Aug. 9, 2007
COMMENTARY: Candidates Need to Recognize Latino Middle Class
By Jose de la Isla
Hispanic Link
Houston, TX (SHNS) -- It's too bad the current political climate distorts the U.S. population. It's as if we were standing in front of one of those full-length fun-house mirrors that make us look like a cartoon. That's how the current presidential aspirants distort the national portrait.
The candidates seem to know the issues. But do they know the public, especially when it comes to the changing demographics and Latinos?
Since the 1990s, a convincingly large portion of 44 million Latinos entered the middle-income ranks.
What happened is that economic change came when Bill Clinton, as president, led the fight to form earned-income tax credits. Low-income workers, with wages below the poverty line, were pushed up a notch. Fifteen million families earning less than $27,000 a year gained $21 billion in just five years.
That approach expanded the ranks of the middle-income and it shrank those at the low end.
The expanding economy made room for growth by those already in the middle-class and entrepreneurial ranks.
Between 1998 and 1999, the average Hispanic family income rose $1,779. Al Gore, in the presidential campaign, advocated expanding tax credits and George W. Bush called for lowering taxes in the upper brackets.
During the last seven years, declares Harry Pachon, president of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, "There is a growing Latino middle class and an increasing number of Latino families who are investors, professionals." He says they "represent a dynamic segment of the current and future economy."
Hispanic households earning more than $100,000 annually grew 126 percent from 1991 to 2000, while 77 percent of the general population did so. The number of Hispanics earning $100,000 and who have at least $500,000 in assets is growing eight times faster than the non-Latino market.
By no means are all Latinos getting all the breaks. But income growth for those who get it helps expand the consumer economy. Acquiring education capital by accumulating more years of schooling also helps with income security. Yet, the evening news and a lot of other reporting go for the easy story portraying victims and victimizers.
They aid the long-held notions by those who believe middle-class jobs fled the country when low-income people from Mexico or Central America arrived one day to take a sub-prime job. All this adds to a distorted imagery.
Less attention is given to the accounts about the 2 million Hispanic-owned businesses generating $350 billion annually. Not only that but Hispanic women-owned businesses grew dramatically between 1997 and 2006, by 121 percent.
According to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, 3.2 million Latino businesses will be generating $465 billion annually by 2010.
After a new president is elected in 2008, gets inaugurated in 2009 and the first mid-term election is held in 2010, the Latino consumer market will have reached $1 trillion, if not sooner.
All this gives plenty of room to reflect on how people and capital help expand the economy and job opportunities for others. More so, it is fair warning to politicians seeking the Latino vote that they should address this segment as it is, not as it is stereotyped by single issues.
The National Council of La Raza's recent poll of 1,000 Latino voters disclosed that 89 percent plan to vote in the 2008 presidential election for the candidate who best advocates public education.
That's why gone are the days when Latinos don't take offense that politicians define them as a single-interest group and condescendingly sputter a few mispronounced words in Spanish. Instead, economics, income, education and immigration are not problems to solve but opportunities to capture.
When the presidential candidates, in their many debates and forums, open their mouths and say "immigration" as the encapsulating "issue" to define all Latino concerns, shut them out in your mind. They don't know the country they purport to want to lead.
Jose de la Isla, author of "The Rise of Hispanic Political Power," writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. E-mail joseisla3@yahoo.com. For more stories, visit scrippsnews.com.
COMMENTARY: Candidates Need to Recognize Latino Middle Class
By Jose de la Isla
Hispanic Link
Houston, TX (SHNS) -- It's too bad the current political climate distorts the U.S. population. It's as if we were standing in front of one of those full-length fun-house mirrors that make us look like a cartoon. That's how the current presidential aspirants distort the national portrait.
The candidates seem to know the issues. But do they know the public, especially when it comes to the changing demographics and Latinos?
Since the 1990s, a convincingly large portion of 44 million Latinos entered the middle-income ranks.
What happened is that economic change came when Bill Clinton, as president, led the fight to form earned-income tax credits. Low-income workers, with wages below the poverty line, were pushed up a notch. Fifteen million families earning less than $27,000 a year gained $21 billion in just five years.
That approach expanded the ranks of the middle-income and it shrank those at the low end.
The expanding economy made room for growth by those already in the middle-class and entrepreneurial ranks.
Between 1998 and 1999, the average Hispanic family income rose $1,779. Al Gore, in the presidential campaign, advocated expanding tax credits and George W. Bush called for lowering taxes in the upper brackets.
During the last seven years, declares Harry Pachon, president of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, "There is a growing Latino middle class and an increasing number of Latino families who are investors, professionals." He says they "represent a dynamic segment of the current and future economy."
Hispanic households earning more than $100,000 annually grew 126 percent from 1991 to 2000, while 77 percent of the general population did so. The number of Hispanics earning $100,000 and who have at least $500,000 in assets is growing eight times faster than the non-Latino market.
By no means are all Latinos getting all the breaks. But income growth for those who get it helps expand the consumer economy. Acquiring education capital by accumulating more years of schooling also helps with income security. Yet, the evening news and a lot of other reporting go for the easy story portraying victims and victimizers.
They aid the long-held notions by those who believe middle-class jobs fled the country when low-income people from Mexico or Central America arrived one day to take a sub-prime job. All this adds to a distorted imagery.
Less attention is given to the accounts about the 2 million Hispanic-owned businesses generating $350 billion annually. Not only that but Hispanic women-owned businesses grew dramatically between 1997 and 2006, by 121 percent.
According to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, 3.2 million Latino businesses will be generating $465 billion annually by 2010.
After a new president is elected in 2008, gets inaugurated in 2009 and the first mid-term election is held in 2010, the Latino consumer market will have reached $1 trillion, if not sooner.
All this gives plenty of room to reflect on how people and capital help expand the economy and job opportunities for others. More so, it is fair warning to politicians seeking the Latino vote that they should address this segment as it is, not as it is stereotyped by single issues.
The National Council of La Raza's recent poll of 1,000 Latino voters disclosed that 89 percent plan to vote in the 2008 presidential election for the candidate who best advocates public education.
That's why gone are the days when Latinos don't take offense that politicians define them as a single-interest group and condescendingly sputter a few mispronounced words in Spanish. Instead, economics, income, education and immigration are not problems to solve but opportunities to capture.
When the presidential candidates, in their many debates and forums, open their mouths and say "immigration" as the encapsulating "issue" to define all Latino concerns, shut them out in your mind. They don't know the country they purport to want to lead.
Jose de la Isla, author of "The Rise of Hispanic Political Power," writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. E-mail joseisla3@yahoo.com. For more stories, visit scrippsnews.com.
