San José, CA – On Friday, December 7, the Department of Labor released its report on the job market in November. There was a net gain of 155,000 jobs, less than the predicted 200,000 and less than the average gains for the first ten months of the year. While the official unemployment rate stayed the same at 3.7%, the broadest measure of unemployment, which includes part-time workers who can’t find full-time work, ticked up to 7.6%, more than twice the official rate.
San José, CA – On Monday, November 26, General Motors announced that it was cutting 15,000 jobs. Their plans include closing five auto and auto parts plants in the United States and Canada. Wall Street liked the news, and GM’s stock rose almost 5%, three times as much as the broader stock market. But for thousands of GM workers, the holidays suddenly became much bleaker.
San José, CA – Stocks fell again on Friday, November 23, pulled down by the falling price of oil. The broadest major stock market index, the Standard & Poor’s 500, which measures the prices of 500 large U.S. corporations, officially entered correction territory, by closing more than 10% below its all-time high. This has been the worst week for the stocks in the S&P 500 in 80 years.
Tallahassee, FL – On November 7, students, activists and community members from around the Tallahassee area gathered at The Plant Arts Center to celebrate the 101st anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. The event was organized by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).
San José, CA – U.S. stocks couldn’t hold on to early gains, November 21, as their attempt to bounce after two days of large losses largely fizzled. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had gained more than 200 points in early going, actually ended with a tiny loss, while other averages were able to hold on to small gains of less than 1%. Despite this break from heavy losses, the U.S. stock market is off to its worst start for the third quarter (October to December) since the 2008 financial crisis.
San José, CA – On Friday, October 26, the U.S. stock market fell again. The broadest measure of U.S. stocks, the S&P 500, which measures the prices of 500 of the largest corporations in the United States, fell 1.7%, ending the day below where it started the year in January. One of the hardest hit stocks was Amazon, which fell almost 8% on Friday, down nearly 20% since it hit a high in September, giving the corporation a market value of $1 trillion.
San Jose, CA – On October 15, the U.S. Treasury department said that the federal government budget deficit for Fiscal Year 2018 soared 17% from the previous year, to $779 billion. This was equal to 3.9% of the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, the official measure of total production of goods in services in the United States in a year.
San José, CA – On Wednesday and Thursday, October 10 and 11, U.S. stock markets slumped, with the widely followed Dow Jones Industrial Average or Dow down over 800 points on Wednesday and another 500 points on Thursday. While the market did recover a bit at the of trading week on Friday, with the Dow up about 250 points, uncertainty about the bull market in stocks and the ongoing economic expansion are back.
On, Sept. 30, Canada agreed to changes in NAFTA pushed by the Trump administration following an earlier agreement by Mexico. The New NAFTA still needs to be approved by the legislators of all three countries, and a vote is not expected in the U.S. Congress until early next year. Wall Street seemed satisfied with the agreement, with most U.S. stock market indices going up the next day.
Washington, DC – Contract negotiations between United Steelworkers (USW) and U.S. Steel have failed to make headway after an overwhelmingly successful strike authorization vote took place earlier this month. In what has been described by the negotiating committee as a “frustrating series of negotiations,” the company continues to offer the same concessionary proposals by shifting around wages, benefits and bonuses.
Por la Organización Socialista Camino a la Libertad
San José, CA – On Sept. 17, President Trump announced that tariffs of 10% will be slapped on $200 billion of Chinese goods starting Sept. 24. These tariffs will rise to 25% at the beginning of 2019. Trump also said that he would put tariffs on another $267 billion dollars of imports from China if China responds to his tariffs. Along with the tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports already in place, this would mean steep tariffs on virtually all of the $500 billion in goods that the United States buys from China.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following resolution on the economy, that was adopted at the 8th Congress of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).
_Tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports includes Christmas lights _
San José, CA – While most Americans won’t have a ‘white Christmas’ this year, many of us will be looking forward to the displays of lights on many homes and businesses. Now the Trump administration’s escalating trade war with China threatens to dim this coming holiday celebrations – or at least make them more expensive.
New York, NY – On June 5, fashion designer Kate Spade died via suicide. Three days later, chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain also committed suicide. Along with his TV show, Bourdain was a supporter of Palestine and the #MeToo movement, as well as openly criticizing Henry Kissinger for his foreign policy.
San José, CA – U.S. stock markets fell again, June 25, as trade war worries continued to weigh on investors. The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 1.3% or more than 300 points, after regaining some ground from a 500 point sell-off earlier in the day. The NASDAQ index, which includes more stocks of high-tech companies, fell over 2%.
San José, CA – On June 19, stock markets around the world fell in reaction to U.S. President Trump’s promise to escalate the U.S. trade war with China. The Japanese Nikei index fell almost 2% along with other Asian markets. In Europe, Germany’s export-oriented economy meant its stocks were hit the hardest, with the German DAX index down more than 1%. The world sell-off ended in New York City, with the Dow Jones industrial average down more than 1%, bringing the average to below its starting point for the year.
San José, CA – On Friday, June 15, President Trump signed orders to place tariffs (taxes) on $34 billion of imports from China beginning July 6. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) will be imposing tariffs on another $16 billion of imports from China in the near future for a total of $50 billion in imports facing 25% taxes. This represents another turnaround in trade from a few weeks ago, when Trump’s Commerce Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that the trade war was “on hold” after initial negotiation with the Chinese government, which had offered to increase purchases of U.S. goods and further open the Chinese economy to foreign investments.
San José, CA – On Friday, June 1, new U.S. tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum imported from Canada, Mexico and the European Union (EU) went into effect. These countries supply about half of U.S. steel imports. All of the countries responded with counter-tariffs on U.S. exports that will start in a month or less. In addition, the other countries are going to be filing suit with the World Trade Organization (WTO), charging that the U.S. reason of “national security” is just a fig leaf to cover U.S. violation of WTO rules.
