The U.S. economy is dying and we are heading for the next Great Depression. The talking heads in the mainstream media love to spin the economic numbers around and around and they love to make it sound like the economy is improving, but the truth is that it doesn't take a genius to see what is happening to the U.S. economic system. All over the nation many of our greatest cities are being slowly but surely transformed into post-apocalyptic wastelands. All over the mid-Atlantic, all along the Gulf coast, all throughout the "rust belt" and all over the entire state of California cities that once had incredibly vibrant economies are being turned into rotting, post-industrial hellholes. In many U.S. cities, the "real" rate of unemployment is over 30 percent. There are some communities that will start depressing you almost the moment that you drive into them. It is almost as if all of the hope has been sucked right out of those communities. If you live in one of those American hellholes you know what I am talking about. Sadly, it is not just a few cities that are becoming hellholes. This is happening in the east, in the west, in the north and in the south. America is literally being transformed right in front of our eyes.
If you still live in an area of the United States that is prosperous, do not mock the cities that you are about to read about. The cold, hard reality of the matter is that economic decline and economic despair are spreading rapidly and they will come to your area soon enough. Right now we are still talking about "American hellholes", but if the long-term economic trends that are destroying this nation are not turned around eventually we will just be talking about one gigantic "American hellhole". In the end, no area of the country will completely escape the economic hell that is coming.
Let's take a closer look at what is currently happening in some of the worst areas of the country....
Detroit, Michigan
In the city of Detroit today, there are over 33,000 abandoned houses, 70 schools are being permanently closed down, the mayor wants to bulldoze one-fourth of the city and you can literally buy a house for one dollar in the worst areas.
During the boom days of the 1950s, Detroit was a teeming metropolis of approximately 2 million people, but today the current population is less than half that. The city of Detroit, once a shining example of middle class America, is now a rotting cesspool of economic decline and it actually saw its population decline by 25 percent during the decade that recently ended. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Detroit lost a resident every 22 minutes between the years of 2000 and 2010.
So why are people leaving Detroit so rapidly?
There simply are no jobs.
At the height of the economic downturn, the mayor of Detroit admitted that while the "official" unemployment rate in Detroit was about 27 percent, the "real" unemployment rate in his city was actually somewhere around 50 percent.
Since there are not enough jobs, that also means that not enough tax money is coming in. Detroit is essentially insolvent at this point.
Detroit officials are trying to implement some austerity measures in a desperate attempt to get city finances under control.
For example, the state of Michigan recently granted approval to a plan that would shut down nearly half of the public schools in Detroit. Under the plan, 70 schools will be closed and 72 will continue operating.
It has been estimated that the remaining public schools will have class sizes of up to 60 students.
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing also wants to cut off 20 percent of the entire city from police and trash services in order to save money.
Essentially that would mean abandoning 20 percent of the city of Detroit to the gangs and to the homeless.
The mayor of Detroit has also discussed a plan in which authorities would bulldoze one-fourth of the city in order to save money on services.
So with all of this going on, is Detroit a pleasant place to live at this point?
No way.
Today, Detroit is considered to be the third most violent city in the United States.
In fact, crime has gotten so bad and the citizens are so frustrated by the lack of police assistance that they have resorted to forming their own organizations to fight back. One group, known as "Detroit 300", was formed after a 90-year-old woman on Detroit's northwest side was brutally raped in August.
If you want to see what the future of America looks like, just take a few hours and go driving through Detroit some time. But please only do this during the day. Do not do this at night. Detroit is not a safe place anymore, and you cannot count on the police to help you in a timely manner.
Detroit was once one of the greatest cities in the world.
But today it is an absolute hellhole.
Camden, New Jersey
So is there any place in America that is worse than Detroit?
Well, many would nominate Camden, New Jersey.
Many years ago, Camden was actually thriving and prosperous. But today the city of Camden is known as "the second most dangerous city in America".
In a recent article entitled "City of Ruins", Chris Hedges did an amazing job of documenting the horrific decline of Camden. Hedges estimates that the real rate of unemployment in Camden is somewhere around 30 to 40 percent, and he makes it sound like nobody in their right mind would want to live there now....
Camden is where those discarded as human refuse are dumped, along with the physical refuse of postindustrial America. A sprawling sewage treatment plant on forty acres of riverfront land processes 58 million gallons of wastewater a day for Camden County. The stench of sewage lingers in the streets. There is a huge trash-burning plant that releases noxious clouds, a prison, a massive cement plant and mountains of scrap metal feeding into a giant shredder. The city is scarred with several thousand decaying abandoned row houses; the skeletal remains of windowless brick factories and gutted gas stations; overgrown vacant lots filled with garbage and old tires; neglected, weed-filled cemeteries; and boarded-up store fronts.
