A new study by Citi apparently concludes that racism costs our economy $16 trillion. I can’t vouch for that number or the methodology of the study, but I have no doubt that the gist of it is accurate, and it helps to illustrate one of the problems with reparations.
Racism is inefficient; that’s why the railroad company wanted to invalidate the segregated car requirement in Plessy v. Ferguson. Furthermore, while it is emphatically true that black people were deprived of income and wealth as a result of discrimination, it does not follow that their loss caused a corresponding gain for white people. There is no lump of wealth, any more than there is a lump of labor. And so, there is no pile of unearned money to compensate black people for their loss–everyone loses financially with racism.