Another step toward first U.S. debt crisis in history

San José, CA – Today, Oct. 15, right-wing Republicans in the House of Representatives stopped the House Republican leadership from trying to pass a compromise measure to re-open the federal government and raise its debt ceiling. This marks another step towards the first U.S. debt crisis in history.

San José, CA – Four years after the Great Recession of 2007-2009 officially ended, millions of working people are being left behind by the expansion of the economy. While the stock market and corporate profits reached new highs, there are still millions of fewer jobs than before the recession began, and the official unemployment rate is closer to its recession high than the low before the recession. Things are bad.

San José, CA – At midnight on Oct. 1, the federal government began a partial shutdown. Later that morning, hundreds of thousands of federal workers showed up to wind up work – putting up closed signs at national parks and monuments across the country and updating web pages saying that many functions were no longer available. Then they went home for an indefinite furlough without pay.

San José, CA — On Sept. 29, the House Republicans passed a temporary spending bill for ten weeks, starting Oct. 1 if the Affordable Care Act (often called Obamacare) is delayed for a year. With the Democrat-controlled Senate already having turned down similar measures and a veto promise from President Obama, the federal government is headed for its first shut down since 1996.

Labor Force Participation Rate drops to 35 year low

San José, CA – On Sept. 6, the Labor Department announced that the official unemployment rate dropped to 7.3% in August, down from 7.4% in July. But even though 110,000 fewer people were working in August than July, 310,000 people gave up looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed. The Labor Force Participation Rate, or the fraction of the adult population who are either working or looking for work, fell to 63.2%, the lowest since August 1978.

San José, CA – On July 1, interest rates for federally subsidized student loans to pay for college are set to double, rising from 3.4% to 6.8%. This will affect almost 10 million students who will be taking out new loans this coming year. Over the life of their loans, this rise in interest rates could add about $4000 to the cost of college for a student entering college in the fall of 2013.

Newark, NJ – The People’s Organization for Progress (POP) put a Hands off Social Security picket line in front of the Essex County Social Security building, April 16. Hundreds of drivers blew horns. Passersby stop to talk and show solidarity. Other participating organizations included the International Action Center, One People One Nation, Veterans for Peace and the Coalition to Save Our Homes.

Provo, UT – Students and community members protested in front of the Wells Fargo building on April 6 to voice their opposition to Wells Fargo’s hypocritical marketing. Wells Fargo deeply invests in privately owned prisons through firms like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest private prison company in the U.S.

Gainesville, FL – The Alachua County Wage Theft Task Force has been working to stop wage theft in Alachua Coutny, Florida for the past year. Wage theft, or the stealing of earned wages, has increased during the economic downturn. Wage theft is responsible for stealing at least $30 billion a year from American workers. This crisis affects poor and immigrant communities the most, with over 60% of low-wage workers reporting theft of their wages each week. As a result, low-wage workers lose about 15% of their earnings each year to the bosses.

_Economic expansion continues...for now _

San José, CA – On Jan. 30, the Commerce Department reported that Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, fell by a very small amount (0.1% at an annual rate) in the last three months of 2012. The drop in GDP was largely because of a big drop in federal government purchases of goods and services, in addition to a drop in inventories (meaning that stores sold goods that were sitting on their shelves instead of having more produced) and a drop in exports.

Federal Financial Aid to be cut 8.4% starting March 1

San José, CA – On March 1, the automatic spending cuts demanded by the 2011 Budget Control Act are scheduled to go into effect. These cuts were originally scheduled to go into effect Jan. 2, but were delayed as part of the solution to the so-called ‘fiscal cliff.’ Included in the spending cuts is an 8.4% reduction in federal financial aid. While the large Pell Grant program is exempted, other federal financial aid, including the Stafford Loans, Work-Study, Perkins Loans and others would be all reduced by 8.4%. This would lead to less aid to students receiving financial aid, and some would be cut off entirely.

San José, CA – Starting Jan. 1, payroll taxes paid by workers went up from 4.2% to 6.2%. This increase will affect about 77% of all households. Depending on other deductions and taxes, this will lower the take-home pay of workers by 2% or more.

San José, CA – On Jan. 23, Congressional Republicans caved in and voted for a three-month extension to the Federal Debt Limit. Up until Jan.23, the Republicans in the House of Representatives had refused to raise the debt limit, raising the specter that the U.S. government would have to choose between delaying Social Security payments, Medicare payments, payments to military, and/or interest on the national debt.

San José, CA – On Jan. 4, the U.S. Department of Labor released its report on the labor market for December 2012. The overall official unemployment rate stayed the same as in November, at 7.8%, and 155,000 new jobs were added. But the unemployment rate for adult women (20 years and older), increased from 7.0% in November to 7.3% in December, rising above the unemployment rate for adult men, which stayed the same at 7.2%.

On January 1, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 257-167 to pass the Senate compromise tax bill to stop the so-called “fiscal cliff” of tax increases and spending cuts. While Democratic politicians are portraying this deal as a victory as “98% of Americans will not see their taxes increase,” the reality is that 77% of Americans, including about two-thirds of the working class, will see tax increases.

Many tax cuts for wealthy also kept

San José, CA – Early New Year’s Day, the U.S. Senate voted 89-8 to pass a compromise bill to put off the so-called ‘fiscal cliff.’ The bill now goes to the House of Representatives, where Republicans are likely to try to get even more tax breaks for the rich.

Newark, NJ – Hurricane Sandy struck the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area with full fury on Oct. 30. The region is the country’s largest and densest concentration of population. Sandy was the worst storm to hit it in recorded history.

Millones de personas se encuentran sin trabajo. Aquellos que dieron de baja están siendo evacuados de sus hogares porque sus hipotecas están siendo ejecutadas, perdieron seguros de salud y luchan cada vez mas duro para sobrevivir. El desempleo entre la juventud esta muy alto. Incluso los graduados universitarios se ven forzados a vivir en la casa de sus padres. Muchos no pueden hacer mensualidades a los préstamos universitarios. Millones de inmigrantes, ambos documentados e indocumentados, son dados de baja y sin poder trabajar, se ven obligados a abandonar el país después de haber trabajado años en los EU.

Right wing hypes fear of a ‘fiscal cliff’ to extend tax cuts for the rich

The federal government is on course for large spending cuts and tax increases starting January of 2013. This comes from a combination of three things: the end of some of the Obama administration stimulus that began in 2009; the end of large tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, done under the Bush administration; and automatic spending cuts designed to reduce the federal budget deficit. While some of the tax increases would not fully take effect until April 2014, and others could be reversed, the right wing is using fears of a ‘fiscal cliff’ to try to extend tax cuts for the rich and block planned cutbacks in military spending.

Millions of people are out of work. Those who are laid off are being foreclosed out of their homes, losing health care, and finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. Youth unemployment is particularly high. Even recent college graduates are forced to live in their parents’ homes. Many are unable to make payments on their college loan debt. Being laid off and unable to find work, millions of immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are forced to leave after years of working in the U.S.