Gangs have stepped into the gaping void left by industry. In Camden today, drugs and prostitution are two of the only viable businesses left - especially for those who cannot find employment anywhere else. The following is how Hedges describes the current state of affairs....
There are perhaps a hundred open-air drug markets, most run by gangs like the Bloods, the Latin Kings, Los Nietos and MS-13. Knots of young men in black leather jackets and baggy sweatshirts sell weed and crack to clients, many of whom drive in from the suburbs. The drug trade is one of the city's few thriving businesses. A weapon, police say, is never more than a few feet away, usually stashed behind a trash can, in the grass or on a porch.
But before we all start judging Camden for being such a horrible place to live, it is important to realize that this is happening in communities from coast to coast. All over the United States industries are leaving and deep social decay is setting in.
Even the criminals in Camden are struggling. Things have gotten so bad in Camden, New Jersey that not even the drug dealers are spending their money anymore.
So where are the police?
Unfortunately, there is very little money for police. Authorities in Camden recently decided to lay off half of the city police force.
So now the gangs and the drug dealers have more room to operate.
Sadly, this is not just happening in Camden. It is happening all over New Jersey.
Of 315 municipalities the New Jersey State Police union recently surveyed, more than half indicated that they were planning to lay off police officers.
So why doesn't the state government step in and help out?
Well, the state of New Jersey is in such bad shape that they still are facing a $10 billion budget deficit for this year even after cutting a billion dollars from the education budget and laying off thousands of teachers.
New Jersey also has $46 billion in unfunded pension liabilities and $65 billion in unfunded health care liabilities. Nobody is quite sure how New Jersey is even going to come close to meeting those obligations.
Meanwhile, cities like Camden are rotting a little bit more every single day.
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans had a struggling economy even before Hurricane Katrina struck back in 2005. But that event changed everything. It is now almost 6 years later and virtually the entire region is still a disaster zone.
New Orleans permanently lost 29% of its population after Hurricane Katrina. There are many areas of New Orleans that still look as if they have just been bombed.
21.5 percent of all houses in New Orleans, Louisiana are currently standing vacant. Many of those homes will never be inhabited again.
What made things even worse for New Orleans (and for residents all along the Gulf coast) was the horrific BP oil spill last year. The mainstream news does not talk about the oil spill much anymore, but those living in the area have to deal with the effects every single day.
Some of the industries in the Gulf region were really starting to recover from Hurricane Katrina but the BP oil spill put a stop to that.
Before the oil spill, Louisiana produced more fish and seafood than anywhere in the United States except for Alaska. But now the seafood industry has been absolutely devastated. It has been estimated that the cost of the BP oil spill to the fishing industry in Louisiana alone could top 3 billion dollars.
Some local shrimpers in the region are projecting that it will be about seven years before they can set to sea again.
New Orleans keeps trying to bounce back from all of these disasters, but times are tough down there.
Today, New Orleans is the 13th most violent city in America. That is actually an improvement. Before Katrina New Orleans had even more violent crime.
The truth is that other areas along the Gulf coast are doing a lot worse than New Orleans is doing. A ton of big corporate money has flowed into New Orleans. Officials are trying to clean up the city and make it a huge tourist destination once again.
But in the surrounding areas things are not looking so bright. There are areas along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the panhandle of Florida that are some of the most depressing places in the nation.
It is almost as if there are hundreds of thousands of people that time forgot. In some rural areas along the Gulf coast the poverty is absolutely mind blowing. There are very few jobs and there is very little hope. Meanwhile, large numbers of people in the region continue to get sick from the toxic dispersants used to clean up the oil spill.
Let us hope that we don't see another major disaster in the Gulf of Mexico any time soon. As it is, it is going to take decades for that region to fully recover. There are a lot of really good people that live down there, and they deserve our prayers.
Vallejo, California (And Virtually The Rest Of The State Of California)
Almost the entire state of California is an economic disaster zone. Austerity measures are being implemented in city after city as tax revenues have nosedived.
The following is an excerpt from a recent New York Times article that describes the brutal austerity that has been implemented in Vallejo, California....
Vallejo is still in bankruptcy. The police force has shrunk from 153 officers to 92. Calls for any but the most serious crimes go unanswered. Residents who complain about prostitutes or vandals are told to fill out a form. Three of the city’s firehouses were closed. Last summer, a fire ravaged a house in one of the city’s better neighborhoods; one of the firetrucks came from another town, 15 miles away. Is this America’s future?
Sadly, that is what the future of America is going to look like. Public services are being slashed all over the nation due to budget crunches.
