Astonishing Household Wealth Gap Between Whites and Blacks, Hispanics Increases

Wall Street Journal: White Minority Wealth Gulf Widens

Washington Post: Wealth gap widens between whites, minorities, report says

This was an eye-opener.  The story was that while the recession destroyed household wealth across the board, it had a worse effect on Blacks and Hispanics than on Whites.

Courtesy of Wall Street Journal

But what strikes me is the following: while the median White household has some modestly significant wealth, the median Black and Hispanic household has virtually nothing.  Yes, the gap widened, but qualitatively it was the same story after the recession as before.

Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans fight tooth and nail so that the marginal tax rates on those making over $250K per year cannot possible go up-- rates which Warren Buffet pointed out are often close to 15%, much lower than the rate on middle-income earners.

I am all in favor of fair, simple taxes, and of the U.S. being a meritocracy.  Naive redistribution of wealth is not the answer.  But it is in everyone's best interest for us to have a level playing field.  It must start with education.  You should not have to be from a rich family to get a good public education.  If we could effectively address the educational slide in our country relative to the rest of the world, I think it would mark the beginning of the reversal of such disheartening statistics.