Tag: equity

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HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge Says Biased Home Appraisal Problem Is Systemic

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Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge appeared on CNN’s Tonight show (08/22/22) to address recent media reports that show significant appraisal disparities between homes owned by people of color, as opposed to those owned by Whites. Secretary Fudge told CNN host Laura Coates that the appraisal problem, which was initially relegated to homes in redlined districts, is now “systemic, and intentional to some degree.”

The latest example which has stunned many, involves two Black Johns Hopkins University professors, Nathan Connolly and Shani Mott, who live in an affluent Maryland neighborhood. The Black couple’s home was initially appraised at $472,000, but after they “whitewashed” their home and let their White friend pose as the home owner, their house was appraised at a staggering $950,000, almost double the initial value.

Asked for her response to the outrageous Maryland incident, Secretary Fudge said(2:23): “I think professionally and personally, it is an absolute violation of the law. It is a violation of the fair housing law, it is a violation of the lending law, so what HUD is doing, and what we have done already is, we were tasked by the president to look at appraisal bias, because what we know is that it used to be that these things happened only in redlined communities, but now it is pervasive. It is happening everywhere, and we determined that part of the problem was how appraisers are trained, who is in the appraisal industry, and how they are governed, and so what we did in March was to present a report that showed how deeply this whole bias situation is across this country. It is systemic, and it is intentional to some degree…What we’ve already done is have the appraisal sub committee say to every single state in this country, the test that you use is no longer valid because it is a violation of the fair housing law.”

Secretary Fudge clarified her remarks regarding the test saying she was referring to the test to become an appraiser, adding(3:53), “What we have looked at is how data is collected. That’s part of the problem, it’s the data. So they collect data, and the data is not what it should be, they then use the data in a way that it should not be used, and so they come up with these biased appraisals. But as well, when you look at an industry that is more than 95% White, you find that people of color are treated differently because there is an inherent bias with a lot of them, and because they collect the data, the data is not good data.”

Secretary Fudge also made a startling acknowledgement regarding HUD, saying no previous administration has ever attempted to address the home appraisal bias problem, which is now evidently systemic. She said(5:05): “It has not happened before. This is the first of it’s kind report, this is the first if it’s kind subcommittee. It’s called Property Appraisal Valuation Equity. What the president has said is that we have to look at everything through a lens of equity. What we have realized is that people selling homes, just as the persons you were talking about, and even people buying homes, if their appraisal is not correct, what we find, especially as Black people and communities of color and underserved communities, is we lose great wealth just through the appraisal process. If those homes are appraised the way that they should be, then we look at being able to pass down significantly more resources and more wealth to generations that follow. But if we are constantly undervaluing communities of color, either because they are communities of color, or that the person themselves is in a community that they don’t think that we should be in, then we consistently lose wealth in our communities, and that’s why this is so important from an equity situation.”

Secretary Fudge concluded with her personal home appraisal story, telling host Coates that her house , which is in a Black community, is literally two doors away from an all-White community. She has a bigger lot size and house than the one two doors away from her, yet her house is valued at $25,000 less than that house in the White community.

Bottom line folks, the problem of biased home appraisals is a major one, and needs to be confronted head on. As Secretary Fudge correctly pointed out on CNN, “If those homes are appraised the way that they should be, then we look at being able to pass down significantly more resources and more wealth to generations that follow.” This issue is especially important to communities of color.

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Kushner Accused Of Selling U.S. Intel To The Saudis

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Investigative journalist Vicky Ward appeared on MSNBC Reports(04/16/22) where she dropped a mega bombshell, telling host Alex Witt that Jared Kushner, while working at the White House, shared top secret U.S. intelligence with then Deputy Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman(MBS), which enabled MBS to undermine his cousin who was then Crown Prince, and take over his position. In other words, it is Kushner’s top secret intel that made MBS the Crown Prince. Vicky Ward says the recent $2 billion Saudi investment into Kushner’s private equity firm, is basically payback from MBS for the top secret U.S. Intel which enabled him to get rid of his cousin and become Saudi’s Crown Prince.

