Kamala’s New Proposals to Help Black Men

 Plus guns, crime, gang violence, incarceration, the death penalty 

It's Monday, October 21st. We're in the midst of our month-long series on the political campaign between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. In my desperate effort to move from undecided to decided, I think there's anywhere from 5% to 15% percent of US adults who are in the same camp as me, and the election is fast approaching.   

And in an effort to try to resolve my indecision, I've created a list of 34 topics.  If you've missed any of them, they're all on our website, the link is in the show notes, you can go back and check them all out. And the ones that have yet to be discussed, which we'll be doing through the end of this month, my goal is that by the end of October, I'll have figured all this out. 

On today's show, we're going to be talking about crime.  And relatedly, gang violence, violent crime, guns, incarceration, and the death penalty. But first, before we get to that topic, I have to go to a related but new subject because something has popped up. This wasn't anticipated by me as I created my list of 34 topics, but it has suddenly reared itself into the news. 

Kamala Harris has just recently released an 84-page, I think it is, proposal. I read the whole thing, 82 or 84 pages of a proposal to support Black men.  This was predicated by an October 10th speech that former president Barack Obama gave to a group of Black men.  And among the things that he said was the following. Listen to this.  

President Obama: “I'm speaking to men directly now, part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president.” 

I'm not a Black male. I'm not sure how Black men reacted to President Obama's comments, but as an observer, because he wasn't talking to me, I wasn't among the audience, I wasn't the target intended recipient of his message, but as an observer of his message, I am, I'm just beside myself. 

This is pure sexism, if not blatant racism, suggesting that Black men as a stereotype quote: “Aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president?”  Where on earth is he getting this?  What's the basis for that accusation? I'm finding it hard to believe that there are very many Black men in this country who are saying to themselves, “well, gee, Mr. President, now that you mentioned that, I guess you're absolutely right.” I find that hard to believe.   

If he had directed that kind of comment to me on any subject that I'm not supportive of a given topic because it's a woman that we're talking about, I can't think of anything that is more outdated, more of a throwback to 50 or a hundred or a thousand years ago than that kind of a comment. I think we know where the angst is coming from. All the polls are showing that while Barack Obama and Joe Biden enjoyed massive support of Black males, we're talking 80%-90% support.  Kamala Harris is polling down in the 40% range. And the Democrats are fearful because we're talking about a very large population, tens of millions of people. And if they don't throw their political support behind Kamala in the election, this could seriously hinder her ability to win the election, compelling President Obama to go give a speech chastising Black men over this, and accusing them of not supporting Kamala merely because she's a woman.   

I'm just beside myself that he had the audacity to say this. And I don't know that he’s been roundly criticized for it, as I believe he ought to be. Anyway, that was on October 10. Here we are 10 days later, and Kamala has now issued a new proposal specifically aimed at winning support of Black men. You ought to read it. It's on her campaign website. It's like 82 or 84 pages, and it's an astonishing document. Kamala says that she wants to give Black men the tools to build wealth, provide for their families, and lead their communities.  Among the proposals, and I went through the entire document, and I'm going to recite for you all of the proposals that are contained in this 80-some page policy paper. 

First, she said she wants to give one million forgivable loans of $20,000 each to Black men so they can start a business. This is on top of the $50,000 no interest loans that she's already promised to give to small business owners. Think about this. One million Black men are going to get $20,000. Technically a loan, but she calls it a forgivable loan, which means it's really a gift.  

They're not going to have give the money back or repay the money. They're not going to have to pay interest on it. She's just going to give $20,000 to a million Black men.  Look, I'm a pretty successful business owner. From scratch, my wife and I built one of the largest, most successful companies in America.  We currently own four other companies. I know what it takes to start a business, run a business, operate a business, grow a business.  

I want to ask you a simple question. How on earth is $20,000 going to enable you to start a business? I mean, she says in her paper that this money will help Black men rent office space, buy software to launch a cyber security company, purchase a van for a catering business, set up a studio and buy advertising for an architectural company, and that she'll sue banks that, in her words, slap Black men with fees. She also says she's going to legalize recreational marijuana in order to create opportunities for Black Americans to start businesses in the cannabis industry. 

