The Racial Wealth Gap Is Not Just About Money
In Brookings Institution scholar Andre Perry's 2020 book Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America's Black Cities, he coined a phrase that for a moment caught fire: 'There's nothing wrong with Black people that ending racism can't solve.' That book took on the problem of unfair appraisals for Black-owned homes and the undervaluing of properties in majority-Black neighborhoods.
In his follow-up, Black Power Scorecard: Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close It, released April 15, he takes a more expansive view, examining the many factors that lead to not just the artificial depreciation of Black properties, but of Black lives in general.
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Axios
2 hours ago
- Axios
Brooklyn Village developers warn county it will forgo affordable housing plan
The Peebles Corporation is warning Mecklenburg County that if it doesn't subsidize affordable housing for Brooklyn Village, the developer will proceed with its original plan to build mostly luxury apartments on the historically significant site. Why it matters: It's looking increasingly less likely that Peebles will actually redevelop Brooklyn, once a thriving Black neighborhood in Charlotte until it was razed in the '60s and '70s. A legal battle could ensue if the county wants to reclaim control of the site it sold to The Peebles Corporation for a discount. Catch up quick: Mecklenburg County sold prime land near Uptown to The Peebles Corporation and its development partner at a discounted rate, expecting they would honor Brooklyn through a mixed-use development that incorporates affordable housing. But the project has stalled for years because of negotiations and construction delays, which have been blamed on market conditions. In February, the development team revised its proposal and said it would build 250 affordable housing units — instead of 550 mixed-income units — in part to restore confidence with county commissioners. The latest: Peebles told the county April 18 it would miss a contractual deadline to demolish a building on the site due to the discovery of asbestos. WFAE reports that the county may use this latest delay as an out from its relationship with Peebles. In an unprompted email to Axios on Tuesday, Peebles emphasized that it now owns the Brooklyn land. "There is no reversion provision for Mecklenburg County to take it back," the email states. Peebles also said it scored among the top applicants for a government subsidy to build affordable housing. However, the email claims the city was "insistent" that the county contributed, and the county refused. Peebles further blamed the county for not disclosing the asbestos. It added that the building is on Phase 2 land for Brooklyn Village, which the developers do not own and, according to the email, do not plan on acquiring within the next decade. "The County wants BK Partners to pay for and perform an environmental clean-up of a building we do not own," the email states. "They are trying to shift the cost of extensive clean up." The other side: A letter Mecklenburg County's outside attorney sent to Peebles Corp. in late April, reported by WFAE, reads, "In reality, this is merely a continuation of BKV's ongoing attempts to avoid performing the demolition and removal work it agreed to perform. Clearly, BKV did not proceed diligently because it has been hoping it could evade its obligations." Mecklenburg County provided Axios with its April 30 response to Peebles but declined to comment further. The bottom line: The latest email effectively warns the county to approve its request for more funding if it's "genuinely committed to providing more affordable housing." "Otherwise, we will wait until market conditions improve in Charlotte and then proceed with our original plan," the email states. What's next: Developers say they expect to meet with the county in the coming weeks to seek a resolution. Read The Peebles Corporation's statement to Axios in full below: 1. The development team of BK Partners, composed of Conformity Corp and The Peebles Corporation, owns the Phase 1 land. 2. There is no reversion provision for Mecklenburg County to take it back. 3. BK Partners has the right to build luxury apartments, a hotel, office and retail. 4. Current market conditions make construction of any of these uses infeasible economically. This is due to the impact of a global pandemic, the tripling of interest rates and an oversupply of apartments in the market. 5. BK Partners has an obligation to build 10% of any apartments on Phase 1 as affordable. 6. To address the County's and City's need and desire for more affordable housing, BK Partners was willing to build 250 units of affordable housing in two buildings. 7. As is the case for all affordable housing in Charlotte and the nation, a government subsidy is required. We applied for it and scored at the top of the applicants. 8. The City was insistent that the County contribute to their subsidy and the County refused. 9. As to the Board of Education building: A. It is on the site of Phase 2 which we do not own and do not plan on acquiring in the next 8-10 years. B. At the County's request two years ago, BK Village agreed to demolish the building under the expectation that there was minimal asbestos. C. Prior to securing a permit for demolition, an additional environmental study was performed, and extensive friable asbestos was discovered. This extended the timeframe to demolish the building significantly as all the asbestos will need to be removed by hand first. Then demolition will follow. D. The extensive asbestos in the building increased the demolition costs fivefold and added 6 to 8 months of time to the demolition process. E. BK Partners was unaware of the extensive environmental contamination of the building prior to this discovery. F. Apparently, the County government knew of the contamination but did not disclose this information to us. 10. The Board of Education Building has nothing to do with the schedule of Phase 1, nor does it impact the construction of affordable housing. It is the County government who is trying to leverage the construction of affordable housing to force us to cover the cost of the environmental clean-up of the Board of Education building in exchange for them to support affordable housing on Brooklyn Village Phase 1. We are surprised and disappointed by their approach. However, this is a complicated issue which will need to be addressed at some point. 11. The County wants BK Partners to pay for and perform an environmental clean-up of a building we do not own. They are trying to shift the cost of extensive clean up to BKV Partners. 12. BK Partners does not understand the urgency of the Board of Education building demolition as our original development agreement contemplated it being demolished before we started on Phase 2, which is 6-8 years away. 13. BK Partners has asked the County to allow us to proceed with the affordable housing buildings now and separately work out the issues involving the environmental clean-up. 14. If the County is genuinely committed to providing more affordable housing, it will approve our request. Otherwise, we will wait until market conditions improve in Charlotte and then proceed with our original plan. 15. BK Partners plans to meet with the county in the coming weeks to try and reach a resolution to move forward with the affordable housing. 16. There have been several reports of how we have delayed the project. Here are the facts: A. The Development Agreement was approved by the county Commission October 2016. B. The County did not control all of the land in Phase 1 because the City had rights to recover a portion of the land in Phase 1. C. The County and City did not reach an agreement on the land until 2021. D. BK Partners acquired the land under Phase 1 for $10 million in 2023. E. BK Partners immediately commenced demolition and site work on the property as required in the agreement with the County.
