Inflation

The Fed’s Secret Plan To Suck Workers Dry

September 18, 2022 Lee Camp, Mintpress News. Resistance Report Capitalism, Federal Reserve, Finance and the Economy, Health Care, Inflation, Worker Rights and Jobs

We’re still getting over a pandemic. Healthcare costs are totally out of control. Everyone’s in debt and hates their job. The insects are disappearing, which feels like a bad sign. I have to watch a Jeff Bezos interview just to see bug eyes anymore. On top of all that, the bankers at the Federal Reserve have decided they’re going to make things way worse. As reported in Common Dreams, “Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said… that the U.S. central bank is ready to inflict ‘pain’ on households as it continues to fight inflation, remarks that drew widespread backlash from experts who warned the Fed appears poised to spark a devastating recession and mass layoffs.” The Federal Reserve – the privately owned central bank of the U.S. – wants to screw us all some more. So the Fed claims it’s raising interest rates to fight inflation, but that isn’t why they’re doing it.

Economist Richard Wolff: Sanctions Against Russia, Inflation

September 14, 2022 Lowkey, Mintpress News. Resistance Report Finance and the Economy, Inflation, Russia, Sanctions

European countries, as well as the United States, continue to be imperiled by an economic crisis following the imposition of sanctions on Russia. The policy has backfired spectacularly and has had worse economic ramifications on those levying the sanctions, than those being sanctioned. In this week’s episode, Lowkey speaks to respected U.S. economist Dr. Richard Wolff, discussing the links between the war in Ukraine, inflation, and the class war at home. Before exploring the people’s definition of inflation, Dr. Wolff contextualizes the economic crisis currently unfolding across the West. In the conversation, Lowkey and Dr. Richard Wolff expose ways economic policy can be a code term for class war. They delve into the way the cost of enmity towards Russia is being placed on the shoulders of the working class in the West, which recently experienced one of the worst crashes of capitalism in its history.

Michael Hudson On Debt Relief, Inflation, Ukraine And More

September 11, 2022 Ben Norton, Multipolarista. Resistance Report China, Energy, Finance and the Economy, Inflation, Ukraine

This is Ben Norton of Multipolarista. I’m joined by one of my favorite guests today, the brilliant economist Michael Hudson. And there are a lot of things that we plan on talking about today. We’re going to address the partial student debt relief in the United States, and the problem of debt, which is something that Professor Hudson has written a lot about. We’re going to talk about the inflation crisis, and some of the history of responses to the inflation that we’ve seen in the US. For instance, I’m going to pick Professor Hudson’s brain about Richard Nixon’s response. Nixon imposed price controls and froze wages for the first time since World War Two. We’re also going to talk about the history of the Volcker shock, when Paul Volcker, who was the head of the Fed, raised interest rates to a level never seen before.

We In Appalachia Are Done With Being A Sacrifice Zone

September 9, 2022 Crystal Mello, Equation Campaign. Resist! Appalachia, Inflation, Inflation Reduction Act, Joe Manchin, Mountain Valley Pipeline

Appalachia won’t be thrown under the bus in a side deal to climate legislation. That’s why we’re going to the capital this week, for the “Appalachian Resistance Comes to DC“ rally, on September 8. Our message: we’re done with being a sacrifice zone. If you care about climate, you’ve got to care about us too. It’s the right thing to do. And it’s also the only way we can get better climate policies going forward. The wheelers and dealers who negotiated the Inflation Reduction Act need to work with those of us on the ground who lead this fight, rather than against us. The side deal proposed by Senator Joe Manchin includes the undermining of laws that protect us from the fossil fuel industry.

We’ve Effectively Taken A Pay Cut’: How Inflation Is Impacting Retail Workers

September 6, 2022 Anna Hensel, Modern Retail. Educate! Finance and the Economy, Inflation, Retail, Worker Rights and Jobs

At the beginning of the year, a West Coast Target-based worker was excited to hear they would be getting a raise. The worker — – who uses they/them pronouns — has worked in retail for about five years, and couldn’t recall getting a raise at any of the other companies they’ve worked at. Their excitement evaporated, however, when they learned the raise was only $0.15. Thanks to decades-high inflation, the worker is finding it harder and harder to get by on Target wages, even with a small raise. But they are no longer able to afford all of their groceries on EBT, as they previously were able to. Inflation is crushing workers across all industries.

