TroglocratsRdumb
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- Aug 11, 2017
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NY law maker Jamaal Bowman says black people in US should get $333K
New York lawmaker Jamaal Bowman has co-sponsored a bill calling for the federal government to make restitution to descendants of slaves totaling $14 trillion.
Jamaal Bowman is among nine backers of federal bill H.R. 414, which states there is a 'moral and legal obligation' to make restitution to the descendants of slaves.
The legislation would force the government to distribute $14 trillion between almost 42 million black Americans.
Yonkers representative Bowman, a member of the so-called 'Squad' of young controversial Democrats in Congress, also suggested 'creative' ways of paying, including staggering the payments over a number of years.
He also claims the federal government's response to the pandemic and the space race prove it has the capacity for the program.
'When COVID was destroying us, we invested in the American people in a way that kept the economy afloat,' Bowman told the Journal News. 'The government can invest the same way in reparations without raising taxes on anyone.'
'Where did the money come from?' Bowman said. 'We spent it into existence.'
In 2020, the federal government spent about $7 trillion, equivalent to 28 percent of the country's $25 trillion economy.
'Who says the $14 trillion needs to be paid out in one shot?,' said Bowman.
'It might be possible for it to be paid out over five or 10 or 20 years. You could take that $333,000 and break it up into monthly checks over X amount of time. There are creative ways to do the right thing and do what needs to be done.
'There were 246 years of free labor that produced trillions or hundreds of trillions of dollars for the US economy. The economy wouldn't exist in the way it does today if slavery hadn't built it.'
Comment:
How does someone prove that they are a descendent from a slave?
What if someone is half white and half black?
What about people whose ancestors immigrated to America after slavery was abolished; should they also have to pay reparations?
What about people's whose ancestors never owned slaves?
Bowman's math seems a bit sketchy when he claimed that slaves produced "hundreds of trillions of dollars".
How about we fine Bowman $14 trillion dollars for pulling that fire alarm and then call things even.
