United States of America (USA)

United States of America: Socialism for Big Capital and wild capitalism for the poor

10 July 2020 - by Eric Toussaint

While the US has been set ablaze since the end of May 2020 by a multitude of major antiracist demonstrations [1] and the ordinary working people of the world’s top power remain hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic (as of 9 July 2020, in the United States, according to official figures more than 3.1 (...)
A boot is crushing the neck of American democracy

2 June 2020 - by Cornel West

Here we go again. Another black person killed by the US police. Another wave of multiracial resistance. Another cycle of race talk on the corporate media. Another display of diversity with neoliberal leaders, and another white backlash soon to come. Yet this time might be a turning point. The (...)
The scarring

4 May 2020 - by Michael Roberts

Optimism reigns in global stock markets, particularly in the US. After falling around 30% when the lockdowns to contain COVID-19 virus pandemic were imposed, the US stock market has jumped back 30% in April. Why? Well, for two reasons. The first is that the US Federal Reserve has intervened (...)
Domination of the United States on the World Bank

2 April 2020 - by Eric Toussaint

In 2020, the World Bank (WB) and the IMF will be 76 years old. These two international financial institutions (IFI), founded in 1944, are dominated by the USA and a few allied major powers who work to generalize policies that run counter the interests of the world’s populations. The WB and (...)
When the Bernie Sander’s mass movement becomes the establishment’s “worst nightmare”

17 February 2020 - by Yorgos Mitralias

Now that the most sceptical and doubting are finally beginning to realise that Bernie Sanders is a real contender for the US Presidency, it is time to take a closer look at the reasons why his candidature is so unprecedented, historical and truly revolutionary. To have an overview of what his (...)
The Meltzer Commission on the IFI at the US Congress in 2000

30 August 2019 - by Eric Toussaint

In 2019, the World Bank (WB) and the IMF will be 75 years old. These two international financial institutions (IFI), founded in 1944, are dominated by the USA and a few allied major powers who work to generalize policies that run counter the interests of the world’s populations. The WB and the (...)
A profits recession?

22 July 2019 - by Michael Roberts

This week, we get the first US company reports on earnings for the second quarter of 2019. And it looks as though there will be the first back-to-back drop in overall earnings since the mini-recession of 2016. S&P 500 companies are expected to report an average earnings fall of 2.8 per (...)
As President, Bernie Should Cancel All Student Debt

24 June 2019 - by Ben Beckett

The billions of dollars in student loan debt are an economic and moral crisis. Bernie Sanders should promise to wipe it all out. In the United States, education is supposed to be an equalizer, and higher education in particular is key to improving your life chances. At least that’s how the (...)
Boom and then bust?

30 April 2019 - by Michael Roberts

Last March, I posted that the global economy seemed to be in a fantasy world where stock markets hit new highs but output of goods and services, investment and trade was stagnating in the major economies. This week, the US stock recorded yet again new highs. As the Financial Times described (...)
#MeToo: A movement for women workers too!

8 March 2019 - by Sonia Mitralias

It has been more than two years since the emergence of the Me Too movement that unveiled the enormous extent of sexual harassment in the workplace and gender-based sexual violence around the world! Not at all ephemeral, this movement does not stop surprising us. Not only does it persist and now (...)
Economic crisis and global disorder – An increasingly chaotic globalization

9 January 2019 - by Michel Husson

Ten years after the bankruptcy of Lehmann Brothers, more and more analyses are being produced centring on two questions: how did it happen? Can it happen again? But they are almost all centred on the workings of finance, past or future. The point of view adopted here is a little different, (...)
Corporate debt – the IMF gets worried

20 November 2018 - by Michael Roberts

The IMF does not pull any punches in its latest post on the IMF blog. It is really worried that so-called ‘leveraged loans’ are reaching dangerous levels globally. These loans, usually arranged by a syndicate of banks, are made to companies that are heavily indebted or have weak credit ratings. (...)
The Next Crash

17 September 2018 - by Robert Reich

Trump and his Republican enablers are now reversing regulations put in place to stop Wall Street’s excessively risky lending September 15 will mark the tenth anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and near meltdown of Wall Street, followed by the Great Recession. Since hitting bottom (...)
China vs the US: The new imperial scramble for Africa and global rivalries

