Wealth gaps rise to record highs between whites, blacks and Hispanics – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs

In the midst of the debt limit debate last week, a report appeared from the Pew Research Center detailing the impact of the Great Recession on American households by race.  Although we would probably not be surprised to learn that the impact on household wealth was greater on Hispanic and black households, we might be surprised at the scale of the difference.

The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.  These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.

This further disturbing confirmation of the direction our country is heading.  While those who have more than enough continue to desire and acquire more as they pursue their own narrow economic self interest, we are becoming a nation of extremes economically.  When this is combined with an overlay of race, it presents an ugly and unsettling picture.  We seem incapable of accepting the demonstrated fact that when income and wealth are more evenly distributed, life is better, safer, healthier and more fulfilling for all of us.

Wealth gaps rise to record highs between whites, blacks and Hispanics – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs