you
What up?
What up?
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
It's your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the grapevine.
On the award-winning 10170 Truth Live from the American Family Insurance Studios.
I've been tired all day.
I'm just making it every time.
How y'all feeling, man?
We about to have a pretty interesting show today.
What I thought I was gonna talk about I'm not gonna talk about But we do have a conversation to continue 8 3 3 2 1 2 10 17 That's the number to dial 8 3 3 2 1 2 10 17 that is the number to die You could text that number as well y'all Follow me on Facebook Instagram Twitter
Tick tock, I'm back onto it now.
R-A-Y-N-I-T-T-I.
R-A-Y-N-I-T-T-I on all platforms.
If you can't join us in your car, hit us up on YouTube.
Or if you got to get out your car to walk in to work, you might have just clocked out on your lunch break.
Hop on YouTube.
Check us out.
Today we want to talk about something that's very important y'all It's gonna be a little carryover, but with a little different uh With a little different lens on the on the lunch break we were talking about the US debt Hitting 40 trillion dollars yesterday we talked about how did we get there?
You know who was responsible who do we owe?
40 trillion we owe somebody and when do they want it by?
These are the questions that we don't be getting the answers to like When do you want this 40 tees bar man?
That's a huge number But it was a couple things we didn't necessarily get to touch on
in the show, because we be having a good time on the lunch break.
Shannon will actually be in town later today.
So we gonna have a good time while she in town.
She'll be in studio tomorrow.
So make sure y'all bring somebody to lunch with you tomorrow, man.
12 to two.
It's gonna be an amazing time.
But what I wanted to talk about today,
That we didn't get to talk about is what drives us into and keeps us in debt As humans not as a country as humans Then I want to talk to I got as a community What keeps us there as well We talked about some of that on the lunch break as well wealth
Not being distributed in our communities, whether that's passing it on from life insurance policies and things of that nature.
Or having the right insurance policy.
Or owning the businesses that we shop at in our community.
Because the Sandra called in and said.
Something that a lot of us already know, but.
I'ma say it again, because there's a few of us that don't know it.
The black dollar only stays in our community for one day.
One day before it's gone.
One day before it's gone.
I got my reasons as to why.
Well, one is I don't think none of the stores, the majority of the stores, ain't owned by us.
So who we shopping with don't look like us right away, soon as we walk out our door.
And then, two, we don't prioritize searching for the businesses that could provide the services or the goods that we need.
I'm guilty of it, too.
This ain't no finger pointing situation.
I'm guilty of it, too.
We just talked about the black BP gas station on Akison.
Shannon even said, Ray, you posted it.
I see you posted.
But.
I feel like these last couple of times I have not prioritized.
Making sure, OK, I'm going to Accasin to get my gas.
I was at the beginning, but now, you know, like we make all the excuses.
For why are we not doing something?
It sure is a preference, you know, people got their own preference, but I was making it my point to make sure I went to Akison to get that gas.
Then my route changed and, you know, start taking different ways to get to work and whatnot and get to the station.
So now you make excuses like, I get it on Sunday when I'm going to.
Clinton Rose Park.
But typically after a week of driving for work, you fill it up on Friday or Saturday.
So Sunday, your tank full.
And now I have now just perpetuated this cycle.
Instead of prioritizing going out and seeking.
Black businesses that we could spend our money with, I'm part of it, too.
So I'm working on being more intentional.
about where I spend my dollars.
We got cousin Rob on the line.
Rob, how you feeling, man?
You live on the grapevine.
All
right.
All right, all right, all right.
All praise be to the most high man.
I love your conversation, man.
And the thing is, we as a people, most of us, don't realize is that we're following their pyramid scheme, because as you know, it started out with the white man, and then the
Asians came up, the Chinese came over and occupied all the stores.
And then after them, the Arabs came over and now it's the Indians.
So they've all had a term getting in our pockets, man, and they will not let us get loans to sustain our own communities.
And that's all by design.
So as you said, we have to prioritize where we spend our money because we have buying power.
And if we prioritize going to black business, we will be in the right trajectory to get out of this situation.
But we can't just say, oh, our being them is right down the street.
I'm just going to go to them.
No, go to Uncle James.
You know, help a brother out, man.
But we can't get past it if we do not learn how to prioritize and promise and guarantee to spend our money with us.
That's all I want to say, brother.
I let your conversation keep it up, and
Man, I appreciate you, cousin Rob.
I appreciate you, man.
Yeah, cousin Rob said it right.
You said it right.
We going to go to the liquor store that's owned by the Indians.
Or the corner store.
Sherman Park grocery store.
That's black on.
That's black on right on.
What's that Sherman and and and find a lot.
Right over there, black on.
But you know, we don't prioritize.
I am included when I say we.
I'm included in that conversation.
We.
If we prioritize convenience, we prioritize our convenience over putting our community in a better position.
We mean in everybody, I'm a part of it too.
I'm guilty of it too.
I'm telling you about Sherman Park grocery store and I can't tell you the last time I've been there and actually did my grocery shopping there.
It's at least been a year.
But these are things I'm talking about.
I have to be better.
We as a community have to be better.
And until we start taking our buying power serious, ain't no other community going to take it serious.
Because you know what they be like, where else they gonna go?
Who else they gonna go shop with?
Eventually they gonna got to come, holler at me.
Debt, we in debt.
We can't get out of debt, we don't got banks.
That's gonna loan to people that look like us.
Because Rob just said that.
We know it's harder for us to get licenses and so forth.
It shouldn't be.
It shouldn't be.
So a lot of us go into certain other businesses like nightclubs and so forth.
Try to get involved that way.
Don't go anywhere y'all when we come back.
We'll keep this conversation going on the award-winning one on one seven the truth This is boy Ray nitty holding it down on the grapevine What up y'all welcome back to the grapevine it's a boy Ray nitty hope y'all having a great time
On the award-winning 10170 Truth live from the American Family Assurance Studios.
How y'all feeling?
We talking about US debt.
We talking about our debt.
We talking about community debt.
And how we can get out of it, man?
How we get out of it?
We represent $1.6 trillion in buying power that we not taking advantage of.
We not taking advantage of it as a community, as a whole.
We not passing down.
Like important conversations and lessons to our young people.
We teaching them how to be wasteful spenders.
We teaching them how to be wasteful spenders, man.
Indulging in excess.
Like overconsumption.
Not just the data.
I'm talking my over consuming of everything We not being wise with our financial power We ain't even being wise with our power of voting so imagine if we at least was like I
We ain't gonna organize our vote, but we gonna at least organize our dollars I'm telling y'all if we did those two things If we just do them two things my boy, I got nice our vote And our money My bad a little switch up sometimes the Caribbean in me just
You know, show up and say stuff.
But if we do those two things, work on those two things, prioritize it.
How we organize our money and how we organize our vote.
Then we'll be able to really, really show our power.
We'll really be able to show our power as a community.
Human debt was drive us into debt and what keeps us there?
I Like to tell y'all where we are fact check from in our sources, right?
So this is confirmed via the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Bank rates 2026 credit card debt report and the penny hoarders 2026 state of debt survey
A3 3 2 1 2 10 17 that's the number to dial a 3 3 2 1 2 10 17 as the number to dial So let's get into the scale of it, right?
Total US credit card debt sits at roughly 1.25 to 1.26 trillion as of mid 2026 The average American
with credit card debt owes around seventy seven hundred and fifty six dollars to nine no nine hundred seven thousand seven hundred and fifty six dollars to nine thousand and nine hundred dollars in credit card debt and total household debt which includes stuff like mortgages auto loans and student loans
Student loans is a scam.
It's far higher.
Roughly two thirds of Americans say they're currently in debt.
One in three households carries at least 10,000 in non-mortgage debt.
Absolutely.
Let's think about that credit card.
We don't know we don't be paying them credit card bills.
What actually drives people into it?
And this is in people's own words.
This is from a survey.
Remember, I cited my sources at the beginning of this segment.
The number one cited reason is rising cost of living slash inflation.
At 21%.
Which was followed by income simply not covering expenses at 17%.
Nearly 30% say rising house housing costs have forced them to cut back elsewhere.
Twenty four percent have had to charge groceries to a credit card in the past year.
Let's think of that.
When we got.
Americans putting.
Groceries.
Groceries on a credit card.
Not cuz You know, they just trying to get points They doing it because they have to I'm sure that's why they Answered this way in the survey this peanut butter cookies so far 24% have had to charge their groceries to a credit card in the past year
Among people specifically carrying credit card debt, 41% site and emergency or unexpected expenses, things like medical bills, car repairs, home repairs, family loans.
As the primary driver, what's interesting is...
Nobody said anything about overspending on once That's interesting Nobody said it wasn't on there not overspending on once not things we need Just things that we want I wanted this peanut butter cookie.
I didn't need it This is my tenth one this week
I want y'all to think of that.
Each cookie is about $3.25.
In a week, I'm at a half a tank of gas and cookies.
And I'm sorry, I didn't leave a tip.
I can't leave a tip on the cookie, man.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
And I'm a 20%er.
We tip 20% all the time.
But on the cookie I'm straight man.
Don't even take me to that screen fam.
And then they just, I don't like how they just put it on there and then automatically select what they would like you to do and then show it to you and walk away like you don't see it.
Like nah, no tip man.
Now for just walking up to the counter and getting the cookie.
We gotta, come on now.
I don't even think that person is getting paid like a waitress or waiter would get paid.
He's getting regular, regular pay.
But anyway, people label these things as the primary driver, not overspending on ones.
That was interesting to me.
Babar said, you supposed to be on your diet.
I'm telling you bad choices.
Distractions but bar I'ma start tomorrow Again This was a rough week man.
It was a week man Why people what keeps people stuck?
47% of credit card holders carry a balance
month to month and 61% have been in debt for at least a year.
Up from 53% just two years earlier.
One in five don't believe they'll ever pay it off.
One in five people like to hell with them.
One in five is like to hell with them bills.
I'm not paying it.
I'm one of them five.
Student loans?
Sally and Mae gonna have to find me.
I'm sorry.
Y'all scammed me.
You scammed me.
You scammed me, Sally.
Fanny.
And why they all last name Mae?
Sally Mae, Fanny Mae.
Freddie May.
Billy May.
Right.
Sally's still in business.
Then one of them went out.
Was it Franny?
Franny May went out of business or Freddie?
Is it Freddie May?
I'm saying Franny.
Student loans is a scam, man.
You charging.
Think about this.
I want y'all to think about this right here.
Go to a bank at 18, 17 years old.
Try to get a damn loan.
Try to apply for a credit card.
They won't, they won't even try to give you $50.
Oh, but student loans?
Oh, let's give them 40 racks a semester.
I was, I was appalled my freshman year at Concordia.
It's like 40 Gs a semester fam.
A semester.
I didn't even want to be there.
Then I had to go I gotta go to break we'll be back after these messages What up y'all welcome back this is the grapevine with your boy Ray nitty On the award-winning one-on-one seven the truth live from the American family and share studios Milwaukee Mark yo calendars
Join us for Truth Family Fest on Saturday, yes, this Saturday, August 22nd, from 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m.
at Riverside University High School.
It's free fun for the entire family, featuring great music, community resources, family activities, and back-to-school support to help students get ready for a successful school year.
Interested in volunteering?
Visit the Truth Family Fest website at truthfamilyfest.com.
To complete the volunteer form or by emailing,
c-i-e-r-r-a dot brown at Milwaukee black media dot com.
Bring the whole family and experience one of Milwaukee's favorite community celebrations.
Truth Family Fest Saturday, August 22nd from 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m.
Special thanks to Educators Credit Union, American Family Assurance, Milwaukee Public Schools, Artist Working in Education, City of Milwaukee, Department of Community Wellness and Safety, AB Corcor, Ascension, and Tapien MKE, y'all.
Make sure y'all tap in with us, man.
This Saturday.
This Saturday.
This Saturday, for sure.
Make sure y'all pull up to Riverside 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m.
Shout out to our Chapman Bobar in here, Loran in here.
We got Timothy Cole says good afternoon, Truth Nation.
Loran said my people make tips on every order.
They either take your order or you can read it in on the kiosk.
