I have this vague impression that Saturday is the day when the New York Times dumps its discrimination stories -- you know, the kind of clueless stuff that I love pointing out the logical holes in. For example, this Saturday, the NYT headlines:
Blacks Face Bias in Bankruptcy, Study Suggests
Maybe my cynicism has got the best of me, but I wouldn't be hugely surprised to learn that the New York Times has some kind of formal or informal quota about the number of stories it feels it must run weekly about the scourge of racism, but that its editors also feel that NYT readers are increasingly cynical and bored about scandals involving purported discrimination (unless you are some weirdo like me who finds that discrimination stories offer insights into how the world actually works). So, perhaps the editors tend to dump their Sailer-bait stories on Saturday, which is by far the least important day of the week in the newspaper business.
What about this new study that shows that, all across the country, relative to everybody else who goes bankrupt, blacks who go bankrupt are more likely to file for the more onerous Chapter 13 bankruptcy than the Chapter 7 bankruptcy? Why this disparate impact discrimination?
Eventually, the article gets around to reporting -- but, of course, not explaining -- a few informative facts:
Even though the attorneys’ fees for the more labor-intensive Chapter 13 are more than double the charge for a Chapter 7, some truly distressed debtors will pursue a Chapter 13 anyway, several bankruptcy experts said. That is because they can pay the fee over time, unlike in a Chapter 7, which typically requires a payment before the case is filed. If blacks are perceived as less likely to have the resources — or a family with resources — to come up with a lump sum, some lawyers may be inclined to suggest a Chapter 13, these experts suggested.
The mention that attorneys' fees are more than double for Chapter 13 raises the awkward question that never comes up in the article: Are blacks' attorneys more likely to be black? It's like that awkward question about the high rates of defaults by minorities on mortgages: How did the racial makeup of the mortgage brokers who sold mortgages that went belly up to Hispanics differ from the norm?
So, why would lawyers tend to perceive blacks "as less likely to have the resources -- of a family with resources -- to come up with a lump sum"? How in the world did this stereotype of blacks tending to be poorer than whites get started, anyway?
In general, A) the people who wind up in bankruptcy are poorer decisionmakers. B) Blacks wind up in bankruptcy at a higher rate. Therefore, it's hardly surprising that black bankruptees tend to be worse decisionmakers in bankruptcy than other bankruptees.
The most interesting thing about this data is actually that bankrupt Hispanics have the lowest rate of filing Chapter 13. Perhaps Hispanics have more extended family support in coming up with the lump sum, or perhaps the ones who would be likely to file Chapter 13 just take off for South of the Border.
Bankruptcy attorney here (yes, one of the conservative ones). I've heard anecdotal evidence about minorities filing Chapter 13 when they should not be. For your readers, Chapter 13 bankruptcies are meant for high income individuals who have assets to protect. Another chief reason to file Chapter 13 is that you can "strip" a second residential mortgage if it is wholly unsecured, as many second mortgages are these days.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I have to ask.
ReplyDeleteDo the people whining about disparate impact and institutional racism really believe it, or is it a way to increase govt power?
After all, there has to be *some* reason for The Gap, right?
So if they get Daddy Gub'mint to step in, and regulate coloured peoples' diets, childcare arrangements, interaction with their families, sex lives...
If they get more Gub'mint control of schools, banks, employers...
Well, that gives Daddy Gub'mint a great deal of power. And it also gives a great deal of power to self styled community leaders, social workers and govt officials.
After all, someone has to administer the govt's power, and someone has to tell the govt where to send the money and resources.
If nothing else, it artificially boosts the employment rate, and makes people more dependent on the govt and the "community leaders" and "community workers".
The teachers I know are on the frontlines and therefore acutely aware of the inherent differences in ability. I find it difficult to imagine that those most involved in Closing Teh Gap would not figure it out eventually.
And they would be, at least by the standards of blacks, fairly bright.
So are they working in good faith or are they being cynical? Is it a mixture of both? Is it possible to be that stupid? Or that calculating?
