San José, CA – On Saturday, February 5, anti-war protesters gathered in front of San José’s City Hall to demand an end to imperial saber rattling in eastern Europe. Speakers from CODEPINK, Freedom Road Socialism (FRSO), National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the El Barrio Defense Committee gathered a crowd of 30 onlookers while calling for end to the war drive against Russia.

San José, CA – On Thursday, January 20, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of new claims for unemployment insurance rose for the second week in row, to more than 280,000 for the week of January 10-15. This is up almost 40% from the beginning of January. While much of this may be caused by the spike in COVID-19, there have been other signs of economic weakness that started to show up in December.

On Thursday, January 20, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of new claims for unemployment insurance rose for the second week in row, to more than 280,000 for the week of January 10-15. This is up almost 40% from the beginning of January. While much of this may be caused by the spike in COVID-19, there have been other signs of economic weakness that started to show up in December.

“Terrible” report shows signs of economic weakness

San José, CA – On Friday, January 14, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that retail sales dropped 1.9% in December 2021. This number was called “terrible” by economists, who expected a very slight drop of 0.1%. Since the retail sales report is not adjusted for inflation, sales discounting higher prices fell almost 2.5%.

San José, CA – On Wednesday, January 12 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that prices of consumer goods rose 7% in 2021. This is the highest rate of inflation in 40 years. With workers’ wages only up by 4.7% last year, the purchasing power of workers’ earnings fell by more than 2%.

San José, CA – On Friday, January 7 the U.S. Department of Labor released its last report on the 2021 job market. There were only 199,000 new jobs created, less than half of what economists and the business media expected. Most types of jobs showed slower growth, and there were 10,000 jobs lost by local governments. Despite strong job growth in 2021, there were still 3.6 million fewer jobs in December as compared to February 2020, right before the last recession began.

San Jose, CA – Community members rallied November 20 to demand justice for Black Lives Matter protesters who were gunned down by Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse was acquitted on all counts.

San José, CA – Fifty years ago, on August 15, 1971, then-President Nixon ended the U.S. dollar’s link with gold. This marked a retreat from the economic supremacy of the United States after World War II. Less than four years later, the fall of Saigon marked a defeat for the United States and a turning point in U.S. domination of the developing world.

San José, CA – On Saturday, July 31 members and supporters of the Northern California Unemployed Committee or NCUC rallied to protest the coming end of federal unemployment benefits set for September 6. Speakers pointed out how 9 million unemployed people will be losing their benefits and the rest will have their payments cut in half.

Oppressed nationalities hit more than twice as much as US whites

San José, CA – On Wednesday, July 20 the National Center for Health Statistics released their provisional report on lifespans in 2020. The report found that the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 600,000 people in the United States, lowered the lifespan by one and half years in 2020. This is the worst drop since World War II. Lifespans have generally increased over time, but this sets the trend back almost 20 years to 2003.