She's going to create programs to get Black men to stay in school, provide education, training, and mentorship programs to get Black men good paying jobs, and she says she's going to eliminate the requirement for Black men to have a college degree so that they can apply for 500,000 federal jobs.   

Let me get this straight. She's going to give tens of billions of dollars specifically to Black men, and she's going to give them $20,000 in free money on top of $50,000 of no interest loans so they can rent office space. How much office space are you going to be able to rent? And what about all of the other expenses like furniture and fixtures and office equipment and hiring staff and building a product, selling a service, delivering on all that? 

So what if she gives them office space. Here's an idea. Work out of your house. I do. A third of the U. S. population is now working out of their homes. Why do we need to rent office space?  And buying software to buy a cyber security company? Seriously? What makes this group of Black men qualified to launch a cyber security company? And what makes you think that the first thing they need to be doing when they do launch a cyber security company that they need to be buying software? You're running a catering business. So the first thing you got to do is purchase a van. Seriously? Well, wait a minute. Let's even assume that you need a van for your catering business. Here's a question. What van can you buy for $20,000? Oh, and let me get this straight. If the business fails, you get to keep the van, right? In other words, Kamala, a lot of folks are just going to scam you. They're just going to take your money. They're going to go pretend to start a business. They're going to go buy a vehicle. 

The business will then astonishingly, surprisingly, unpredictably crash. And they're going to get to keep the car! You're, in other words, just creating a funny way of handing out millions of vehicles to people. 

If you're, if you're an architect, she's going to give you money so you can set up a studio and buy advertising. Wait a minute. If you're going to buy advertising, why do you need to set up the studio? The ad agency will provide that. This can only be the idea of someone who herself has never started a business, isn't an entrepreneur, has no idea what the realities of life are in building a small enterprise. 

She also wants to eliminate the need for Black men to get a college degree so they can apply for half a million federal jobs. And wait a minute, she says this is going to be specifically available for Black men. What if you're not a Black male? What if you're a woman? What if you're white or another race or gender? 

You are still going to have to go to college? This elimination of a college degree requirement will only be applicable to Black men? She doesn't say that. I'm assuming she's going to eliminate the requirement for a college degree for all job applicants. But she doesn't say that. I haven't heard her promote that elsewhere. 

She's targeting this specifically to Black men in a pandering, a desperate effort to win their vote. I'm sorry to buy their vote. That's nepotism. Isn't it?  

Let's move on. She wants to give free health insurance for Black men. She wants to cap the cost of prescription drugs at $2,000 a year for Black men and also all Americans. She wants to keep health insurance premiums down so Black men can see a doctor. She wants to wipe out the medical debt of Black men so they can quote, “build wealth and start businesses.” 

Wait, you mean to tell me that the medical debt you've incurred is preventing you from starting a business?   I hope you've already resolved getting a place to live and having a car. Because I'm really not so sure that the first thing you're going to do with the elimination of medical debt is suddenly start a business. She also wants to eliminate medical bills from the Black men's credit reports so they can more easily qualify for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and more. I've complained about this on a prior show. 

She says that her solution is going to give 22,000 Black men mortgages every year because they're going to qualify as a result of this. She also is going to go after corporate landlords who raise rents on Black men. Every year, she's going to give 250,000 Black men, $25,000 each toward the down payment of a house. 

And on top of all that, she's going to give 5,500,000 Black men $30 a month that they can use toward their Wi-Fi bill. 

But wait, there's more. She's also going to give all these Black men $100 so they can buy a laptop or a desktop or a tablet. All right. I have a question. Let's move beyond the policy debate of her proposal here. I've got a pragmatic question. Let's assume that we want to do this regarding wifi and buying laptops. How did she determine that the number of Black men who ought to be receiving this benefit is 5,500,000 people and how did she determine that $30 per month is the correct amount of money and that $100 toward the purchase of a laptop is the correct amount of money. 

