World economy
Protests erupt after Peruvian government approves controversial Tía María mining project
By Cesar Uco, 4 November 2019
Peasant farmers have blocked roads and confronted police after Peru’s government approved construction of the mine, which will harm the fragile ecosystem of the Tambo Valley in the southern Andes.
Unifor’s attempt to impose concessions contracts on Saskatchewan workers meeting widespread opposition
By Carl Bronski, 4 November 2019
On learning that Unifor had accepted a two-year wage freeze in order to scuttle a 17-day strike, Saskatchewan Crown corporation workers denounced the union leadership from the floor of ratification meetings.
Fed guarantees more money for Wall Street as attacks on workers intensify
By Nick Beams, 31 October 2019
The markets celebrated the latest Fed decision, with the S&P 500 index posting its second record high for the week.
One year since the first Boeing 737 Max 8 crash
By Bryan Dyne, 29 October 2019
The year since the crash in Indonesia has exposed the collusion between Boeing, the federal government and the trade unions that led to the deaths of 346 men, women and children.
Euro area heads for slump as Draghi steps down as central bank chief
By Nick Beams, 26 October 2019
The eurozone economy grew by only 0.1 percent in the September quarter.
Recriminations within Brazilian ruling classes over Trump’s OECD snub
By Miguel Andrade, 24 October 2019
Contrary to expectations, the US State Department didn’t propose Brazil for OECD membership, triggering a wave of criticism of Bolsonaro for the diplomatic failure.
Major write down of Australian growth forecast as global contradictions intensify
By Nick Beams, 23 October 2019
In just 12 months, the International Monetary Fund has cut its Australian growth prediction for 2019 from 2.8 percent to 1.7 percent.
World economy “sleepwalking” to another financial crisis, warns former Bank of England chief
By Nick Beams, 21 October 2019
Mervyn King said the US would suffer a “financial Armageddon” if the Federal Reserve were not able to combat another crisis, with the world in a low growth trap.
As global economy enters synchronised slowdown
US Federal Reserve starts “quantitative easing forever”
By Nick Beams, 19 October 2019
The entire global financial system has become so dependent upon and addicted to the endless supply of ultracheap money that even the slightest move to reduce it threatens to set off a crisis.
IMF cuts growth forecast and points to rising financial risks
By Nick Beams, 17 October 2019
Significantly, the World Economic Outlook report predicted that growth in four key areas of the global economy—the US, the eurozone, Japan and China—would remain subdued for the next five years.
IMF meeting confronts “synchronized” global economic slowdown
By Nick Beams, 15 October 2019
Two years ago the global economy was experiencing an upswing with growth in nearly 75 percent of the world economy, but today lower growth is expected in 90 percent of the world.
Mack Truck, copper miners, Chicago teachers, gig economy workers
Spreading strike wave shows potential for GM workers to expand struggle to Ford and Fiat-Chrysler
By Jerry White, 14 October 2019
If the month-long strike is to be won, autoworkers must take the fight into their own hands, end the isolation imposed by the UAW, and fight for an industry-wide shutdown.
“It’s like the UAW is management:” GM strikers speak out as union moves towards sellout
By Tom Hall, 14 October 2019
Reporting teams for the World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter spoke to striking GM workers throughout Southeast Michigan over the weekend, as news emerged that the UAW is preparing to move towards a tentative agreement to shut down the four-week strike and enforce concessions.
As GM strike enters fifth week, Mack Truck-Volvo workers launch first strike in more than 35 years
By Nick Barrickman, 14 October 2019
The two American automotive strikes are part of an international movement of the working class against austerity, including 70,000 auto parts workers in Mexico and rolling strikes at GM’s South Korean plants.
Conflict erupts over European Central Bank’s return to “quantitative easing”
By Nick Beams, 14 October 2019
According to initial reports of the September meeting, as many as nine members of the 25-member governing council opposed the ECB's decision to return to “quantitative easing.”
