Nevertheless, many in the tech, media and retail and food industries are laying off thousands of workers, from Microsoft, to WAWA, Facebook, Twitter just to name a few. Income inequality is at its highest, more people are poor or falling into abject poverty, education outcomes are still low and falling, inflation has decreased, yet prices are high on many consumer goods.
The Neoliberal Journal Article Image: Rethinking Critical Economics 101: The Federal Reserve Is Raising Interest Rates, Again. www.theneoliberal.com
The Feds just raised the interest rates promising more to come. What positives are there in this news given the other social conditions and poor economic outlook?
Is it good news for some but bad news for the rest, since the national does not take into account the “devil in the details” or the situation in the locals. This report gets lost in the details of people’s life who are struggling to find well-paying jobs, and a December economy that usually attracts more employment in retail and other industries given the usual increases in consumer spending during the Christmas holidays. So, the employment was expected to rise. However, what will happen in February or March? Signs suggest that the economy is bracing for more blows given the interest rate hikes to come and the instability in inflation and rise in some consumer goods. Places with high poverty and unemployment rates such as Philadelphia has experienced increases in poverty, homelessness among the young and more people are receiving welfare, where they can. If not, the situation becomes an issue of rising crime and violence.
Unemployment disparities: The national rates versus Rates for Cities and Black and Brown Communities.
Further, a recent news article on St. Louis shows that even if unemployment rates are at one level in some areas of the US, those vulnerable peoples in some black and brown neighborhoods such as St. Louis, Philadelphia etc, experience higher rates of unemployment than the national averages which have corelated with high crime and violence.
Question: Does St. Louis and other major US Cities suffer from Relative Deprivation? Data suggests that St. Louis is among the cities with the highest murders and crime rates. The data also suggest that St. Louis is among the cities with the highest inequalities and disparities.
In the article I wrote: Today, US national data shows that crime has spiked and that much of it is occurs within certain cities and communities. The cities that have experienced rapid increases in violent crimes with a weapon and robberies are among the poorest with higher levels of people of color including St. Louis Missouri where CVPA is located. St. Louis overtook Detroit as the most violent cities in the US with the highest murder rates. While at the same time, St. Louis is among the cities with the highest inequality/disparities with a Gini coefficient of between 0.9 and 1.2 suggesting significant inequality between the richest and poorest household’s wealth/incomes.
In fact, the Federal Reserve Bank data reports that from 2014 to 2020, there’s been a steady gain in wealth among white Americans, but people of color have little to no change since the 1990’s. Further, between 2020 to 2022 not only has white Americans net worth increased but it has skyrocketed spiking upward drastically, which explains the almost vertical blue slope in the figure below. This spike occurred during COVID, yet median incomes are falling and poverty rising, and this seems to be correlating to the spike in violent crimes with a weapon. In addition, unemployment in St. Louis area and city are higher than the national average, (See, Does St. Louis/US Cities with High Crime/Murder Rates suffer from Relative Deprivation? Published in The Neoliberal Journals of The Neoliberal Corporation on October 27, 2022, www.theneoliberal.com.
About the Writer/Editor: Rev. Renaldo C. McKenzie, was born in Jamaica and graduated from Jamaica Theological Seminary, ordained to the Ministry of Sacrament and Word in the United Church, and after Studying Philosophy briefly at the University of the West Indies, went on to the University of Pennsylvania. where he graduated with a Master of Arts and a Master of Philosophy. Renaldo has been a student of economics since in grade 9 at The Bridgeport High School and went on to complete a diploma at Exced College with an interdisciplinary focus in Economics, Business, Sociology and Communication (Writing and Expression). He is currently a US Citizen, residing in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and is Author of Neoliberalism, Globalization, Income Inequality, Poverty and Resistance an academic text which was number one on Amazon in Deconstructivist History and Critical Philosophy. The book was reviewed as an erudite analysis of Jamaica’s economic history by Kirkus Reviews. Renaldo’s second academic book, Neoliberal Globalization will be released February 2023 which features contributions from Professor Emeritus, Martin Oppenheimer, Ph.D. of University of Penn and Rutgers University and author of several ground-breaking books. Renaldo is a Doctoral Candidate at Georgetown University and Creator/Host of The Neoliberal Round Podcast, a global podcast in News Commentary that is top five worldwide in News Commentary. Renaldo is also President of The Neoliberal Corporation, a think tank and Digital Media company that is aimed at serving the world today to solve tomorrow’s challenges through communication which is to make popular what was the monopoly, www.theneoliberal.com. You may follow Renaldo McKenzie on Twitter @RenaldoMcKenzie or on Facebook @Renaldo.McKenzie, LinkedIn @Rev.Renaldo.C.McKenzie and Instagram @RenaldoMckenzie.