Where did these numbers come from? Nowhere in her 80-plus page policy paper does she explain the demographics? Does she articulate how she arrived at these numbers? It's just like they just are totally made up. How many Black men's votes can we win? Oh, I think we can win five and a half million votes. Let's give five and a half million men free money. I think that's how they came up with these numbers. Because I see no evidence anywhere of rational thought, deliberative analysis, or established validity to support any of these data. 

She also wants to create federal price setting for groceries so Black men can afford to go to the supermarket. She's acknowledged that 20 percent of Black Americans own crypto. So she's going to encourage Black men to buy Bitcoin by protecting them against losses. Really? I own crypto. How about protecting me against losses? Why do they need protection against losses? Is she worried about scams and frauds and abuses? Here's an idea. All you got to do, not just Black men, but anybody, go buy a Bitcoin ETF. That's a security you open with a securities account at any brokerage firm where you have the protection of FINRA and the SEC against the very frauds and abuses and scams that you might otherwise be worried about. Your financial advisor, your brokerage firm will protect you.  

And why on earth should I get protection against losses in crypto? How about giving me protection against losses in the stock market, or the bond market, or the real estate market? This is really a hail Mary desperate effort for Kamala Harris to say to the crypto community, I support crypto. Look what I'm doing. I'm going to let Black men invest and I will guarantee they don't lose any money. This is insane.  

She also wants to reduce the cost of childcare for Black men by giving them $3,600 per child and $6,000 for each newborn. She also wants to help Black men care for aging parents by having Medicare provide for home care. 

She also wants to cut taxes for Black men by giving them a $1,500 tax credit. That's like giving them a check in cash of $1,500. Add all this up. A million forgivable loans at $20,000 apiece. That's $20 billion. Free health insurance for Black men. 20 million Black men in this country. The average cost of health insurance is $3,500 a year. That's $70 billion a year she wants to hand out. She wants to pay for prescription drugs above $2,000. I don't even know how many tens of billions that is. Every year, she wants to give 250,000 Black men $25,000 each toward their mortgage. That's 25 billion over four years.  

She wants to limit the rent that landlords can charge Black men. I don't even know how to calculate how much money that'll be because not only will the landlords not be earning the rent that they ought to be earning in the marketplace, it'll reduce the market value of the properties because the value of the property is based on the amount of income the property produces in rent. 

And Kamala is going to put a ceiling on it, artificially suppressing the commercial and residential real estate market, which is the exact opposite of what we need to be doing. And the problems we have in the real  estate market ever since we exited the pandemic. 

And then five and a half million Black men getting free wifi and a laptop. That's $10 billion. Federal price setting for groceries, so Black men can afford to go to the supermarket. No idea how much that's going to cost.  

And guaranteeing that Black Americans are going to avoid losses by investing in crypto. That means the government is going to be the insurer of those losses. Seriously?  

And giving every Black male $3,600 per child $6,000 for each newborn. Tens of billions more. That $1,500 tax credit. That's $30 billion per year that Kamala is going to be spending. We're talking about $30 billion, $20 billion, $70 billion, 25 billion, 10 billion, add it all up hundreds of billions of dollars. 

And almost all of it aimed exclusively at Black men. Sorry, Black women, you don't count. Can you imagine a white candidate offering similar proposals to white Americans? The accusations of racism would be overwhelming. It would be a tsunami of negative press. I am astonished by this set of recommendations in an 80 plus page policy proposal on Kamala Harris's website. Go read it. The link to it is in your show notes.  

So I have to say Kamala loses a whole bunch of points for me on this brand new issue. 

Okay, let's move on now to the topics of crime, gang violence, violent crime, guns, incarceration, and the death penalty. I'm going to begin with a conversation on guns. And here, we know, I'm not going to go into detail on the policy positions of the Democrats and Republicans, Harris and Trump on guns. 

