As the nation sees improvements in the housing industry, some have noticed communities of color left out. The monitor for the 2009 fair housing settlement in Westchester is currently studying data to determine if the county’s zones excludes Blacks and Hispanics.

Last week, I said that if Congress has to make cuts, we should embrace the idea of ridding ourselves of wasteful giveaways to the fossil fuel industry. Here's an idea. Let’s cut the Master Limited Partnership loophole and fossil fuel subsidies.

President Barack Obama recently called on Congress to extend tax breaks for America's 114 million middle-income families that make less than $250,000. The President has also proposed to let the Bush era's high-income tax cuts expire at the end of this year and use the resulting $1 trillion in savings over 10 years as part of a balanced plan to reduce deficits and debt and put the nation in the right direction towards shoring up our national budget.

To not understand the language of money, financial literacy, and to not have a mainstream bank (or credit union) account in the 21st century, clearly an economic age, is to be an economic slave. If you do not know better, you cannot do better.

Let me say up front, I am no expert on poverty. By that I mean that I am not a statistician or a sociologist, nor do I belong to any related group considered fluent in the language of poverty. I am, however, a business owner in Harlem, which led me to my Gandhi moment of discovery and enlightenment.