Cost Of Racism: U.S. Economy Lost $16 Trillion Because Of Discrimination, Bank Says

[The axe murderer]

Racism has cost the U.S. $16 trillion, Citigroup finds

Citigroup estimates the U.S. economy lost $16 trillion over the past 20 years as a result of discrimination against African Americans. Above, the American flag hangs in front of the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 21.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Nationwide protests have cast a spotlight on racism and inequality in the United States. Now a major bank has put a price tag on how much the economy has lost as a result of discrimination against African Americans: $16 trillion.

Since 2000, U.S. gross domestic product lost that much as a result of discriminatory practices in a range of areas, including in education and access to business loans, according to a new study by Citigroup. It's not an insignificant number: By comparison, U.S. GDP totaled $19.5 trillion last year.

And not acting to reverse discriminatory practices will continue to exact a cost. Citigroup estimates the economy would see a $5 trillion boost over the next five years if the U.S. were to tackle key areas of discrimination against African Americans.


NATIONAL
'Mystery Shoppers' Help U.S. Regulators Fight Racial Discrimination At Banks
"We believe we have a responsibility to address current events and to frame them with an economic lens in order to highlight the real costs of longstanding discrimination against minority groups, especially against Black people and particularly in the U.S.," wrote Raymond J. McGuire, a vice chairman at the bank and the chairman of its banking, capital markets and advisory team.

Wall Street itself has also faced accusations for years of discriminatory practices against African Americans, such as limiting approval for mortgages or not providing enough banking options in minority neighborhoods, which are among the damaging actions identified by Citigroup researchers.

Article continues after sponsor message

BUSINESS
Racism Has An Economic Cost, Atlanta Fed President Warns
Specifically, the study came up with $16 trillion in lost GDP by noting four key racial gaps between African Americans and whites:

• $13 trillion lost in potential business revenue because of discriminatory lending to African American entrepreneurs, with an estimated 6.1 million jobs not generated as a result
• $2.7 trillion in income lost because of disparities in wages suffered by African Americans
• $218 billion lost over the past two decades because of discrimination in providing housing credit
• And $90 billion to $113 billion in lifetime income lost from discrimination in accessing higher education

THE NEW MIDDLE
For The Black Middle Class, Housing Crisis And History Collude To Dash Dreams
As a result, Citigroup urges a slew of actions to reverse discriminatory practices and boost GDP over the next five years, including addressing the wage gap suffered by African Americans and promoting diversity at the top within banks and companies.

Citigroup's recommendations aren't new: Various studies have shown similar findings, and experts have called for similar action for years, though so far progress has been slow.

 

[ORDER_66]

cacs in positions of power dont care they make money off our misery, death and throwing us in prison off of bullshyt charges then they would ever receive by being nice to us and treating us like humans... its the system they created to keep us virtually a permanent underclass... their racism is more important than trillions and breathing to them...

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

racism build the country and made even more though...IDK what this is meant to prove.

 

[Secure Da Bag]

racism build the country and made even more though...IDK what this is meant to prove.

• You can double GDP by simply stopping being racist.
  
• Racism isn't cheap.
  
• Quality of life for America as a whole is lessened by racism.
  
• You could employ 1/7 more of the black population if racism stopped.

 

[Serious]

Crazy

 

[mbewane]

Of course. Just from a selfish business standpoint you're cutting off a whole section of people who might be more productive than your current employees, only based on colour. Multiply that over a whole country. And the people who don't have access to more cash logically consume less, which is less money to be made by business overall. House values going down because of spatial discrimination. Add to that that a racist state is always a police state, which eats up billions just to exist.

 

[ill]

• You can double GDP by simply stopping being racist.
  
• Racism isn't cheap.
  
• Quality of life for America as a whole is lessened by racism.
  
• You could employ 1/7 more of the black population if racism stopped.

Good points. Correct me If I'm wrong but the first point you made might be wrong. They said $16T over 20 years so its $800 billion annually. US GDP is $20 trillion annually which would be $400T over 20 years. $800 billion is still a staggering amount to be missing out on annually.