Miami Herald
3 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Walmart analysts reboot stock price targets on credit card deal
Look up, look down, Walmart (WMT) is all around. First, we'll go high. The world's largest retailer, which has a store within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. popuation, recently said it would expand its drone delivery service through Alphabet-owned (GOOGL) Wing. The expansion will reach customers from 100 stores in Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando and Tampa within the coming year. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter With the expansion, Walmart's drone deliveries will be available in five states: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas. "As we look ahead, drone delivery will remain a key part of our commitment to redefining retail," Greg Cathey, senior vice president of Walmart U.S. Transformation and Innovation, said in a statement. Meanwhile, the "Tonight Show"'s Jimmy Fallon hosted Walmart's annual meeting, which also included such musical acts as the Killers, Noah Kahan, Camila Cabello and Post Malone. Walton Goggins, who is appearing in Walmart's new ad campaign, and Chris Paul, guard for the NBA's San Antonio Spurs, also showed up. "Walmart is No. 1, so shove it, Target," Fallon sang, digging at one of the company's key rivals. "There is no place I would rather be on Friday at 8 a.m." Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon told the audience that the company wanted "to be a lab of opportunity," the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported. Bloomberg/Getty Images "The real magic happens with the combination of our people and technology," he said. ""We love people and we embrace change." More Retail Stocks: Halloween retailer sounds warning consumers need to hearTarget expands same-day delivery to 100s of retailersWalmart makes surprise cuts as it looks at tariff price hikes And then there was the news that Synchrony Financial (SYF) and OnePay, a fintech majority-owned by Walmart, would launch a new credit card program. That's scheduled to go live in the fall. OnePay, which Walmart created in 2021 with the venture firm Ribbit Capital, will handle the customer experience for the card program through its mobile app. In 2023, Walmart sued Capital One to end their credit card partnership early, alleging that McLean, Va., financial services company was not fulfilling its contractual obligations. A federal judge ruled in Walmart's favor, but Capital One was evaluating its right to appeal. The companies settled last year and the lawsuit was dismissed. The Walmart card program had 10 million customers and roughly $8.5 billion in loans outstanding last year, when the partnership with Capital One ended, according to Fitch Ratings. TD Cowen noted that Synchrony would not purchase the existing Walmart card portfolio from Capital One (COF) , so this new program will have to be built from scratch, according to The Fly. Similar to any new portfolio, TD Cowen said, it will likely be dilutive to holders at first, as Synchrony will need to build reserves, the analyst tells investors. However, while the investment firm said it would need more details from the Bentonville, Ark., retailer, the fact that Walmart, via OnePay, decided to come back to Synchrony indicates "favorable negotiating position/economics" for Synchrony in this deal. It views the plan as a positive for the financial services group. TD Cowen has a buy rating and $68 price target on Synchrony shares. Related: Walmart quietly launches new same-day delivery option in 5 more US cities Walmart shares are up 7% this year and up nearly 45% from this time in 2024. RBC Capital raised its price target on Walmart to $103 from $102 and affirmed an outperform rating on the shares. Having attended the company's Annual Associates & Shareholders Week meeting, the investment firm said management's tone and messaging were consistent with the Q1 earnings call in mid-May. Management said it was working on an artificial-intelligence-enabled offering that will reorder core grocery items when they're running low. The company is working to leverage AI to pair consumer-purchases data and smart-fridge technology, the firm said. KeyBanc raised its price target on Walmart to $110 from $105 and maintained an overweight rating after the annual meeting. The firm came away incrementally positive on Walmart's ability to drive share gains in 2025 and beyond; growth of e-commerce and advertising; and Walmart's ability to grow operating profit faster than sales over a multiyear horizon. Importantly, KeyBanc said that it continues to believe Walmart's digital business is exhibiting flywheel characteristics, where growth should drive additional growth. While it still sees potential risks to consumer spending as the Trump administration's tariffs start to flow through to store-shelf prices, the firm says Walmart is among the best positioned in retail. Related: Fund-management veteran skips emotion in investment strategy The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Commentary: How Chinese imports are skirting Trump's tariffs
