San José, CA – On Friday, April 26, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) issued its first report on economic growth in 2019. The country’s Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, which measures the total production of goods and services, grew at a 3.2% annual rate during the first three months of the year (January to March). This was stronger than most economists expected.

San José, CA – At 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, December 22, nine of 15 agencies of the federal government will shut down over President Trump’s demand for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Almost 400,000 federal workers would be furloughed, and another 400,000 so-called essential workers will have to go to work without pay. This comes to about 40% of the 2 million federal government workers. In past shutdowns, federal workers got backpay at a cost of billions of dollars to the government. But there are millions of contractors and contract workers who will probably not be paid, right in the middle of the holiday season.

On, Sept. 30, Canada agreed to changes in NAFTA pushed by the Trump administration following an earlier agreement by Mexico. The New NAFTA still needs to be approved by the legislators of all three countries, and a vote is not expected in the U.S. Congress until early next year. Wall Street seemed satisfied with the agreement, with most U.S. stock market indices going up the next day.

San José, CA – On Sept. 17, President Trump announced that tariffs of 10% will be slapped on $200 billion of Chinese goods starting Sept. 24. These tariffs will rise to 25% at the beginning of 2019. Trump also said that he would put tariffs on another $267 billion dollars of imports from China if China responds to his tariffs. Along with the tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports already in place, this would mean steep tariffs on virtually all of the $500 billion in goods that the United States buys from China.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following resolution on the economy, that was adopted at the 8th Congress of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).

Part two of a three-part interview with Professor Masao Suzuki

This is part two of a three-part interview. Click for part one and part three of this interview. Fight Back!: In your opinion, what are the main causes of the U.S. trade deficit?

The U.S. stock market fell again Friday, April 6, with the broadest measure, the S&P 500, falling more than 2%. This followed President Trump’s tweet on Thursday that he would ask for a list of an additional $100 billion in imports from China to put tariffs on, raising the total to more than $150 billion. It was also revealed that there are no negotiations between China and the U.S., raising the likelihood of a full-blown trade war.

An interview with Masao Suzuki

Masao Suzuki is a leading member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) who follows the economy. Fight Back! interviewed him on March 1, after another drop in U.S. stock market.

On Oct. 31, the leaders of the reactionary opposition announced that their parties will boycott the upcoming municipal elections and will expel any of their members that register to run or vote. They also expelled their four governor-elects who swore loyalty to the National Constituent Assembly, signaling that the reactionary forces are abandoning the electoral path. This has happened in the midst of the harshest price inflation in the past few years. Bolivarian revolutionary forces are recognizing the signs and preparing to defend their gains and advance to new ones. Below is a statement from the Gayones Movement, a Marxist-Leninist labor organization, on the recent developments in the country. Translated by Fight Back! staff.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 – On Friday, Dec. 2, the U.S. Department of Labor said that the official unemployment rate fell to 8.6% in November, from 9.0% in October. Despite being the lowest unemployment rate since March of 2009, the fall in the unemployment rate was mainly due to the more than 400,000 jobless workers who gave up looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed.

The recession ain’t over yet, fears of a ‘double-dip’ rise

San José, CA – On July 29, the Commerce Department released its report on Gross Domestic Product or GDP for the Second Quarter (April to June) of 2011. GDP, which measures the value of goods and services produced in the United States, rose at only a 1.3% annual rate, much slower than most mainstream economists expected. Even worse, the First Quarter (January to March) economic growth was cut from an earlier estimate of 1.9% to just 0.4%.