Manchin Side Deal Would Fast-Track Controversial Pipeline

September 3, 2022 Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch. Educate! Inflation, Inflation Reduction Act, Joe Manchin, Mountain Valley Pipeline, Pipelines

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 16, is the biggest investment the U.S. government has made to date in fighting the climate crisis. Yet in order to persuade West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin to support the landmark legislation, party leaders made a side deal with the pro-fossil-fuel Senator to pass additional legislation facilitating the permitting process for energy projects, including the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The Mountain Valley Pipeline would carry fracked natural gas 303 miles through West Virginia and Virginia, according to the project website.

Strikes Across The UK As Regulator Lifts Energy Price Cap By 80%

August 29, 2022 Joe Glenton, The Canary. Resist! Energy, Inflation, Labor Unions, Strikes, United Kingdom (UK)

A new wave of strikes are underway across the UK. From postal workers to barristers, organised labour is turning out on picket lines against the backdrop of looming energy cost hikes. Workers across the UK are fighting back by withdrawing labour, sharing their experiences and, on one occasion, surfing around ports at high speed! The strikes come as Don’t Pay, which is campaigning to encourage people to refuse to pay extortionate energy bills, reported an 80% hike had been nodded through by regulator Ofgem. Don’t Pay’s East London branch also announced a protest at Canary Wharf for Saturday 27 August. Postal workers are striking as part of the Communication Workers Union over pay. Royal Mail bosses have been paying themselves massive bonuses, even as the cost of living crisis has ramped up

Dockers At England’s Largest Cargo Port Strike Against Inflation

August 22, 2022 Joël Malo, Left Voice. Resist! Dock Workers, Inflation, Strikes, United Kingdom (UK), Worker Rights and Jobs

Things are heating up in the United Kingdom’s “summer of discontent” — the name that’s been given to the wave of strikes against falling wages resulting from inflation. London’s public transit network is paralyzed, and across the country only one train in five is running. Massive strikes in the transportation sector are playing out as walkouts —sometimes wildcat ones — erupting at refineries and Amazon facilities. Meanwhile, a growing number of unions in other sectors are voting to authorize strikes. The English bourgeois press reports that inflation is 10.1 percent (the same figure the French press reports), but that’s just what the bosses say. It doesn’t account for rent increases; adding rents, one of the key costs for the working class, inflation has hit 12.4 percent in August. And as prices rise, so too does the general combativeness of workers and the will to strike.

Argentinian Unions Mobilize Against Runaway Inflation

August 22, 2022 Kawsachun News. Resist! Argentina, Finance and the Economy, Inflation, Mass Action

August 18 - Argentinian unions and social movements are marching today towards the National Congress to protest against runaway inflation and ‘speculators’. The march has been organized by the two largest union confederations; CGT and CTA. Their joint statement said; “Our country demands firm commitments to mitigate the social injustice that is suffocating us today (..) political actors must abandon petty electoral confrontation for the benefit of individual interests. Inflation has reached intolerable levels and is pulverizing the purchasing power of workers.” Sergio Palazzo, lawmaker for the ruling Frente de Todos (Front for All’) has backed the march and stated that “the intolerable action of the financial corporations have threatened the food rights of millions of Argentinians as well as the process of reactivating the productive economy”.

Why The Inflation Reduction Act Is Less A ‘Climate Bill’

August 20, 2022 Anthony Rogers-Wright, Black Agenda Report. Educate! climate crisis, Climate Justice, Finance and the Economy, Inflation, Inflation Reduction Act

The brother El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (aka Malcolm X) once explained, “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” The tale of two narratives associated with the recent signing into law of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) accentuates his words at a critical moment. Communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis find themselves entrapped in a cycle of climate cataclysms and cumulative pollution derived from legacy and systemic environmental racism and classism. While attending a meeting in Bogota, Colombia with the newly elected Vice President, Francia Marquez, one of her advisors expressed to me that she was questioning why the demographics of those celebrating passage of a bill purported to address the climate crisis don’t match the demographics of those most impacted by the crisis?