They make your food, box your food, and give you your food.
My shop is in Mekwan.
It's not even a question.
No, for sure.
Man, you got a restaurant.
For sure.
A service, for sure.
I agree, 100%.
100%.
I'm just talking about just running up to this window, getting a quick peanut butter cookie on my three-minute commercial break before I have to be back on here.
Timothy says, I just had a situation at Gals on Taitonia, and I would like to make the people aware of it.
Call us up, Timothy.
Call us up, 833-212-1017.
Share your truth, man.
Call us up.
Let us know what's going on.
We just ask that you keep it family-friendly when you speak.
That's all.
Because I know sometimes we get passionate, and we, you know, we get excited when we, I know I do, and I'm working on it.
But call us up man a 3 3 2 1 2 10 17 share your truth.
Please do let us know what happened We was just talking about being intentional about our dollars Sherman Park grocery store black on right on Sherman or North Avenue Jazz what's up jazz?
We got miss Charlotte on the line miss Charlotte.
How you doing good afternoon?
We on the grapevine
I'm doing
well.
I just have a few points to help young people.
I am totally debt-free.
I haven't worked in seven years because I planned.
I planned.
I own my own house.
No mortgage.
I own my own car.
No note.
But black people, we keep buying discretionary income stuff with credit.
It's stupid.
It's stupid.
I remember, you know, if you are a renter, why are you buying designer
You're stupid.
You're stupid.
You know, there's no other way to put it.
You're stupid.
You know, you're stupid.
You know, when, when I, I realized being a renter early on when I had three kids, somebody could put me out.
So I focused on owning a home.
I got my credit straight.
I saved money.
I didn't buy, I didn't buy a new car for three years because I was focusing on owning a house.
And I'm gonna leave you with this.
My daddy told me my mother and father were from the Caribbean like you
I'm from New York and we from Trini.
and My mother and father brought a house and we didn't own a car and when we used to walk to the grocery store in New York And I complain I complain once to my dad why we walking to the grocery store and he said to me these people are riding
to the grocery store and come back into somebody else's house.
You walk into your own.
Hmm.
You know, people, you know, that's some truth there.
truth.
Stop.
Stop with this discretionary spending when you don't, you know, you can't even pay rent.
to focus on.
And it's very sad.
I'm going to leave you with this very sad to see older people my age that still have to work.
I don't
Well, nothing you said that you need to focus on another show is investments.
I have investments.
Yeah, and we and when young people when you look for a job a Permanent job.
I'm not talking about McDonald's look for jobs that pay in stocks I work for shame and and they paid in stock
your money, but they match stocks
And I took money aside and every matching thing they had, that's like our money now.
Pay attention, Black people, pay attention.
No, you are a hundred percent, a thousand percent right, Miss Charlotte.
And we are going to have a deeper conversation about the importance of investing our finances.
So I would love if you call back in and share some of your story on that.
We might do that tomorrow when Shannon is actually in studio.
So that would be super dope.
We got Tim on the line, y'all.
Tim reached out, said he had a situation at Gauss.
How you doing, man?
Talk to us.
How do we elevate your truth today?
Well, first of all, good afternoon to you all.
I just wanted to call and then ask.
Um, I said the message, obviously you guys had a conversation that kind of deals with what I was talking to when I'm talking about.
I'm going to try to quickly go through it.
I walk into Dallas, probably about 11 this morning, somewhere in the 1112.
Um, and I went for a purpose.
So I go straight, straight to the meat department.
So when I go to the meat department, you know, every meat department has this space where you can usually see the workers back there doing whatever they're doing.
I went to that area, so I'm standing there.
There's two girls in there.
One, they're like to the left and right of each other, working.
They're rapping.
They are working.
They're working.
Well, one girl stopped and went to go over to talk to the other girl.
When she walked over, they both kind of peeking over there and they see me standing there.
She go over there.
They laugh and a few minutes later, she come out the blinds or whatever they call them and walks right past and it goes to the left.
Didn't acknowledge me or nothing And I'm saying this is about five minutes in she comes back now Those two were in there in front of me in front of one of the counters the counters is fair in front of where you can view them There's a white coat laying over the counter and a black cap
still nobody comes so I get a little loud.
