Rising prices for basic necessities, from groceries to electricity and health care, and now growing layoffs, are making it increasingly difficult for working people to make ends meet. This crisis has grown whether the bosses’ Democratic or Republican parties are at the helm. It’s rooted in the workings of the capitalist system itself.
Those in the ruling class and their well-remunerated upper-middle-class supporters are getting richer from the stock market “booming near all-time highs,” John Williams, president of the New York Federal Reserve, told the Financial Times. This includes the orgy of investment in advancing artificial intelligence. The S&P 500 leading stocks have risen 36% in the last six months. Wall Street fixture Morgan Stanley predicts the surge will continue into 2026.
But there’s a different picture on the other side of the class divide. Since the start of this year, bosses have laid off more than 1 million workers. This includes 34,000 by UPS, with another 14,000 on the chopping block, 15,000 by Verizon and 14,000 by Amazon.
U.S. manufacturing production contracted for the eighth straight month in October. That month General Motors announced job cuts of 3,300 workers at three of its plants in Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. Through layoffs and refusing to replace workers who retire or quit, bosses are pushing punishing speedup for those still on the job.
For those laid off it has become increasingly difficult to get another job. More than one in four workers without jobs — nearly 2 million — have been unemployed for at least six months. In Grantsville, Utah, Jessica Howard’s job at a health care technology company where she’d worked for 17 years was eliminated seven months ago. She’s applied to nearly 400 companies without success. “After a while the rejections really get to you,” she told the Washington Post. “It starts to break you down emotionally.”
Hundreds of thousands of workers usually pick up temporary jobs in retail stores, transportation and warehouses over the Christmas holidays. This year a number of companies, like UPS and Macy’s, have held off saying how many workers they’ll hire. According to the job-placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas major U.S. companies have announced plans to hire half as many as last year.
Hourly wages are rising more slowly for all workers, especially the lowest paid. Through September the wages of low-paid workers increased at an annual rate of just 1.4%, while the government’s official price index was up 3%.
Beef prices up? Try ‘Hamburger Helper’
Prices for groceries have remained high for almost half a decade. With beef prices increasing 14.7% over the past year to a new all-time high, more workers are purchasing Hamburger Helper to help stretch out their family meals. The product’s sales have risen 14.5% year over year in August.
One in eight workers, including millions with children, rely on the federal government’s food stamp program. Increasing numbers of people, including workers with full-time jobs, are lining up to get supplies at local food pantries. In New Bedford, Massachusetts, one food bank recently extended its hours into the evening so those who work can still pick up food.
Electric bills are going through the roof. They’re expected to increase by more than 10% this winter and in some states by much more. In New Jersey energy costs have surged 21% since last August.
More and more workers are falling behind on monthly car payments, leading to a jump in repossessions. Last year an estimated 1.73 million vehicles were seized by the repo man.
For the first time since the capitalist downturn in 2008, subprime auto loans are rising. A record 6.65% of workers saddled with one were 60 days or more past due. Workers trying to trade in vehicles are finding their car is worth less than the debt they still owe.
A similar situation faces workers and some middle-class families that have taken out long-term mortgages on their homes. Just short of a million are “underwater,” meaning they owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth.
Meanwhile, foreclosure filings on homes were up nearly 20% for the year in October, as housing costs have been driven up by skyrocketing increases in the cost of home insurance. Young people looking to move out of their parents’ places in hopes of being able to raise a family are stuck.
More and more working people are relying on credit cards to pay bills. But with large unpaid balances and exorbitant interest rates, they’re going deeper into debt.
About a quarter of U.S. adults face harassment from collection agencies, which buy up their debts for pennies on the dollar then sue you to reap huge profits. With a court ruling in their favor, these vultures move to seize part of your wages and your bank accounts.
The deepening crisis underscores the importance of backing today’s strike battles, and the need for a union-led fight for jobs with wage rates, schedules and conditions necessary for families to live on. As workers fight for protection from the twin scourges of unemployment and high prices, we can build the party we need, to chart a course to take political power into our own hands.