Plainfield, NJ – A move to close Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield, New Jersey has triggered a storm of protest. Plainfield would hardly be a city without the 125-year old Muhlenberg Hospital.

Commentary

Commentary

San Jose, CA – New economic data released in early January 2008 showed that the U.S. economy was on the edge of a recession in December. On Jan. 2, the Institute for Supply Management reported that the manufacturing sector shrank in December. Their index fell to 47.7 from 50.8 in November, the lowest level since April of 2003. Then on Jan. 4, the Department of Labor said that the unemployment rate rose to 5% in December, from 4.7% the month before, the biggest one-month jump since the last recession in 2001. In the same report, the Labor Department also said that only 18,000 new jobs were created in December, the weakest number since August of 2003.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following press statement from Professor Jose Maria Sison, chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. The statement deals with economic developments in the Philippines and the United States.

San Jose, CA – On Dec. 6, the Mortgage Bankers Association of America reported that home foreclosures and late mortgages rose to record highs in the July to September period. The next day, Bush’s Treasury Secretary Paulson announced a plan to aid home-buyers. While consumer advocates criticized the plan for being too little, too late, Wall Street liked the plan, which would let banks off the hook, and sent stocks up.

Commentary

San Jose, CA – On Sept. 18 the Federal Reserve cut two key short-term interest rates for bank loans by one-half a percentage point. These interest rate cuts followed on the heels of dismal economic data on jobs and the worsening housing and mortgage bust, as well as continued instability in financial markets. While stock markets around the world celebrated the larger-than-expected interest rate cuts with large increases, the Federal Reserve action reflects weakness, not strength, in the economy.

San Jose, CA – In July the U.S. housing market hit new lows, with the lowest number of permits for new homes and the lowest number of construction starts in more than ten years. Then in August financial markets across the globe were shaken by the growing defaults on mortgages in the United States.

San Jose, CA – Between September of 2005 and December of 2006 permits to build new homes went down 28%, as home sales have dropped and prices have started to fall. In the last 50 years there have been seven other declines in building permits of 25% or more, and every single one has been followed by a recession, the most recent being the 1990 recession.