Unless there is a major jobs recovery, the situation in California is going to continue to degenerate. The truth is that the state of California needs millions and millions of new jobs just to get back to "normal". For example, near the end of last year it was reported that 24.3 percent of the residents of El Centro, California were unemployed. Not only that, as of the end of last year the number of people unemployed in the state of California was approximately equivalent to the entire populations of Nevada, New Hampshire and Vermont combined.
Businesses are closing in California at an astounding pace. At one point last year it was reported that in the area around Sacramento, California there was one closed business for every six that were still open.
As a result of all of this, home prices in many areas of California have completely fallen off a cliff. For example, the average home in Merced, California has declined in value by 63 percent over the past four years.
California also had more foreclosure filings that any other U.S. state in 2010. The 546,669 total foreclosure filings during the year means that over 4 percent of all the housing units in the state of California received a foreclosure filing at some point during 2010.
Sadly, things don't look like they are going to turn around in California any time soon. Forbes recently compiled a list entitled "Cities Where The Economy May Get Worse".
Six of the top seven spots were held by cities in California.
California is becoming a very frightening place. When you combine high unemployment with unchecked illegal immigration what you get is rampant poverty.
20 percent of the residents of Los Angeles County are now receiving public aid of one form or another.
In particular, the number of children that are considered to be in need of public assistance is truly scary.
Incredibly, 60 percent of all the students attending California public schools now qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches.
Poverty and illegal immigration have also caused a tremendous health care crisis in the state. The hordes of illegal aliens taking advantage of "free" medical care at hospital emergency rooms have caused dozens of hospitals across the state of California to completely shut down. As a result, the state of California now ranks dead last out of all 50 states in the number of emergency rooms per million people.
The bozos in Sacramento keep passing hundreds of new laws in an attempt to "fix" the state, but the truth is that for the poorest residents of the state all of those new laws don't make a shred of difference.
The following is how Victor Davis Hansen describes what he saw during his recent tour of the "forgotten areas of central California"....
Many of the rural trailer-house compounds I saw appear to the naked eye no different from what I have seen in the Third World . There is a Caribbean look to the junked cars, electric wires crisscrossing between various outbuildings, plastic tarps substituting for replacement shingles, lean-tos cobbled together as auxiliary housing, pit bulls unleashed, and geese, goats, and chickens roaming around the yards. The public hears about all sorts of tough California regulations that stymie business - rigid zoning laws, strict building codes, constant inspections - but apparently none of that applies out here.
Hansen also says that he observed that people in these areas are doing whatever they can to get by....
At crossroads, peddlers in a counter-California economy sell almost anything. Here is what I noticed at an intersection on the west side last week: shovels, rakes, hoes, gas pumps, lawnmowers, edgers, blowers, jackets, gloves, and caps. The merchandise was all new. I doubt whether in high-tax California sales taxes or income taxes were paid on any of these stop-and-go transactions.
In two supermarkets 50 miles apart, I was the only one in line who did not pay with a social-service plastic card (gone are the days when "food stamps" were embarrassing bulky coupons).
Are you frightened yet?
You know what they say - "as goes California, so goes the nation".
What is happening in California now is eventually going to come to your area.
Right now California is also having a huge problem with gangs. Gang violence in America is getting totally out of control. According to authorities, there are now over 1 million members of criminal gangs operating inside the country, and those gangs are responsible for up to 80% of the violent crimes committed in the U.S. each year.
But instead of ramping up to fight crime and fight illegal immigration, police forces all over California are being cut back.
For example, because of extreme budget cuts and police layoffs, Oakland, California Police Chief Anthony Batts has announced that there are a number of crimes that his department simply will no longer respond to due to a lack of resources. The following is a partial list of the crimes that police officers in Oakland will no longer be responding to....
- burglary
- theft
- embezzlement
- grand theft
- grand theft: dog
- identity theft
- false information to peace officer
- required to register as sex or arson offender
- dump waste or offensive matter
- loud music
- possess forged notes
- pass fictitious check
- obtain money by false voucher
- fraudulent use of access cards
- stolen license plate
- embezzlement by an employee
- extortion
- attempted extortion
- false personification of other
- injure telephone/power line
- interfere with power line
- unauthorized cable tv connection
- vandalism
Not that Oakland wasn't already a mess before all this, but now how long do you think it will be before total chaos and anarchy reigns on the streets of Oakland?
Today, Oakland is considered the 5th most violent city in the United States.
Will it soon become the most violent?
But Oakland is not the only major California city that is facing these kinds of issues.
Things have gotten so bad in Stockton, California that the police union put up a billboard with the following message: "Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in California. Stop laying off cops."
Already the police force in Stockton has been stripped down to almost nothing.
A while back, the Stockton Police Department dropped this bombshell....
