In a recent interview on CNN’s “The Van Jones Show,” singer Jay-Z expressed some of his views on the current president. This included a response to Trump’s remarks that regarded certain African countries, in which Jay-Z called them “hurtful” and Trump “misinformed.” The day after, Trump took to twitter replying "Somebody please inform Jay-Z that because of my policies, Black Unemployment has just been reported to be at the LOWEST RATE EVER RECORDED!" However, in the interview with Van Jones, Jay-Z had already discussed how the decreased unemployment rates do not represent everything, saying, “It’s not about money at the end of the day. Money doesn’t equate to happiness. It doesn’t. That’s missing the whole point. You treat people like human beings. That’s the main point.”
While it is true that African American unemployment rates have reached a low — from 16.4 percent in 2011 to 6.8 percent past December — there are reports that the rate is the result of a cumulative downward trend over the past several years, which occurred under the Obama administration, and not just during Trump’s term in office or because of his policies. Additionally, compared to other racial groups, at 6.8 percent, the unemployment rate for African Americans is almost twice the unemployment rate for white people, which is at 3.7 percent. However, Trump can also be accredited for maintaining the downward black unemployment trend, not reversing it, and possibly accelerating it as well.
I see Trump’s ability to accelerate or at least maintain the downward trend of black unemployment rate trend as a positive aspect of his presidency. However, the several comments that he has made about other African countries and African Americans is unacceptable and can’t just be reconciled with his contribution to the decrease of black unemployment. I like and agree with what Jay-Z said about money and numbers being insignificant, especially if there’s a lack of respect present.
What do you think of Trump’s response to Jay-Z’s comments? Do you think Trump should be taking credit for the “lowest rate ever recorded?” Whose viewpoint do you agree with?
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9 comments:
Trump has been using many economic statistics to defend himself, especially the falling unemployment rates, although he can't really be credited with many of these statistics. Congress only passed the tax reform law last month, and many of the changes are downward trends we have seen slightly after Obama's elections: unemployment peaked in Oct 2009 and has been falling since then.
IN addition, I agree with what Jay-Z said about happiness being about people instead of just money, which can be seen in how race relations have become extremely polarized in the last few years. Trump has been reported saying things such as "all Haitians have AIDs" and other generalizations that dehumanize many people, especially people of color. Reducing people of color to a statistic could possibly be a slightly more "polite" way of dehumanizing them as well.
I think that Trump's comments about other countries are not necessarily an insult to a specific race but to the country themselves. I haven't seen anything that Trump has done to attack or hurt the african american community and I think that saying that the low african american unemployment rate does not equate to happiness is taking away from the good that comes from the lower unemployment rate. If money does not equal happiness then why do people complain about how blacks earn less money on average than other races. Money doesn't equate to happiness right? Its not about money, right? Then why is it a problem that african americans make less money. This logic does not make sense. To continue, you said that Trump is responsible for maintaining the trend that white unemployment is about half of the african american unemployment rate. You said that he is responsible for not reversing it. So are you saying that he should make the white unemployment rate go from 3% to 12% in order to "reverse" this statistic, so the white unemployment rate is twice the black unemployment rate. Or do you expect him to drop the unemployment rate from 6% to 1.5% to again "reverse" this statistic. This is completely unreasonable and almost impossible.
I like what Meiling said about Trump using many statistics to defend himself. I agree and have noticed that he often does that during speeches, like the State of the Union address! I mentioned this in a different post, but I believe that these economic statistics should be credited to Obama, not Trump. It takes awhile for economic policies to actually affect the economy, and I don't think Trump's policies have run their course yet. Since Trump is so concerned the numbers, I agree with Jay-Z that Trump doesn't exactly see better lives for people, but numbers to make him look better. Then again, there are over 320 million people in the U.S. so Trump cannot personally care about all of them. In conclusion, I do not find it worthwhile to attack Trump's character, so I stated why I don't like his use of statistics.
I think Trump can take credit for economic success. It doesn't make sense to still be crediting Obama a year into Trump's term, and the fact is that markets do adjust quickly - it doesn't take over a year to react to the entrance of a new president. Markets are based on trust and confidence, and that was seen immediately when Trump was elected. If businesses are more confident, gain value, and make money, they will employ more as well. That being said, however, I do not think Trump can use economic statistics as a way to claim affinity with African Americans. Trump is guilty of using statistics, true or false, to prove points that are unrelated to those statistics.
To respond to John, Jay-Z is not saying that it is a bad thing that more African Americans are being employed, and that there still is a rate disparity. It is certainly good that there are improvements, but the fact of the matter is that before, there were economic as well as social or cultural disparity, and making progress in one cannot allow the president to claim progress in the other two.
I disagree with Michael that Trump can take credit for economic success. The African-American unemployment rate has been steadily declining since the Great Recession in 2010. It hit a peak at 16.8% in 2010 and had already declined to 7.7% when Trump entered office. It's now at 6.8% and Trump is now claiming that it's because of him. It's true that the markets do adjust quickly, but the decline had already started in the Obama administration and is just carrying into the Trump administration. Furthermore, Trump hasn't really done anything to help the black community, so crediting the decline in unemployment is simply illogical.
To respond to John, when Ashley says that Trump is not "reversing it" I believe what she refers to is the decline in black unemployment. She is saying that Trump is not reversing the decline but actually accelerating the decline in unemployment. However, I disagree with this crediting regardless.
I also don't think that Jay-Z was wrong in his comment, but I don't think he is correct either. The quality of life is influenced by many factors, and I don't think you can discount financial security as one of them. Saying that the none of it is "about money" is something only a financially secure person would say. However, Trump is wrong when he thinks that the decline in unemployment means that he's done anything for the black community. Quality of life involves safety and culture as well, and Trump has failed to address those aspects of the black community time and time again. He didn't condemn the white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, he has done nothing about police brutality, and made rude comments about other countries.
I do not think Trump can take the praise for reducing black unemployment. These are likely to be as you said, trends from the Obama presidency. At the very least however, he hasn't done anything bad to hinder that process, but on that same idea, he hasn't done anything to improve it either. However, Trump claiming the decreased unemployment as his achievement, he is greatly mistaken.
I do think that Jay-Z's response has meaning. He is right in saying that money does not equate to happiness. But a lower unemployment rate is still something that is important in seeing a certain groups well being. In terms of Trump's true effect on the decreased unemployment, I believe that Trump is taking unjust credit for the current unemployment rate. I believe this for many of the reasons stated above. This decline in unemployment has been in a relatively steady decline since 2009, when Obama was in office. It is still good that progress is being made with Donald Trump as president, but is seems as if he is just trying to take all the credit for something that has been going on since 2009.
Like other comments have said, I don´t think trump can take full credit for reducing the black unemployment rate. And I can see what Jay-Z means, that money does not equate to happiness but let´ś not forget that money does have to do with survival. I think Jay-Z means that having higher wages for African Americans does not fix all the problems. There is still lots of injustice going on for African Americans and Trump is not really making it 100% better because he still speaks badly upon them which obviously, makes them still feel inferior.
It is far to early for Trump to claim economic success. One year of a new president does not have significant impacts on the economy, and most of the changes are from Obama’s policies that are still positively affecting the economy. African Americans still have worse unemployment rates than other ethnic groups, so there is still a long way to go. If unemployment continues decreasing towards the end of Trump’s term we will be able to applaud his economic choices.
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