From the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Operation HOPE, John Hope Bryant.
From John Hope Bryant’s Unlocking Success newsletter on LinkedIn, May 5, 2024.
Everyone wants to be an American, except seemingly many Americans. Most of us are all busy arguing with each other about things that really don’t matter. And respectfully, we need to knock it off. Let me offer you – the intelligent and thoughtful human being and thinker that you are – the facts of the matter.
1. Demographics are Destiny
In 1955, America was 90% white [i].
In our lifetime, America will experience a majority of Americans being over the age of 65, for the first time, ever. The U.S. Census projects that by 2034, those over 65 will outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history [ii].
Most of those retiring are White successful Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) [iii].
For the first time in America’s history, today America is more than 40% black, brown or other people of color [iv].
And, too many in this group never received the “memo” on how finance, money, free enterprise, capitalism, and wealth creation actually works, as detailed in my 2017 book, The Memo.
By 2045, the U.S. Census estimates that the country will become a majority of minorities [v]. And at present, while brilliant, ambitious, and eager to engage, most members of these groups are not prepared to take hold of the economic levers of the largest economy in the world. More troubling, our collective system doesn’t seem invested in helping the new farm club along with the knowledge, skills and experiences needed. Note: This is literally our future bench strength, for the playoff games, for the rest of our lives. But more on that later in the plan.
2. In Successful Capitalism Models, Diversity Always Wins
Capitalism and democracy, for that matter, are imperfect and messy. At the same time, they generate better financial and governance outcomes than any system the world has created.
America is today among the most diverse countries in the world. It’s also the world’s largest economy. Our individual and collective success has literally been built on immigrants and our diversity. It always has been, it still is today and it will be in the future. The choice to refuse embracing diversity and inclusion is the equivalent of jeopardizing the well-being of our children and grandchildren.
The two biggest economies in the U.S. – California and New York [vi] – are also the two most diverse states in the U.S.
Metropolitan Atlanta is the most diverse city in the Southeast, the only international city in the South, and the 10th largest economy in the entire United States [vii], at more than $450 billion in GDP in 2022.
If Metro Atlanta was a country, its GDP would comfortably be amongst the 40 largest countries, of the almost 200 countries – in the world. And Atlanta runs on a business plan of diversity and inclusion.
Underscoring the Atlanta-diversity-and-inclusion-as-business-plan, every state in the South has chosen a ‘different’ business plan than Atlanta over the past 60+ years since the civil rights movement.
Fact: The GDPs of all six Southern states – Alabama ($300B), Arkansas ($176B), Kentucky ($258B), Louisiana ($291B), Mississippi ($139B), and West Virginia ($97B) [viii] – all have GDPs (state economies) that are smaller than the GDP of Metro Atlanta. You can almost fit the three smallest of these states inside the metro Atlanta economy, and still have room!
More diverse companies outperform their peers. According to McKinsey [ix], ethnically diverse organizations are 39% more likely to outperform companies that are less diverse when measuring ethnicity and gender, according to its latest research.
3. Racism Doesn’t Work
Tapping down on diversity and inclusion is just plain bad for business. And racism is a balance sheet and income killer. Financially, racism is a very poor financial choice for the country, our states and cities and for our families themselves.
According to a 2020 Citigroup Report [x], racism and bias against Blacks alone, for the 20-year period from 2000 and 2020 alone, cost the U.S. economy approximately $16 trillion.
The Citigroup Report further noted that if we just stopped this behavior, the U.S. economy would increase $5 trillion over the next five years, or as much as 4% of additional U.S. GDP on an annualized basis from this one action alone.
4. Being White alone – or even just for White alone – is not a winning plan
Going forward there will not be enough college-educated White men to drive and grow future American GDP, compared to a couple of generations ago. And this is not a racial comment. It’s just math. The argument here is about green, not just Black and White.
While Baby Boomers are in the process of mass retirement, Social Security is scheduled to go broke after they have reached retirement age—by 2033 [xi] (meaning, Social Security will not be able to pay out 100% of scheduled benefits to all retirees on its own, and is projected to be able to fund just 77% of scheduled benefits).
The economy now needs fuel and energy from all of us in order to succeed and continue to grow.
Those now joining our educated and connected white brothers and sisters in the economy – as new middle-class aspirants and wealth creators – have not been formally educated in elementary, middle or high school about how money works, or about capitalism, economics or how to build wealth, with the racial gap making this even worse [xii]. And their relationship capital and ‘sponsorship’ is horrible. Moreover, there seems to be an active push to destroy and dismantle programming focused on helping these groups to become competitive in a market economy, yet alone to be able to win (or to join the winning economic ranks).
One study shows that if we don’t invest in the economic future of African Americans and they remain on their current economic trajectory, they will have an estimated collective net worth of zero by 2053. This is not just bad for Black America. This is bad for America [xiii].
In the same study, Latinos under the same assumptions are estimated to have their collective net worth approach zero by 2073. All of this is bad for the world’s sole superpower and economic power: America.
This is why I say that financial literacy is not a ‘nice to have’ today but rather the national economic imperative for this generation. For ALL people, including the working poor whites today, who make up a larger number of those in poverty [xiv]. It’s the difference between success and failure.
5. Facts Matter. Like This One: We Are Only Better Together
There has never been a global superpower that wasn’t also a global economic superpower. Think England, Germany, France, Ancient Rome, etc.
Right now, America is that sole global superpower, as well as the global economic power. However, based on the simple data and math above, this status quo cannot survive even another 30 years on the current trajectory and plan.
