Vol. 73/No. 42      November 2, 2009

States provide 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. More than half of those receiving these payments are jobless after the benefits end. In September, for example, a record 5.4 million people had been unemployed for longer than six months.

For many no longer eligible for state benefits, the federal government has provided extended payments, in some cases for up to 53 additional weeks. But even these are being exhausted. Congress is currently discussing a further extension of benefits for another 14 weeks, plus an additional six weeks in states where unemployment rates, averaged over three months, exceed 8.5 percent. Meanwhile, the number of workers filing initial jobless claims has been more than half a million for 48 straight weeks, reported Market Watch October 15.

According to data released October 15 by the Barack Obama administration, 30,383 jobs have been created or “saved” through federal government “stimulus” contracts with businesses. An October 19 White House report estimated that 250,000 school jobs have been saved or created from federal grants to states. When the $787 billion “stimulus” package was passed by Congress earlier this year the president claimed that it would create or save 3.5 million jobs over two years.

The capitalist rulers have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into shoring up the nation’s largest banks, in hopes of getting lending going again, and for programs to encourage consumer spending. But this has had no effect on alleviating the economic crisis, which is rooted in declining capitalist production worldwide. U.S. factories in September operated at 70.5 percent of their capacity, more than 10 percent below the average in the years 1972 through 2008.  
 
No Social Security cost-of-living raises
For the first time in more than 30 years there will be no cost-of-living increase for more than 50 million Social Security recipients next year, the government announced in mid-October. This decision is based on figures released by the Labor Department stating that consumer prices fell 1.3 percent for the year ending in September.

The government’s official figures, which mask the real impact of rising prices, record a decline in prices of fuel and some types of food at the end of 2008 and early 2009. Energy prices, however, are listed as rising in August and September. Yearly costs for medical care services rose 3.3 percent in the consumer price index, medical care commodities by 4.1 percent, and transportation services by 2 percent.

While eliminating next year’s cost-of-living raises, President Barack Obama has called for another $250 “stimulus” check for Social Security recipients.

Citing the federal consumer price index report, the Colorado state government said it planned to lower the state’s minimum wage by four cents from its current level of $7.28 per hour. The decline will actually be three cents since state levels cannot legally go lower than the $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage. Colorado is one of 10 states where the minimum wage is tied to inflation, but the first one to attempt to lower it. The other states are Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

Despite government programs aimed at preventing foreclosures, the number of filings hit a record high in the third quarter of this year, according to a RealtyTrac report. During that time, more than 935,000 homes received a foreclosure letter, which is either a default notice, auction notice, or bank repossession. This is a 23 percent jump over the third quarter of 2008. One in every 136 U.S. homes are in foreclosure.

In another development, New York State governor David Paterson has proposed a new round of budget cuts to hundreds of social programs and services, slashing $5 billion from the current budget and the new one starting next April. The plan includes cuts of $686 million from schools for the remainder of the school year, $471 million from Medicaid and other health programs, $113 million from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and $3.3 million from libraries, reported the New York Times.

The governor has said deeper cuts are to come over the next several years to make up a projected deficit of nearly $50 billion through March 2013.  
 
 
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