"We absolutely do not have any narcotics officers, narcotics sergeants working any kind of investigative narcotics type cases at this point in time."
Do you think drug dealers will be flocking to Stockton after they hear that?
California was once the envy of the world.
Now it is becoming one gigantic hellhole.
During one recent 23 year period, the state of California built 23 prisons but just one university.
So is there any hope for California?
No, unfortunately there is not.
In another article, I wrote about some of the reasons why millions of people have been leaving California for good....
Meanwhile, the standard of living in California is going right into the toilet. Housing values are plummeting. Unemployment has risen above 20 percent in many areas of the state. Crime and gang activity is on the rise even as police budgets are being hacked to the bone. The health care system is an absolute disaster. At this point California has the fewest emergency rooms per million people out of all 50 states. While all of this has been going on, the state legislature in Sacramento has been very busy passing hundreds of new laws that are mostly about promoting one radical agenda or another. The state government has become so radically anti-business that it is a wonder that any businesses have remained in the state. It seems like the moving vans never stop as an endless parade of businesses and families leave California as quickly as they can.
But this is not just a "California thing". The truth is that what is happening in California, in Detroit, in Camden and in hundreds of other communities is also going to happen where you live.
The U.S. economy is slowly dying. Only 66.8% of American men had a job last year. That was the lowest level that has ever been recorded in U.S. history.
People are getting desperate. There are ten percent fewer middle class jobs than there were a decade ago and the competition for good jobs has become insane. More than 44 million Americans are now on food stamps and that number grows every single month. Millions more American families fall into poverty every single year.
It is time to face the truth about what is happening to America. Our economy is not growing and becoming stronger. Rather, the cold, hard reality of the matter is that our economy is very sick and it is dying. The seemingly boundless prosperity that we have enjoyed for decade after decade is coming to an end. Our communities are being transformed into absolute hellholes.
Those that are telling you that the U.S. economy will soon be better than ever are lying to you. The U.S. economy is going to go down and it is going to go down hard.
You better get ready.
What happened to Detroit??
UNIONS happened to Detroit,
Their high labor and benifit packages priced them right out of a job, it opened the door for foreign markets. Behind every city that is on the skids, you’ll find a union behind it, The CSEA is killing NYS.
Scary as hell! Anyone that thinks this country is not in for a hell hole is indication of major brain damage of the denial factor. Yes, get ready, your support helps those in the preparedness business in the interim and then it happens.
For decades, many Americans have been investing their wealth in other countries to get a better return on investment or a less expensive product. It is time for Americans to get in touch with reality.
When I lived in Northern California, a wealthy investor made the mistake of driving his Ferrari through a former middle class neighborhood. Someone threw a cement block through his windshield and killed his passenger. Welcome to the future of America.
Michael, you left off a lot of other hellholes – Las Vegas, Miami and Baltimore for starters. These cities are turning into hellholes too, but all the nice new construction and redevelopment masks what is really happening.
In many cities the economy doesn’t look that bad, but that’s because nobody talks about the termites eating away at the economic foundations of the country.
Last year I got off the I-5 freeway to get gas in Stockton, CA at night, and I actually prayed that I would get out of that town alive. Fortunately, the local gangbangers hanging out at the gas station decided I was not a person of interest.
Economic decay is not a new phenomenon. I went to college north of Philadelphia in 1970. Even in 1970, one could see hundreds of abandoned factory buildings on the way into or out of the city when riding on the SEPTA commuter trains.
With only a few exceptions, this entire country is turning into a gigantic hellhole.
Wow, after reading this what is left?
I believe God’s judgment has started on the U.S. They want to do it their way without God. You know what they say, you reap what you sow. The harvest has come in and it is pretty bitter. The only solotion is to go to our knees and seek God’s forgiveness short of that it will only get bitter.
God help us all.
With all the people who are unemployed, I continue to wonder why there is NOT EVEN A HINT of civil unrest!
Everyone just seems to be sitting back watching the rich live their expensive lives.
I just don’t understand it. Is there something in the water?
This is why I don’t waste too much time with rifles. I have some and a lot of bullets, but over time they’ll just run out. What I spend a lot of time on is shotgun shells. I can make them myself with mostly basic supplies. You can even make your own gunpowder, although it helps to have some coaching (I do). I have a log cabin up in the woods, with a water source. Not too far from a small town where I know people and have friends. Its a LONG way from any major city. I have enough MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) for five years, in mostly cold storage. I grow most of what I need. I hunt, fish, and cook very well. Our heating source is from a Natural Gas well on our property. My cousins all have military training and two were in Iraq and Afghanistan. We belong to a loose knit group of people (not an official militia) that will band together when the time comes. We don’t want trouble but won’t back away from it when it comes. Ready to die for what we believe in!
