When Biden took office, one of his first acts was the elimination of our border security. Like a power-hungry dictator, Biden simply decided to ignore our immigration laws. His catastrophic border policy resulted in untold millions of unidentified foreign citizens from around the world pouring into our country. Its impact is now being felt in cities across the country. The worst is yet to come. PETER LEMISKA - AND WE'RE ALREADY THERE!!!
Saturday, December 21, 2019
THE REAL ECONOMY - ONE COMPANY LAYS OFF 1,500 WORKERS
U.S. Steel to Lay Off More than 1500 American Workers, Idle Michigan Plant Drew Angerer/Getty Images
2:40
U.S. Steel announced that more than 1,500 American workers will be laid off as the company plans to effectively idle a plant near Detroit, Michigan.
In two announcements this week, U.S. Steel executives said about 1,545 workers at their Great Lakes Works plant in Ecorse, Michigan, would be affected by plans to idle the plant.
U.S. Steel intends to indefinitely idle a significant portion of its Great Lakes Works operation near Detroit, Michigan. The company expects to begin idling the iron and steelmaking facilities on or around April 1, 2020, and the Hot Strip Mill rolling facility before the end of 2020.
Coupled with the layoffs, U.S. Steel executives said they expect the company’s financial performance in the fourth quarter to be worse than originally expected.
President Trump placed tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum to help boost and protect the American steel industry and U.S. steelworkers. In many regions of the country, steel mills — once forced to close due to the impact of free trade — have reopened and hired formerly laid-off steelworkers.
Researchers at the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) have reported that the steel tariffs on foreign steel have helped drive $13 billion in the American steel industry.
Economist Jeff Ferry wrote last month:
The steel tariffs are working. They are delivering prosperity to the steel industry, which is, in turn, benefiting the local communities where steelworks are located. According to industry sources, some $13 billion worth of major steel investment projects is now underway. Most of them are in small towns or semi-rural communities in Middle America, exactly the sort of places that became depressed after years of deindustrialization.
Steve Bennish, who tracks manufacturing employment, questioned whether the U.S. Steel layoffs would be occurring if Republican and Democrat lawmakers had passed a nationwide infrastructure package to not only fix dilapidated roads and bridges, but put American steelworkers to work.
“Maybe if Congress tackled an infrastructure bill to broadly upgrade neglected roads, bridges, various grids etc., we’d be seeing different headlines here,” Bennish said.
The United Steelworkers Union has yet to comment on the layoffs.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
Over 1,500 steelworkers to lose their jobs as US Steel set to idle Great Lakes Works outside of Detroit
US Steel announced Friday, just days before the Christmas holiday, that it is issuing layoff notices to 1,545 workers at its Great Lakes Works facility south of Detroit. Next year it will idle most of the mill and shift production to Gary Works in Gary, Indiana, pitting workers in the same region against one another for a dwindling supply of jobs.
Company spokesmen told the Northwest Indiana Times that US Steel’s goal is to make the remaining jobs “more secure and sustainable” to “help the company reach its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2030.” In other words the new jobs will most likely pay lower wages with few benefits.
Workers leaving the US Steel Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Michigan
Great Lakes Works sits along the Detroit River and spans two Michigan communities, Ecorse and River Rouge, which now face economic devastation. It is currently capable of producing a net of 3.8 million tons of raw steel annually and primarily produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated sheet steels used in the automotive industry.
US Steel issued layoff notices to 200 workers at Great Lakes Works in September in the wake of an announcement that one blast furnace was to be idled.
US Steel President and CEO David Burritt, who was paid a total of $11.6 million in 2018, offered the typical empty words after the announcement of the layoffs: “These decisions are never easy, nor are they taken lightly. However, we must responsibly manage our resources while also strengthening our company’s long-term future—a future many stakeholders depend on.”
Gary Works is the largest steel mill owned and operated by Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based US Steel. Last month the corporation announced the layoff of an undisclosed number of non-union employees at the mill and speculation rose over whether or not the layoffs would impact the plant’s eligibility for state economic incentives used to subsidize its $750 million investment into the Gary Works mill.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. is requiring US Steel to retain a minimum of 3,875 employees in the state to qualify for a $10 million incentive package, in addition to the $35 million package from the city of Gary over a 25-year period. US Steel also received a $40 million tax benefit from the US federal government in 2018 on top of a total $432 million in profits worldwide.
