“Here’s the fix, tax the rich!” chanted 350 University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) workers, as they marched on May 26. Employees were mad as hell because of Governor Blagojevich’s threats against state pensions.

Government Pension Privatization Causes Disasters in Britain and Argentina

Commentary

San Jose, CA – Over the past four years, retired workers have faced a double-barreled attack as companies do away with their retiree health plans and dump their pension plans. At the same time, the fall in the stock market has reduced the value of 401-k plans for older workers and retirees, forcing many to have to work longer. Now the Bush administration has declared that it will move forward with plans to begin to privatize Social Security, creating personal investment accounts with the money that used to go to Social Security benefits. This would be a windfall for Wall Street, which could collect up to $15 billion dollars a year from ‘managing’ and ‘advising’ these retirement accounts.

San Jose, CA – 2003 saw a record number of people filing for bankruptcy – for the second year in a row. More than 1.6 million people filed for bankruptcy last year, or one out of every 73 households in the United States. The percentage of credit cards whose users have fallen behind on their payments also hit record highs last year. The increase in bankruptcies and late credit card payments, despite low interest rates, show that more and more households are being crushed by almost $10 trillion of debt.

San Jose, CA – As Congress wrapped up its business for the holiday break, the Republican leadership sent a big lump of coal to millions of unemployed workers. By refusing to renew the federal extended unemployment benefits program, jobless workers whose six-month state unemployment benefits ran out after Dec. 21, 2003 will no longer be able to collect thirteen more weeks of unemployment benefits. This will affect about 90,000 workers each week.

Commentary

San Jose, CA – In late September the Census Bureau reported that, for the second year in a row, household income fell, the number of poor rose, and more Americans lacked health insurance. Household incomes, adjusted for inflation, fell 1.1%. 1.7 million more people fell below the government’s official poverty line in 2002. In addition, 2.4 million more individuals went without health insurance than the year before.

San Jose, CA – In May, the unemployment rate rose to 6.1%, the highest level in nine years. Businesses have cut more than two and a half million jobs since the recession began in March of 2001. This drop in jobs is the longest since the Great Depression of the 1930s. With so many of us out of work, it is taking longer and longer for the unemployed to find jobs. It now takes an average of almost five months to find work, the longest period of time in almost twenty years.

San Jose, CA – With the continuing decline in the stock market, private pension plans in the United States are now short $300 billion of the amount needed to pay future promised benefits. In addition, state and local government pension plans have also lost almost $300 billion over the last two years, leaving them with a $180 billion shortfall. These deficits, along with decline in workers’ 401(k) retirement accounts and company cutbacks in retirement health insurance, mean even more insecurity for present and future retirees. To make things worse, Bush and some state governments want to replace current pension plans and social security with private investment accounts.

The Bush administration’s plans for war in Iraq pose a big risk to the economy. While the government claims the cost of the war will be about $50 billion, economist William Nordhaus of Yale University estimates that it could cost as much as $2 trillion, when including the costs of the war, an occupation of Iraq, and higher oil prices. This is more than one and half times as big as the entire federal government spending this year, and would lead to huge cuts in social services and other programs, as well as a massive increase in the federal deficit.

San Jose, CA – In late September, people turned off their lights in Argentina's capital city, Buenos Aires, and in much of the rest of the country. This latest protest was aimed at the foreign-owned utility companies that want to raise energy prices by 35 to 50%, and the telephone rates by as much at 275%. While the national government would like to let the utilities hike their prices, many people are calling for returning the utilities to public ownership, since there has been no improvement in service since they were privatized.

Poor and working class communities, already hit hard by layoffs and shorter work hours from the recession, are about feel more pain as state and local governments cut health care, education, and other social services that our families need.

There's not any doubt that executives at corporate giant WorldCom are guilty of fraud. By claiming that $3.8 billion in expenses were “investments,” they were able to tell investors that they had an extra $3.8 billion in profits. But games with accounting were the least of their crimes. 17,000 workers are losing their jobs. For the laid off, more than a few homes and dreams will be casualties of WorldCom's callousness. WorldCom employs about 80,000 people. More job cuts will take place in coming months. Pensions are gone. Families are left without health care. Life savings are wiped out.

San Jose, CA – In February, President Bush sent Congress his budget proposal wrapped in a red, white and blue American flag. The winners? Wealthier Americans who will get almost $600 billion more in tax cuts over the next ten years (on top of the $1.5 trillion tax cut passed last year) and the military, which will have $550 billion more to spend over the ten year period.

San Jose, CA – While layoffs mount and cities report more hunger and homelessness, Wall Street is expecting the economy to boom in 2002. This has sent stocks soaring since late September. Wall Street expects the Federal Reserve Bank's eleven interest rate cuts this year, along with more tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy being pushed by Republicans in Congress, to spark a recovery in corporate profits.

Economist Adam Price answers your questions on the deepening economic crisis.

San Jose, CA – Silicon Valley's boom is going bust. Hi-tech corporations that were once the darlings of Wall Street, such as Cisco, Hewlett Packard, and Juniper Networks are laying off thousands of workers. The unemployment rate here in Santa Clara County has doubled since the beginning of the year.

Laid off or your hours cut back? Falling behind on your loan payments or finding yourself with a bigger credit card balance each month? Or you just can't manage to save for emergencies or retirement? Think that your tax refund check will help out? Better think again.

Asheville, NC – One hundred students gathered on the steps of the University of North Carolina-Asheville’s (UNCA) Ramsey library today to protest against the administration cutting days out of the 2009-2010 academic calendar. With banners reading “Transparency now!” and chanting, “Let the students have your say, give us back our reading day!” students rallied for accountability, transparency and more student participation in decisions that affect them and the university community. The Coalition for Education Rights, made up of several campus organizations including Students for a Democratic Society, Student Government Association and HOLA (Hispanic Outreach for Learning and Awareness) organized the action.

Minneapolis, MN – The Hennepin County Sheriff's officers knocked on the door of Rosemary Williams on July 24, at 9:15 a.m. They handed her an eviction notice, stating that she and her family (including two grandbabies) had to be out of the house by Monday. Ms. Williams, along with the MN Coalition for People's Bailout the MN Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign were already prepared with a press conference to announce plans to resist the eviction.