How about you? Ha! I already know what you (don’t) believe in. The Church will be persecuted first in America. THEN its your turn. If God judges his own people that harshly, what will he do to you?
Get your Weimar wheelbarrow ready and load it full of Zimbabwe wallpaper (fiat currency).
Sweet!
I can’t wait!
A Full Blown Crisis ?
World Bank president Robert Zoellick warns that the world is one shock away from a full-blown crisis.
Here are my guesses re: where that one shock may come from :
> European Invasion [ Libya ]
> Ethnic Massacres [ Africa ]
> Population Explosion [ India ]
> Regimes Overthrow [ Middle East ]
> Nuclear Nemesis [ Japan ]
> Economic Collapse [ PIGS ]
> Overheated Economy [ China ]
> Melting Snows [ Poles ]
> Terror Exports [ Pakistan ]
> Food Shortages [ Developing Countries ]
> Global Warming [ Worldwide ]
Feel free to add your own.
There is no doubt that in 2011, a “ Black Swan “ event is around the corner !
With regards
hemen parekh
Life’s a bitch, and then you die.
How to fix California: Back during the great depression, Herbert Hoover ordered the deportation of ALL illegal aliens in order to make jobs available to American citizens that desperately needed work. Harry Truman deported over two million illegal aliens after WWII to create jobs for returning veterans. In 1954 Dwight Eisenhower deported 13 million Mexicans. The program was called Operation Wetback. It was done so WWII and Korean veterans would have a better chance at jobs. It took two years, but they deported them! Now if they could deport the illegal aliens back then, they could sure do it today.
i hate that they don’t post more articles daily. Keep up the good work, i post all your articles on facebook.
Thank you Frank – that is actually a huge help.
I will try to get back to a regular posting schedule for the rest of the week.
Michael
I guess we shouldn’t have let them send all our jobs to third world countries where they work for a couple of dollars a day..
Duh…
silver pushing fifty dollars
“The U.S. economy is dying and we are heading for the next Great Depression.”
From what you have delineated above, I’d say the U.S. is already in Great Depression 2. Has been since Oct. 2008.
The only solution, other than what the ruling class wants which is a global war to “reset” the financial and economic collapse of the U.S., is to start growing (1) clean, renewable energy and (2) organic food including alternative and natural medicine in local communities, as was done 100 years ago.
This will create the jobs and set aside the feelings of hopelessness and depression that the people in these decimated places are experiencing. Remember the infrastructure, although falling apart in places like Detroit, is still there. What’s missing is the practical vision of what can be done when people work together in local communities.
No vision, no hope. No hope, no way to survive GD2.
http://www.LiquidEnergyOasis.com
I truly do not know what to say but God please help us all!
Sad, but I now think we may never fix the problems. Just to many differing opinions. Every American now has their own unique opinion about everything and everyone is always right. No longer are the packs of folks that had common goals roaming our streets. For god sake we do not even have the power or unity to even get our president to show his credentials, how are we going to solve the problems from the examples above.
Stop your fear mongering, instead why don’t you offer some vial solutions, its easy to look at something and have a negative outlook. The places that you mention have been hell holes for decades, this news is nothing new. In all countries and societies there will be poor areas, regardless of how prosperous a country is. That is a fact of life, the MSM sells itself on hyping the economy and you sell water filters, gold, organic seeds and so on. Get it? I do.
Looks like the United States is being assimilated into Mexico and the worse parts at that.
Yea its getting pretty bad – so glad I don’t live in the cities mentioned but I don’t see any quick fix to our republic (or what is left of it). I did a video talking about the elements of the perfect storm & this is another element… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvkFBrN2xa8
Of course the problems in Japan (worse than Chernobyl now), the massive debt, rising food prices (coffee that was $6 is now $10, wheat, corn, soy are all up double digit #s over last year) unemployment & soon to be runaway inflation (BTW silver almost hit $50 an ounce). Yea its gonna get ugly & our govt does not have a clue. The sad thing is its so bad that there is no quick fix – we will see more unemployment, more welfare, more debt & state bankruptcies, etc.
If you haven’t gotten emergency water, food, guns, ammo, shelter, etc its time to get it TODAY! Skip work & get supplies while you can. Transfer some wealth into precious metals, buy quality stuff & get out of the doomed $. Personally we don’t keep any extra money in the bank because I think there will be bank runs this year.
Now maybe I am a bit paranoid? Maybe it will just be a repeat of the mid 70′s thru the mid 80′s with high prices & higher inflation & everything will go back to normal? I hope so but too much is happening that says otherwise.
Take care & thanks for posting.
