A Little Message From Rev. Park My Cadillac

It feels really, really good to be in the house this morning. How is every body doing in the House of Blog this morning? Amennnn, Amennnn... I was really moved by this article I read on Wednesday....So I decided to just scratch my entire sermon on people's infatuation with clubs...cause you know we be clubbin...The name of that powerful sermon was going to be "Move B!@$%....You F@&*ing Up My Shoes"...But I guess I will have to cover that at a later date because I really wanted ya'll to gravitate your ears to this word I have for you this morning....We are reading from the book of Yolanda Young ...So everybody get your USA Today out and follow me....When you get there please say Amen....

Tough Choices For Tough Times (USA Today)
By Yolanda Young

These are tough economic times, especially for African-Americans, for whom the unemployment rate is more than 10%. Alarmingly, rather than belt-tightening, the response has been to spend more. In many poor neighborhoods, one is likely to notice satellite dishes and expensive new cars.

According to Target Market, a company that tracks black consumer spending, blacks spend a significant amount of their income on depreciable products.

In 2002, the year the economy nose-dived; we spent $22.9 billion on clothes, $3.2 billion on electronics and $11.6 billion on furniture to put into homes that, in many cases, were rented.

Among our favorite purchases are cars and liquor. Blacks make up only 12% of the U.S. population, yet account for 30% of the country's Scotch consumption.

Detroit, which is 80% black, is the world's No. 1 market for Cognac.

So impressed was Lincoln with the $46.7 billion that blacks spent on cars, that the automaker commissioned Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, the entertainment and fashion mogul, to design a limited-edition Navigator replete with six plasma screens, three DVD players and a Sony PlayStation 2.

The only area where blacks seem to be cutting back on spending is books; total purchases have gone from a high of $356 million in 2000 to $303 million in 2002.

This shortsighted behavior, motivated by a desire for instant gratification and social acceptance, comes at the expense of our future. The National Urban League's "State of Black America 2004" report found that fewer than 50% of black families owned their homes compared with more than 70% of whites.

According to published reports, the Ariel Mutual Funds/Charles Schwab 2003 Black Investor Survey found that when comparing households where blacks and whites had roughly the same household incomes, whites saved nearly 20% more each month for retirement, and 30% of African-Americans earning $100,000 a year had less than $5,000 in retirement savings. While 79% of whites invest in the stock market, only 61% of African-Americans do. Certainly, higher rates of unemployment, income disparity and credit discrimination are financial impediments to the economic vitality of blacks, but so are our consumer tastes.

By finding the courage to change our spending habits, we might be surprised at how far the $631 billion we now earn might take us.

What the hell are we doing to ourselves? Is that skit on Chappelle's Show about reparation true? Detroit, the world's No. 1 market for Cognac...."That don't make no damn since" (words straight from the queen MOMMA HARRIS). We complain about our children not getting the education they need. Well if you get out of MACY*S long enough to go pick up a childrens' education book at Barnes & Nobles. That might help them out, just a little bit....Now the doors of the church are open....Don't forget your love offerings....There will be an usher to take all collections in the comments box....I'll keep you posted