United States

If you think things in the USA are bad now, wait till after the US elections. Once the result is in the bag (either for Bush or whoever stands for the Democrats) economic policy will switch from the present spending spree (mainly on arms) to cuts in welfare. The present level of indebtedness cannot be maintained for ever. Sooner or later the capitalists will make the workers pay.

Guantánamo Bay, an American army base containing 3,000 US military personnel, is located at the southern end of Cuba. It has over the past two years been used as a prison for 660 detainees from the ‘War on Terror’.The use of the base as a prison for ‘enemy combatants’ has generated a great deal of controversy. This term‘enemy combatants’conceals the fact that the prisoners have no rights whatsoever and exposes the hypocrisy of the US government.

The crisis in housing is a product of the capitalist system. Yosef Mikhah looks at the effects it has on working people, and the need for a socialized plan of quality housing for all. From the latest issue of the US Socialist Appeal

On December 23, 2003 the US government officially acknowledged the outbreak of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in a herd of cattle in the state of Washington.This is officially the first case of mad cow in the US, but is in reality the second case of an outbreak in the integrated Canadian and US cattle industry.  The farming and cattle crisis is at root a reflection of the crisis of capitalism worldwide and a result of "globalization".

Bush's new plan for immigration "reform" will benefit only the ruling classes of the US and Latin America, Mexico in particular.  Working people will only see their conditions of life further deteriorate while big business pockets big profits. 

Greg Oxley looks at the life of this labor pioneer and lifelong fighter for the working class.

There are an astonishing 44 million Americans without healthcare. Those who do have healthcare have to pay ridiculous amounts of money for it, and even then, they have to worry about co-payments, deductibles, etc. Never mind SARS and influenza - the entire for-profit American health care system is diseased.

So far over 400 US soldiers have died in Iraq (during and after the "end" of the war). This is having a big impact on US public opinion. A further 1500 US soldiers have been injured in armed conflicts, and a staggering 9,341 have been flown out for various other health reasons, most importantly for mental stress. Fred Weston reports on the growing dissatisfaction in the US Army

The crisis of unemployment and poverty in America continues to worsen. Despite a nominal increase in jobs in recent weeks, what is not reported is what kind of jobs are being created. Manufacturing jobs, the backbone of any economy, continued to be lost for the 37th month in a row in October. For the vast majority of Americans, the days of high quality jobs with decent wages, security, and full health and retirement benefits are a thing of the past.  By John Peterson, from the US Socialist Appeal

In New York many firefighters did not receive protective gear during the first two weeks of the clean-up, which involved prolonged exposure to asbestos and the handling of thousands of body parts. 40 percent of the workers who cleaned up Ground Zero had no health insurance, and 75 percent have reported ongoing respiratory difficulties. By M.C. Perez, from the US Socialist Appeal

Many skeptics say that a socialist society could never exist in America. They say that Americans are greedy and unwilling to join together in common struggle. But US labour history is rich with examples of the heroism of the working class in their struggle for a better world. 

Just a few weeks ago, Bush, Rumsfeld, and co. seemed incapable of doing any wrong. The lightning charge across Iraq led to one of the quickest and most decisive military victories in the history of warfare. Here at home, things were looking up as well. A broad range of economic indicators seemed to indicate that this time for sure, the recovery the markets had been predicting for the past two years had arrived. How quickly things change!

After the invasion of Iraq seemed to have run according to plan and without meeting any great resistance, the anti-war movement declined. Now it is beginning to pick up again. Among those actively campaigning in the USA for an end to the occupation of Iraq are the "Military Families Speak Out" (in which people who have relatives in the army are organized), and "Veterans For Peace". The mood in the USA is changing.