A former steelworker from Indiana spoke to the World Socialist Web Site about the significance of the closure of the Great Lakes Works. “I was shocked and saddened by today’s news. It’s hard to accept that [the companies that control] your livelihood, means of financial support and stability, can just decide to shutter their operations. It’s not just the 1,545 who will undergo drastic lifestyle changes. The many companies who furnish the mills with contractors and materials, or who supply services, will also be hurt by this action. The entire region will lose huge parts of its tax base.”
The United Steelworkers (USW) union has maintained virtual silence in response to the latest jobs bloodbath in the steel industry. The union paved the way for these attacks on jobs in the 2018 contracts that it signed with US Steel and ArcelorMittal, the two largest raw steel producers operating in the US.
Despite a unanimous strike vote among rank-and-file workers at US Steel and ArcelorMittal in the fall of 2018, the USW refused to mobilize workers to strike. The union then rammed through concessions contracts which allowed the steel corporations to continue generating massive profits at the expense of workers’ working conditions and living standards while offering no job protections and no guarantee of benefits and decent wages for new hires.
The USW has been one of the earliest and most vocal proponents of tariffs on imported metals, specifically aimed at China, only criticizing these measures when they believed they did not go far enough. In this way the USW has stoked nationalism, pitting workers in the US against their brothers and sisters in other countries in a cutthroat bidding war to the detriment of all workers.
The latest announcement of mass manufacturing layoffs in the US reveals as well the fraud of the nationalist demagogy promoted by the Trump administration, the trade unions and sections of the Democratic Party. Workers who were falsely led to believe that trade war measures and other forms of protectionism would protect jobs and wages are now being forced to confront the reality behind these lies.
Plant closures are not in fact the result of “unfair trade” as endlessly claimed by the unions, but the inevitable outcome of the operation of the laws of the capitalist profit system. Despite this, the USW and other unions have used the call for economic nationalism and protectionism as a justification for collaboration with the bosses in the drive to undercut overseas competitors.
As a consequence of the trade war measures initiated by the Trump administration there is now an overcapacity in the steel industry. Steel prices in the US rose at the beginning of 2018 after the Trump administration’s 25 percent import tariffs against foreign steel were initially rolled out targeting in particular China. Since then, as companies around the world have opted for cheaper alternatives and countries have retaliated with their own tariffs, steel prices have dropped significantly.
As a consequence of market turmoil sparked by the protectionist measures, US Steel stock prices are currently down to $11.87 per share, compared to $45.39 per share in February 2018 just before tariffs were rolled out by the Trump administration.
Workers are the ones forced to pay the consequences of deepening recessions and trade war, with the upending of their lives and ever-greater attacks on wages and working conditions. Meanwhile, the communities that depend on steel jobs are facing economic ruin. The situation confronting workers in Michigan is being replicated across the US and around the world.
The announcement of the idling of the Great Lakes Works comes one year after the announcement by General Motors that it would shutter four facilities in the US and one in Canada. Meanwhile, Ford has closed one plant in the US along with cutting 7,000 jobs in the US and 12,000 across Europe. German automakers Mercedes-Benz and Audi announced the slashing of 19,500 jobs combined in Europe. In India and China, 570,000 auto manufacturing jobs were cut this year.
The growth of strikes and struggles by workers in country after country demonstrates the willingness of workers to fight back against the corporate onslaught against jobs and living standards. However, to wage this fight they need a new program and perspective. In the first place, workers must reject the nationalist poison promoted by the unions and adopt an international strategy aimed at uniting workers worldwide.
The claim that the resources do not exist to provide decent paying jobs for all is a lie. There is more than enough money in the coffers of the corporations and their banks to provide decent jobs with good benefits for every worker in the world. The problem is the subordination of all economic decisions to the profit requirements of the wealthy elite.
To develop their struggle workers must build new organizations, rank-and-file factory committees, independent of the pro-company unions. These committees must mobilize workers industry-wide and globally against the threat to jobs. This must be connected to a political program aimed at reorganizing economic life on the basis of a rational plan based on production for human need, not private profit.
More Than 9,300 Stores Closed Across US in 2019: Report
12 CommentsDecember 19, 2019Updated: December 19, 2019
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A report found that more than 9,300 stores have closed or are closing across the United States in 2019, including locations operated by Payless, Gymboree, Fred’s, Walgreens, Family Dollar, and many more.