Steve
The Great Society didn’t turn it did it. Can’t we pass more laws and legislate our way back to prosperity but cannot hurt a mollusk in a ditch so no building there. Can’t we do the hope ‘n’ change two step and tell ourselves how great things are? We can do it, yes we can. Just keep telling yourself about a magic recovery and you might start to believe it.
And all the choice we have to right the ship of state is the failed Obummer, or a lunatic Republican??? I used to think America was dying. Wrong, she is already dead.
A nation without God, is like a ship without a sail.
With all that is happening in this nation from the White House down to the Dog Catcher, is it possible that God is still trying to get our attention?
When the Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independance and the Constitution, they asserted that we receive our rights from God.
Now, there are some in America that say “There is no God”.
If that’s true, then from whom do we receive our rights?
I am a product of Detroit’s northwest suburbs and the Cleveland, OH area, where together I lived almost 2/3rds of my 54 years. As a 30-year semi driver, I am intimately familiar with large areas of the industrial Midwest, the Northeast, and even much of central and southern California, and everything in-between. I am also college-educated, in Urban Planning and Economics. What has happened to not just Detroit, but to virtually every city in the southern half of Lower Michigan and northern Ohio is mind-boggling. When I was 18, it was quite common to head over to a car plant and get hired immediately into a middle-class job. At one time I had dozens of friends from school working at car plants, dozens more in other large factories, dozens more in major grocery warehousing and distribution, and me, I was a semi driver delivering to all of those places. Between 1979, when I started driving semis, and now, I must have seen 10s of thousands of factories across just the southern Great Lakes region close their doors. Some of them were small, and some of them employed 10,000 workers or more.
The former Packard plant from your photo closed in 1957, and at one time it employed 12,000 workers, and my roommate in 1982 in Birmingham, MI had been laid-off from the old Dodge Main plant in Hamtramck, which once employed over 20,000 workers, which closed in 1981. In 1970 just Chrysler had over 40 plants in the Detroit-area, and now there are just 11 left open. The Willow Run plant, which at one time turned-out a brand-new B-29 bomber every 40 minutes, and employed 50,000 workers, is long dead too, as is the tank plant north of town too. Even fairly new car plants like Novi Assembly are closed, Pontiac’s ultra-modern robotic car assembly plant too. In Cleveland 100 or more huge old plants stand empty, car plants, steel mills, and machine tool builders, in Akron dozens of rubber plants are long gone, Sharon, Warren, and Youngstown have all lost huge numbers of industrial jobs, Canton and Massillon too, where the NFL started, have been reduced to mere shells of their former selves. Along with the plant closings have gone the hopes and dreams of many thousands of retail operators, restaurant owners, and thousands of other small businesses too. Hundreds of entire major shopping malls stand vacant, as seas of potholes consume local roads. The city of Hamtramck, MI a Detroit suburb of 40,000 people, is bankrupt and has had to layoff all but two employees, one of whom works part-time. The traffic lights are shut-off and stop signs now appear at those intersections instead, as the city can’t even pay its power bill. I could go on & on & on for days but I don’t have the time.
I haven’t driven a semi in almost 2 years as my eyesight has begun giving out early. My last 10 years in the industry was spent delivering fresh and frozen meat on a regular multi-stop route through the Chicago-area and throughout southern Michigan. Between 2001 and 2009, my boss lost 14 of 19 major weekly customers in Michigan to bankruptcy, including three major grocery chains, plus numerous less-frequent customers. The Detroit News reported before Christmas of 2007 a 29% unemployment rate within the city limits of Detroit, with an estimated 44% of the total adult population not working, and another news story reported a 1 in 200 chance of selling a house across the entire metropolitan area, which still has 4 million people total. Since 2003, home prices within the city limits of Detroit have fallen by 90%, and today there are thousands of houses in move-in condition on the market there for $5K to $10K. The suburbs are not immune either.
Just a couple of nights ago I spent some time looking at lakefront real estate west of Pontiac, MI, the neighborhood that I grew-up in, on Realtor.com. You want a nice Summer place, a former first residence, in a subdivision with a community beach and a place to dock your ski or sailboat, on an inland lake of 200 to 1500 acres of water, there are dozens available in quality neighborhoods for $50K to $100K, including many homes that were worth $300K-$500K or more just 10 years ago. All of the homes that I looked at were within an hour drive of Detroit Metropolitan Airport, with good access to all services. I saw many lakefront properties there for $100K and up too. And if you think that’s bad, you should look at some of Michigan’s rural vacation property!!!
