The externalities of speculative capitalism still fall disproportionately on Black families and small businesses.

Evidence

If slavery’s economy sparked a “culture of speculation unique in its abandon,” as Rothman put it, it was in part because enslavers realized they could enrich themselves by breaking the rules with little consequence. Such side effects of capitalism—“externalities,” the economists call them—are routinely felt today. The Great Recession of 2008 caused the average Black family to lose a third of its wealth, and most Black businesses did not survive the downturn. Almost all of the major financial institutions responsible for that downturn, however, did survive. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 568

Categorization

• XREF: The 2008 recession fact echoes the Panic-of-1837 pattern from the prior paragraph — both crises concentrated losses on those without reserves.