Each year the National Urban League releases a report called “The State of Black America.” Inside this report is something called the “Equality Index,” which is designed to measure the gap between blacks and whites in a variety of areas, such as education, civic engagement, and, of course, economics.
The 2007 edition of the report was released on April 17, with the media immediately seizing on the conclusion that “gaps continue to exist between black and white Americans.” What the media did not note, however, is that the current rate of black unemployment is lower than the average rate achieved during President Bill Clinton’s second term, and that black unemployment has dropped precipitously since the full implementation of President George W. Bush’s tax cuts in late May 2003.
Since those tax cuts went into effect, the rate of black unemployment has dropped 2.7 percent to just 8.3 percent. Comparatively, this statistic averaged 8.6 percent during Clinton’s second term.
Hmm. BuzzCharts can’t help but wonder why the Clinton number was applauded by the media while the better Bush number has drawn sneers.