I wonder like where is everybody else?
How long do I have to wait?
I'm still waiting.
I walk to the front.
I say, how long do I have to wait before I ask the question?
Because at that point, that's all I had was a question.
Right.
I go to the front.
Oh, they give me all kinds of excuses.
One of the excuses was, oh, well, they don't speak English.
All right.
So that's an excuse.
OK.
No.
Instead of anybody coming to me and acknowledging me that works there, there was a guy there with a pink shirt on who would allow me to be the manager of something.
And he hears me talking to them.
Now he calls out and he says, why are you being disrespectful?
Really?
were paying customers.
Now I'm going to want to be disrespectful.
10 minutes a good 10 minutes no response no nothing and then that's the response I get
and what I did what I did was I stood in the middle of that store and I talked to everybody in that store I Explained how that store originated.
I may not know the year.
I may not know nothing, but I know it was black owned Hmm
again.
Now they don't came into the community and this is what I'm hollering.
You don't came into our community.
I have never heard you give back to the community.
I have never heard your name as a sponsor to any community group.
Hmm.
A couple.
couple of them.
They were black socialite.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You talking about Lena originally?
I'm not mistaken.
That's the one I was at.
That's the one I was at, yeah.
know
family.
But it just goes back and goes back to the thing.
They sold that
it.
Yeah.
And so, and that was my point, like you're in our community.
You're in our community.
We never hear about you.
We never hear about you.
then I just heard somebody talking about the Black Dollar.
We got to watch where we spend our Black Dollar.
Period.
Well, I don't know if you know.
But there is Sherman Park Grocery Store right on Sherman and North Avenue.
And I just said I gotta hold myself accountable and make sure I'm prioritizing and going to these, you know, businesses that will keep us.
So that's another conversation.
That's another conversation.
Black people, black businesses need grace, man.
We need grace.
We need grace.
You got to think of how much of entrepreneurship we was left out at as a community like Respect and this is this is not trying to make this no race thing or nothing, but the truth is a lot of white people Pass businesses down to their families We passed down debt
So when we get into business and things of that nature, we don't necessarily always have the experience, but we try it.
We always, we always say, oh, you know, the others had a 400 year head start.
So yeah, I try to give our people a little bit, a little bit of grace, but there is things we got to work on as a community though.
We do gotta work on our customer service.
We do gotta work on being open when we say we gonna be open.
Don't go anywhere, y'all.
We'll be right back after these
messages.
What up, y'all?
Welcome back to the award-winning 1017, The Truth.
It's your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the grapevine.
Hope y'all feeling real fine.
Man, we talking about... Man, we was talking about debt.
Then we talked about what keeps us in debt.
Then we talked about ownership.
And being intentional about our buying power, our spending power, 1.6 trillion is what we represent as a community.
And we had cousin Tim called in and gave an example about a situation that he had at Gall's Foods where he was ignored.
And the excuse that they gave him was like, oh, they don't speak English.
You know, shots out to the chat.
They said a new coat can cost you.
10 to $50, that's nothing if you need one.
She said, I don't know how old she said she was, but back then, you don't know, $50 might be a lot to somebody back then.
$50 might be a lot.
Shoot, I remember, I had been not looking at no $80 shoes.
My mama would take me under that warehouse shoes tent.
They used to be on Silver Spring.
We weren't even going inside warehouse shoes.
We was under the tent.
Go get you some of them Reebok soldiers and classics for twenty eight ninety nine.
Get you a few colors, too, so you can last throughout the school year.
Abstract noir says you can't complain when other people come into black communities, owning stores when black community isn't that business savvy.
And for people who do have business, there's always complaints.
That could be a fair angle to look at it, but let's not just act like only black businesses have complaints.
A lot of these super chain stores that we talk about have some of the worst customer service.
White
Pay less you show right pay less had them.
Man, what?
Pay less had that that it was a smell of of like cheap leather and pay less that just drove me up a wall.
Like I'm going to get ribbed just walking out of this store.
But we have shoes on our feet.
I'm just saying, man.
Tim was talking about a few things.