US and China reach limited trade deal
By Nick Beams, 12 October 2019
The markets responded enthusiastically with the Dow finishing up by more than 300 points, but for all the celebrations, the agreement is very limited.
Richest 400 Americans paid lower taxes than everyone else in 2018
By Trévon Austin, 10 October 2019
The overall tax rate on the richest .01 percent was only 23 percent last year, while the bottom half of the population paid 24.2 percent.
After mid-September financial market turbulence
US Fed announces return to asset purchases
By Nick Beams, 10 October 2019
In announcing the move, Fed chairman Jerome Powell said that without sufficient reserves in the banking system even normal demands for cash could cause “outsized movements in money market interest rates.”
Little prospect of agreement as US-China trade talks set to resume
By Nick Beams, 8 October 2019
China is reported to be opposed to any all-encompassing deal on trade and changes to its economic programs along the lines being demanded by the US.
As strike enters fourth week, UAW says talks with GM have “taken turn for the worse”
By Jerry White, 7 October 2019
The hard line by GM proves that the UAW is leading the strike to defeat and makes clear that workers must respond by expanding the struggle to Ford and Fiat Chrysler.
“Capitalism is the core of the problem:” Striking GM workers call for global struggle against auto companies
By Tim Rivers and Tom Hall, 7 October 2019
GM workers on the picket discussed the need for an international strategy for the expansion of their strike with the World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter this weekend.
030 India Motherson autoparts workers strike
7 October 2019
Canada: Five thousand public sector workers strike in Saskatchewan
By Carl Bronski, 7 October 2019
The strike, involving workers at SaskPower, SaskTel, SaskWater, SaskEnergy, the Water Security Agency and two SaskTel subsidiaries, is the largest in Saskatchewan for decades.
Bone-crushing labor prevails across the American meatpacking industry
By Brian Brown, 7 October 2019
While the meatpacking industry has historically been a dirty and dangerous occupation, taking workers lives and limbs, a dangerous job will become a lot worse with the Trump administration pushing further de-regulation.
Behind the GM strike: Wall Street wants temps for hi-tech vehicles and the UAW agrees
By Jerry White, 5 October 2019
Striking workers are resisting Wall Street’s demands for “more flexible manufacturing systems” to build electric and self-driving cars, including lower-paid temporary workers that the UAW has already agreed to.
New US tariffs escalate trade war with Europe
By Alex Lantier, 4 October 2019
The Trump administration’s announcement of tariffs on $7.5 billion on EU goods is only the latest shot in a spiraling trade war that is dragging the global economy toward recession.
Markets plunge as US enters manufacturing recession
By Andre Damon, 3 October 2019
US manufacturing activity shrunk for a second quarter in a row and the World Trade Organization said the growth in trade this year would be the lowest in a decade.
Australian central bank cuts interest rates to record low
By Mike Head, 3 October 2019
The speed and scale of the rate cuts point to alarm within the financial elite about the turmoil gripping the world capitalist economy and deepening slump in Australia.
Democrats frame impeachment drive as defense of “national security”
By Patrick Martin, 30 September 2019
There is not the slightest democratic content to the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
“The UAW is allowing GM to take us back to before the sit-down strikes”
Striking GM workers on picket line discuss what is at stake in their battle
By our reporters, 30 September 2019
GM workers discussed their fight to overturn decades of UAW-backed concessions, end the exploitation of temporary workers, and support the victimized Mexican GM workers.
Wall Street gives GM and UAW time to wear down strikers and impose concessions
By Tom Hall, 30 September 2019
Investors are giving GM and the UAW the time they need to wear down strikers and enforce a defeat that would shape the future of global auto industry.
As US GM strike continues
Layoffs mount in Canadian auto industry
By Carl Bronski, 30 September 2019
Over 6,000 Canadian auto assembly and parts workers have been temporarily laid off as a result of the ongoing strike by 48,000 American UAW members against GM.
