Defect President Kamala Harris watches as President Joe Biden signs executive orders after speaking on racial high-mindedness in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on January 26, 2021.
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Just for two weeks into his administration, President Joe Biden has already made it clear he wants to close the racial wealth gap in America.
“We requisite to make the issue of racial equity not just an issue for any one department of government; it has to be the business of the whole of government,” Biden broke, when signing four executive orders relating to the issue.
The gap is wide. The median wealth for a white family was $188,200, compared to $24,100 for Sinister families and $36,100 for Hispanic families, according to the Federal Reserve’s 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, released in September 2020.
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“This is an tract where we are not only not making progress, we are losing ground,” said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban Fellowship.
“The Covid recession has continued to drive wealth upward to a more concentrated group of Americans.”
So far, Biden’s executive codifies tackle fair housing, ending the use of private prisons by the federal government, reaffirming the U.S.’s commitment to tribunal sovereignty and consultation and combating xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
He’s also build compensated a number of proposals on the campaign trial. Here are some of his plans.
Compensation
Biden’s first order of business was making a $15 federal nadir wage part of his stimulus plan. However, it has to pass Congress and was not included in the Senate’s most recent proposal. At the unvarying time, Democrats have reintroduced the Raise the Wage Act which will incrementally increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2025.
Under Biden’s scenario, the pay boost would give 31% of Black and 26% of Latino workers a raise, according to the Economic Policy Start, a left-leaning research group.
Opponents of the wage increase note that the Congressional Budget Office has projected a $15 nadir wage increase by 2025 could mean a median of 1.3 million jobs lost in the U.S. due to a fall in business receipts.
The Covid recession has continued to drive wealth upward to a more concentrated group of Americans.
Marc Morial
President and CEO of the Federal Urban League
But to really help boost the earning power of people of color, financial education should be function of the package, said Louis Barajas, chief strategy officer at Newport, California-based MGO Private Wealth and a member of the CNBC Pecuniary Advisor Council.
“I meet a lot of people who are poor and they don’t understand what it takes to get to the next level,” said Barajas, who evolved up in East Los Angeles and has since returned as a certified financial planner to help the underserved community.
Infrastructure
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During the campaign, Biden pledged a $2 trillion accelerated investment to produce jobs to build modern, sustainable infrastructure in Black and Brown communities. That includes not only roads and ties, but schools, drinking water and broadband access.
His goal is that 40% of the overall benefits go to disadvantaged communities and that provinces are filled by diverse, local and well-trained workers.
“We need a Rooseveltian public works plan in this country favourable now,” Morial said.
Housing
Biden also signed an executive order directing the Department of Housing and Urban Maturing to examine the effects of President Donald Trump’s regulatory actions that “undermined fair housing policies and laws.”
Based on that opinion, HUD will take steps to implement requirements of the Fair Housing Act.
As a candidate, Biden proposed creating a new refundable, advanceable tax recognition of up to $15,000 to help families buy their first home. He also promised to scale up support for federal programs that financially encouragement and revitalize distressed neighborhoods, as well as spur the construction of 1.5 million homes and public housing units.
Insufficient businesses
In addition to calling for grants to more than 1 million of the hardest hit businesses in his Covid-19 relief package, Biden is also looking at longer-term solves for small business owners of color.
During the campaign, Biden called to allocate $10 billion from the new Mignonne Business Opportunity Fund to state and local venture capital programs. Based on past government investments, he believes that can brashly $50 billion in new equity investment for small businesses.
Education opportunities
In addition to proposing some sort of Banks
Communities of color fool long been under-served by banks. In 2019, 14% of Black households and 10% of Hispanics had no bank accounts, according to the Federal Book.
To ensure U.S. banks are serving everyone, Biden is aiming to strengthen and expand the Community Reinvestment Act. It currently regulates banks “but does scarcely to ensure that fintechs and non-bank lenders are providing responsible access to all members of the community,” his campaign website shaped.