It may be news to you that at least 17 million U.S. adults have no bank account, and 43 million adults are considered "underbanked." Taken together, that's about 26 percent of all U.S. households! These are disproportionately located in the South, of course.
(Similarly, it is probably news to most people that at 25 percent of all blacks and 18 percent of all senior citizens have no picture ID -- because they have never needed one. And to get an ID, you need an ID, a nice Catch-22. But since 2008, 15 Republican states have started requiring photo ID to vote, thereby creating a need; meanwhile, there has not been any corresponding government outreach to help poor folks get state photo IDs. It's all about suppressing Democratic votes. But I digress.)
As for the un- and under-banked, financial institutions -- including banks bailed out by U.S. taxpayers -- are more than happy to smack them with usurious interest rates, outrageous fees and hidden penalties. If it were up to me -- and up to them, if Congress would let them do it -- the U.S. Postal Service would be the low-cost bank for all comers. Japan Post bank, for example, holds 25 percent of that country's household assets!
So by all means, let me join in piling on Magic Johnson (figuratively, definitely not literally) for his apparent blacksploitation. Indeed, according to the FDIC, 54 percent of black households are either unbanked or underbanked. But to be fair, Magic isn't alone: recently U.S. banks "have turned to an array of celebrities, including reality TV star family the Kardashians, rap mogul Russell Simmons and personal finance guru Suze Orman" to hawk these awful financial products, which are disproportionately purchased by minority groups.
So Magic, my man, please have more integrity than the Kardashians (who evidently enjoy screwing black people) and stick to more wholesome products for the black community... like Coors beer. And tell your people to open a damn checking account and stay away from the payday lenders, rent-to-own stores, and money order windows! Knowledge is power; ignorance is slavery.
By Dion Rabouin
July 11, 2012 | Huffington Post
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