Is The US Inflation Reduction Act A Case Of Too Little Too Late?

August 14, 2022 People's Dispatch. Resistance Report Finance and the Economy, Inflation, Inflation Reduction Act

Eugene Puryear of BreakThrough News analyzes the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act which seeks to address inflation, climate change, and healthcare. The US Senate (and subsequently the House of Representatives) passed the Inflation Reduction Act that seeks to tackle issues of inflation, climate change and health care. Will the provisions in the law actually help address these issues? Will the Democrats gain an electoral advantage in the October mid-terms due to this law? Eugene Puryear of BreakThrough News explains.

NDN Collective Responds To House Passing Inflation Reduction Act

August 14, 2022 NDN Collective. Educate! Finance and the Economy, Frontline Community, Inflation, Inflation Reduction Act

Rapid City, South Dakota – In response to today’s news that the House of Representatives passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, NDN Collective released the following statement: “To say this moment is bittersweet is an understatement,” said Jade Begay, climate justice director at NDN Collective. “On one hand, the IRA – which puts us on track to meet national climate goals by 2030 and will provide much-needed support around health care, jobs, and infrastructure – was only made possible by the tireless organizing of frontline and Indigenous communities, young people, and climate justice advocates. On the other hand, the IRA dismisses fundamental, decades-long demands by Indigenous, Black, Brown, and low income communities to end fossil fuel expansion and invest in a just transition to renewable energy."

Germany: Port Strike And Inflation Fight Pose The Question Of Strategy

August 2, 2022 Stefan Schneider, Left Voice. Strategize! Germany, Inflation, Ports, Worker Rights and Jobs

Two weeks ago, thousands of dockworkers in the ports of northern Germany went on strike for the third time in just a few weeks. The 48-hour strike for wages that would cover the real inflation being felt by these workers was the longest work stoppage in the ports in more than 40 years — reason enough for the bosses in the port, and beyond, to tremble with fear for their profits and attack the right to strike. Some 17 injunctions have been sought in labor courts to stop the strike. Rainer Dulger, president of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA), went so far as to call for declaring a “national emergency” to make it easier to break strikes in the future. Even though the leadership of the ver.di union1 denounced these attacks, it ultimately accepted an out-of-court settlement in Hamburg that ruled out further strikes until August 26.

Interest Rate Hikes Will Not Save Us From Inflation

July 28, 2022 Ellen Brown, Scheer Post. Educate! Federal Reserve, Finance and the Economy, Inflation, Public Banking

In prescribing cures for inflation, economists rely on the diagnosis of Nobel laureate Milton Friedman: inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon—too much money chasing too few goods. But that equation has three variables: too much money (“demand”) chasing (the “velocity” of spending) too few goods (“supply”). And “orthodox” economists, from Lawrence Summers to the Federal Reserve, seem to be focusing only on the “demand” variable. The Fed’s prescription is to suppress demand (borrowing and spending) by raising interest rates. Summers, a former U.S. Treasury Secretary who presided over the massive post-2008 bank bailouts, is proposing to reduce demand by raising taxes or raising unemployment rates, reducing disposable income and thus people’s ability to spend.

Panamanian Trade Unions Reach Agreement With Government

July 27, 2022 People's Dispatch. Resist! Inflation, Mass Action, Panama, Victory

After three weeks of national strike and nationwide demonstrations and roadblocks in protest against the cost of living crisis in Panama, the right-wing government of President Laurentino Cortizo was forced to engage in negotiations with the organizations behind the protests in Penonomé on July 21. On July 24, the fourth day of negotiations, representatives from various popular movements and social organizations, which have been mobilizing across the country since July 1, reached the first agreement with the government. The leaders of the People United for Life Alliance from the capital Panama City, the National Alliance for the Rights of the Organized People (ANADEPO) from Veraguas, and the Indigenous organizations from the Ngäbe Buglé region, the three organizers of the ongoing national strike, succeeded in convincing the national government to reduce the cost of essential commodities by 30%.

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