Kamala Harris has announced a $100 billion program to boost black home ownership in the United States. It's been covered by several of the news agencies.
- Fox News - Kamala Harris announces $100B plan for black homeownership, tackling racial wealth gap
- CNN - Kamala Harris unveils $100 billion black homeownership plan
- MSNBC - How to increase minority home ownership in the U.S.
- ABC - Sen. Kamala Harris announces plan to invest in black homeownership
When I first saw these stories it struck me as being racist that money would be provided to poor black families but not poor white families. I took the time to read the description of the program on Senator Harris's website and realized it isn't racist since being black isn't a criteria of the program. It's certainly being pitched as something just for black's but that isn't the case, just another example of politicians misleading voters.
My primary objection to this type of program comes from the wisdom of Thomas Payne:
That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.
Beyond this wisdom, this program will not help people out of poverty but simply move them to a higher level of poverty. It will however keep those in poverty dependent on the government, which in my opinion is the overlying theme of the Democratic Party.
There's another way. We currently have something in the neighborhood of 7.4 million jobs that need to be filled. Obviously, to fill these jobs the new employee needs to have the right skill sets and be in the location of the job. Why not use this $100 billion in a joint small business/government program to training and relocation of people to fill these open positions? New skills and a job using them opens these new employees a path to get out of poverty.
The program could be set up in such a way as to have the small businesses pay a portion of the costs of relocation and training. This would amplify the $100 billion funded by taxpayers to have an even greater impact and being able to reach more people. At the same time, the effort by the new employee helps my concern with the Thomas Payne wisdom.
Another aspect of Senator Harris's program is financial education. Our country is in dire need of education in personal finance. Just take a few minutes to think about the number of professional athletes or lottery winners that have millions of dollars thrown at them only to be bankrupt after a few years. Our education system needs to be revamped to incorporate small aspects of financial responsibility as early as possible and as often as possible. For those out of the education system, Senator Harris is proposing to increase funding to the Housing Education and Counseling (HEC) program. This program targets financial education for low and middle income first time home buyers seeking this knowledge. Expanding this program beyond first time home buyers is a great place to start.
Kamala Harris is simply trying to buy votes by proposing to give money away. She's not offering enough to pull a family out of poverty, just enough to hopefully get their votes. After all, she doesn't really want people out of poverty. If she did become president she would have another election coming four years later. In her second election for president, Kamala Harris would need to go back to the "poverty plantation" to pick more votes.