Nearly 70% of the largest economy on the planet is driven by consumer spending [xv].
78% of Americans today are living from paycheck to paycheck [xvi], according to an industry survey.
50% of those making $100,000 a year today, are living from paycheck to paycheck, according to a 2023 LendingClub and PYMNTS survey [xvii][xviii].
A third of those making $250,000 a year report living from paycheck to paycheck, according to a 2022 LendingClub and PYMNTS survey [xix].
Those at the economic bottom of the pyramid are in no way prepared to move to the top of the economic food chain. This includes the single largest group of poor in this country – poor Whites, who make up over 26 million citizens.
My rich White friends need my poor Black friends to do better, if only to stay rich. These are the non-emotional facts of the matter.
Even the racist wins when a Black or Brown person succeeds in this new American landscape because GDP rises [xx] – for all of us.
6. America is at War…Or The World is at War with Us!
Four authoritarian-led countries – China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea – want to diminish and replace America [xxi]. They want to replace our influence on the world stage and at home. They cannot win in a fair fight, so they cheat at capitalism, and undermine, well – us. Their plan is simple. Get us to fight amongst ourselves.
Unless we all want to be subject to the rules of some authoritarian government or to some form of chaos, we will need to get one thing straight and crystal clear: going forward, we actually need each other. Black, Brown, White; older and younger; red state and blue state; and all the rest. And, together, we can build an even stronger economy to avoid a disaster and a lot of shared pain while we continue pursuing the tremendous potential our country holds. What I offer you here is a simple, non-emotional, fact-based argument, which should also inform what should be, in our nation, our shared moral clarity and spiritual value for inclusion for all.
What each of us should want is a country where everyone has the right to determine their own future and their own financial journey—as long as they are willing to work hard, play by the rules and obey the law, do the right thing, and be respectful of others. This society should provide the tools and resources to get a fair shot at success or failure based on merit. This is the business plan for America for the next 100 years.
However, it was also the business plan prescribed by Abraham Lincoln more than 150 years ago.
On December 1, 1862, in his Annual Address before Congress, Lincoln said, “Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves… The fiery trail through which we pass will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation… We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.”
Here, Lincoln argued that the survival and success of the American experiment in self-government was crucial not just for Americans but the entire world, as a beacon of hope and a testament to the vitality of democracy.
This plan is akin to the one prescribed by Abraham Lincoln. I make the same argument, but I also believe that we have grown into a free enterprise democracy in the 21st century in America, and have a destiny if not obligation to remain the light on the hill for the world. It is my personal belief that God needs America to survive and thrive. As a symbol of hope for the world. But God does not segregate and divide one brother and sister from another. Man has – but we can allow it no longer. We are all one and must act that way. And this is how we win for the next 150 years and more.
Join me in my campaign for America. It begins with financial literacy for all, the civil rights issue of this generation.
Let’s go…
John Hope Bryant
Sources
[i] U.S. Census Bureau. (1955). Population characteristics: March 1954 (P25-121).
[ii] Vespa, J., Medina, L., & Armstrong, D. M. (2020). Demographic turning points for the United States: Population projections for 2020 to 2060 (P25-1144). U.S. Census Bureau.
[iii] De Visé, D. (2023, May 8). Nearly half of baby boomers have no retirement savings. The Hill.
[iv] U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Quick facts: White alone, not Hispanic or Latino percentage 58.9%.
[v] Frey, W. H. (2018, March 14). The US will become ‘minority white’ in 2045, Census projects. Brookings.
[vi] USAFacts. (n.d.). Gross domestic product (GDP) by state.
[vii] Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2023, December). Gross domestic product by state.
[viii] Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2024). Gross domestic product by state and personal income by state, 4th quarter 2023 and preliminary 2023.
[ix] Dixon-Fyle, S., Dolan, K., Hunt, D. V., & Prince, S. (2020, May 19). Diversity wins: How inclusion matters. McKinsey.
[x] Peterson, D. M., Mann, C. L., & contributors. (2020, September 1). Closing the racial inequality gaps: The economic cost of Black inequality in the U.S. Citi GPS.
[xi] Social Security Administration. (2023). Summary of the 2023 annual reports.
[xii] Yakoboski, P. J., Lusardi, A., & Hasler, A. (n.d.). Financial literacy and wellness among African-Americans. TIAA Institute & GFLEC.
[xiii] Prosperity Now. (n.d.). Black and Latino households are on the path to owning zero wealth.
[xiv] Shrider, E. A., & Creamer, J. (2023, September 12). Poverty in the United States: 2022 (P60-280). U.S. Census Bureau.
[xv] Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2024, March 28). Consumer spending drives 68% of the U.S. economy.
[xvi] Batdorf, E. (2024, April 2). Living paycheck to paycheck statistics 2024. Forbes Advisor.
[xvii] Morabito, C. (2023, December 11). Here’s why even Americans making more than $100,000 live paycheck to paycheck. CNBC.
[xviii] Wolfson, A. (2023, May 31). Almost half of Americans earning $100K or more now say they live paycheck to paycheck. MarketWatch Picks.
[xix] Tanzi, A. (2022, June 1). One-Third of Americans making $250,000 live paycheck to paycheck, survey finds. Bloomberg.
[xx] McKinsey & Company. (2021, August 6). A $300 billion opportunity: Serving the emerging Black American consumer. McKinsey Quarterly.
[xxi] Taylor, A. (2024, April 17). The desperate alignment of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. The Washington Post.