San José, CA – On Thursday, July 31, President Trump tweeted that he would be imposing new tariffs, or taxes, on the $300 billion of Chinese goods not covered by his 25% tariffs. U.S. stocks took an immediate dive, giving up all of their 300-point gain to drop 280 points for the day. They continued to fall on Friday, leading to the worst week for U.S. stocks all year.

San José, CA – More cracks showed up in the U.S. economic expansion as the May employment report saw a gain of only 75,000 net new jobs, less than half what most economists expected. In addition, the Labor Department revised the job creation numbers down by 75,000 for March and April. Over the last four months the economy has added new jobs at a rate of 130,000 per month, much less than the 223,000 new jobs added each month on average in 2018.

San José, CA – On Tuesday, May 7, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell almost 500 points, or close to 2%. This came following President Trump’s tweets on Sunday threatening to escalate the trade war with China on Friday if he couldn’t get a trade agreement done. While the U.S. stock market largely shrugged off this news on Monday, statements by his economic advisors convinced investors that his threats are for real.

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 – On April 21, the Trustees of Social Security and Medicare released their annual report. The report includes a projection that the Social Security benefits will be greater than income next year for the first time since 1982. The Social Security trust fund, which has grown to almost $3 trillion, will start to be tapped for the first time.

San Jose, CA – Friday, March 22 was a day of good news, bad news, and ugly news.

San José, CA – On Sunday, February 17, more than 400 people filled the San Jose Buddhist Church gym for the 39th annual Day of Remembrance event. Across the country, Japanese American communities commemorate the anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which led to the incarceration of more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent during World War II. The San Jose event was organized by NOC, the Nihonmachi [Japantown] Organizing Committee.

Bust follows boom under capitalism

San José, CA – The New Year is starting off much the way 2018 ended: with U.S. stocks being hammered again. On Thursday, January 3, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell more than 600 points, the technology heavy NASDAQ fell more than 200, and the broad S&P 500 fell more than 60 points. All the averages fell more than 2% to put the year into the red.

Trump administration makes bad situation worse

San José, CA – On Monday, December 24, all three major stock market indices smashed the old records for declines on Christmas Eve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell more than 650 points or 2.9%, more than twice the 100 year record set back in 1918 when it fell 1.1%. The broader S&P 500 fell 2.7%, to close more than 19% from its record high, and less than 1% away from the 20% drop that would put it in bear market territory and ending an almost ten-year bull market in stocks.

Capitalism’s cycle of boom and bust continues

San José, CA – Casting a shadow on the stock market are the growing number of economic statistics that point to a recession in 2019. Almost all mainstream economic forecasters expect economic growth to slow down in 2019 as the impact of the 2018 tax cuts wear off; the forecast is for 2.4% growth, about the same as in 2017. But few predict a recession.