Reparations Will Pit Blacks Against Each Other

PEW Research recently reported that 1 in 5 black people in the United States are not born in America. It is saying that based on the proposed model of the California reparation program 20% of blacks living in America would not qualify at least based on skin color. I think this will create a significant divide in the black community. I don’t know if there will be reparations or not but the vast amount of money that could flow to the blacks that can qualify will put a great deal of pressure on the people who can’t.

I read recently that the reparations committee in San Francisco is talking about increasing the lump sum payment to $7.5 million dollars. This would increase the amount necessary to fund the program by at least $75 billion. 

It is possible that each political subdivision city, county, and state may have its own program. I have heard stories that some people are talking about shopping for the most lucrative programs. I fully expect that spreadsheets will be available on the web helping people find the best program for them, and then if they must they would then move to that state to reap the most money. 

I must point out that I published the first story on reparations on March 21 and as of mid-April I’m still getting responses. I fully expect the information in this commentary will stir the pot. Do any of you remember the story in The Atlantic by Elspeth Reeve? There was a video 10 years ago leading the Drudge Report of a poor black woman with messed-up teeth saying she's voting for President Obama because he would give her a free phone.

Getting back to the responses to the first article, many people are concerned that many black people think they will be getting $5 million and they will be very disappointed if they don’t get the money. At a recent public meeting of the reparations committee, a black man stood up and said, “I want my money.” I tried to point out in the last article just how much it would cost. Several comments were made about how it would be funded. Some people suggested a solution for funding would be issuing bonds. 

One challenge to this idea is this - what would be the collateral to back the bonds? If you build highways, bridges office buildings just to name a few you have tangible assets backing the bonds. In this case, the money from the bonds goes to the people and there are no sources of revenue to pay interest or to pay off the bonds at maturity. The city, county, or state would have to pay interest of over $15 billion per year just for the up-front cash payment. This is just the cost of the lump sum reparation, and the other provisions will cost billions more.

Here is the problem. The current operating budget for the city of San Francisco is just over $13  billion. With all the other payments of $97,000 per year income, a free house, and many more the city would go bankrupt and have no money to pay its bills or salaries and benefits.  

If you looked at the video of the joy of the woman getting the free phone just imagine the joy of getting $5 to $7.5 million and $97,000 per year, just to name a few things. I believe the Democrats are intentionally misleading black people about reparations to keep their votes. The 80 percent that could qualify for the money will fight hard to try and get their share. The Democrats have been selling the $5 million number for so long that something less $5 million may well cause new riots in the streets.  Remember the saying, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”  The dream to be rich will cause another significant division in our country and it starts when governments start setting the rules for who wins and who loses.