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Bloomberg Businessweek's New Cover Slammed as Offensive

The magazine takes heat for its portrayal of minorities in a reviving U.S. housing market

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by Lisa Fine

Staff Writer t

Image: Screenshot

This cover on the lastest issue of Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine has stirred controversy for its portrayal of minorities and their participation in a reviving U.S. housing market.

It features an illustration of minorities grabbing money while sitting in a house to illustrate a story on the return of aggressive mortgage lending practices. The cover says 'The Great American Housing Rebound. Flips. No look bids. 300 percent returns. What could possibly go wrong?'

"The idea is that we can know things are really getting out of hand since even non-white people can get loans these days!" writes Slate's Matthew Yglesias. "They ought to be ashamed."

Columbia Journalism Review said "It's hard to imagine how this one made it through the editorial process."

"Minority borrowers were disproportionately victimized in the bubble," CJR writes. "But BusinessWeek here has them on the cover bathing in housing-ATM cash, implying that they're going to create another bubble. That's not okay."

Via Slate and CJR
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Is this Bloomberg Businessweek cover racist?

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • MadAmerican
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    @RollinPapers I saw a report a while ago where Obama signed an executive order some time back making it easier for people to get on welfare and once you are on it you do not have to look for work. This was a bill passed by republicans and signed by Clinton. Can you say the nations new number 1 enemy?
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  • RollinPapers
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    I don't care if anyone over at Slate is offended or not. I'm offended by a lot of things but no one gives a sh**. Nor should they. So, why should I give a sh** what Matthew over at Slate thinks?
  • jaybebo84
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    Even though it is saddening, but true, minorities are historically shown to make less money and usually unable to acquire a mortgage due to not having the fiscal ability to pay these mortgages back to the lenders. Is the cover offensive...only if you are unable to face the facts as they are...
  • u
    SAS86
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    I don't care whether people are black, white, red, blue, or pink, they need to be able to afford a house before they buy it regardless of what the bank says and if they are on welfare there should be tests to prove whether they are really needy, such as drug tests twice a month, proof they are seeking a job, etc. If you have a luxury car, large screen TV, and $100 sneakers you probably don't need welfare.
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    Solfish42
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    Really? I don't think this thread is the place for that discussion. And .. OMG.. Who is going to pay for the twice monthly drug tests? Pasts studies of these types have shown 95 percent of recipients are clean. So....take 100 bucks a month from their meager allotment to prove innocence when there is no evidence of guilt? Or should we go ahead and just tack another 1200-1500 dollars per welfare recipient per year to our tax costs? Dumb
  • jessejaymes
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    I know a man from Macedonia who lives in the Las Vegas Area. Older man. He makes a nice living by buying houses and flipping them to minorities that he knows can't keep up the payments. Then he repossess them and flips them again. I asked if he didn't feel bad sometimes about this and he said no. He said his contracts are 5 pages long compared to more than 100 pages for many banks. He says he points out exactly what is going to happen if they miss three payments in a row. He says he doesn't sell to minors.

    He is right. You can't protect people who are idiots. And people buying houses they know they can't make the payments on are idiots. Now the banks are a different story. They hide all kinds of things in those 100 page documents that nobody short of a specialized attorney would understand. Which is exactly why I paid an attorney to go over ever home loan we ever took out.
  • bsking
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    @martydotcom not at all Marshy... in fact I'm well aware everytime a Democrat gets caught making blatant , derogatory racial remarks, it's satire. at least that's what they tell the group they're disparaging. you know that you do it yourself.
  • martydotcom
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    @bsking. You've been snorting way too much lake effects snow... you're out of it calling Bloomberg racist. Must be really good stuff you've got... delusional
  • WVMountYouNear
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    It most certainly is. Can anyone answer this question?: What ethnic decent is charged from birth to "kill the infidel"?~ Chinese? Japanese? American black people? American white people? ummm... Middle-Easteners?~ HAHAHAHAHAHAH... Oh yeah. It's justified... It's effective in many situations. It's just not "politically correct".
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    Cheenoguy
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    Because Christianity has such a peaceful history?

