Paying the Social Debt: What White America Owes Black America

by Richard F. America

Overview

Richard America here redefines the complex problems of racial economic injustice, poverty, inequality, and lagging competitiveness and productivity in the United States. In a sure-to-be-controversial analysis, the author argues that there is a true debt owed by White America to Black America, that this debt is significant, and that it has now come due. He estimates the size of Whites' debt to Blacks, shows how that debt came to be, and suggests creative ways of paying it back. This book argues persuasively that the social and racial problems in the United States cannot be solved until we acknowledge that the haves truly and literally owe money to the have nots.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275944506
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/18/1993
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1240L (what's this?)

About the Author

Richard F. America works in Washington, D.C., and is a Senior Program Manager in the federal government. He is the author of Developing the Afro-American Economy (1977), co-author (with Bernard E. Anderson) of Moving Ahead: Black Managers in American Business (1978), and editor of The Wealth of Races (Greenwood Press, 1990). He was a Lecturer at the Schools of Business, University of California, Berkeley, Visiting Lecturer, Stanford Business School and a Development Economist at Stanford Research Institute.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Measuring the Social Debt
Viewing Social Policy through the Restitution Lens
How to Pay the Debt
Creative Antitrust: Subsidized Social Divestiture
Narrow Inequalities in Income and Wealth
Affirmative Action, Competitiveness and Productivity
Invest in Reducing Crime
Discourage Immature Parenting and Welfare Dependency
Invest in Persuasive Communications
The Social Debt and Tax Reform
Security, Productivity, Competitiveness, Economic Strategy, and Restitution
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Argues that much of the present inequity in the US is traceable to economic injustices that the ancestors of the "haves" committed against the ancestors of the "have-nots," and though the living should not be held to account, they should use the benefits they are still enjoying to help eliminate the inequities others still suffer from. Suggests how to estimate the value of the diverted income and how to make restitution in ways that enhance overall economic performance by investing in education, health, housing, training, crime prevention, and business development. Also proposes a theory of social monopoly as an antitrust concept and looks at how the tax structure could be altered to contribute to restitution. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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