Everybody knows how everybody has been positioning themselves on this. I'm just going to cut to the chase. I’ve got to give my vote to Kamala on the topic of guns and the Democrats. This is, the Republican's fault, quite frankly, the extremist viewpoint on the far right, and by extension, the mainstream Republican party on do nothing regarding guns. Do nothing to stem the tide of too much gun violence of too many massacres from people carrying automatic weapons. Of modifying handguns to be able to fire 17 rounds within seconds. This is abhorrent, it's obscene, it's intolerable. And yet the Republicans continue to tolerate it.  

I don't even believe that the NRA itself has a membership that supports these positions. I think it's the extremist leadership that is forcing that extreme policy position down the throats of NRA members. I think even most gun owners in America recognize that we've got a big problem and we need to reign it in. And, therefore clearly while I could argue that perhaps Kamala Harris and the Democrats are an extreme position on the other side, where they are too restrictive on gun ownership. And they are wanting to have too much in the banning category, quite frankly, given what's going on in the country today, that's where I sit.  

More importantly though. What is really fascinating to me is that of all the emails that I have received on all the varied topics, 34 of them, 35, if you count the policy proposal from Kamala and Black men that I talked about earlier today, that not a single email contained a single comment, from all the emails I got from everybody, nobody had anything to say about guns.  

And I think it's because everybody's set in their ways on guns and add to that Kamala hasn't said a huge amount. She has made statements very clearly on it, which is why I'm supporting her on this issue. Trump has not said much about guns other than the fact that he thinks he could fire a gun down the center of Fifth Avenue and not get arrested for it. And so, there it is. 

Now, let's move on therefore to the other topics, crime, gang violence, violent crime, incarceration, and death penalty. I'm going to put incarceration and death penalty together. Cause they kind of do go together. 

First talking about incarceration. I totally disagree with the Democrats on the elimination of cash bail. All that has done is result in getting people arrested and immediately released back onto the street where we have too much evidence that they're just committing more crimes. Clearly, we have a problem with the quality and quantity of our jails. Too many of them are being managed by private companies as opposed to government agencies. And private companies focus more on profit and not on services.  

We are not doing enough to rehabilitate criminals. We are certainly not doing enough for those who have mental health problems, which is what caused them to create their crime in the first place, including addictions. People who are desperate, will do whatever it takes to get enough money to be able to get their next drug fix. 

So, we've got a big issue with incarceration, rehabilitation, and mental health institution. We talked about Donald Trump's mental health institution goals. And I like that idea, with misgivings, as I talked about in that prior podcast, and what we need to recognize, I think we all do, is that our incarceration methodology is not ideal. 

The way we incarcerate is not ideal. We know that poor Black men are far more likely to be convicted and incarcerated than rich white men. We know there's a severe imbalance in our country and how we deal with this. So,we've got big problems.  

But having said that, have you heard Kamala Harris or Donald Trump have all that much to say? Me neither. And then there's the death penalty. My personal viewpoint is that I think Gandalf got it right when he was talking to Frodo about Gollum. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm not going to bother explaining it. I'm simply going to say that we humans are fallible. That my fear is that we, put to death somebody, who was innocent, or who had mitigating circumstances that should have not subjected them to the death penalty. 

We see the death penalty applied inconsistently. We see years later, prosecutors and judges admitting that the case was wrong and that the convicted should not have been convicted or certainly should not have been executed. And my concern is that we're just not doing it right.  

I add to that the fact that the death penalty does not prevent murders. I mean, people who commit murder are doing so out of emotion. They're doing so out of desperation. They're doing so out of circumstance in some cases. They are not doing it because they are methodically, intellectually, analytically making a conscious, slow decision that they're going to kill someone. 

In other words, I don't think we've got anybody who has ever said, I was going to kill that person, but because that would subject me to the death penalty, I decided not to kill them. I don't believe that's the case. In other words, I don't think the death penalty is reducing violent crime. And therefore it's failing as a public safety issue. Sentencing someone to life in prison or other, you know, hard labor or isolation or whatever you want to do or call it. 