There's a huge drop underway in Chinese imports entering the US — from China. But Chinese goods are arriving anyway, via other Asian nations such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia. That may be good news for shoppers, because it means cheap Chinese goods are still making it to US stores despite the higher costs imposed by President Trump's new import taxes. But shifting trade patterns will surely get Trump's attention, and the tariff-happy president could easily put a stop to it by raising import taxes on what are turning out to be loophole countries. Trump's aggressive tariff regime is meant to make most imported products more expensive to encourage more domestic production. But Trump's uneven approach has created opportunities for a kind of trade arbitrage that was all but inevitable. As things stand now, Trump has imposed new import taxes of 30% on most goods from China but only 10% on imports from most other nations. That 20% differential is a big advantage for the less-tariffed countries. Sure enough, trade data shows that Chinese exporters are almost certainly "transshipping" goods to the US by passing them through neighboring countries. Chinese data shows that exports to the US dropped 35% in May compared with a year earlier. But during the same period, Chinese exports to six other Asian nations jumped 15%, including a 22% increase in exports to Vietnam and Thailand, a 12% jump in exports to Singapore, and an 11% rise in shipments to Indonesia. "[China's] direct exports to the US are down sharply, but its exports to all kinds of places across Asia are up massively," economist Robin Brooks of the Brookings Institution posted on social media on June 9. "These are obviously transshipments to the US via third countries."The US Department of Commerce hasn't yet published trade data for May, but data for April shows the mirror image of the Chinese data. Imports from China fell 20% from 2024 levels, while there was a 48% jump in Vietnamese imports, a 32% jump in shipments from Thailand, and a 16% increase in goods from Malaysia. Trade experts have been predicting this shift since Trump began imposing new import taxes in February, because it's the same thing that happened during the trade wars Trump waged during his first presidential term. Vietnam, in particular, was a big beneficiary of Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports in 2018 and 2019. While imports from China fell by 11% from 2017 to 2019, imports from Vietnam boomed by 43%. Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet Since Trump's first trade war, many Asian producers and their US customers have carefully diversified so they're not overdependent on China. The US now imports less clothing from China, as one example, and more from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, and India. Transshipment can mean that some products are fully assembled in China and simply make a brief stopover in another country before heading to the US so that their country of origin isn't China. Governments tend to discourage that, however, because those countries gain little from merely serving as a way station for Chinese products headed to the US. Plus, it may attract unwanted attention from Trump. Chinese companies are also increasingly building their own production facilities outside of China. "There are two ways to transship," Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute at Cornell University, told Yahoo Finance. "In one, you're just cheating. In the other, you disassemble your product in China and send the inputs and the know-how to a new place." In Cambodia, for example, most of the companies making goods that go to the US have Chinese ownership. Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs — on ice for the moment — are meant, in part, to target countries that are way stations for Chinese products. When Trump announced those nation-by-nation tariffs on April 2, Asian trade partners other than China got hit with some of the highest rates. The new tariff on Chinese imports was 34%. For Cambodia, the new tariff rate was 49%. Vietnam: 46%. Thailand: 36%. Indonesia: 32%. Malaysia: 24%. Those rates weren't based specifically on transshipment of Chinese products but on the size of the trade deficit in goods each country has with the US. The larger the deficit, the higher the tariff. Read more: 5 ways to tariff-proof your finances Trump suspended those tariffs on April 9, following a week of mayhem in financial markets. That eventually left the tariff rates at 30% on most imports from China and 10% on most imports from every other country. But Trump said the reciprocal tariffs could go back into effect if nations don't make trade deals with him one by one by a July 9 deadline. By then, a boom in imports from Asian nations other than China will give Trump plenty of justification for more reciprocal tariffs. But he may choose to overlook it. Trump seems to have a much bigger trade beef with China than he does with other nations. His advisers are also telling him that high tariffs across the board could mean shocking price increases on clothing, electronics, appliances, and many other things just as Americans start their back-to-school shopping this summer. After that will come a Christmas season possibly starring Trump as the Grinch. So Trump might end up talking tough on China and looking the other way as the country's products enter the side door. That would make stealthy Chinese imports an unintended innovation triggered by Trump's trade war. Rick Newman is a senior columnist for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Bluesky and X: @rickjnewman. Click here for political news related to business and money policies that will shape tomorrow's stock prices.
