It's down in black and white

The line about the rising tide that lifts all boats doesn't apply those anchored to the bottom - or with holes in them.

The enormous wealth gap between white families and black and Hispanic families grew larger after the most recent recession, a private analysis of government data has found.

As reported in the New York Times for Monday, the study by the Pew Hispanic Center revealed that after adjusting for inflation, median net worth for white families grew 17% between 1996 and 2002 to over $88,000. Meanwhile, Hispanic families saw an increase of 14%, to $7,900, while black households saw their median net worth decline by 16% to just $6,000.

That left white households with a median net worth over 11 times that of Hispanic households and nearly 15 times that of black households. As another way of looking at it, the Center also found that 11% of white families had no net assets - compared to 26% of Hispanic families and nearly one-third of black families.

The full report, in .pdf format, is here.

Okay, so who is feeble-minded enough to continue to maintain that we have a "colorblind society" in which such "race conscious" programs as affirmative action are no longer necessary?