Someone should graph the number of discrimination stories in the NYT, 1860-2010.
ReplyDeleteWhen, exactly, did the NYT start sliding towards white-guilt hand-wringing, to which it is now addicted?
Tom Wolfe implied, in essays and books written decades ago, that the rise of members of a certain religion had to do with the change. I will say no more, for fear that this comment will not go through.
http://www.city-journal.org/html/10_1_the_trillion_dollar.html
ReplyDeleteNiall Ferguson in an otherwise excellent book on money put the higher rate charged to black people down to racism™.
You would not find a Yalie being so silly.
Wow, it's like the Iranian revolution all over again. US-backed tyrant falls, and Muslims take over. But both sides seemed to have learned a lesson. US will not stand by Mubarack and the Islamists will not arrest US embassy people.
ReplyDeleteWhen Obama became president he and his wife were pulling in some pretty good household income up to that point. Yet their savings were paltry. They found ways of blowing most of it. So if that's true for them, the cream of that crop, then things must get progressively worse as you step down that ladder. Victimology is really a very big industry. I wonder how many people are making a living by being in that line of work.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of diversity...
ReplyDeleteLawrence Auster brings some numbers to bear about the Costa Concordia disaster. It's rock solid:
http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/021483.html
"So yes, again, there has been a decline of chivalry in the West, due to feminism and radical individualism. But that is not the explanation for the crew's unchivalrous behavior, because the crew came overwhelmingly from cultures that are not known for having a tradition of chivalry. An additional factor is diversity. Men who may be willing to risk or even sacrifice their lives for women of their own culture and race, will be much less willing to do so for women of a different culture and race.
Blaming the Costa Concordia disaster on the West's loss of chivalry is like announcing, "Inequality in America is on the increase," without mentioning that inequality is increasing because of the influx of poor Third-World immigrants. It's like saying, "Anti-Semitic violence is on the rise in Europe," without adding the clarification that the anti-Semitic attacks are all being carried out by Muslims."
the New York Times has some kind of formal or informal quota about the number of stories it feels it must run weekly about the scourge of racism
ReplyDeletearound Christmas and Easter, there is no formal memo, but the staff is made aware its the time to step up the anti-Christian messages, search tooth and nail for priest scandals, etc.
Curiously absent from the article is the general per capita rate of bankruptcy filing by race.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that (1) blacks file Chapter 7 at a higher rate than whites; and (2) blacks file Chapter 13 at a far higher rate than whites.
Note that under the new bankruptcy law, not everyone can file Chapter 7. Probably a lot of those blacks who filed Chapter 13 would file Chapter 7 if they could.
Why do I believe this? I have observed over the years that blacks have a strong tendency to default in their obligations. If a black person owes you money, your chances of getting paid voluntarily are far lower than if a white person owes you money. This disparity seems to be even stronger than the difference in intelligence between blacks and whites.
Josh
"... or perhaps the ones who would be likely to file Chapter 13 just take off for South of the Border."
ReplyDeleteSteve, you are a funny guy! I didn't see that coming.
However, I don't believe South of the Border is what it used to be.
The billboards along I-95 and even 100 miles away along US-301 in S. Carolina have gotten politically incorrect in their old age, since they were erected in the 1970's, you can get a burrito in any Circle-K now, and people can drive the NYC-to-Miami route straight through now due to speed* and Red Bull. (They mostly don't even stop for bottle rockets, anymore - cheap Yankee bastards).
Original billboards like: "Pedro says 'Ay Carumba. Only 135 miles TaGo!' " (get it, Taco ?) will need to be replaced with "Pedro says 'EBT accepted willingly, senors and senoritas. Come for tomato season, stay for 12 years of free government skool. ' "
BTW, if you have never driven the east coast route, I wouldn't expect you to have any idea of what I wrote about - disregard.
* I mean both the 80 mph and the drug. It takes both.
