Bling-bling is back.  Or, I guess it never went away.  Maybe I was being naïve when I thought that black folk had left bling-bling back in the late nineties along with the thong song, the Puff Daddy moniker and shiny suits.  Guess I was wrong.  According to two new reports African Americans are making and spending more than ever. Both studies show that blacks are spending more than their white counterparts on personal computers, phones, and electronics.

The Buying Power of Black America, conducted by Target Market News reveals that the nations nearly 40 million black people were spending more on books electronics than books (significantly more—4.5 billion vs. 289 million).  BET Networks African Americans Revealed produced similar results finding that black households spent over 30% their disposable income on electronics and computers, phones.

I think it’s great that black Americans are finally utilizing many of the resources that the 21^st century has to offer.  The internet for one has a wealth of information and resources that black folk can use to invest, build up communities, and educate their families.

But how are we utilizing this technology to help our communities?  The Buying Power of Black America found that black folk are actually giving less to their churches.  Now, I know it’s a recession (or a recovering recession, whatever one is referring to the economic slump today) and we skimp where we have to, but are we seriously spending more on clothing than healthcare? This is a problem.  There has been ad nauseam debate about the culture of consumption in the black community, and I understand that there are historical, social, and cultural roots that go along with the phenomenon, but with African American spending power set to reach over 1 trillion dollars next year, we have to do better as a people.

Don’t get me wrong; I love Bloomingdale’s, Saks, and Nordstrom as much as the next, but as several economists point out, black folk can’t spend as soon as they earn a dollar. If the black community has 26 billion to spend on clothing and apparel services, then I shouldn’t be reading stats from the Census like this:

Check it.

-In 2008 black households the median yearly income was $34, 218, a decline of 2.8% from 2007.  This number is less than it was for whites in 1967 (using dollars adjusted for 2006).

-Almost 25% of blacks live in poverty  (the feds consider you poor if you’re a family of four and have an income of $22,050)

-19% of blacks don’t have healthcare

-46% of blacks own homes

-There are 969 black-owned companies with 100 or more employees (from 2002)

-Only 10,716 black businesses had receipts of one million dollars or more.

Don’t get me wrong; I know this is all a huge come up for the black community which is only a few generations from Jim Crow.  There’s institutional racism, and a huge wage gap.  I get that.  And I know the judicial system has been hard on the black community, and particularly the black male.   I’m far from an economist, financial planner, or any sort of business expert but something just isn’t adding up for me, if we’ve made such huge leaps in our income why haven’t we made leaps in other areas as well?

You tell me.