Do we give black businesses grace?
Because I do believe, you know, we're young in entrepreneurism as a community.
We're young.
We're going to make mistakes.
Everybody not perfect.
A lot of us make mistakes at the jobs that we have.
Much less running a business.
People make mistakes at their everyday jobs.
So yeah, I give black businesses a little grace.
But here's what we do, right?
Here's what we do.
When we go When we go and have a bad experience at a black business, right The first thing we do is run online and try to tear them down That's why I don't support black businesses because they don't know how to XYZ I Remember seeing jewelry stores
That called police on NBA players that played for the Bucks John Henson Caught the police on him Bro still went in after the police situation and bought jewelry Ah You still went in and spent that money
After they didn't want you in there.
We got to prioritize our spending.
Abstract said not gonna lie, when I was a kid I couldn't really get the shoes I wanted.
I had made the low popular shoes and I remember to wear House Shoes 10 on Brown Deer back in the day.
It wasn't until I got a job in high school I was able to buy the shoes I wanted.
And man, you was able to get a job in high school.
I commend you for that.
I got a job my senior year.
And I was putting in on the bills.
Couldn't even put in on the shoes I wanted.
My first pair of Jordans was like 2009, I think.
I think that's when the cool Graves came back out.
That was my first pair of bought Jordans.
But let's get back to this.
Let's get back to this right here.
We talking about what keeps us in debt.
How do we get there?
We said the total US credit card debt sits roughly at 1.25 million as of mid-2026.
The average American with credit card debt owes roughly $7,700 to $9,900 in total household debt, which include in mortgages, auto, and student loans.
I said student loans is a scam.
Roughly two-thirds of Americans say they're currently in debt.
One in three household carries at least 10,000 in non-mortgage debt.
So now we're talking about what actually drives people into it.
And they had a survey.
The number one cited reason was rising costs of living and inflation.
Then followed by income simply not covering the expenses.
And then nearly 30%
say rising housing costs have forced them to cut back elsewhere.
24% had to charge groceries to a credit card in the past.
And among people specifically carrying credit card debt, 41% cite an emergency or unexpected expense.
Nobody said anything about overspending on once.
What keeps people stuck 47 47% of credit card holders carry a balance month to month 61% been in debt for at least a year and up to 53% just two years earlier one in five don't believe they'll ever pay it off Average credit card interest rates now sits up Jesus 21%
That's the highest sustained level the fans has tracked.
Meaning minimum payments increasingly go almost entirely to interest rather than principal.
And y'all know if you know, if all you're doing is paying the interest, your debt never goes down.
So you, you trying to stay current at least, right?
And make your minimum payment.
That's why it's a trick.
It's a scale your interest rate is so high Most Americans are just paying the interest rate not the principal I Remember when I finally Understood what that meant.
I was pissed trying to pay my little $500 credit card bill off at 18 19 That a terrible tourists ran up
I'll never dated towards in my life again.
I'm thankful for my cancer wife.
She's a cancer, not like.
Ran my little credit up.
Left me broken and broke.
You like I'm paid his little twenty seven dollars, you know, start chipping away.
Yo interest is $30 Man a third of Americans blame themselves for being in debt that's a start It is my fault
Young people coming out of high school and pressuring them to go right into college.
And that starts the debt cycle.
We program our young people to be prepared for debt.
Even when the leading causes, inflation, medical emergencies, stagnant wages are largely outside individual control.
It's worth naming directly since shame keeps people from asking for help or even talking about it.
So this is where it is differently by race.
OK, OK, OK, I was just going to say, it wasn't this time we got.
Let's go ahead.
Uh, go to break early.
Come back.
He said, no, I'm going to read this.
Then we'll go to break.
So where does his differently by race, right?
56% of black adults report owing money for a medical or dental bill compared to 37% of white adults.
Black and Hispanic households carry a higher share of unsecured debt.
meaning credit cards and medical bills, the kind that doesn't build any asset or wealth versus secured debt, like mortgages, which does.
When we come back, y'all, we're going to get deeper into this thing on where the different lies by race.
This is Ray Nitty on the grapevine on the award-winning 10170 Truth.