News and Views from the People's Struggle
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.
Strike authorized
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.
Hurricane Florence set to hit Carolinas
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.
New York, NY – Around 50 socialists and community organizers gathered on Sunday, May 6 to celebrate the 200th birthday of Karl Marx – the founder of scientific socialism.
Editor’s note: Fight Back! will be running a number of articles to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx.
Part three of a three-part interview with Professor Masao Suzuki
This is part three of a three-part interview. Click for part one and part two of this interview. Fight Back!: President Trump seems intent on risking on a trade war with China in order to narrow the U.S. trade deficit. Trump thinks the U.S. trade deficit means that the U.S. is a loser, and by bringing down the trade deficit the U.S. economy will grow by the same amount, creating jobs and income here in the U.S. What do you think?
Part two of a three-part interview with Professor Masao Suzuki
This is part two of a three-part interview. Click for part one and part three of this interview. Fight Back!: In your opinion, what are the main causes of the U.S. trade deficit?
_Part one of a three-part interview with Professor Masao Suzuki _
This is part one of a three-part interview. Click for part two and part three of this interview. Fight Back!: Professor Suzuki, there has been a lot in the news about the Trump administration’s new tariffs and the U.S. trade deficit. How big is it really?
The U.S. stock market fell again Friday, April 6, with the broadest measure, the S&P 500, falling more than 2%. This followed President Trump’s tweet on Thursday that he would ask for a list of an additional $100 billion in imports from China to put tariffs on, raising the total to more than $150 billion. It was also revealed that there are no negotiations between China and the U.S., raising the likelihood of a full-blown trade war.