4 June 2018 - by Lee Wengraf

Lee Wengraf writes that the rush for profits, economic volatility and militarization across Africa promises only instability, rising exploitation and violence. Since the start of the new millennium, sub-Saharan African economies have undergone a dramatic boom. This surge has been marked by (...)
USA: Where the Debt Slaves Are the Most Vulnerable

24 May 2018 - by Wolf Richter

I’m shedding a different light on consumer debt. This type of chart is trotted out constantly these days to show that American households are in fabulous shape when it comes to their ability to service their blistering record debts. The red line in the chart shows household debt-service (...)
Imperialism and Dependency: Similarities and Differences with the Marini era

8 May 2018 - by Claudio Katz, Richard Fidler

The main theorist of dependency anticipated trends of neoliberal globalization. He analyzed productive globalization, the centrality of exploitation and the relative weight of surplus value transfers. But the employment crisis exceeds what was envisaged by Marini, in a scenario disrupted by the (...)
Women across the globe are planning to strike on March 8. Here’s why

3 March 2018 - by Cinzia Arruzza , Tithi Bhattacharya, Sarah Jaffe

We’re now into the second year of the Trump administration, and the last year has been filled with ups and downs, important victories, successful holding campaigns, and painful defeats. We’ve learned a lot, but there is always more to learn, more to be done. In this now-weekly series, we talk (...)
The Macroeconomic Effects of Student Debt Cancellation

12 February 2018 - by Scott Fullwiler, Stephanie Kelton, Catherine Ruetschlin, Marshall Steinbaum

Executive Summary More than 44 million Americans are caught in a student debt trap. Collectively, they owe nearly $1.4 trillion on outstanding student loan debt. Research shows that this level of debt hurts the US economy in a variety of ways, holding back everything from small business (...)
In times of humanitarian crisis: What Are Washington’s Aims for Puerto Rico?

20 November 2017 - by Barry Sheppard

The humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico continues after almost two months after the hurricanes hit, while the imperialist center in Washington continues to refuse to come to the aid of its colony in anything like an adequate fashion. The destruction of the hurricanes that hit the island in (...)
Puerto Rico: Belonging to, But Not Part of

1 October 2017 - by Ed Morales

The Trump administration’s delay in sending real aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria is a distasteful display of colonialist racism. But it’s par for the course: our citizenship has always been second-class. “We’re American citizens. How can Trump turn his back on us?” This is one of the (...)
Debtors can exercise power when they join together

22 August 2017 - by Patrick Saurin, Ann Larson, Laura Hanna

Interview of Ann Larson and Laura Hanna (Debt Collective), by Patrick Saurin (CADTM) The Debt Collective, Strike Debt, and the Rolling Jubilee: How were these movements born and how are they related? The Debt Collective is a culmination of organizing and activist work that grew out of (...)
2007-2017: Causes of a Ten-Year Financial Crisis

30 March 2017 - by Eric Toussaint

The first institutions specializing in mortgage loans started to default in the US in February-March 2007. According to a report published by the Union of Swiss banks (UBS) in March 2017, “between 2002 and 2008, global debt of the corporate, household, government and financial sectors (...)
The Debts of the American Empire — Real and Imagined

22 March 2017 - by Max Haiven, Cassie Thornton

From Chicago to Puerto Rico to San Francisco, debt is a terrain of struggle within and against America’s racialized empire of indifference. We are used to speaking about debt as an individual experience, one of lonely insomnia, and of grinding, inescapable worry. Authors like David Graeber or (...)
International Women’s Strike US Platform

1 March 2017 - by International Women’s Strike USA

The International Women’s Strike on March 8th, 2017 is an international day of action, planned and organized by women in over 30 different countries. In the spirit of solidarity and internationalism, in the United States March 8th will be a day of action organized by and for women who have (...)
Tripping Up Trumpism Through Global Boycott Divestment Sanctions

25 January 2017 - by Patrick Bond

The forces arrayed against Donald Trump’s presidency and neo-fascist movement range from the Central Intelligence Agency to oppressed minorities, and will soon encompass the whole world once his climate change threats are carried out. From above, conflicts will continue with moderate (...)