    Oh and you do know Jesus was middle eastern dont you? And technically Iranians are Caucasian? Race is irrelevant here. Religion is involved but not race.
  • WVMountYouNear
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    @Cheenoguy There is but ONR race of people in the world: HUMAN.~ That said, you are correct about religion. Muslims are isLamic by birth. Were you aware that isLam is both a religion and a political power?
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    Cheenoguy
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    @WVMountYouNear
    As is Christianity and Judaism. Both have been responsible for terrorism.

    I think the key to whether we consider someone is a danger to society is to determine if they have a religion.
  • WVMountYouNear
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    @Cheenoguy Well... There are people that have done many acts of terrorism in the "name" of Christianity... and then there is "Christianity". Do you know the differences?
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  • harold_lloyd
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    Racism is in the intent, and here I just see egregious stupidity.

    On the other hand, if lenders are getting stupid again, we should look into that before they cause the next big crash.
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    AlexWeinstein
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    ATTENTION IDIOTS: Racism is OVER. You know how I know? What color is our President? What color is the biggest draw movie actor (Will Smith). What color was REPUBLICAN Presidential Front-runner Herman Cain? What kind of music do all white teenagers listen to?

    ENOUGH. Goddamn, you people. Can't you come up with a new topic?

    I do a daily radio show. THIS was one of my topix.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch...
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    NTBFW
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    What does disproportionally victimized by predatory lending during the bubble mean? Does it mean people made loans they couldn't afford? We're they forced to buy a house they couldn't afford?
  • Solfish42
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    They targeted people they knew couldn't pay the loans, sold them a line of "the American Dream". Repackaged the loans and resold them, betting on the loan packages to "fail". It was a huge scam. They became incredibly stinking rich and the economy sunk.
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    NTBFW
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    @Solfish42 being too stupid to know you can't afford something isn't an excuse. If you make $50,000 a year you can't afford a $350,000 house. It's on you.
  • MarkJM
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    Truth hurts sometimes. But in all fairness, ALL races are participating in this practice, not just blacks or hispanics.
  • miketost
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    looks correct to me except their is white trash not that visible and they to belong.Dont take me wrong their are those in need of all races but their is also those that choose no other way.
  • Romney2012
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    If the minorities are to blame, then blame the minorities. It's not like the magazine cover has racial slurs on it or anything, they're just telling you who's responsible for what. In other countries, they laugh at us for being so politically correct! Political correctness is the worst thing to happen to this country! The term freedom of speech means freedom of offensive speech! Not that this cover is offensive to anybody in anyway, except to the people who criticize it, and the sheep that follow the critics!
  • Thegrif
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    Ok, minorities don't want any play on the cover. Great, make new covers and put whites on the cover. Not a word would be said.
    Cause I looked at the cover and didn't think " even minorities are getting loans".
    Any candy ass excuse to rock the boat and minorities start bitchin'
    I say if you don't like it, then don't buy the mag.
    I can't stand black spring break in Daytona Beach, spring break is spring break period. We have spring break then the next week we have black spring break.
    Guess who wanted to have it that way?
    Hell I am a dumbass country boy, and if you wanna stick a few stupid lookin, red wing boot, levi wearing, country boys on that cover- thats fine by me.
    We will load up the truck and come pose for the picture.
  • Amtrak_Sam
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    Relaxed lending standards was considered a really good thing for minorities a decade ago, and pictures of minorities in homes a positive. Also "The illustrator who was commissioned to do the cover, Andrés Guzmán, was born in Peru."

    http://bit.ly/13rtWZj
  • Solfish42
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    It isn't so much about the minorities on the cover.. Look at how they are drawn. It is pretty awful, to me. These loan schemes promised affordable housing to anyone with a warm body and a heartbeat. Many people don't realize this industry repackages loans and resells them. These loan packages are then bid against as succeeding or failing..(I don't remember the word for it but it should be highly illegal) these loans we bet against as failures. There were lo income while folks as well who fell into this nice little trap.
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