I just don't think we should, as a society be killing people. And so, we could certainly argue I'm wrong. But we could also agree that my opinion really doesn't make any difference. Number one, because I'm not running for president. And number two, the two who are running for president haven't said anything about the death penalty. 

I haven't heard Kamala Harris say she wants to eliminate it. I haven't heard Donald Trump saying he wants to expand it. Maybe the both of them have and I've missed it, but it doesn't seem to be a campaign issue. And like I said, I haven't gotten a single email from anybody mentioning the death penalty. 

And that takes us to the final area of conversation, crime, gang violence, and violent crime. Here, the Democrats and Kamala Harris fail. They have been far too lenient. They have been far too submissive. They have eliminated, and decriminalized a great many laws. This is not just at the  White House and congressional level, but also at governors’ and state legislatures’. 

We've seen this around the country. We have seen the dramatic increase in criminal activity, in defunding of police, of decriminalization of crimes. We've seen the mob attacks at retail stores. We have seen major retailers close their stores as a result of this, creating problems for people who live in those communities because they can no longer access the goods and services that they need. 

This is a huge problem. The Democrats have it all wrong. Kamala Harris as prosecutor in California...I am unimpressed with her performance on this particular topic of crime, gang violence and violent crime, other than her support of women who were subjected to rape. And that is too narrow a sleeve on this broad conversation as horrific as that is and I applaud her for her work there, but I'm sorry on the broader, bigger issue of crime overall and gang violence overall, I got to give this one to Trump and the Republicans compared to Harris and the Democrats.  

Therefore. My conclusion is, on this big, broad topic, it's a draw. I like Harris on guns. I don't like her on the rest of it. And therefore, this is a draw. 

Ric Edelman: Tomorrow, judicial reform, presidential nominations, and regulation.  

Don't miss that. And this Wednesday, don't miss the webinar that I'm doing. This is an extremely important conversation that really transcends this entire political season. Longevity, you're going to live longer than you think. Will your money last as long as you do? That's what we're going to talk about. 

How do we make sure that you maintain financial security? Regardless of how long you may live, because you're likely to live, not just to your 80’s, but into your 90’s and 100’s. Joining me is Nate Conrad, the head of LifeX at Stone Ridge Asset Management.  

If you're a financial advisor, you get one CE credit.  This Wednesday at 2:00pm EDT...How to Factor Longevity into Your Financial Planning.  The event is free for everybody register right now. The link is in your show notes. Look forward to seeing you on Wednesday.     

If you like what you're hearing, be sure to follow and subscribe to the show, wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and remember leave a review on Apple podcasts. I read them all. Never miss an episode of The Truth About Your Future. Follow and subscribe on your favorite podcast app.   

I'll see you tomorrow. 

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Links from today’s show:  

Click here for Ric's worksheet to help you evaluate the candidates

The 34 Issues of Election 2024 – The Daily Podcasts https://uth959jfpszs9vqn-59513929894.shopifypreview.com/blogs/this-weeks-stories/tagged/election-2024

Kamala Harris Official Campaign Website Policy Page: https://www.kamalaharris.com/issues/

“Kamala Harris Will Deliver for Black Men” Policy Pages: https://kamalaharris.com/agenda/

Donald Trump Official Campaign Website Policy Page: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/platform

10/23 Webinar - How to Factor Longevity into Your Financial Planning: https://www.thetayf.com/pages/october-2024-webinar-how-to-factor-longevity-into-your-financial-planning

11/13 Webinar - An Innovative Way to Generate Income in a World of Declining Rates: https://www.thetayf.com/pages/november-13-2024-an-innovative-way-to-generate-income

10/9 Webinar Replay- Crypto for RIAs: Yield, Staking, Lending and Custody. What’s beyond the ETFs? https://dacfp.com/events/crypto-for-rias-yield-staking-lending-and-custody-whats-beyond-the-etfs/

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