Tesla autoworkers in California support striking GM workers, denounce working conditions
By Evan Blake, 30 September 2019
The rise of Tesla is part of a global restructuring of the auto industry to prepare for the production of electronic vehicles, using fewer and more poorly paid workers.
French ex-President Jacques Chirac dead at 86
By Alex Lantier, 30 September 2019
The ubiquitous hailing of Chirac by the ruling establishment reflects above all the former Gaullist president’s ability to appeal to the political and class prejudices of the affluent middle class.
230 Climate Change
30 September 2019
Daimler-Benz workers in Germany support GM strikers
By Gregor Link and K. Nesan, 23 September 2019
German autoworkers in the city of Stuttgart support the strike of their American counterparts, against the auto companies and the union, as a model for their own upcoming struggles.
Jeff Pietrzyk, former aide to UAW vice president Joe Ashton, charged with criminal conspiracy
By Jessica Goldstein, 23 September 2019
Pietrzyk sat on the 2011 UAW-GM National Negotiating Committee, which pushed through a miserable sellout contract that maintained a pay freeze and the hated two-tier system.
The GM strike is in danger
By Marcus Day, 23 September 2019
While the weeklong strike by General Motors workers in the US has won the support of workers throughout the world, the UAW is working out a strategy to strangle it as quickly as possible.
Labor Notes, DSA line up with UAW bureaucrats against GM strikers
By Shannon Jones and Barry Grey, 23 September 2019
In the face of the UAW’s strategy of isolating and betraying the powerful strike by US General Motors workers, middle-class “left” groups like Labor Notes and the Democratic Socialists of America are working to keep strikers chained to the union apparatus.
Autoworkers at GM, Fiat Chrysler and Ford react to UAW’s starvation strike pay
By Tom Hall, 20 September 2019
Yesterday’s article detailing how the union has used the strike fund as a slush fund for UAW officials elicited a strong response from autoworkers.
As GM tries to cut health benefits for workers on strike, Federal Reserve prepares more handouts to Wall Street
By Andre Damon, 19 September 2019
The federal government wants unlimited amounts of cash to be provided to the financial system in the event of a stock market downturn.
005 US auto developments
16 September 2019
Video: GM workers speak out on strike
By our reporters, 16 September 2019
GM workers from the Flint Assembly and Romulus Engine plant spoke to the World Socialist Web Site on the issues behind the walkout of 46,000 GM workers.
“The rank and file have to take control!”
Ford, Fiat-Chrysler workers call for all-out strike alongside GM workers
By WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, 16 September 2019
Workers are demanding an all-out fight against the companies and the corrupt UAW, which only called a strike after forcing GM workers to cross picket lines against striking janitors.
“The rank and file have to take control!”
Ford, Fiat-Chrysler workers call for all-out strike alongside GM workers
By WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, 16 September 2019
Workers are demanding an all-out fight against the companies and the corrupt UAW, which only called a strike after forcing GM workers to cross picket lines against striking janitors.
Germany: IG Metall union concludes pact with corporate bosses and government against workers
By Ulrich Rippert, 16 September 2019
The union is offering to cooperate in “structural changes” that will boost the profits of the auto companies.
Two years on, Foxconn’s Wisconsin boondoggle continues under Democrats
By Jacob Crosse, 16 September 2019
With the aid of state and local government officials, the Foxconn swindle rolls on even as job expectations fell short for the second year in a row.
US autoworkers shut down General Motors
By The WSWS Editorial Board, 16 September 2019
The strike by 46,000 GM auto workers marks a major escalation of class struggle in the United States and internationally.
The Brexit crisis and the struggle for the unity and political independence of the working class
By Thomas Scripps, 16 September 2019
The authoritarian turn represented by Johnson’s prorogation of parliament is the most advanced expression of the breakdown of the traditional mechanisms of parliamentary rule.