Vicky Ward specifically told host Alex Witt(video at 1:10): “Jared Kushner has no track record as an investor. Zero. He was in the real estate business before going into the White House, and as I wrote in Kushner Inc, he wasn’t very good at it. Also as I reported in Kushner Inc, it appears that much of his foreign policy was orchestrated for the benefit of the family real estate business which was in trouble. Why now has MBS given his fund with no track record, $2 billion to invest? Well last night, I broke news on my substack newsletter Vicky Ward Investigates, saying that basically Jared Kushner, according to three very well placed sources with direct knowledge, handed over to MBS and his father, American intelligence suggesting that a cousin of MBS, who has long had the support of Washington, who is considered a hero by the CIA, even given a medal, was thinking of sticking up his hand and deposing the king. This was the man who was the Crown Prince at the time. Jared Kushner basically handed the Saudis this information thereby giving Mohamed bin Salman the opportunity to get rid of his rival, knee cap him. This man has not been heard of since 2020. So basically, Jared Kushner gave information that was supposed to belong to the Americans to the Saudis thereby giving Mohamed bin Salman his job as the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.”

There’s no other way to interpret Vicky Ward’s remarks on MSNBC other than, Jared Kushner, who had access to top level U.S. intelligence due to his White House job, knew that MBS’ cousin who at that time was Saudi’s Crown Prince, and favored by the CIA, had plans to depose the Saudi King. Kushner leaked this top secret U.S. intel to Mohamed bin Salman(MBS) and his father, allowing MBS to get rid of his ambitious cousin, who has mysteriously disappeared since 2020, and is quite possibly dead. Basically Kushner gave intel to MBS, which allowed him to become the Saudi Crown Prince, and now MBS is rewarding him with a $2 billion investment. Kushner basically sold top secret U.S. intel to the Saudis. Vicky Ward went on to add that this was the reason Kushner never got a top secret security clearance from the CIA for his White House job. This, if verified, is mega bombshell news that deserves much more scrutiny than the Hunter Biden story.

Bottom line folks, as Yours Truly has been screaming since March 2019, Kushner selling top secret U.S. intel is a BFD that needs to be thoroughly investigated. It is infinitely, a much bigger story that the Hunter Biden story, especially given the amount of money involved.

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In 2015 Kushner Got A $4,000 Tax Refund After Earning 1.7 Million

Yours Truly did a post yesterday based on the bombshell New York Times revelation that President Trump’s son in law Jared Kushner who is worth an estimated $324 million, has not paid federal income taxes for 7 years thanks to a tax loophole that favors real estate developers. The Kushner post understandably generated a lot of public reaction because it is one of the best illustrations of the glaring inequities that exist with the U.S. tax law. It makes absolutely no sense that someone worth $324 million would pay zero federal income tax for 7 years straight.

In the post Yours Truly called out the mainstream media for breaking very important stories like this but never doing any follow ups to help the public further understand the issue, or force a serious debate on the issue. Luckily one Katy Tur of MSNBC decided to dig a little deeper into the Kushner tax story and boy did she unearth a new bombshell.

Turns out that in 2015, in addition to not paying any federal income tax, Kushner got a $4,000 tax refund from the IRS after earning a whopping 1.7 million. Think about that folks–most working families that earn more than $40,000 a year, have federal income taxes taken out of their checks all year and often end up owing the IRS because they “make too much” yet Kushner who earned 1.7 million in 2015, never paid any federal income tax that year, still got a $4,000 refund from the IRS. Folks this is the height of inequity.

As anybody who has lived paycheck to paycheck(a lot of Americans) knows, most working families literally wait on that four, five or six thousand dollars income tax refund at the beginning of the year to help them catch up with their bills–late rent, car payment, credit cards etc. It is a big deal to most working families. It is also important to note that someone earning more than $40,000 a year often ends up owing the IRS because they “earn too much.” Can you imagine making an argument to such a person making $40,000 a year that they are not entitled to a federal tax refund because they “make too much” but rich Kushner over there, who earned $1.7 million gets a $4,000 refund? Better question–can you imagine how effective such a message would be on the campaign trail for any Dem candidate nationwide?


Bottom line this Kushner tax story is a big deal and Dems should talk more often about it especially as we head towards midterms 2018. These are the kinds of stories that Dems can use to illustrate a clear contrast between their agenda that is geared towards helping working families and that of the GOP which is geared towards helping the rich. Simply put the glaring inequities exposed by this Kushner tax story are enough to swing a huge chunk of independent voters to the Dems. As Katy Tur’s guest Jesse Drucker of the New York Times excellently put it, “There is an intense public interest in understanding the equity of our tax system and the public can decide whether they think think this is an equitable state of affairs.” You will be hard pressed to find a single independent voter who concludes that this is an equitable tax system after looking at the Kushner story.

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