San José, CA – On May 1, 1500 youth, families, workers and other community members gathered in east San José to demand legalization, an end to the raids and deportations and respect for human, civil, and labor rights.

San José, CA – Poco antes de las fiestas de fin de año, los republicanos en la Cámara de Representantes y en el Senado acordaron recortar programas sociales de ayuda para personas de bajos recursos y para las clases trabajadoras como son el “Medicaid” (servicios de salud para personas de bajos recursos), los prestamos para que los estudiantes asistan a la universidad, “TANF” (Ayuda Temporal para Familias Necesitadas) y el “Medicare” (servicios de salud para personas mayores). Al mismo tiempo, los republicanos aprobaron en la Cámara de Representantes una propuesta, respaldada por el presidente Bush, para reducir los impuestos para los negocios y para los ricos.

San José, CA – Durante los últimos cuatro años, los pensionados han tenido que enfrentar ataques en dos frentes. Por un lado las compañias los despojan de sus planes de seguro médico y pensiones, y por otro, con la caida de la bolsa, el valor de sus pensiones (conocido como “plan 401 k”) se ha reducido significativamente, obligando a muchos a trabajar.

San José, CA -Mientras que se amontonan los cesos y las ciudades reportan cada vez mas hambrientes y desamparados, Wall Street espera que la economía sea muy positiva en 2002. Esto ha producido el resultado de que los precios de las acciones en la bolsa de valores han ido subiendo desde el fin de Septiembre. Wall Street espera que los once recortes de intereses impuestos por el Banco Federal de Reserva produzcan una recuperación de ganancias, con la ayuda de los recortes de impuestos para las corporaciones y los ricos que los Republicanos Congreso pretenden otorgar.

San Jose, CA – On June 2, members of the San Jose Japanese American community met at the Yu-Ai-Kai (Japanese American Seniors' Center). They were there to learn more about the attacks on Arab Americans, Muslims and civil liberties following Sept. 11. Susan Hayase moderated the program on behalf of the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee. In her introduction, Hayase said, “It is happening again,” and pointed the connection between the mass arrests of Japanese Americans following Pearl Harbor and the detention of Arab and Muslim Americans today.

San José, CA – The United States is now in its longest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. At the end of April, the recession that officially began in December of 2007 reached 17 months in length, passing the deep 1981-82 and 1974-75 recessions. The economy has lost almost 6 million jobs, or 4.1% of total jobs at the beginning of the recession, the worst downturn since the recession of 1948. Unemployment in the African American community hit a depression-level 15% in April, while unemployment for Asian Americans has risen the fastest, more than doubling over the last year.

San José, CA – On Friday, April 10, the U.S. Department of the Treasury reported that the federal government budget deficit for the first six months of Fiscal Year 2009 (which runs from October to September) was $957 billion. This was more than three times as large as the deficit was at the same time last year and is on track to a record $1.8 trillion ($1800 billion) deficit as projected by the Congressional Budget Office. This is the largest federal government budget deficit relative to the size of the economy since 1944 at the height of World War II.

663,000 More Jobs Lost in March

San José, CA – On April 3 the monthly jobs report by the Department of Labor showed that the official unemployment rate jumped from 8.1% in February to 8.5% in March, while the economy lost another 663,000 jobs. In addition, the number of jobs lost in January was increased by 90,000, to 741,000, which was the worst one-month job loss in 60 years. So far the economy has lost 5.1 million jobs since the recession began, making this the worst recession in terms of jobs lost in more than 50 years.

San Jose, CA – On Monday, March 30, President Obama took a tough line with General Motors and Chrysler, which had asked for billions more in aid from the government. GM CEO Wagner was forced to resign, and GM has 60 days to submit a new business plan with more cost cutting. Chrysler was given 30 days to sell a stake to Italy’s Fiat. Otherwise, said Obama, the car companies will go into bankruptcy. To help the companies through this restructuring, the government will be guaranteeing car warrantees and payments to parts suppliers.

