[shrinkermd]

I note the only explanation discussed is race; however, perhaps the downdrift in income and social class might be explained by employment history and substance abuse history for both Whites and Blacks. Alternatively, there may be other factors that correlate with downdrift.

[steel_resolve]

three reports being released today by the Pew Charitable Trusts that test the vitality of the American dream.

So, if they downdrift, it ias the American Dream that is broken?....Right...

[1rudeboy]

Actually, this article is a pre-emptive campaign strike on this:

Movin' On Up - (A Treasury study refutes populist hokum about "income inequality.").

[boomop1]

You can thank the snake Johnson and his Great Society give away, why work?

[UglyinLA]

More entitlements I sense.

[Trueblackman]

It is Bush’s Fault, Hurricane Katrina, the 2000 selection, not election, Republicans and Reagan, I think I covered it all.

[Wage Slave]

Adding to your list: divorce...sexual promiscuity and resulting pregnancies...expansion of welfare programs...encouragement of the victim mentality...generalized decay of the culture

[Puppage]

Nearly half of African Americans born to middle-income parents in the late 1960s plunged into poverty or near-poverty as adults

And, how many tried to better themselves by working hard, studying, going to school, joining the military & gaining an education THAT way, like me?

How many just sat back & waited for the gov't to help them?

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Frankly, since white folks are not permitted to discuss such issues without being labeled a racist or bigot, I have ceased to be concerned why it is that the dream is not being realized.

[Redleg Duke]

Have you ever heard of "The Great Society"? This is the cause and the fact that the "experts are perplexed" points out how they are hopelessly tied to a bogus frame of reference!

The Great Society, a creation of Lyndon Baines Johnson, was an attempt to eliminate poverty, but in reality, provided African Americans with an easy, fast-track to a place where they became wards of the state and had their, until that time, strong nuclear family ethic destroyed by government money that encouraged out-of-wedlock births. Unemployment was encouraged by relatively high welfare payments and African-American men started to provide "stud service" to African-American women who were interested in the welfare checks awarded for each child in poverty. A certain percentage of the check was to be forwarded to the man. This resulted in large numbers of African-American families without strong, male role models and self-perpetuating "underclass".

I consider it an act of genocide inflicted on the African-American society by the Democrat Party.

[FairWitness]

Forty-five percent of black children whose parents were solidly middle class in 1968

The parents who were middle class in 1968 would presumably have had their formative years in the 40's and 50's, pre-civil rights era. The children, on the other hand, would have grown up in the 60's and 70's. A working hypothesis would be that the civil rights agenda has not been kind to black children.

[RockinRight]

I call BS.

About 55% of my clients are Black. Many of them are “ordinary” people that have a higher net worth than I do and certainly higher than their parents do.

Do some fall to poverty? Sure. I think just as many move UP from it.

[Dr. Sivana]

however, perhaps the downdrift in income and social class might be explained by employment history and substance abuse history for both Whites and Blacks.

Don't forget single-motherhood, which went way up in this time period, and skyrocket among African-Americans..

[Earthdweller]

Cosby talks about the culture of fatherless families. Bet your bottom dollar the majority of the ones that went into poverty, regardless of race, had no father living in the home.

[Balding_Eagle]

70% born out of wedlock.

[kabar]

It’s election time. The MSM and liberal think tanks must create some more black and minority victimhood.

[wideawake]

How many of those African-American children in 1968 lived in a household with an employed father on the premises?

How many now?

That's the answer.

Most white families have two bread-earners in the household much of the time, while most African-American households have one.

[WesternPacific]

a perplexing finding that analysts say highlights the fragile nature of middle-class life for many African Americans.

It is really not that perplexing. The downward trend coincides with the rise in popularity of the civil rights movement in which blacks were convinced they were a victim of the white man's society, coupled with the ever popular welfare system and affirmative action plans.

[mtbopfuyn]

They haven’t been watching “My Sweet 16” show. At least half the snotty little rich kids on there are black.

BTW, I don’t watch it but when channel surfing it’s pause for a snort of disgust.

[kittymyrib]

Could it be that there has been a decrease in two-parent families since LBJ’s “War on Poverty” replaced Black fathers with the welfare check? The surest predictor of poverty, school dropouts, and juvenile crime is the lack of a father in the home.

[Wonder Warthog]

"I note the only explanation discussed is race; however, perhaps the downdrift in income and social class might be explained by employment history and substance abuse history for both Whites and Blacks."

Well, in the segment you posted, no "explanation" was offered, it just discussed the problem (and no, I'm not about to visit the WP website to find out).

But the obvious cause is the "new black cultchah" that "avoids acting white" by not doing things like learning to read and speak well, studying and making decent grades in school, "getting knocked up" for the females (and "knocking up" for the males), getting married and staying married. Simple things like that.