Will black middle class fade with Big Three?

[tdavis]

The fall of the Detroit automakers may lead to the fall of the black middle class, according to New York Times Magazine writer Jonathan Mahler.



Read Full Article http://thebreadwinner.the-amt.com/index.php?/Labor-News/

[imdjh]

1. Who writes this stuff, high schoolers?

The article begins with a bit of history: When pensions began in Germany over a hundred years ago, they were for people who lived to 70 — twice as long as the average person. When Social Security was introduced in 1935, 65 was three years more than the American life expectancy.

So the author believes that "history" tells us that in 1909 the average person (or average German take your pick) lived to be only 35 years old, but in 1935 the American life expectancy was 63. He's an idiot, but let's move on to his black middle class article.

He's still an idiot. Detroit was not home to the rise of the black middle class. Washington DC, Philadelphia, and New York were home to the rise in the black middle class, largely due to the public sector rather than the private sector. Since then other cities, including Detroit, but notably Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Washington DC is frequently noted as the home to the largest black middle class population and the first where one would find upscale suburban communities where black people were the first buyer of a home, as opposed to other black middle class enclaves that were originally white (including most of DC proper). Long before Detroit ever saw a car, black merchants, tradesmen, and professionals were already established in segregated but thriving black communities in cities on the Eastern Seaboard.