Fed to Inject $1.15 Trillion More into Credit Markets

San José, CA – On March 18, the Federal Reserve announced that it would inject an additional $1.15 trillion into credit markets. With short-term interest rates already close to zero percent, the Federal Reserve will try to lower long-term interest rates in an effort to boost the economy. The Fed will buy another $750 billion in bonds backed by mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, $300 billion in long-term U.S. government treasury bonds and another $100 billion in bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

650,000 More Jobs Lost in February

San José, CA – On March 6, the Labor Department reported that the economy lost 650,000 more jobs in February. The report also said that the number of jobs lost in December and January was revised upwards by 150,000. This brought the total job losses since the recession began to 4.4 million, more than half lost in the last four months alone. The total number of jobs has shrunk by 3.2% since the recession began, the most in more than 50 years.

More than Half a Million Jobs Lost in November, Most since 1974

San Jose, CA – On Friday, Dec. 5, the Department of Labor reported that 533,000 jobs were lost in November, the worst one-month decline since 1974. The job losses cut across the economy, with only health care showing any sizable increase in employment. In addition the report revised upward the job losses in September and October, showing that the economy has lost a total of almost 2 million jobs in 2008. The official unemployment rate increased two-tenths of one percent to 6.7%. This figure would have been much higher except for the fact that more than 400,000 people stopped looking for work and were not counted in the official unemployment report. A broader measure of unemployment that includes people working part-time but wanting full-time work, and those jobless who had given up looking for work, rose to 12.5%, or one out of every eight people in the labor force.

San José, CA – In late September massive popular opposition to the Bush administration’s bank bailout plan led to its defeat in Congress on Sept. 29. But behind the backs of the American people, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury, with the cooperation of leading Democrats in Congress, were orchestrating an even larger bailout. Between mid-September when the investment bank Lehman Brothers failed, and the end of October the Federal Reserve quietly lent out more than $1 trillion (one thousand billion) dollars, or almost 40% more than the ‘public’ $700 billion bank bailout.

San Jose, CA – On Friday, Nov. 6, the Department of Labor gave a dismal report on the labor market in October, with the unemployment rate jumping to 6.5% from 6.1% in September, the highest rate in 14 years. At the same time businesses cut 240,000 jobs in October, pushing the total job losses to 1.2 million this year. Even worse, the report made corrections to August and September’s figures – both almost doubled the job losses, from 73,000 to 127,00 in August and from 159,000 to 284,000 in September. A day earlier, a report on unemployment insurance claims showed that the number of people receiving benefits jumped by 122,000 in one week to highest level since 1983. This report suggests that the October job loss figure could be revised even higher.

San Jose, CA – On Friday, Oct. 3, the House of Representatives voted to approve Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson’s $700 billion bailout plan and then left town to campaign for the election. Despite government reports showing that almost half a million people applied for unemployment insurance benefits in one week alone in September and that the economy had lost 159,000 jobs, Congress did not extend unemployment insurance benefits for the long-term unemployed. This inaction will cause almost 800,000 jobless workers to lose their benefits this month.

Worst Financial Crisis Since the Great Depression

San Jose, CA – The year-old financial crisis entered a new stage in September as the U.S. financial system suffered its worst setbacks since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Over the weekend of Sept. 6-7, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two large mortgage companies that were financing three-quarters of U.S. mortgages, were taken over by the government due to their growing mortgage losses. Then a week later the 158-year old investment bank Lehman Brothers failed to find a buyer and had to declare bankruptcy. The following Tuesday, Sept. 16, the giant insurance firm American International Group (AIG), with more than $1 trillion (1,000 billion) in assets, failed to get an emergency loan and was taken over by U.S. government in exchange for an $85 billion dollar loan. The next day the Putnam money market fund had to close down as investors pulled billions of dollars out following a big loss at a smaller money market fund that had made a big loan to Lehman Brothers.

San Jose, CA – On Sept. 5 the Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate in August rose to 6.1%, from 5.7% in July. This is the highest unemployment rate in almost five years. A week earlier a report from the Commerce Department showed that real income (income adjusted for inflation) fell in July for the first time since January, dragging down household spending despite a drop in savings for the month. These two reports show that the economy may be going into a downward spiral of falling income and spending, leading to more layoffs, which in turn cut incomes and then spending even more.

San José, CA – Working people had less to celebrate over the holiday weekend as the number of jobs fell for the sixth month in a row in June. On July 3, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that there were 62,000 fewer jobs in June as compared to May and increased their estimates of job losses for previous months. All told, businesses have shed almost one-half a million jobs since January. Six straight months of job losses has always meant a recession is underway in the past. At the same time, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits jumped to more than 400,000, a level typical of a recession.