Why black Americans are trapped in poverty: Weekend Edition

[Bloomberg]( [Black Poverty Is Rooted in Real-Estate Exploitation]( – Mark Whitehouse One question is — or should be — central to any assessment of the state of America: Why, more than a century and a half after slavery ended, does the typical black family remain so much poorer than the typical white family? A new [study]( on housing in Chicago illustrates a big part of the answer: Generation after generation, the U.S. system of real-estate finance has enriched whites at the expense of blacks. Housing has long played a crucial role in American wealth accumulation: People buy homes with federally subsidized mortgages, build up equity and pass the assets on to their children. But as recently as the 1960s, government [policy]( excluded blacks. In a practice known as redlining, the Federal Housing Administration designated predominantly black neighborhoods as no-go zones for government-insured mortgage loans. The FHA also wouldn’t guarantee loans for new mixed-race developments: The presence of even a single black family was enough to warrant rejection. Read the [whole thing](. [How to Invest and Profit in the Next Recession]( – Barry Ritholtz [Facebook's Answer to Bitcoin Poses a Double Threat]( – Lionel Laurent [Why This Time Was Different for Hong Kong]( – Nisha Gopalan and Matthew Brooker [Trump Doesn't Need to Attack Iran: He’s Winning Already]( – Bobby Ghosh [Why Is Running on the Decline?]( – Leonid Bershidsky [Trump's Orlando Rally Shows He's Running Out of New Tricks]( – Timothy L. O’Brien [China’s Slowdown Is Fraying Nerves]( – Adam Minter [What Have Trump’s Rallies Accomplished?]( – Jonathan Bernstein [Facebook Will Make the Money Now]( – Matt Levine Saturday New Movies Need to find an air-conditioned distraction for the kiddos this weekend? The highly anticipated “[Toy Story 4](” is in theaters now. And if horror is more your bag, check out Aubrey Plaza in a revamp of “[Child’s Play](.” This is the Weekend Edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a roundup of the 10 most popular stories Bloomberg Opinion published this week, based on web readership, with some other stuff thrown in. [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( SEND TO A FRIEND [Share with a friend] You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022