Wendi C. Thomas Profile picture
Jul 11, 2018 9 tweets 3 min read Read on X
This is what @LenoirForMayor espouses. He said in the Rotary Club debate that it doesn’t matter how much you make, it matters how you spend it. And he doesn’t miss a chance to talk about the financial literacy classes his (trustee) office promotes.
A popular nonprofit pairs people making minimum wage with middle/upper-middle class residents for this financial literacy curriculum.

I held my tongue as they told the participants to save 10% of their income.
Imagjne telling someone who makes $7.25/hour (TN minimum wage) and someone who makes $75,000 that to be financially responsible, they must save 10% of their income.

It’s laughable, but that’s what passes for faith-based social services in the poorest large metro in the nation.
Let’s do the math, shall we?

A minimum wage worker who saves $7.25 of her income - assuming that she works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, which isn’t a safe assumption for someone working a low-wage job - will have $1,508 at the end of the year.
Someone who makes $75K a year will have $7,500 at the end of the year by saving that same 10%.

Assume they both invest with a 6% rate of return and annual contribution of that 10%.

One will have just under $24K in two years and the other will have just over $118K.
There’s nothing wrong with learning how to save. Most Americans - including the middle class - have virtually NO savings.

There IS something perverse about preaching financial literacy as the solution to poverty to people who are broke.
When the question is about poverty and I hear folks talk about financial literacy and not the profits that the rich make by refusing to pay their workers enough to live on, it makes me angry.
ESPECIALLY when they shout out #MLK in their Twitter bio.
Cc: @DCLenoir @LenoirForMayor

MLK called for a “radical redistribution of political and economic power.”

Not financial literacy classes.

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More from @wendi_c_thomas

Aug 22, 2018
Day 3 of the Memphis police surveillance trial set to begin in federal court soon. @mem_police Director Mike Rallings will testify first. Follow me on Twitter at @wendi_c_thomas for updates throughout the day. #MLK50
That’s not a cause for concern at all. The top of @DanielConnolly story from Day 2.
Read 132 tweets
Aug 20, 2018
Court is back in session: ACLU wants longtime ACLU attorney and local member Bruce Kramer to testify to clear up some of the discrepancy about the history of the West TN chapter. Problem is...
Kramer has been sitting in court all morning and he’s the attorney for the four plaintiffs who were dismissed because the judge decided they didn’t have standing.
Looks like Kramer is going to leave now and get deposed later tonight. Defense isn’t liking this at all, but they’re not protesting too much. Judge is directing Kramer to produce any relevant documents.
Read 39 tweets
Aug 13, 2018
I'll be live tweeting from the Shelby County Commission at @wendi_c_thomas. This is our local government at work. Y'all follow along. #ElectionsMatter
Here's the agenda for this afternoon's meeting. documentcloud.org/documents/4755… I'm interested in a few items, including this one re county contracts with minority and women-owned businesses, otherwise known as MWBEs.
Local nonprofit leader Bennie Nelson West speaking against an ordinance that would further regulate short-term rentals, i.e. AirBnBs. You can find all the docs associated with this meeting here: agenda.shelbycountytn.gov//sirepub/meeti…
Read 55 tweets
Aug 3, 2018
And the @IBWellsSociety investigative reporting workshop is off! Ron Nixon dropping knowledge on how to do investigations while also covering your beat. #NABJ2018 @NABJ
@nixonron: Use social media not just to promote your brand but also as a reporting tool.
@nixonron: Nurture your sources. Don’t just call when you’re on deadline. Call regularly. If a source’s mother dies, it’s OK to send a sympathy card. Be human.
Read 75 tweets
Aug 3, 2018
This staff is about 80% white in a city that’s 63% black.

It’s bucking the national nonprofit news trend with a hard paywall.

It’s defying industry best practices by refusing to be transparent about their funders.

None of that is in this @Poynter story. @RickEdmonds
The writer for @Poynter does note that the city is majority black, but then it’s as if the diversity of the staff is unknowable. Or that the race of Eric Barnes and Andy Cates is unknowable.

But the race of the editor of the CA? Knowable. 🤦🏽‍♀️
Eric Barnes is white. Andy Cates is white.

When the Daily News wrote about the @dailymemphian, they listed 27 staffers.

You’ll have to get to the 10th name here before you find someone of color: Otis Sanford, former @memphisnews ME.
Read 5 tweets
Aug 2, 2018
Looking forward to talking about @MLK50Memphis and how to build an amazing team like my crew: @andreamorales @megawatts2000 @jdylan901 @lkleinmann @kirstinlcheers @deadlinedd and many more! @LIONPubs @NABJ #NABJ18
Gonna share some of our good work. We focused on economic justice in the city where MLK was killed. What has Memphis done with King’s sacrifice?

Not enough. mlk50.com/50-years-after…
We surveyed the area’s largest employers and learned that nearly half of them won’t even say if they pay a living wage.

Which, researchers say, says they aren’t. mlk50.com/do-memphis-25-…
Read 9 tweets

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