Thursday, November 10, 2011

Black folks spend over $1 Trillion a year, but have income of less than half that?

Some math whiz help me with my cyphering, please.
Nielson says:
$1,000,000,000,000 - Black spending/year
40,000,000 - Black people
$25,000 - avg. spent per person

Census says:
$33,000 - avg Black household income
3 - avg Black household size
$11,000 - avg income per Black person

Can both of these be true? if so how are we spending more than twice our income yearly?

http://www.theroot.com/buzz/african-american-buying-power-approaches-11-trillion

Individuals monthly expenses (adjusted pro-rata for 3-person household combining income)
$300 - Rent (1/3 of $900 = not living large at all)
$100 - Utilities (lights, gas, water, phone)
$300 - Food ($10/day)
$150 - Transportation
$100 - Clothing
$950 - Monthly Total ($11,4000 Yearly Total)

The $11,000/year average income per person isn't enough to cover a year's basic expenses.

I think it's safe to believe that income data from the Census is accurate. But if we are actually spending $25,000 a year, then every Black man, woman, and child must be borrowing an extra $1,100+ a month, every month from somewhere (and not paying it back because we obviously don't have the income to repay it). That extra $1,100 a month is going toward extravagances like education, health care, and retirement costs, cable and internet and the equipment to use them, and yes, xboxes, hairdos, and rims.

Maybe it's just me, but doesn't seem like it's all that much extra when I crunch the numbers.