Countdown to contract fight: In final week before contract expires, autoworkers gear up for struggle against companies and UAW
By Tom Hall, 9 September 2019
A ferment is taking hold among autoworkers, who are determined to win back everything that has been taken from them.
Hurricane Dorian: Tens of thousands homeless in the Bahamas as damage assessed on Canadian coast
By Nick Barrickman, 9 September 2019
Post-tropical storm Dorian continues to destroy homes and livelihoods along Canada’s Atlantic coast as a humanitarian disaster intensifies in the Bahamas.
The issues raised by climate change in the wake of Hurricane Dorian
By Bryan Dyne, 9 September 2019
The destruction caused by Hurricane Dorian further supports the prediction that global warming will cause more destructive tropical storms.
Trade war accelerates trend towards global recession
By Nick Beams, 5 September 2019
Manufacturing survey results from around the world point to a significant slowdown with no signs of increased activity in the coming months.
Trump imposes new tariffs on China
By Nick Beams, 2 September 2019
The new measures, to be followed by further imposts in December, have hit a wide range of consumer products, amid growing concerns of a recession in the global economy and the US.
Former Fed official calls on central bank to end accommodation to Trump
By Nick Beams, 31 August 2019
An extraordinary intervention by former New York Federal Reserve president Bill Dudley reflects rising political tensions, fuelled by the growing prospect of a US recession.
Standard & Poor’s claims Argentina has “defaulted” on its debt
By Andrea Lobo, 31 August 2019
An Argentine banker cited by the Financial Times said they were recalling the strikes, riots and bank runs during the last default in 2001 and were "very afraid of what’s going on.”
Tongan government threatens to block access to Facebook
By Tom Peters, 27 August 2019
The threat to ban Facebook follows intense criticism on social media of Tonga’s royal family, and growing popular anger over social inequality.
Bank of England governor tells Jackson Hole conference: Existing financial system will not hold
By Nick Beams, 27 August 2019
Reporting on the meeting, the Financial Times noted that that “there was a sense that things would never be the same again.”
Divisions between major powers widen at G7 summit
By Nick Beams, 26 August 2019
The G7 meeting held in France over the weekend marks another stage in the breakdown of the post-war capitalist order.
Trump escalates economic confrontation with China
By Andre Damon, 24 August 2019
Trump’s “order” for American companies to leave China marks a milestone in the global descent into economic nationalism and preparations for military conflict.
Wall Street falls as US-China trade conflict intensifies
By Nick Beams, 24 August 2019
Tweets by Trump in response to tariff measures by Beijing were his most belligerent to date, taking aim not only against China, but US corporations and the Federal Reserve.
Markets await key speech by US Fed chair
By Nick Beams, 22 August 2019
Powell’s speech will be scoured for what it indicates about the future policy of the US Federal Reserve in conditions of growing financial turbulence and a slowing world economy.
US Steel announces up to 200 layoffs at Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Michigan
By Jessica Goldstein, 22 August 2019
The recent layoffs in suburban Detroit serve to shatter any illusion that workers' jobs and living standards can be protected through trade war measures.
Record global dividend payouts fuel rising social inequality
By Will Morrow, 22 August 2019
The report demonstrates how the financial markets serve as a mechanism for the transfer of wealth up the income scale, from the working class to the corporate elite.
Japan-South Korea conflict intensifies
By Nick Beams, 17 August 2019
South Korea announced this week that it has removed Japan from a list of countries that qualify for accelerated supply of South Korean products, after Japan had imposed a similar measure against South Korea on August 2.
Financial turbulence continues as major economies move towards recession
By Nick Beams, 16 August 2019
The gyrations in financial markets and the growing signs of recession—threatening to set in motion a crisis even more severe than that of 2008—pose vital political issues before the working class in every country.
Wall Street plunges on fears of global recession
By Nick Beams, 15 August 2019
Amid growing concerns that low interest rates and “quantitative easing” will not be enough to stave off a new global downturn, there is a deep fear in ruling circles of mounting opposition in the working class.
