Hello again,
To follow our current prior two consecutive current events trend to a pause to look at the news as given by my fellow AfroNet SysOp Chris Lee. A person I have ment in person and who is doing an excellent job in not only the Afro-American Cyberspace but the whole of Cyber-Space. He brings the Black News Electronic Publication. He runs the Black News Network. Seeing our only other current events on SysOps focused on SysOps on the wrong side of the rode, let's look at the work of one on the right side. This lesson we look at the Black News Report from Chris Lee. I have ventured via Cyber-Space into his Online Black Business Network and truly felt the mix of being online with Black Enterprise Magazine, as covers happenings in the AA community and abroad. Yes in our lessons we have covered BBS's and BBS Networks, here let us look at Chris Lee a, AA oriented BBS SysOp,member of AfroNet, an coalition of AA oriented BBS SysOps,(the outgrowth of shared (echoed) messages between BBS SysOps Idette Vaughan (The BlackNet BBS),Alex Hartley (Alex's Place) and John Alston (The Vulcan Net) (Visit the World Wide Web Site via http://haven.ios.com/~holmanm/afronet.html as welll as FTP site where you can pick up an AfroNet New Node Application at haven.ios.com's pub/users/holmanm/afronet directory) and his Black News Report!...
From: CHRIS LEE
To: ALL
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African-Americans and others who want to invest in Africa now have a new tool. The Calvert New Africa Fund has created a mutual fund designed to participate in the emerging markets of Africa. The fund is distributed by the Calvert group of Bethesda, MD and managed by New Africa Advisors. New Africa is lead by (Maceo Sloan, Justin Beckett, and Clifford Mpare). For more information call 1- 800-368-2748.
The investment would probably be considered very risky and should probably constitute only a small portion of a total investment plan. However risk also has rewards, Mr. Beckett said recently on Tony Brown's radio show that he anticipates 15-20% return above the inflation rate. Please read prospectus before investing or sending money. (The next issue will review the fund in depth.)
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Feature
Baltimore has stopped a housing voucher program after protest by low and middle income whites.
The program, which was funded by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, was supposed to move 6000 poor families in to suburban middle class neighborhoods. The families would be scattered in large parts of the metropolitan area where they would have access to jobs, better schools and safer streets.
The primary objection came from several blue-collar towns east of Baltimore, like Essex and Dundalk, who felt they would be swamped by poor Blacks from Baltimore's housing projects. The residents were quickly joined by local politicians. The program was begun in Boston, New York, Los Angles and Chicago but only in Baltimore was anyone actually moved.
The program called "Moving to Opportunity" was based on vouchers. Currently 1.3 million people receive about $7 million in vouchers. Republicans also favor vouchers programs but have balked when programs have promoted using vouchers to move poor people to wealthier areas.
Moving to Opportunity is vastly different than most HUD housing program which have tended to isolate the poor in ghettos. The program is modeled after a successful Chicago program called the Gautreax program which has moved several thousand families from Chicago's poor areas. Gautreaux has raised the incomes and reduced the dropout rates of participating families.
While 61% of the poor in the US are white, they are not as concentrated as Blacks. For example in Maryland, only 12% of poor whites live in zip codes classified as poor. Seventy-five percent of the Blacks in Maryland live in poor zip code areas.
Some urban policy experts say the programs also spread the fiscal burden of social program more equitably between city and suburb. Others believe the program runs counter to the social, economic and educational stratification of neighborhoods for which people work hard to maintain. "I don't think the government should engage in social engineering," said one politician.
"We have learned not to offer a program like this during an election year, when people are looking for a wedge issue and are not above frightening people with race," said Secretary Henry Cisneros.
-- New York Times, 3/28/95, B10
Economic News Analysis
The Balanced Budget amendment continued to dominate the news this past month. As of press-time the amendment was defeated by one vote in the Senate.
One feature of the a balanced budget has been getting more notice is the deficit's ability to soften recessions. It has been estimated that the past recession which had a 7.5% overall rate of unemployment could have been 9.0%, as much as 1.5% higher. Also, unemployment benefits could be cut by 25-40% to meet budget balancing requirements during a recession.
Why does this happen? During a recession the government spends more in social programs such as unemployment and food stamps. It also collects less tax revenue as business and workers earn less money. As a result, the deficit rises but the recession is softened by the additional government spending. The 1990 recession added about 50 billion to the deficit.
A balanced budget amendment would require the government to cut benefits just when the economy would need it the most. Congress would have to cut benefits or raise taxes during economic downturns would might magnify or prolong the recession. However, one notable economist, Dr. Milton Freidman, believes that any possible loss of economic "stabilizers" could be more than offset by making changes in the Federal Reserve Bank monetary policy.
People
Ben Chavis now hosts a radio talk show on WOL in Washington, DC called "Freedom Journal." The program is designed to provide an alternative to Rush Limbaugh and the far right- wing talk shows. Mr. Chavis is the chairman of the National African American Leadership Summit, an organization that promotes unity among Black leaders and organizations.
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Scam of the month:
Here in New York, several people reported paying hard cash, up to $2000, to help others cash-in altered lottery tickets for a share of the proceeds. But there were no proceeds.
As usual, "If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is." ---
Developments to watch
The number of Hispanics will pass the number of Blacks living in New York City by the year 2000 according to the City Department of Planning. By the turn of the century New York city will be 35% White, 29% Hispanic and 26% Black and 10% Asian.
In a related development, NYC workers without college degrees will compete for scarcer jobs while the shrinking white population will hang on to white-collar jobs. "The main tensions will be between groups competing for jobs that don't require college degrees," said Emanuel Tobier, an economics professor at New York University. "The whites that are left are a highly educated and don't compete directly with immigrants for jobs.
Demographers argue that the real competition for jobs will be between native-born minorities and immigrants. The population shift will affect who gets jobs at public schools and the city offices.
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Calender
African-African-American Summit
May 1-3
Dakar, Senegal
1-800-835-3530
Black Expo New York
May 12-15
Black Expo Houston
May 20-21
404-892-2815
Sources:
NYT- New York Times
NYN- New York Newsday
Some or all material may be copyrighted by original source.
The mission is simple. This newsletter will cover news stories of interest to the Black and Minority Business Community. It will also serve to promote the Black Business Network BBS.
About the Black Business Network BBS...
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Minority Business, Economics, Urban Issues, Africa and the Carribean!
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Comprehensive Business File Areas. We Specialize in Quality, not
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** 201-836-1844 (14.4) -=[ Teaneck, NJ, USA ]=- 201-836-0602 (2.4) **
This wraps another lesson, next week we return hopefully to look at File gathering Tools via the Information Superhighway. As always here's hoping your Cyber-Travels are good ones!
P.S.
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Our Tips of the Week...
Question...
Where does one find interesting Space Pictures (Apollo #?,etc.), and a virtual Mussem depicting visual Space Flight History?
Answer....
FTP
Where?
ftp.cis.ksu.edu
Once there?
directory pub/pictures/jpg/space/*
Question...
How can one learn American History using classical,gospel,light opera,rock,pop and rap music?
Answer...
Where?
Send to vmall@hookup.net
Suject: send jordan catalog