News and Views from the People's Struggle
Agreement won’t help Spain’s economic depression
San José, CA – On June 9, Spain and the European Union made an agreement to bail out Spain’s troubled banking sector. This agreement means Spain is the fourth country (along with Portugal, Ireland and Greece) in the eurozone to have to take a bailout.
San José, CA – On June 1, the Department of Labor released its monthly report on unemployment and employment for May, 2012. The report said that only 69,000 jobs were added in the U.S. economy in May, less than half of what professional economists had been predicting. Even worse, the report revised earlier estimates of job growth in March and April down by another 49,000 jobs.
San Jose, CA – On May 12, the South Bay Committee Against Political Repression held an art auction fundraiser for the defense of Carlos Montes. Bay Area artists contributed their paintings, posters, photographs and other art for a silent auction. The program included music and spoken word. Hundreds of dollars were raised for the legal defense and organizing efforts for Carlos Montes.
#SanJoséCA #CarlosMontes #SouthBayCommitteeAgainstPoliticalRepression #Art
San José, CA – In the first five months of this year, more than 400,000 jobless workers have been cut from collecting unemployment insurance benefits under the Federal Extended Benefits (EB) program. Another 100,000 will also lose their benefits when the EB program ends at the end of May, bringing the total to more than a half million unemployed who will be losing their benefits.
San José, CA – A new report by the Associated Press confirms what many people already knew: the job market for young college graduates just plain sucks. Pardon my language, but to have more than half (53.6%) of people under 25 with a bachelor’s degree either out of work or doing jobs that only need a high school diploma or even less education is outrageous.
San José, CA – On Feb. 19, more than 425 people attended the 32nd Annual Day of Remembrance event in San José Japantown organized by the Nihonmachi (Japantown) Outreach Committee (NOC). This event commemorated the 70th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin Roosevelt that led to the incarceration of almost 120,000 Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II.
San José, CA – On Feb. 19, almost 50 people packed the San Jose Peace and Justice Center to hear Carlos Montes speak. The event was sponsored by the South Bay Committee Against Political Repression and co-sponsored by the Peace and Justice Center and by MAÍZ (Movimiento de Accion, Inspirando Servicio – Movement of Action, Inspiring Service).
San José, CA – On Feb. 29, federal Extended Unemployment Insurance benefits will end unless Congress agrees to continue the program. Republicans in Congress are threatening to block the extension unless they are able to cut benefits and make federal workers pay for the cost of the program.
San José, CA – On Dec. 22, the leadership of the Republicans in the House of Representatives said that they would sign on to a bipartisan compromise to renew federal Unemployment Insurance benefits. This compromise had passed the Senate by an 89-10 vote earlier in the week. The House Republican action came after intense pressure from the unemployed, Democratic politicians and even Republican Senators after the House of Representatives had voted down the compromise bill on a 229-193 vote on Dec. 20.
San José, CA – On Dec. 9, Republican Congressman Dave Camp of Michigan introduced a bill, H.R. 3630, that would cut federal extended unemployment insurance benefits from a maximum of 73 weeks to only 33 weeks. In addition, the bill allows for a number of new hoops for jobless workers to jump through in order to get unemployment insurance benefits, including mandatory drug testing.