Republicans in Congress have already voted to cut the taxes that pay for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Up to now these tax cuts have been vetoed by President Obama. But with the inauguration of Donald Trump, Republicans in the Senate and House will be free to cut ACA taxes and give hundreds of billions of dollars to the richest Americans.

Commentary by Masao Suzuki

One of the first things that Donald Trump said that he would do as president is repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as Obamacare. The ACA has dramatically reduced the number of Americans without health insurance, from more than 41 million in 2013 to less than 29 million two years later, a drop of 13 million people. A repeal of the ACA would increase the number of uninsured by 20 million people, so the that number of uninsured would rise to record levels.

While Donald Trump claims to be for the working man, his tax proposal is just another Republican tax cut for the rich and big business. The biggest single tax break would be for corporations, whose tax rate would be cut from 35% to 15%. This and other tax cuts for corporations and other businesses would cut federal tax revenue by about $4.5 trillion dollars over the next ten years, or about $450 billion dollars a year. This would mainly benefit the top 1%, who own about half of corporate and business wealth and other high-income individuals who could change their tax status to be a business.

El presidente electo Donald Trump ha prometido una nueva fase de represión contra los inmigrantes indocumentados en los EE.UU., de los cuales el 70% son mexicanos y centro americanos. Durante su campaña presidencial, Trump se dirigió a los inmigrantes mexicanos con ataques racistas, llamándolos narcotraficantes, criminales y violadores. El “Nuevo Contrato con el Elector Americano”, plan de acción para los primeros 100 días de su administración, cumple con las promesas de su campaña.

President-elect Donald Trump has promised a new level of repression against undocumented immigrants in the U.S., 70% of whom are Mexican and Central American. Throughout his campaign for president, Trump has targeted Mexican immigrants with racist attacks, calling them drug dealers, criminals and rapists. His new “Contract with the American Voter” describing his 100-day action plan follows through his campaign promises.

Report shows rising income inequality while maintaining myth of the middle class – Commentary by Masao Suzuki

San José, CA – In December of 2015 the Pew Research Center released a report on the decline in middle-income Americans, who now make up a minority of the population, down from 60% in the 1970s. Their share of income has fallen even more, from more than 60% in the 1970s to only 43% in 2014, as upper-income households share has risen from 30% to 49% over the same period of time. The Pew report also has other important information on wealth, debt, occupation and education, which were generally not reported in the mainstream corporate media.

Problems around the world hit U.S. economy

San José, CA – On Oct. 2, the Department of Labor reported that the U.S. economy created only 142,000 net new jobs in September. This was in much less than the 200,000-plus jobs that mainstream economists expected. Even worse, the Labor Department reported that their revised estimates for July and August turned out to be 59,000 fewer new jobs than originally reported.

Spy accusations part of U.S. preparations for war with China

San José, CA – On Sept. 11, the Justice Department dropped its charges against Xi Xiaoxing, who had been chair of the physics department at Temple University, until his arrest in May. Professor Xi’s home was raided and searched by a dozen FBI agents at dawn, some with guns drawn, when he was arrested and led away in handcuffs in front of his wife and two daughters. He was charged with sharing designs for a ‘pocket heater’ used in superconductor research with scientists in China.

San José, CA – In May of 2015, the official unemployment rate was 5.5%, close to the 5.0% rate in December 2007 when the last recession began. But despite what appears to be a recovery in the labor market, wages continue to rise at a very slow rate while profits have soared. In fact, businesses used the recession to continue their restructuring of the labor market in their interests, to the detriment of those who have to work for a living.

_House Republicans could force 19% benefit cut to Disability Insurance _

San José, CA – On August 14, Social Security will be 80 years old. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law during the Great Depression to curtail mass poverty among older Americans. Today the Social Security benefits go to 39 million retirees, 11 million disabled people, and 9 million dependents or survivors of the retired or disabled. Social Security has brought down the poverty rate for the elderly so the poverty rate for elders is actually lower than working age adults or children.

_House Republicans could force 19% benefit cut to Disability Insurance _

San José, CA – On August 14, Social Security will be 80 years old. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law during the Great Depression to curtail mass poverty among older Americans. Today the Social Security benefits go to 39 million retirees, 11 million disabled people, and 9 million dependents or survivors of the retired or disabled. Social Security has brought down the poverty rate for the elderly so the poverty rate for elders is actually lower than working age adults or children.

San Jose, CA – En mayo de 2015, la tasa oficial de desempleo fue de 5.5 %, bastante cerca a la tasa del 5.0% que existía cuando comenzó la última recesión en diciembre del 2007. Sin embargo, a pesar de la aparente recuperación del mercado laboral, los salarios continúan aumentando a un ritmo sumamente lento, mientras que las ganancias se han disparado de forma exponencial. De hecho, para el detrimento de aquellos que tienen que trabajar para sobrevivir, las empresas han utilizado la recesión para impulsar la reestructuración del mercado laboral en beneficio de sus intereses.

San José, CA – On July 2, the Labor Department released its report on the job market for June of 2015. The official unemployment rate fell to 5.3% in June from 5.5% in May, the lowest since the early months of the recession in April 2008. In addition, the payroll jobs report showed a gain of 223,000 in June. With unemployment down and job numbers up, the economic expansion continues.

San José, CA – On June 28, the European Central Bank (ECB) stopped emergency lending to Greek banks. With depositors trying to withdraw money and banks without access to cash, the Greek government called for a six-day bank shutdown from June 29 to July 6. ATM withdrawals were limited to 60 euros (about $66) a day per account holder. In addition, capital controls mean that money cannot flow out of Greece unless permitted by the government.

San José, CA – On Feb. 16, Federal District Judge Andrew Hanen placed an injunction on President Obama’s expansion of the Deferred Action program. While the Obama administration said that it would appeal the injunction, Hanen’s decision stopped the expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which was set to start on Wednesday, Feb. 18. The injunction may even delay the start of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) which was supposed to begin in mid-May.

San José, CA – on Oct. 14, a second nurse, Amber Vinson, was confirmed sick with the Ebola virus after helping to treat Ebola victim Thomas Duncan, who was originally turned away from a hospital after developing a high fever. Three days earlier, another nurse who also helped care for Duncan, Nina Pham, came down with Ebola and was hospitalized.

Dow Jones Industrial Average down in 2014

San José, CA – On Friday, Oct. 10, U.S. stock prices fell again, ending a week marked by ups and downs in the market. As measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 large U.S. corporations, stock prices have actually fallen slightly this year.

San José, CA – The Ebola epidemic has already killed as many as 5000 people in the west African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. It is now spreading to other countries such as Nigeria and Senegal in Africa, the U.S and Spain. One of the hardest hit sectors has been health workers, who make up as much as 10% of the victims. There has been a small but growing number of countries sending health workers to help the effort to contain the epidemic. Socialist Cuba stands out in leading this aid effort.

At 62.7%, lowest since 1978

San José, CA – On Oct. 3, the Department of Labor released their report on the job market for September. The report showed that the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR), or the percentage of adults either working or looking for work, continued to decline, and hit a low not seen since 1978. Almost 100,000 jobless workers gave up their job search and left the labor market, helping the unemployment rate to go down to 5.9%, the lowest since summer of 2008.

Growing economic inequality means only the rich are getting richer

San José, CA – On Tuesday, Sept. 16, the Census Bureau released their annual report on income and poverty for 2013. The report showed that the typical household had a small gain in their income for the first time since 2007. The median household income, at $51,939 was still below that of 1996, when adjusted for inflation. It is still down 8% from 2007 and 8.7% less than its peak in 1999.