Speaking of Sailer-bait (is this the first time you've used this? because it's hilarious), how about this:
ReplyDeletehttp://img.ibtimes.com/www/articles/20120119/284470_apple-kills-textbook-ibooks-2-author.htm
At the start of Thursday's presentation, Apple's senior VP of marketing Phil Schiller told the audience several pitiful statistics about U.S. education. For one, 70 percent of freshmen graduate in four years, but the country is ranked 17th in reading, 23rd in science and 31st in math. Assuming the human race isn't getting stupider, the statistics show that there is clearly a disconnect between students and their education.
I know your analysis of the PISA scores helps explain much of this, but also I know that your message could never be published widely beyond a Pat Buchanan article. Instead it's iPads for all!!
Politics aside, I don't understand how an iPad can last longer than the quoted 5-6 year requirement for textbooks. I remember hardcover books in school that had seen quite a few years of use, but I don't see too many people having a cell phone last more than a 2 year contract. But iPads will last double that or more in the hands of kids? I can't blame Apple for trying since it could be very lucrative to dupe educators (again).
Scapegoating white gentile America for all the evils in the world is the new ritual of secular Jews. So yes, NY Times has to go through again and again. It's less about truth than a form of religious ceremony.
ReplyDeleteThe blacks filing 13 must really be bad off. In my short practice, my chap 7 clients would just do one more cash advance on a card to get my fee.
ReplyDeleteIn general, A) the people who wind up in bankruptcy are poorer decisionmakers.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I agree with that, other than in the tautological sense that by definition the people who wind up in bankruptcy are poorer decision makers. But if that's what you mean, why the "in general"?
It_just_never_stops?
ReplyDeleteWhat will cause it to stop? Any ideas?
Steve, since the 1998 amendments, it's harder to get a chapter 7 discharge if you have regular monthly income with which to make future payments. So many debtors are effectively forced into chapter 13 simply by virtue of being employed. Now, what kind of profligate credit card debtor is more likely to have a non-layoffable public sector job? See it now?
ReplyDeleteI have observed over the years that blacks have a strong tendency to default in their obligations.
ReplyDeleteA Jewish guy in grad school once told me he thought I was a "racist." A few months later he loaned $700 to a Nigerian in our class. He never got it back.
Tom Wolfe implied, in essays and books written decades ago, that the rise of members of a certain religion had to do with the change. I will say no more, for fear that this comment will not go through.
ReplyDeleteMy experience is that Komment Kontrol will often allow the initial post, but then when a swarm of Scots-Irishmen come out of the woodwork to accuse you of being a virulent anti-Presbyterian & the second coming of Adolphus Hanover - that's when you're strictly forbidden to defend yourself.
"A Jewish guy in grad school once told me he thought I was a 'racist.' A few months later he loaned $700 to a Nigerian in our class. He never got it back."
ReplyDeleteDid he make you pay him $700.
During the 2008s, the big banks gave all those loans to blacks and Hispanics, but when the latter couldn't pay them back, Wall Street made us 'pay back' the banks--via 'bailouts'.
"Steve, since the 1998 amendments, it's harder to get a chapter 7 discharge if you have regular monthly income with which to make future payments. So many debtors are effectively forced into chapter 13 simply by virtue of being employed. Now, what kind of profligate credit card debtor is more likely to have a non-layoffable public sector job? See it now?"
ReplyDeleteThat makes perfect sense. It also explains the low rate of Chapter 13 among Hispanics. So many have jobs that don't exist on paper, or a sympathetic employer can officially lay them off and start paying them in cash.
How far does the NYT presume the length of our sympathies can extend? I feel so sorry for the guy who has to pay more to dodge his debts.
"A Jewish guy in grad school once told me he thought I was a "racist." A few months later he loaned $700 to a Nigerian in our class. He never got it back."
ReplyDeleteObviously, you are to blame, you bigot.
Apparently there's infinitely many variations to the 'World Ends, Women and Minorities Hardest Hit' theme. And the NYT intends to discover and write about all of them. Which could take a long time. Good thing Jeff Bezos is building a 10,000 year clock.
