in the incarceration rate leads to a 2.4 percent decline in the percentage of black women who eventually get married.

 

Click to read

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Dr. Boyce: The Depth of Forest Whitaker’s Tax Problems

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

Hollywood superstar Forest Whitaker was recently hit with a large tax bill after failing to pay $185,000 he owed to the IRS. The tax collectors in California have cited Whitaker and filed a lien for the balance. Both he and his wife Keisha are named in the complaint, which was filed in the Los Angeles County Recorder of Deeds.
It was reported in 2009 that Whitaker owed $1.29 million in state and federal taxes. Whitaker is not the only Hollywood megastar to have tax problems. Actor Wesley Snipes is in prison until 2013 after being charged with failing to file tax returns for three years.
Chris Tucker was hit with some very serious tax problems himself, as the LA County Records Office showed that Tucker owed over $11 million in taxes up through 2006. Actor Nicolas Cage was also found to owe millions to the IRS.

 

Click to read.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Black Women and Relationships: An In-Studio Conversation

The video below presents an in-studio conversation about black women and relationships.  Enjoy!

 

To have Dr. Boyce Watkins commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Tom Joyner Cruise Sets Sail: How Black People Need to Network

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

This morning, I got a text from my respected colleague, Roland Martin. I can't remember what Roland and I were talking about, but I do remember what he told me at the end of our conversation. Roland mentioned that he couldn't do anything next week because "the cruise is leaving in a couple of days." I immediately became jealous, because I knew he was talking about the Fantastic Voyage, hosted by Tom Joyner.


I'm not always big on black folks looking for another party, but there is something I love about the Tom Joyner Cruise. Anyone who's ever been on a cruise knows that seeing another black person on a cruise ship is like searching for Louis Farrakhan at a Klan rally. While cruises can be fun, comfortable and even exciting, there is a dryness that people of color experience from a lack of cultural diversity.

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Thursday, February 10, 2011

S. Tia Brown: Supporting Your Man as an Entrepreneur

by S. Tia Brown, Essence.com

First let me say this: I am single. However, just like you don't have to smoke crack to tell "rockheads" don't do it... well, you get the rest.
Second, I'm an avid, calendar-clearing, repeat-watching fan of the "Real Housewives of Atlanta." You know the type. I text my girls during the commercials. I feel like I know the "ins and outs" of the cast intimately. And, occasionally I pass judgment on their decisions.
With those two details out the way, it's time for my third assertion: When it comes to marriage, particularly to an entrepreneur, it can't always be tit for tat. Over the last few weeks I've watched Cynthia Bailey's now husband, Peter Thomas, try to pull out the dagger ripping his heart apart as his business -- their family's bread and butter-- revenue dropped lower than NeNe Leakes' cleavage line. Thomas shared his woes about picking up the pieces. Bailey worried about financing their wedding. Thomas grew angrier about not getting investors. Bailey balled about being owed her investment in his business. Thomas was forced to close his restaurant and rebuild. Bailey cried about not going on a honeymoon. All I kept thinking is, "where dey do dat at?"

 

Click to read.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Sil lai Abrams: How to Deal with Financial Insecurity

by Sil lai Abrams – Sepiaprocess.com

When times are difficult for us financially, we can become paralyzed by fear. As the fear grows in our mind we often get stuck focusing on the problem and not actively searching for a solution. Our attention becomes fixated on our creditors and as we look at our mountain of debt we can become weighed down in despair and shame. “I’m never going to get through this” or “This is more than I can handle” begins to play on a constant loop in our brain. Some of us respond to our problem with denial. Instead of facing our lack of money, we spend as if we have unlimited resources, compounding our original financial instability. Or, we may isolate from others and numb ourselves with food, alcohol or television. Sometimes we avoid dealing with our situation by throwing ourselves into a relationship that takes up all of our time. None of these counterproductive behaviors do anything to bring us closer to a solution. They only keep us stuck in our problem by postponing or delaying our eventual day of financial reckoning.

 

Click to read.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Condoleeza Rice Asked on CNN: “Why Are You Not Married?”

Piers Morgan Interviews Condoleezza Rice

by Alexis Stodghill, AOL Black Voices

Condoleezza Rice, the first black woman to become a U.S. Secretary of State, was interviewed recently on the newly minted CNN show, 'Piers Morgan Tonight,' to be asked of all things: Why are you not married? That question no successful African American female can escape. The single, black (semi-successful) woman that I am couldn't help but shrink in insecurity as this ubiquitous puzzler was posed even to one of the most prominent black women alive. Why the embarrassment?
Yes, such questions make for great ratings. It's a question Piers Morgan might have asked any single V.I.P. Watching a woman who used to wield massive diplomatic and military power talk of cooking fried chicken was a hoot. But despite the innocence of the utterance, for black women everywhere that question is the articulation of aGreek tragedy-style family curse: An unsolvable source of suffering for black women that just keeps getting passed down. Piers may not have known that, but refering to it even obliquely is enough to make one's heart hurt.

 

click to read.

Can You Stay Fly and Keep In Your Budget? The Frugalista Says You Can

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

Natalie P. McNeal is onto something. Under the name "The Frugalista," she has come up with a set of concepts that allow us to balance our need to save with our desire to enjoy life. Black people, on average, tend to be first-class consumers, second-class savers and third-class investors, leading many of us to a life on the edge of financial ruin. Even those of us who have high incomes can end up with debt up to our eyeballs and bills that we can barely afford to pay. So, when unemployment or financial crisis hits our households, we are the first to be bankrupt or in foreclosure.


The Frugalista lays out her own experience with debt and how she found a way to save money without forcing herself to live a Spartan life. She teaches that saving money should not be the only important thing in your life, but that financial responsibility can be a key to having a better life experience. It is for that reason that Natalie P. Mcneal is today's Dr. Boyce Watkins Spotlight on AOL Black Voices:

Click to read.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

How Mass Incarceration Affects the Marriage Market for Black Women

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

In a very compelling article, The Economist Magazine stepped away from its standard delivery of international political updates to dig deeply into the experience of the African American woman. In the article, economists analyze dating for black women as a market, where men and women enter the market to search for a suitable mate.
The author starts off with a simple example to help make his point. He says "IMAGINE that the world consists of 20 men and 20 women, all of them heterosexual and in search of a mate. Since the numbers are even, everyone can find a partner. But what happens if you take away one man?"
Then, citing the work of Tim Harford, an economist in England, the author says that because one out of the 20 women faces the possibility of never finding a husband, she tries harder to get a man, perhaps by dressing more seductively or doing things the other women might not do. She may even steal a man from someone else. This then affects what other women do to find and keep their own men, and also the behavior of the men themselves.

 

Click to read.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Dr. Boyce Watkins Spotlight: The Duchess of Black Scholars

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

The role of Super Woman in Black America can be readily applied to a woman who can balance the relentless pursuit of academic achievement, professional success, and outstanding motherhood, all at the same time. Miriam Harris (a.k.a. Duchess) is a textbook example of what we all want our daughters to become. She is a mother of three, and has both a PhD and a law degree. The Ivy League educated supermom is not only "about her business," she is deeply committed to the business of using her vast intellect to make the world a better place for both women and people of color. In other words, she's not just a Black PhD, she is actually a "Ph-Do." AOL Black Voices was able to catch up with Professor Harris for the Dr. Boyce Watkins Spotlight:
1) What is your name and what do you do for a living?

My name is Duchess Harris and I am an Associate Professor of American Studies at Macalester College.
2) What is your area of expertise and what made you pursue this particular area of study?

 

click to read.