I was also looking in our mountains west of Denver, where I have lived now 20 of the last 29 years, and lesser condos near some of our mountain resorts are now selling at firesale prices too. There are recently remodeled 1-BR condos for sale at the Inn at Silvercreek, full price, $29K, and studios are only $20K. Silvercreek/Sol Vista is a smaller ski resort with its own golf course and 1000 feet of vertical drop on two base to summit lifts, that is within 15 miles of Winter Park Resort as well as fairly close to the large lakes south of Rocky Mountain National Park too, which would be a fairly desirable both Summer and Winter destination. Even in Summit County, with Breckenridge, Copper Mtn, and Keystone, just 90 minutes west of Denver, 2nd home prices are down precipitously. Nederland, CO, 30 minutes west of Boulder, the home of Eldora Ski Resort, has seen 2nd home prices fall by 40%, even though the values of some of suburban Denver’s more desirable first-home neighborhoods are only down by 15%. If the Denver-area, with its highly diversified economy, can’t sell readily accessible mountain resort real estate, it doesn’t look too good anywhere.
I sure am glad that my house is almost paid for, and that I have enough fixed and retirement income coming in to retire middle class, though our Dollar keeps sinking like the setting sun, in fact silver was up to $49 per ounce this morning, more than 500% of its value just 54 months ago. I am just amazed really, at what a huge loss has occurred since I left high school in 1975, all optimistic for my future. If we were able to create 2 million new jobs per year it would take 50 years to get back what we have lost here since 2001. About the only way out of this mess that I can see for America would be a semi-socialist, protectionist economic and social policy and cutting off most imports, which will cause World War III with our disenfranchised rich. Otherwise we are just going to end-up with an ever-smaller elite class dominating what’s left of our natural and economic resources while they walk all over an ever-larger underclass which becomes more desperate with every passing day, much like what is going on in Nigeria today. Perhaps a quick study of the lives of our coal miners of 100 or more years ago will give the uninitiated a good view of our future if we don’t take radical action to protect ourselves and what is left of our way of life soon. Why can’t the 80% majority at the bottom stand-up for itself and say that enough is enough???
I’m ready. A friend of mine said over the weekend that if Obummer gets re-elected, he’s going to seriously think about leaving the U.S.
Well, I responded that in reality it is no better anywhere else.
There are pockets here and there in places which might be temporarily better, but the fact of the matter is that this is the story for the entire world.
Looking at Isiah 24 it gives us a clue:
24:1 See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants– 2 it will be the same for priest as for people, for master as for servant, for mistress as for maid, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor. 3 The earth will be completely laid waste and plundered. The LORD has spoken this word. 4 The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. 5 The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statues and broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Thefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore the earth’s inhabitants are burned up , and very few are left.
V. 10 The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred.
V. 12 The city is left in ruins, its gate is battered to pieces. 13 So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or when th egleanings are left after the grape harvest.
V. 17 Terror and pit and snare awit you O people of the earth, 18 Woever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit; whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare. The floodgates of the heavens are opened, the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken.
20 The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls — never to rise again. 21 In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavesn above and the kings on the earth below. 22 They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days. 23 The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously.
Does this seem a little (or a LOT) like life on earth right now?
Pay particular attention to V. 5 as to who is RESPONSIBLE for these actions and WHAT their ERROR has been. The look into a mirror, drop to your knees and have an honest conversation of repentance with Jesus Christ.
Verse 6 give a crystal clear idea of what is going to happen at the end of the last days, which we have been in for some 2011 (or 2014) years (realizing that the originator or our calendar was out by “about” 3 years).
V. 18b 19 and 20 give us a clue as to the many increasing earthquakes (both in intensity and in number), as well as a clue about the increasingly bizarre weather.
V. 21 and 22 give us a clue as to what the enemies of God will have to endure, both on earth and above the earth (i.e. demons).
What makes me even more angry, is what the American people are doing about it, nothing. We are like children. We sit there and let it happen. Then the problems become our problems, and by that time it’s too late.
Memo to America: Stop waiting for Democrats and Republicans to save you.
“WAKE UP America!” – JOIN THE REVOLUTION
Read “Common Sense 3.1” at ( http://www.revolution2.osixs.org )
We don’t have to live like this anymore. “Spread the News”
Of course we can blame Comrade Obama and his Central Committee of socialist wingnuts for destroying free market propserity with their forced wealth redistribution Holocaust!
Nah, I’m screwing with you. It would be nice if there really were someone to blame; that way we could at least alleviate of frustration by punishing them. We’re on the wrong side of history, that’s all. An overcomplex society on the brink of effacement. My only advice would be, don’t have children.
Perhaps I’m the first and only one to comment because the others were too depressed to write….
We are witnessing the impoverishment of the entire country. 400 hedge fund managers earned the same amount as 40 million workers. Corporate CEOs earn 500 times what their ordinary employee is paid. Anyone who says there isn’t class warfare has their head up their rear.