According to a report (pdf) by Coresight Research, which released its year-end report on the closing stores, 5,844 stores closed in 2018. In 2019, 9,302 stores were reported to have been shut down or were going to be shut down, which is a 59 percent increase over 2018.
Payless ShoeSource shut down 2,100 stores, Fred’s shut down 564, Ascena Retail shut down 781, Gymboree shut down 740, Sears closed down 210, and Charlotte Russe shut down 512. Twelve businesses had at least 200 locations shut down in 2019, the research organization said.
Gamestop, Gap, Foot Locker, Walgreens, Destination Maternity, GNC, Bed Bad & Beyond, Victoria’s Secret, CVS, Big Lots, Office Depot, Pier 1 Imports, Rent-a-Center, and Abercrombie & Fitch all saw dozens of their stores close, the report noted.
At the same time, 4,392 new stores opened across the United States, said Coresight.
Dollar General opened up nearly 1,000, Dollar Tree opened 348, Family Dollar opened 202, Aldi opened 159, and a number of other aforementioned brands that shuttered stores also opened new locations, according to the report.
“Despite a very favorable consumer spending environment, department stores have yet to catch a break,” analyst Christinia Boni said in a research report, according to CNN, which noted that online sales are poised to increase even further.
Last month, Toys “R” Us marked its return to the United States on Wednesday by opening its first store at a location in New Jersey. The firm filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and shut down 700 stores.
“We wanted to make sure that everywhere you turned in the store there was interactivity,” said Richard Barry, president and CEO of Tru Kids, the parent company of the firm, CNBC reported.
He added, “We have an amazing number of digital experiences throughout the store, but we also have good old analog [experiences]. … Take the products out of the boxes and kids will be able to get their hands on them.”
Sears Update
Outside of a Sears department store one day after it closed as part of multiple store closures by Sears Holdings Corp in the United States in Nanuet, N.Y. on Jan. 7, 2019. (Mike Segar/Reuters)
The company that owns Sears and Kmart will lay off hundreds of corporate employees, according to a report last month, coming after the firm announced it would close 96 stores.
Transformco confirmed the layoffs to Business Insider the Sears layoffs after reports emerged.
“Since purchasing substantially all the assets of Sears Holdings Corporation in February 2019, Transformco has faced a difficult retail environment,” the statement said.
It added, “We have been working hard to position Transformco for success by focusing on our competitive strengths and pruning operations that have struggled due to increased competition and other factors. Unfortunately, this process resulted in a number of difficult but necessary decisions, including closing stores and making adjustments at our corporate headquarters and field positions to reflect our new structure. We regret the impact that this has on our associates and their families.”
Fact Check: Mayor Pete Claims U.S. Economy ‘Not Working for Most’ Americans
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
2:07
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg claimed on Thursday the economy was “not working for most” Americans at the Democrat presidential primary debate in Los Angeles, California.
Buttigieg made the claim when asked by the debate’s moderator to explain his argument for winning over voters who “may not like everything President Donald Trump has done,” but like the economy.
“Where I live folks aren’t measuring the economy by how the Dow Jones is doing, they’re measuring the economy by how they’re doing,” the mayor said in response. “When you’re doing the bills at the end of the month at your kitchen table and you find that even if your wages have gone up it’s not nearly going as fast as the cost of health[care] and housing.”
“This economy is not working for most of us, for the middle class and, I know you’re only ever supposed to say ‘middle class’ and not poor in politics, but we’ve got to talk about poverty in this country,” he added, before arguing for increasing the minimum wage and stronger labor protections.
Buttigieg’s claim that the economy is not working for most Americans, especially those in the middle and working class, is strongly rebutted by most fiscal indicators.
Since President Donald Trump’s tax cuts went into effect, wages have gone up, while unemployment has hit record lows. The impact has been most felt by blue-collar and low-skill workers, who have seen their wages grow by more than three percent in the last year alone.
Meanwhile, the number of out of work Americans, contrary to Buttigieg’s suggestion, is at the lowest point since the great recession in 2007. Likewise, the unemployment rate reached 3.5 percent in November—the lowest in 50 years.
Further undercutting Buttigieg’s claim is that Trump’s policies have boosted communities that have generally missed out on prior periods of economic growth. As such, the unemployment rates among African Americans and Hispanics have reached record lows, while median household income has soared.
Workers leaving the US Steel Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Michigan
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