 

[88m3]

it has to change

 

[Kingcobrakai]

it has to change

It’s not going to happen until white people in the frontline positions give up white supremacy. I’m talking about people who’s lives and standard of living rely on sales, production or productivity. They would honestly rather make less money or look inept than to their superiors than admit that a Black person could help, enhance or EVEN be better at the job than a white person. How many times at your very own job have you seen us carry the weight of the company/business on our shoulders and watch as white people get promoted or walk right off the street without prerequisites to a better position?

How many times have not spent money somewhere or stopped be a customer because of how you or someone else was treated? How many times have you attempted to have it addressed only to be rebuffed?

I’ve been preaching for years that racism takes away economic opportunities from EVERYONE. But they don’t want to work for Black people. They don’t want to work with Black people. They don’t even want us to buy from them. It pains them to even sell something to Black business that may just help them without being able to exert control. It hurts the very fiber of their being to think that *gasp* a Black person would do better than themselves OR someone else they know.

And they don’t want to give up that drug. It’s really going to have to be a top down effort from the billionaires and shareholders to read these studies and say “Why are you fukking up the money?” because every attempt to create a sustainable economy within ourselves have been met with resistance.

 

[Serious]

It’s not going to happen until white people in the frontline positions give up white supremacy. I’m talking about people who’s lives and standard of living rely on sales, production or productivity. They would honestly rather make less money or look inept than to their superiors than admit that a Black person could help, enhance or EVEN be better at the job than a white person. How many times at your very own job have you seen us carry the weight of the company/business on our shoulders and watch as white people get promoted or walk right off the street without prerequisites to a better position?

How many times have not spent money somewhere or stopped be a customer because of how you or someone else was treated? How many times have you attempted to have it addressed only to be rebuffed?

I’ve been preaching for years that racism takes away economic opportunities from EVERYONE. But they don’t want to work for Black people. They don’t want to work with Black people. They don’t even want us to buy from them. It pains them to even sell something to Black business that may just help them without being able to exert control. It hurts the very fiber of their being to think that *gasp* a Black person would do better than themselves OR someone else they know.

And they don’t want to give up that drug. It’s really going to have to be a top down effort from the billionaires and shareholders to read these studies and say “Why are you fukking up the money?” because every attempt to create a sustainable economy within ourselves have been met with resistance.

@DEAD7

 

[rlg]

Cacs will do anything to uphold white supremacy

 

[NZA]

obviously, widespread quality of life is not the goal of capitalism. concentration of wealth at the top is. the rich will make less money when they dont have massive populations of desperate people to exploit for labor and consumption of substandard products and services.

 

[Unknown Poster]

Again, look at how destructive racism is. Look at all the money that is lost. Look at all the opportunities that are lost. Look at all the ideas we have lost. Look at all the advancements we have lost on.

So much progress that we could've achieved in our human lifetimes has been averted and upended because of racism. It's really sad when you think about it

 

[mykey]

Cacs will do anything to uphold white supremacy

Even if it means to fumble the bag. What a bunch of idiots.

 

[Unknown Poster]

it has to change

It really has to. Our survival as a species depends on it. We have to invest in each other if we're going to have a future on this planet. And I think this is the thing that many people do not realize or they don't want to. We coexist on this planet together. The fact that our country is going backwards to the 1950s and 1880s in 2020s it should not be possible given so many advancements in so many different fields. Our technology advances and we can do even more remarkable things the next year than in the last, but here we are still operating in the divisions of the past.

But I digress. Not to even be a dikk head like that, but the onus is really on white people to end racism or stifle it.

Lil B said it on "the age of information", we could be up in space on the moon im fancy space stations...but there will still be racism.

Like all black people do is deal with it like we're just traversing through this racist atmosphere. Trying to survive and live the best of Our Lives. White people enforce racism and make it a real thing. In law, in systemic situations, in government, and entertainment, in music, in Sports, in Science and medicine and Healthcare. There is literally not a segment of everyday life that white people have not put racism in.

Hell white people created these systems cuz they wanted to segregate themselves from everybody else they're the ones that need to join the human race or should I say rejoin it.

But just like climate change in other perils that affect this planet, people will not realize how bad or how destructive it is until it's too late. I mean as a black man myself and having felt the sting of racism on many occasions and dealing with it on a 24/7 basis white people won't understand what we talking about until it comes in extreme situations.

But yes, things got to change. I don't know if they will ever in my lifetime.