Concerns grow over global financial stability
By Nick Beams, 13 August 2019
There is now a historically unprecedented situation in bond markets where it is estimated that some $15 trillion worth of government bonds are trading at negative yields, meaning an investor who purchased the bond and held it to maturity would make a loss.
Establishment figures welcome renewed anti-China hysteria in Australia
By James Cogan, 13 August 2019
The ruling elite requires Australia’s incorporation into US war preparations to be accompanied by slandering any public opposition as the product of “Chinese interference.”
Costa Rican public health workers strike against tax changes, privatization plans
Workers Struggles: The Americas
13 August 2019
Thousands of hospital and clinic workers across Costa Rica carried out a two-day strike last week to protest a tax reform bill that has imposed additional burdens on workers and led to underfunding of services.
UK growth contraction caps week of economic turbulence
By Nick Beams, 10 August 2019
The British GDP data ended a week of deepening uncertainty in financial markets and growing fears of a recession in major areas of the global economy.
UN: Global food and water crisis threatens 3 billion people
By Bryan Dyne, 9 August 2019
A new report by the United Nations warns that anthropogenic climate change, if left unchecked, will render a steadily increasing portion of Earth essentially uninhabitable.
As German industrial production records “devastating” fall
Bond markets point to global recession
By Nick Beams, 8 August 2019
The signs of a global slowdown, if not an outright recession, are most evident in Germany and the Asia-Pacific region, where three central banks cuts their interest rates yesterday.
Currency war: A new stage in capitalist breakdown
By Nick Beams, 8 August 2019
A global currency conflict will take the economic warfare being waged by the US against “strategic competitors” such as China as well as its nominal allies to a new level.
Layoffs in global auto industry hit Mexico, India, China and the US
By Jerry White, 7 August 2019
Global automakers are destroying hundreds of thousands of jobs as sales fall and a brutal competition unfolds to dominate the market for electric vehicles and other new technologies.
US-China trade conflict escalates to currency war
By Nick Beams, 6 August 2019
Stock markets fell sharply around the world yesterday, amid fears of a currency war, after China allowed its currency, the renminbi, to pass through the benchmark of 7 to the US dollar.
Trump’s trade war measures hit the financial markets
By Nick Beams, 3 August 2019
In its analysis of the latest turn in the trade war, the South China Morning Post said China had to decide either to a walk away from the negotiations or make major concessions to the US.
“GM has made all of these profits and we’re getting shafted”
Autoworkers speak out as GM Warren Transmission plant closes after 78 years of operation
By our reporters, 2 August 2019
The closure of the facility, which once employed upwards of 4,000, is the latest economic blow to workers in the Detroit area, once the center of global auto manufacturing.
Trump escalates trade war against China
By Nick Beams, 2 August 2019
The decision to impose a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, covering a wide range of consumer products, represents the most significant intensification of the more than year-long trade war to date.
Slump deepens in Australian residential construction industry
By Paul Bartizan and Richard Phillips, 2 August 2019
Multiple faults in new apartment buildings have become a factor in the bursting of a debt-fuelled property bubble that is threatening thousands of jobs.
Federal Reserve cuts rates, but Wall Street demands more
By Nick Beams, 1 August 2019
The Fed decision makes clear that the pumping of ultra-cheap money into the financial system by central banks for the benefit of the financial oligarchy has become the “new normal.”
Indian protest marks seven years of legal vendetta against jailed Maruti Suzuki workers
By Kranti Kumara and Keith Jones, 31 July 2019
The sole “crime” of the 13 jailed auto workers was to challenge the poverty-wages and repressive sweatshop conditions at Maruti Suzuki.
Jacksonville Electrical Authority board of directors approves privatization effort
By Matthew Taylor, 31 July 2019
Last Tuesday’s vote represents the latest effort in a years-long conspiracy by Mayor Lenny Curry and his backers to sell off the Florida city’s utility to private interests.
