According to a 2012 study, the nation’s Black buying power
continues to rise dramatically. In fact, it reached over $1
Trillion in 2012. As a measure of comparison, according to the
CIA World Factbook, that is an amount greater than the buying
power of Iran, a nation that ranked 18th in the world. Black
spending in the US increased 73% from 2000 – 2012 compared to
60% of Whites and 67% of all US consumers. While Blacks need to
be concerned about saving and creating wealth, for the purpose
of this article, we want to focus on what this means regarding
economic empowerment. This increase in buying power does not
come only from population growth and inflation. The 2007 Survey
of Business Owners published by the US Census Bureau in 2011
shows a dramatic increase in Black owned businesses and receipts
generated by those businesses. Another factor shows rising
education levels opening the doors to occupations with higher
and higher average salaries. These trends are favorable, but
only to the extent to which they a