ReplyDelete"Do the people whining about disparate impact and institutional racism really believe it, or is it a way to increase govt power?"
ReplyDeleteI was a bleeding heart liberal in my teens and early twenties, so I'll try to answer what motivated me and my friends. Basically, holding onto these beliefs allows one to build an image of a good person who is still, somewhat, rebellious. You know, standing up for those in need against the "status quo" put in place by the greedy, immoral people. Plus, for a lot of us, it did make perfect sense. If you grow up in a, more or less, functional environment, go to a good school and then go to a good college, all the minorities that you meet along the way tend to be good, high performing people. Even if, on average, they perform worse than their peers, they still tend to be very functional and many are respectable and likable. It makes sense that the gap you might notice between, say, your black friends, and your friends from the richest, whitest suburbs is nothing but a result of the unfortunate circumstances. Minor gaps aren't noticeable at all, in daily friendly interactions. It's just an accent. it's just the way his family talks. It's just a difference in interests. Besides, who wouldn't want a better life, if the opportunities were available? Clearly, if a group of people is wallowing in their own filth, in housing that looks destroyed and chooses the life of poorly paid crime over a better compensated and a much safer life of a paraprofessional, at least, someone is keeping that group down by force. It's impossible to imagine that people would rather live like that rather than take advantage of numerous opportunities extended to them. A logical conclusion that a nice, middle class kid would reach would be that those people have no opportunities. And the black people you go on to work with are mostly very nice. If some of them seem to be a bit less able, it's because they had to overcome so much to get there. As a nice middle class kid, you feel respect and compassion.
As far as the teachers... Those who start out and stay in nice areas, continue with the mindset described above. Those who get thrown into the ghetto, head first, are a different story. There is a small minority of those who can't let go of their ideals without having a mental break down, so they get out as soon as possible (for "other personal reasons") and continue as they were. Teach for America's administration is staffed with these people. They miss the kids terribly, but they feel that they can do so much more from a quiet office with double pay, then they could in a classroom. It's a tragic sacrifice. However, the majority knows the score. They either leave (the turn over rates in the poorly performing districts are unreal: check out DC public schools for those statistics, as an example) or they keep their mouths shut, if they love the kids, want to keep their jobs or hope to be able to teach somewhere else someday. Teachers aren't allowed to have opinions other than the ones that they are ordered to have.
"I can't blame Apple for trying since it could be very lucrative to dupe educators (again)."
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean by "dupe"? You think that the admin who signs multimillion contracts with corporations doesn't get some major kickbacks in the process? How do you think the teachers end up with new, expensive, useless, mandatory "educational systems' in their classrooms every year?
And I lent 500$ to a Nigerian and was repaid two weeks later.
ReplyDeleteOT (but it concerns bankruptcy)
ReplyDeleteLehman Pays Over $500 Million to Marsal Firm
The firm, whose co-founder Bryan Marsal runs the defunct investment bank, charged $504.2 million through December for “interim management,”...
Marsal, who bills Lehman hourly,...
Using 30 days/month for 39.5 months, and a 24 hour day (we all know how hard-working lawyers are), that's approx $17,730 per hour. But perhaps they aren't so hard-working after all; at 22 days per month, and 10 hours per day, that's approx $58,020 per hour. No info on how many people are (ahem) working.
"When, exactly, did the NYT start sliding towards white-guilt hand-wringing, to which it is now addicted?"
ReplyDeleteHeather MacDonald covers that to a certain degree in "The Burden of Bad ideas", and I think it started in the 20's but really ramped up the following two decades.
Chicago said...When Obama became president he and his wife were pulling in some pretty good household income up to that point. Yet their savings were paltry. They found ways of blowing most of it.
ReplyDeleteObama knew any savings he bothered to put away would be irrelevant once his total awesomeness was recognized and rewarded.
