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Finance and the Economy

Trump’s Tariffs Could Cause Huge Global Crisis

The US designed the global financial system in a way in which the US dollar is at the center, and other countries need to get access to dollars to pay off their dollar-denominated debt, and to pay for imports. Yet, in order for this system to work, the US has to run a deficit with the rest of the world, a current account deficit, so other countries can get those dollars. But Trump wants to disrupt this. He says he wants to tariff other countries to reduce the US trade deficit, which means that other countries won’t be able to get the dollars they need to pay off their debt and to pay for imports.

Inflation Poses Unique Challenges For Worker Co-Ops

Inflation is top of mind for many Canadian small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) these days. A recent survey of Canadian SMEs found 90 percent of them had been impacted by inflation, and another survey of 500 Canadian accountants revealed inflation as the most significant financial threat to Canadian SMEs. With the vast majority of Canadian worker co-ops being SMEs, it’s reasonable to assume that they’re also feeling these pressures. But delving deeper into the issue suggests that while worker co-ops face some of the same challenges as conventional businesses regarding inflation, how they respond is likely to be different.

China’s Shocking DeepSeek AI Pops US Big Tech Monopoly Bubble

China is making enormous progress in the development of artificial intelligence technology, and it has set off a political and economic earthquake in the West. The stocks of US Big Tech corporations crashed on January 27, losing hundreds of billions of dollars in market capitalization over the span of just a few hours, on the news that a small Chinese company called DeepSeek had created a new cutting-edge AI model, which was released for free to the public. The UK’s leading newspaper The Guardian described DeepSeek as “the biggest threat to Silicon Valley’s hegemony”.

Biden’s Pernicious Presidential Legacies

Trump’s proposals to radically transform much of US economic and social policy are being rapidly rolled out during the first week of his administration. How much he succeeds or fails in that transformation will depend on a number of factors. High on the list of such factors is the residue of conditions and policies leftover by the Biden administration—i.e. the legacies of the Biden years. Those legacies will play an important role influencing, and perhaps even determining, how Trump may fare in implementing his plans.  So what are the legacy policies and conditions?

Serving The Oligarchs: A Look Back At Biden And Forward At Trump

As the Biden presidency ends, Clearing the FOG takes another look at Biden's legacy. This time the focus is on his economic and foreign policies. Margaret Kimberley, the senior editor of Black Agenda Report and author of "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents," describes Biden in the context of a country founded upon settler colonialism and chattel slavery. She discusses Biden's responsibility for the war in Ukraine, the genocide in Palestine and brutal interference in Latin America and the Caribbean. Kimberley also speaks about what can be expected from the new Trump administration given some of his cabinet choices.

Biden’s Legacy: Genocide Abroad, Economic Despair At Home

46th US President Joe Biden officially leaves office Monday, January 20, to be succeeded by former President Donald Trump. Trump’s promises in the name of “saving American workers” have raised alarm for people across sectors of society, including migrant workers who are gearing up for mass deportations, and unionized workers who are preparing for Trump’s attacks on labor rights. Trump’s loyalty to multi-billionaires has also given the working class of the US great cause for concern. Meanwhile, in contrast, the Democrats have attempted to position themselves as the real defenders of working people.

BRICS Expands To 54.6% Of World Population By Adding Nigeria

BRICS continues to grow. On 17 January, it officially admitted Nigeria as a new partner country. Nigeria has the world’s sixth-largest population, with the biggest population on the African continent. In addition to being Africa’s second-largest economy, Nigeria is the number one oil producer on the continent. With the addition of Nigeria, BRICS now has 10 full members and nine partners. At the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia in 2024, the organization adopted a comprehensive plan to transform the international monetary and financial system, by challenging the dominance of the US dollar and promoting trade and settlement in local currencies. Together, the extended BRICS+ group represents 54.6% of the world population.

Billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy Is A Wall Street Speculator

Vivek Ramaswamy is the billionaire Republican politician and failed presidential candidate whom Donald Trump appointed to lead the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), alongside co-chair Elon Musk, the richest oligarch on Earth (who brands himself a libertarian anti-government crusader, while his companies receive billions in US government subsidies). Ramaswamy sparked something of a civil war among US conservatives with a puerile Twitter post lamenting how US popular culture upholds jocks over nerds.

Ten Inequality Victories In 2024

Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted overwhelmingly in April to join the United Auto Workers, a landmark win for labor organizing in the South. The region has suffered deeply because of its low-road, anti-union economic model. Seven out of ten states with the highest levels of poverty are in the South, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Another UAW election, at a Mercedes-Benz facility in Vance, Alabama, where management was more aggressively anti-union, went the other way in May. But the union has vowed to continue organizing in the region.

Wage Stagnation: The Real Threat To Social Security

No matter what they say about the U.S. economy, finding a job to support yourself is tough when you are starting out. Finding rewarding and meaningful work is an even greater challenge for most. If you are that lucky, you’re preoccupied with paying off student loans and having enough money to travel or afford your own home. Thinking about a secure future after a lifetime of work might not be your greatest concern. But listen up! In mid-November, the New York Times reported that the Social Security fund that pays retiree benefits is projected to be depleted by 2033.

How To Escape The Federal Debt Trap

The U.S. national debt just passed $36 trillion, only four months after it passed $35 trillion and up $2 trillion for the year. Third quarter data is not yet available, but interest payments as a percent of tax receipts rose to 37.8% in the third quarter of 2024, the highest since 1996. That means interest is eating up over one-third of our tax revenues. Total interest for the fiscal year hit $1.16 trillion, topping one trillion for the first time ever. That breaks down to $3 billion per day. For comparative purposes, an estimated $11 billion, or less than four days’ federal interest, would pay the median rent for all the homeless people in America for a year.

Pentagon Fails Seventh Straight Audit

The Pentagon announced late last week that it failed its seventh consecutive audit as the sprawling, profiteering-ridden department wasn't able to fully account for its trillions of dollars in assets. As with its past failures to achieve a clean audit, the U.S. Defense Department attempted to cast the 2024 results in a positive light, with the Pentagon's chief financial officer declaring in a statement that "momentum is on our side." The Pentagon is the largest U.S. federal agency and is responsible for roughly half of the government's annual discretionary spending, with its yearly budget approaching $1 trillion despite long-standing concerns about the department's inability to account for vast sums of money approved by lawmakers and presidents from both major parties.

Historical Block Conference Proposals To Help Economic Transformation

The vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, reported that the proposals coming out of the Great Congress of the Bolivarian Historical Block will help in the construction of the economic transformation program that Venezuela requires. During her speech at the opening ceremony of the Congress, Thursday, November 15, at the Convention Center in Simón Bolívar Park in La Carlota, Caracas, the Venezuelan vice president also highlighted the over 100 proposals that had been submitted. “I welcome these more than 100 proposals that have been raised … because they will help us to build the economic transformation program that Venezuela needs, in order to become a powerful country,” she said.

The End Of The US Empire And The Denial Of The US

I mean to tell you all that if you ask me to tell you what is the biggest reality we now have to face, it’s the end of the American empire, what we inherited from the British because they had the last Empire before this one is now over, and there is zero chance it’s coming back. It ought to have been a central issue in the presidential election we just had. Instead, the two candidates and their parties worked overtime to practice denial. No such a thing. The war in Ukraine, just to take one of countless examples, will show you how costly this denial is.

Implications Of A Second Trump Term For Working Class And Oppressed

In the immediate aftermath of the media calling the elections in favor of the Trump-Vance ticket, African Americans in various states across the U.S. received text messages ordering them to report to plantations to resume the slave labor which was the bulwark of colonial and antebellum periods of North American history. This particular attempt at intimidation was chosen for obvious reasons. In the U.S., it would take a Civil War between 1861 and 1865 to destroy the structural basis for African enslavement. Later at the conclusion of 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified nearly three years after the Emancipation Proclamation issued by then-President Abraham Lincoln.

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Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

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Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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