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Reparations: Calculating The Costs vs The Choices
Flopping Aces ^ | 08-18-23 | Brother Bob

Posted on 08/20/2023 2:41:54 PM PDT by Starman417

This is actually a guest post by former FA author, Scott. I'm still on my news blackout, and will join the conversation in the comments once I promote this on my social media feeds when I return after labor Day. Enjoy! - BB

San Francisco, the State of California, and perhaps a dozen other cities and states want to pay reparations to descendants of American slaves.  Multiple commissions and committees around the country have been formed.  At these hearings, the amount of money that each descendant of a slave will get varies wildly.  I’ve seen people demand-with great fervor and conviction-that each descendant gets a million dollars, $5million dollars, $200 million dollars, even $1 billion dollars.  Others have said that reparations should be paid through enhanced programs aimed at helping the African American community, increased school funding, housing assistance, small business loans, and more.

NONE of these Reparations commissions have anyone who doesn’t want reparations.  None of them have a member who will say, “Gosh, that $15 trillion might be a bit too much.”  None of them have an advocate for the 87% of the population that will be forced to pay the reparations.  Finally, no commission has a member who will explain where or how to get the money for reparations-usually estimated by these same commissions to be in the trillions of dollars.  They literally do not care about the cost, only the get.

I would bet good money that less than half the people on any reparations commission knew the name and history of the slave who is their ancestor.  They don’t care about the actual life and suffering and triumph of their ancestors-only the wealth they can claim as theirs.

Determining the cost comes with a great number of questions that simply cannot be answered.  As such, there is no way to determine the correct amount.  For example, we know from census data how many slaves there were in each state every ten years, but to determine how many slaves there were in the interim years would be a guess; an estimate or wild ass guess.  How can we determine the annual amount of wages that slaves should have gotten in a year if we don’t know how many slaves there were?  We don’t know how many working hours there were, for every slave, in every job, in every state, in every year.   How do we determine what wages slaves should have had in a year if slaves did innumerable different jobs w different values?  How do we determine the value of slave labor in the South (where four crops a year or more could be planted, maintained, and harvested) vs Maine?

Here’s what we know:  We can extrapolate the number of slaves in the US by looking at the number of slaves every ten years, calculating the growth in number, and filling in the blanks.  It’s not accurate, but it’s close.  When it comes to wages, we can say that slaves likely worked twice as hard and are paid twice the daily wage.  We can’t determine the due wages for all the different slave working all the different jobs in all the different states, so the best option is to take what the average farm worker’s wage was and apply that to slaves as most were laborers of one sort or another.

There are a few constants and known variables.  Many advocates of reparations have come up with different values and ways of applying reparations to the descendants of slaves in America.  They all vary wildly because of the lack of accurate information previously described, and because they want to assume a constant annual rate of inflation from 6-15% for every year from 1791-present.  They ignore every single economic crisis that the American people faced over the years, and the wildly varying rate of inflation.

Then there are the unanswerable, very awkward questions for the descendants of slaves to answer.  They want reparations for slavery, Jim Crow laws, and red lining-not just slavery.  They want reparations because there is a wealth gap between African Americans and other races, and they believe that is due to racism; they believe they should be paid for that.   Descendants also see an education gap and want more money to pay for African American education.  There is also a housing gap, a jobs gap, and an incarceration gap-all, we’re told, because of racism. 

Each gap presents questions, however, and the answers determine the amount that should be paid to it.  They are uncomfortable questions, and because they are about African Americans, the questions are race ist/about race.  More specifically, each “gap” to be repaired by reparations is a balance between how much of that gap comes from racism, and how much comes from the culture, behavior, and choice of the people who have that gap?  Most reparations advocates freely and comfortably declare that (for example the wealth gap) is due entirely to racism and has nothing to do with the choices people make.

How much a particular gap is due to racism determines how much reparations money should be spent to repair that damage.  If descendants of slaves have a trillion dollars less in savings than the average person of other races, then should a trillion dollars of reparations be paid, OR does some of that wealth gap come from the choices people made:

(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...


TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: racism; reparations

1 posted on 08/20/2023 2:41:54 PM PDT by Starman417
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To: Starman417

There’s only one choice. No!


2 posted on 08/20/2023 2:44:20 PM PDT by VTenigma (Conspiracy theory is the new "spoiler alert")
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To: Starman417

3 posted on 08/20/2023 3:10:55 PM PDT by Dalberg-Acton
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To: Starman417

I demand reparations from all black people for all the murdered white people by black people since 1789.


4 posted on 08/20/2023 3:28:01 PM PDT by joma89 (Buy weapons and ammo, folks, and have the will to use them.)
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To: Starman417

Pay 10 million for every African slave brought to this country. 340k slaves times 10 million is 340 Billion.

Now let black Americans decide who gets how much from that pool of money.


5 posted on 08/20/2023 3:38:17 PM PDT by MattMusson (Sometimes the wind bweek.lows too much)
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To: Starman417

I think every flunkie who applies for reparations should be required to submit the names of every family member back to the days when their ancestors were slaves. Also to be submitted is all mortgages of all homes owned by their ancestor slaves to present. All vehicle registrations for all family members. All school and college education information including diplomas for all family members. All police and prison records for any criminal family members. All child support and alimony paid to or to you by other family members. Information on all political positions ever held by any family members and a 1500 word paper on how you think you were discriminated against while growing up and why you stayed in America and did not leave and go someplace nice. I know it sounds like a lot but you’re gonna be a millionaire. You’ve got to work for something in your life.


6 posted on 08/20/2023 3:45:07 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Welcome to Amerika! Have you filed a lawsuit today?)
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To: Starman417

Supposing reparations did happen, that money would disappear like water into the sand, and those people would end up right back where they are.


7 posted on 08/20/2023 3:46:53 PM PDT by lurk (u)
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To: Starman417

California is roughly 45% Hispanic and 15% Asian.

Blacks are 5%.

How many Mexican-Americans and Asian-Americans struggle with “white guilt”. And of course, most whites don’t struggle with white guilt either. Believe me - I don’t struggle with it in the least!

So, just how do you buy votes by making 80-90% hate you forever while buying the votes of 5% for a year or two?


8 posted on 08/20/2023 3:54:47 PM PDT by Mr Rogers (We're a nation of feelings, not thoughts.)
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To: Starman417

Biden is sending it all to Ukraine.


9 posted on 08/20/2023 4:15:12 PM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: Starman417

How about no


10 posted on 08/20/2023 5:24:43 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
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To: Starman417

As long as the KKK Party pays I have no gripe.


11 posted on 08/20/2023 5:35:48 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (Biden not only suffers fools and criminals, he appoints them to positions of responsibility. )
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To: Starman417

One of my husband’s ancestors owned a plantation in Cherokee County, Alabama and had 200 slaves in 1860. By 1865 he was broke and owned nothing. He went to Texas where he died in 1883 after amassing another fortune. Some ppl just have the knack. Unfortunately, nobody in his family inherited it. 😖


12 posted on 08/20/2023 5:36:38 PM PDT by Prince of Space (Trump 2024!)
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To: Starman417

One of my husband’s ancestors owned a plantation in Cherokee County, Alabama and had 200 slaves in 1860. By 1865 he was broke and owned nothing. He went to Texas where he died in 1883 after amassing another fortune. Some ppl just have the knack. Unfortunately, nobody in his family inherited it. 😖


13 posted on 08/20/2023 5:38:26 PM PDT by Prince of Space (Trump 2024!)
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To: Dalberg-Acton

Bkmk


14 posted on 08/20/2023 6:06:46 PM PDT by sauropod (I will stand for truth even if I stand alone.)
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