Buy Black Movement Going Nationwide

Maggie and John Anderson of Chicago vowed four months ago that for one year, they would try to patronize only black-owned businesses. The "Empowerment Experiment" is the reason John had to suffer for hours with a stomach ache and Maggie no longer gets that brand-name lather when she washes her hair. A grocery trip is a 14-mile odyssey.

"We kind of enjoy the sacrifice because we get to make the point ... but I am going without stuff and I am frustrated on a daily basis," Maggie Anderson said. "It's like, my people have been here 400 years and we don't even have a Walgreens to show for it."

So far, the Andersons have spent hundreds of dollars with black businesses from grocery stores to dry cleaners. But the couple still hasn't found a mortgage lender, home security system vendor or toy store. Nonetheless, they're hoping to expand the endeavor beyond their Chicago home.

Plans are under way to track spending among supporters nationwide and build a national database of quality black businesses. The first affiliate chapter has been launched in Atlanta, and the couple has established a foundation to raise funds for black businesses and an annual convention.

"We have the real power to do something, to use the money we spend every day to solve our problems," Maggie Anderson said recently at a meet-and-greet in Atlanta. "We have to believe that black businesses are just as good as everybody else's."

Now, the Andersons are following up with 4,000 people who signed up for the experiment on their Web site to gauge their commitment and set up online accounts to track their spending. Hundreds have also joined the experiment's Facebook page, Maggie Anderson said.

Gregory Price, chairman of the economics department at Morehouse College, said black visionaries like Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey made similar calls to action.

"The idea is a sound one, given that black Americans are still underrepresented in the ranks of the self-employed and that entrepreneurship is a key component to wealth," Price said.

There are one million black businesses in the United States accounting for more than $100 billion in annual sales, according to the National Black Chamber of Commerce. The latest U.S. Census numbers report that blacks have more than $800 billion in expendable income each year.

While I have no problem with how these people spend their money, and what businesses they chose to patronize (that should be a freedom that all Americans have), I do question how this might have played in the MainStreamMedia, if the word "white" were substituted for the word "black" in the story. My guess is that their web site would be shut down and they would be castigated as racists and supremacists.

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The Cost of Corruption in Illinois

The corruption in Illinois is so excessive, the state has become a national punchline. Blagojevich's national humiliation tour was the most recent event, but Illinois and Chicago have a long history of tolerating corruption.

In Chicago the phrase "vote early, vote often" is usually said with a laugh. It is also widely accepted the dead in Chicago rise every two or four years to vote.

With the conviction of patronage chiefs Robert Sorich and the HDO's Al Sanchez, does any reasonable person think Mayor Daley is not complicit? These convictions occurred after the Shakman decree was signed stating the city would not partake in hiring based on political clout.

Even employees at the Board of Review which evaluates property tax assessments state it is a cesspool of corruption.

It is stunning how this level of corruption is tolerated. Republicans are even culpable because they are terrified Jesse Jackson Jr. will become Mayor and immediately devolve into a race-baiting poverty pimp like his father.

Some think the corruption is tolerated because it has slowly built up over time like a frog in a pot of water on a stove. Does this excuse the apathy?

At political events it is painful to hear the aphorism "people get the government they deserve." There is truth in this saying.

There are always two ways at looking at voter disinterest. Either people are very happy with their lives or they are too self-absorbed to care about voting. Half of the people eligible to register to vote are registered. And half of the registered voters vote. Therefore, our elected officials win with 12.5% of the population supporting them.

One of the barriers to voting is people do not understand the true cost of corruption. Most Chicago residents think corruption is awarding snow removal contracts to the Mayor's friends.

The awarding of clout contracts and no bid contracts is the 300% to 1000% increase in contract value to fair market. $300,000 value contracts are charged well in excess of $1million. Repeat this process thousands of times and you will start to see a massive budget gap developing.

It is less of a concern that a politically connected person gets a city job (assuming they do it adequately) than the long-term impact of corrupt no bid contracts and their corresponding debt.

Governments operate at significantly less efficient levels than the free markets, but Chicago and Illinois governance essentially does not work. The state of Illinois is a year behind in paying their bills. Many Illinois businesses, espesically pharmacies, will not take a check from the state of Illinois.

When patronage and no bid contracts go to a small circle of corrupt power hungry cronies, the needs of the people are not met. There would be revenue to renegotiate the police contracts if but for the corruption tax.

Public safety, mass transit infrastucture, education, and healthcare have all degraded to unacceptable levels because of the cost of corruption. Blagojevich is not the problem, merely a symptom. If voters do not hold elected officials to higher standards, expect more of the same.

Chicago is more dangerous than Baghdad. How many lives are lost every year as a cost of corruption? Less than 50% of Chicago Public School high school students graduate and less than 6% graduate from college. Patients go to Stroger hospital with bags of food because they know they will be there 2-3 meals before seeing a doctor. The jails are overflowing. Public transit is falling apart. And they cannot afford police services.

This is the cost of corruption.

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