Retired teachers on hunger strike across Ecuador
Workers Struggles: The Americas
31 July 2019
The government of Lenin Moreno has asked thousands of retired teachers to accept payment in government bonds, rather than cash, in an effort to rob retirees of their pensions.
Layoffs mount as slump in world auto industry deepens
By Shannon Jones, 30 July 2019
Continuing sales declines, led by China and India, are leading to massive job losses and attacks on autoworkers as transnational companies seek to maintain high levels of return.
Trump threatens unilateral action against World Trade Organization
By Nick Beams, 30 July 2019
A memorandum on the WTO issued Friday by the White House represents a significant challenge to the structure of the world’s major trade regulatory body.
Amid significant fall in investment
US economy slows in second quarter
By Nick Beams, 27 July 2019
Data on investment and industrial production show that pro-corporate tax cuts have not produced the resurgence in manufacturing and investment forecast by Trump.
Australian central bank chief fearful of rising global tensions
By Mike Head, 27 July 2019
“When businesses are nervous, they don’t want to invest,” Philip Lowe warned a corporate lunch audience.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joins House Democrats in vote for Trump war budget
By Patrick Martin, 27 July 2019
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, both members of the Democratic Socialists of America, voted for a bill that includes a record $738 billion for the military.
12,500 job cuts at Nissan as global restructuring of auto industry continues
By Jerry White, 26 July 2019
The Japan-based automaker says it will cut 6,400 jobs in Japan, the US, Mexico, Britain, Spain, India and Indonesia by the end of March 2020.
European Central Bank signals return to monetary stimulus
By Nick Beams, 26 July 2019
In response to a question at his press conference following the European Central Bank meeting, President Mario Draghi said the outlook for European manufacturing was getting “worse and worse.”
Amid growing signs of global slowdown
US-China trade talks to resume next week
By Nick Beams, 25 July 2019
The conflict has become more fraught since the US Commerce Department decided to place Huawei on its entity list, effectively banning it from supplies of US components for its operations.
Democrats reach deal with Trump on budget and debt ceiling
By Patrick Martin, 24 July 2019
The plan will boost military spending to record levels and reassure Wall Street.
Senator Warren warns of US economic “crash”
By Nick Beams, 24 July 2019
The bogus character of the agenda advanced by Warren, who has described herself as “capitalist to the bone,” is underscored by the measures she advances to meet the signs of a deepening crisis.
US coal giant Blackjewel, LLC and affiliates declare bankruptcy
By Zachary Thorton, 23 July 2019
Another coal giant has declared bankruptcy, leaving devastation in its wake as hundreds of workers are out of work and owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages.
The Bretton Woods Agreement 75 years on
By Nick Beams, 22 July 2019
The participants at the conference were acutely conscious of the fact that what was at stake in their deliberations to establish a new world economic order was nothing less than the survival of their rule.
Mixed signals on rate cut prompts Trump to demand the Fed enlist in US trade war against rivals
By Nick Beams, 20 July 2019
Trump is demanding that the Fed drop all pretence of “independence” and openly serve as an instrument of Washington’s economic war against its global competitors.
As US senators deepen attack on Huawei
Trump’s trade war against China hits Asian economies
By Nick Beams, 18 July 2019
Because it functions as a transhipment hub for final destinations in the rest of Asia, a sharp decline in exports from Singapore last month points to an economic slowdown across the region.
China’s growth slows to lowest level since 1992
By Nick Beams, 17 July 2019
While the growth figure is still within the official target range, there are clearly growing concerns in Beijing that it could go lower in the months ahead.
Jeff Bezos flaunts obscene wealth with $80 million Manhattan penthouse purchase
By Clare Hurley, 16 July 2019
Bezos’ $137 billion combined wealth could pay the annual median rent for all 250,000 Amazon workers in the US for 100 years.
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