💸💪🏾Moneda Moves (24): ....about that avocado toast 🥑 🥑 🥑
Personally, I prefer guacamole. 🥑 But no matter what way you like to consume your avocados, there would be far less of it in a world where President Trump decides to close the U.S.-Mexico border. 🇲🇽🇺🇸Americans would run out of the buttery ingredient in three weeks flat, per the largest distributor of avocados in the world. It's no secret millennials treasure their avocados unlike another other produce, so of course The Late Night Show With Stephen Colbert came through with their comical take on a U.S. without avocados.
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And while an avocado deficiency alone would not devastate the economy or most of our diets,there is a running list of much more serious ways that a closure at the border could devastate the U.S. Among them:
A disruption of $137 billion in food imports
Today Mexico supplies 44% of imported produce such as tomatoes, cucumbers and raspberries
U.S. auto production would come to a stop in a week
This week, Fortune gave us a solid recap of what shutting down the Mexico border could do to our economy. How they described it? Crippling.
As for Trump proposing he could close the U.S.-Mexico border entirely...it's misleading on the topic of immigration. Vox explains he only has control over the ports of entry, not as much what happens in between. There has in fact been a slowdown at the border in the last few days, but not for the reasons you may think. Logistics, and not Trump is the reason staff at the border has been reassigned to care for immigrants.
We will be keeping an eye on news from the border in the upcoming week. Onto this week's Moneda Moves.
Con poder✊🏽,
Lyanne
Keep tabs/cuentas on what's happening at the intersection of Latinx and money.
Latinx students push back against administration cuts💰: It's clear the proposed Trump administration reductions and changes to education programs affect more than Latinx students alone. But this week, students from Hispanic Serving Institutions were in Washington to express their concern on budget cuts to education programs. Let the records show: This kind of funding is crucial for the community. More than half of Latinx students rely on Pell grants to pay for college. The story comes from Patricia Guadalupe at NBC Latino.
Know the powerful/potentes Latinx and up-and-comers in the money world.
You've seen this headline on Moneda Moves before... 😉: Latinas are the future of the American economy, and it's no secret. A quick recap:
From 2007 to 2015, nearly half of the growth in new Latino business came from firms started by women. That's in addition to being mothers and leaders in the household. Not only are we leaning in, we are also leading the way in terms of small business creation among women, per a report by Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Check the full resumen in this Moneda Moves on National Women's Small Business Month
Between 2007 and 2012, the number of Latina-owned businesses grew a powerful 87%, from 800,000 to 1.5 million firms, per Geoscape
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In contrast to these incredible stats, there is also the jarring wage gap for Latinas, who, compared to their counterparts also face the largest discrepancy in terms of pay. 💼That being said, an article this week from Lydia DePillis at CNN Business explains why the future looks hopeful for this demographic: Latinas are the only demographic group exceeding their previous record for labor force participation since the early 2000s.
Given that the median age for Latinx is 29, that gives Latinas in particular a lot of room to grow and maximize earning power. Of course, the story also touches on growing spending power and the rise of higher education for Latinas. But here at Moneda Moves, we are looking to Latinas not only as spenders and people to be marketed to, but rather a group with great potential to be in the driver's seat and creating business. 💸💪🏾
Put your money/monedita where your mouth is! Some money tips for thought.
Let's talk making dinero at work 👠: In honor of Equal Pay Day, Founder and CEO of Ladies Get Paid Claire Wasserman joined me at Nasdaq to talk about how to show your worth and advocate for yourself in the workplace. A big takeaway from the interview? Wasserman says getting paid what you deserve isn't about fairness alone, but because "you've proven you're a top performer. Therefore, you should get top dollar."💰
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The stat floating around this week: Women getting paid 79 cents to a man's dollar is not representative of all groups, but we nonetheless took the day as an opportunity to discuss how to level the playing field for yourself and from a company perspective. Watch the full interview here.
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