1/26/2015
By Charles Payne, CEO & Principal Analyst

I don’t hear people talking about it much these days, but when Bush was president, many of my black and some of my liberal friends would complain that we were still due our “40 acres and a mule” or the cash equivalent. Many pointed to Bush’s dislike of blacks as the reason this economic injustice was being upheld.

My reply: If the president really hated black people, he or she would pass out those checks.

If the amount was $50,000 one year later, more people would be in debt, broke, and families would be ripped apart. This has nothing to do with race and everything to do with humans. Without the right kind of training and preparation, giant windfalls are, more often than not, squandered. This is why more than half of all professional athletes in history have ended up financially bankrupt. Yet, what if the cash came in nice and slow... like a steady stream?

If people don't have to work for it, don't save up for it, and don't think it will ever end, that kind of windfall is eventually squandered.

Case in point: when the Supreme Court of the United States gave the green light to casinos on Indian reservations, it was hailed as an economic godsend. It’s been anything but, as poverty has risen twice as fast at reservations that give out cash from casinos directly to members than reservations that don’t.

The problem is obvious, but it sounds better coming from a Native American like Ron Whitener, law professor, tribal judge, and a member of the Squaxin Island Tribe: “These payments can be destructive because the more generous they become, the more people fall into the trap of not working.”

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Charles Payne
Wall Street Strategies

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