Using 30 days/month for 39.5 months, and a 24 hour day (we all know how hard-working lawyers are), that's approx $17,730 per hour. But perhaps they aren't so hard-working after all; at 22 days per month, and 10 hours per day, that's approx $58,020 per hour. No info on how many people are (ahem) working.
ReplyDeleteThat's not a law firm. It's a management firm that provides executives for financially distressed companies.
I gave $700 to a Nigerian and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.
ReplyDeleteOT, but here's the spin the LA Times puts on Rick Perry's return to Texas after his failed presidential campaign: "The governor's missteps on the presidential campaign trail and the hard-right immigration positions he espoused are likely to make him politically vulnerable in Texas for the first time."
ReplyDeleteGot that? Rick Pery faces political troubles in Texas, not because he made a fool of himself, but because of the alleged "hard-right immigration stance" he took on the presidential campaign trail, nevermind that probably the only thing Perry said regarding illegal immigration that anyone remembers is that if you don't support in-state tuition for illegals then you 'don't have a heart.' Nevermind that Perry has essentially opposed all forms of meaningful immigration enforcement - local level enforcement, E-Verify,
Nevermind all that. Perry shamed himself and Texas on his presidential run and, after a decade, Texans probably have Perry fatigue. But the MSM is already trying to lay the blame on his possible demise on his "hard-right immigration stance."
"The mention that attorneys' fees are more than double for Chapter 13 raises the awkward question that never comes up in the article: Are blacks' attorneys more likely to be black?"
ReplyDeleteIf you believe The Wire the attorneys are more likely to be Jewish. In real life?
If there's any credit going for coining "sailer bait", I'm claiming it.
ReplyDelete"A Jewish guy in grad school once told me he thought I was a 'racist.'"
ReplyDeleteProbably that Jewish guy was part of the Jewish Conspiracy to Take Over The World and Rule with an Iron Hand.
Josh
" ... by definition the people who wind up in bankruptcy are poorer decision makers."
ReplyDeleteNot necessarily so. They got lots of money from lots of people and don't have to pay it back. For most low end people over borrowing to spend on a nicer lifestyle than they could otherwise afford, followed by bankruptcy, is an entirely rational decision.
Perverse incentives have perverse consequences.
You are right Steve, every time I see one these "racial bias" headlines in the NYT, I just start laughing because I know it will be pure sophistry and you will point it out within about 48 hours. The NYT is almost becoming a parody of itself with these pro-AA stories, and I agree, I think they must have a quota on quota demanding stories, there is no other explanation, their Ivy League educated leadership simply isn't that concerned about race, except when their demonstrating their moral superiority. The number of stories they run on the subject far exceeds what their readership no doubt demands.
ReplyDelete"I'm not sure I agree with that, other than in the tautological sense that by definition the people who wind up in bankruptcy are poorer decision makers. But if that's what you mean, why the "in general"?'
ReplyDeleteI'm not Steve but I would offer that - in general - people who end up with spouses determined to destroy them in a divorce, get a terrible disease or have a horrible accident are not necessarily deficient in judgment.
Maya, good point. I'm sure someone at the school will have some financial benefit to this. Probably similar to the once popular trend of signing exclusive Coke or Pepsi vending machines in schools. I don't doubt that the majority won't see any money from it but will pin their educational hopes on the iPad magic bullet.
ReplyDeleteChicago a black family with an income of $75 000 has the same credit score as a white family with an income of $25 000.
ReplyDeleteProbably that Jewish guy was part of the Jewish Conspiracy to Take Over The World and Rule with an Iron Hand.
ReplyDeleteNah, he just wanted to make a lot money. But you might get a kick out of what a second Jewish guy, a UChi MBA student, said about him: "he'll do very well in life -he's pushy, obnoxious" This second guy went on to be convicted in one of the 1986 Wall Street insider trading cases.
"Nah, he just wanted to make a lot money."
ReplyDeleteProbably that was just a cover story.
"This second guy went on to be convicted in one of the 1986 Wall Street insider trading cases."
What was his name?