Don Barden, entrepreneur, dies at 67

Don Barden, the first Black Casino owner and life long entrepreneur, pass away in Detroit at 67. He was the first African-American to own a casino and a major cable tv franchise. He was the owner of Barden Companies Inc., the Majestic Star and Fitzgerald's casinos and Waycor Development Co.. Barden's companies were said to be worth $500 million at one time but several are currently in bankruptcy.

Mr. Barden was born in Inkster, MI, a suburb of Detroit. We was educated at Central State University of Ohio and operated a record store in Loraine, OH. He later became a city councilman, a news anchor and a TV talk show host. He also owned real estate in Ohio.

Mayor Coleman Young gave him the first cable TV franchise in Detroit. He later sold the franchise to comcast. With the proceeds, he built casino's in Las Vegas, Colorado, Indiana and Tunica, Mississippi. However, Detroit, his home town, denied him one of the seven license to operate a casino.

Here is the Michigan Citizen on Don Barden.

Don Barden in the Detroit Free Press.

Detroit News Article

NYtimes Obituary

"The new Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the age of Colorblindness"

Michelle Alexander covers one of the primary economic issues in the Black Community in the US: Mass Incarceration of Black Males in the US. She has written a new book, "The new Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the age of Colorblindness" which as web-site here.

Here is a link to part one of a two part interview from Democracy Now: Here.

She writes that the "war on drugs" focused only on Black communities resulting a large number of non-violent, felony arrests results in a permanent incarcerated population. Second, there are rewards and incentives, for increasing the number of drug arrests. Arrests for possession account for 80% of all arrests and 4/5 of those are for Marijuana.

Corporate Consolidation is killing jobs in the US

It looks like we are starting to see an answer on job creation. The over consolidation and monopolization are behind the missing jobs. Here.

WSJ Blog: Multi-National overseas hiring

A very nice piece on US multi-national overseas hiring from WSJ Blogs. Here. The issue is more complicated of course. The US is growing at 2% and overseas is growing at 5%. No one would hire a cook or a driver from the US and send them overseas. Also, the overseas jobs support a lot of US jobs.

WSJ: $1.2 Trillion spent on stuff they don't need.

People in the US spend $1.2 Trillion on stuff they don't according to Commerce Department data analyzed by the Wall Street Journal. Categories include luxury goods like Jewelry, Alcohol. Gambling and Candy.

British Experiment in deficit reduction

Economists are watching closely the "British Experiment" in deficit reduction. Britain is proposing to eliminate it's deficit in 5 years though sharp cuts in the government.

Here is a discussion in the NYT.

Wachovia admits laundering mexican drug money

Just another story of corporate greed and lack of ethics. Wachovia did not scrutinize $378 Billion dollars for money laundering activity. In addition, during the financial crisis in 2008, a UN official said, "Drug money was the only liquid capital available. There were signs some banks were rescued that way." The article also reports that Wachovia had 6000 or 7000 subpoenas related to possible money laundering transactions.

You can read the full story here that was ignored by the US Media.