Okay, I get that some of you may believe that, just because I included this post as an example of vile behavior, I’m a quintessential bleeding heart, but that’s not necessarily accurate.

            True, I love and care deeply about people in general, but my social justice views and recommendations are not merely a sympathetic call for charity or even compassion. My overriding argument to Americans is not that we address income imbalance, for example, simply to be nice to our fellow man (although that would, in and of itself, be an awesome thing to do!). Rather, rising inequality is increasingly strangling our economy and impeding our economic growth – big time!

            We have arrived at a point where empathy and fairness must be applied as an intellectual exercise. If I can’t appeal to your heart, let me appeal to your wallet. In 2019, pre-pandemic, analysis by McKinsey & Co. found that the racial wealth gap has a “dampening effect on consumption and investment” and will “cost the U.S. economy between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion between 2019 and 2028 – 4 to 6 percent of the projected GDP in 2028.”  That’s A LOT!

In 2021, post-pandemic, they estimated that “the median annual wage for black workers was approximately 30 percent, or $10,000, lower than that of white workers – a figure with enormous implications for household economic security, consumption, and the ability to build wealth. Black workers make up 12.9 percent of the U.S. labor force today but earn only 9.6 percent of total U.S. wages.”

They also estimated that “a $220 billion annual disparity between black wages today and what they would be in a scenario of full parity, with black representation matching the black share of the population across occupations and the elimination of racial pay gaps within occupational categories. Achieving this scenario would boost total black wages by 30 percent and draw approximately one million additional black workers into employment.”

Tackling this issue is more important than ever because in December 2023, they warned that, “if we don’t correct long-standing patterns,” generative AI < a type of AI that can create new content, like text, images, music, and videos > “has the potential to widen the racial economic gap in the United States by $43 billion each year.”

“Annual global wealth creation from gen AI is projected to be about $7 trillion, with almost $2 trillion of it expected to go to the United States, given its share of global GDP. U.S. household wealth captures about 30 percent of U.S. GDP, suggesting the United States could gain nearly $500 billion in household wealth from gen AI value creation.”

“This increase would translate to an average of $3,400 in new wealth for each of the projected 143.4 million U.S. households in 2045.

Black Americans capture only about 38 cents of every dollar of new household wealth despite representing 13 percent of the U.S. population. If this trend continues and projections of the growth of black households are accurate, by 2045, racially disparate distribution of new wealth created by gen AI could increase the wealth gap between black and white households by $43 billion annually.”

These issues are fundamental to our position on the world stage. In this relatively new era of globalization, for example, an uneducated, unskilled and unprepared workforce equals an unparalleled disaster for this country. To survive in this still rapidly emerging environment, we must do whatever it takes to ensure a flexible, dynamic labor market and a well-educated, adaptable workforce. This means we must fully invest in our people… all our people.

            I have a great idea! To operate at our very best, let’s start thinking of America as a team instead of factions divided by race, money or social class. Think of the entire world as the Global Nation League, which, in my imagination, is kind of like the NFL. Every country in the world is its own team, and every team in the league competes against all the other teams.

To win this global game, it’s going to take every single one of us playing at our very best. All successful teams understand that every player on the team needs the very best resources available to play at the highest level, and successful teams make sure every single player has those resources – which ultimately makes the entire team stronger.

 

< cue: the song We are the Champions by Queen >

 

Therefore, to be successful, every player on Team America needs to make sure every other player has access to the very best education, health care, and job opportunities, and that other things – like housing and wages, for example – are fair and equitable.

 

If we begin to operate like this, America will be unstoppable.

 

(We are the champions, my friends…And we’ll keep on fighting
till the end.  We are the champions, We are the champions,
No time for losers, 'Cause we are the champions of the woooorld!)