And if you want to know why our politicians don’t do anything, it’s because they need corporations to pay for campaign financing (not to mention the high-paying jobs waiting for them at the companies they’re supposed to be regulating).
Who is looting the markets? Same group who is minding the store. Look and see. Also take note as to who sited, built, and nanaged the Fukushima plant until the inevitable because of its strategic location. Of course it was strategic, pinhead. They had years to decide to place the world’s largest fission thermonuclear plant in the center of the most dangerous tsunami zone in the world, right on the beach, facing the ocean. And the OSS and MI-6 knew the prevailing wind patterns since before WWII. TEPCO is an English language anagram, not Japanese. It should have been a clue. Clueless = has no clues.
Hey military, did you make it to Prince Willyam’s wedding? Oh, you weren’t invited. Imagine that.
Will you people please wake up? I can’t hear you!!! You better get smart.
I must say the perps of 9-11, the GOM disaster at Maconda, and the Fukushima mess surely are well ensconced. The head of the octopus, Mr.Alan Zabrosky. Who could it be?
Yes! I love this time! and when everyone that is left alive, I will come and offer you security and order.
There is always hope.
If it gets worse we can still send in the International Police force that is now trying to police Afghanistan.
Or some millions of Chinese police officers.
The US can pay with farm land.
In some areas the crime rate has gone down.It takes cooperation from,city,state,local police,and neighborhood leaders.
the record 2,589 violent crimes recorded in 1997 according to the IPD West District (This would average out to 1 out of 2.5 people being a victim of a violent offense)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haughville,_Indianapolis
Now I know where to commit all my Grand Theft Dog.
Coming soon to Fargo, North Dakota… and Columbus, Ohio… Nashville, Tennessee… Denver, Colorado…
The vicious circle of urban decline continues. It’s more apparent in those cities written about here but it’s evident in all formerly prosperous metropolitan areas. As businesses leave taking jobs and tax revenue along with them taxes are raised while displaced workers put a greater demand on social programs. This leads to further tax increases spurring still further exodus until what remains are too many idled people placing too great a demand on underfunded municipal resources and creating the inevitable Detroit, Camden or New Orleans conditions.
Jobs are never coming back folks. If a Democrat has a good idea to correct or improve things a Republican will quickly argue against it. If the Republican puts a good idea forward the Democrat will be quick to denounce it. Both parties are complicit in our financial demise by succumbing to the pressures of the greedy globalists who continually feed us the outright lie that we will benefit from free trade agreements. It’s almost enough to make you wish for a benevolent dictator to straighten things out until you remember that’s how Hitler came to power and we all know how that one turned out.
So everyone says get ready for the bad times ahead. Plans of food storage, home gardens, guns and so forth will help a small percentage of people through a short period. Most will just live their miserable lives out in poverty. How is an apartment dweller or even a suburban homeowner supposed to grow an adequate supply of food to sustain his family? “OK kids pass this can of tuna around and keep your eye on the Topsy Turvy hanging outside the window. In a month or two we’ll have a tomato!” Pathetic.
When I woke up today silver was trading up $3 at over $49/oz. Look at this chart:
http://www.kitco.com/charts/popup/ag3650nyb.html
Anyone who reads Michael Snyder’s well researched articles is already aware that, as a country, we are in deep financial trouble. But signs and warnings are coming faster and in greater numbers all the time. The chart above pretty well describes the growing lack of faith in the US dollar. Looks like hard assets are the only protection against our weakening fiat currency. Too bad most of us won’t be able to make that trade in time.
I have little sympathy for most of the laid-off cops in Camden, as that police department is notoriously corrupt. You can read about it here:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w192.html
You can say, well it’s not bad in my neck of the woods, but those who leave those areas in search of work are coming to your rich neighborhood to compete for those few jobs.
In fact, here in east Oregon, there are very few jobs, seasonal employment, and very few, if any, jobs for outsiders.Everybody knows somebody on some form of social welfare, and so am I, but class warfare is not going on because most are living on crap budgets.
Drive through some small towns and like half the businesses are shut down, or reduced hours for lack of business.
And the rich in places like Portland and Seattle, think there is no problem at all except those damn poor people who should get a job.
Lyndon Johnson started the decline of modern America with his support of government programs that paid people not to work and his insistence on fighting The Vietnam War which in its final analysis accomplished nothing. Our leaders since then have either done nothing to change these types of policies or have made them worse. The average person in this country means nothing to the rich corporations and bankers. The Constitution is routinely ignored, and for all intensive purposes doesn’t exist anymore. Our politicians are bought and paid for by domestic and foreign lobbyists. Is there a sensible way to end all of this and bring this country back to its senses. Here are some suggestions.
1) The United States Treasury must be instructed to issue a check for $14,000,000,000,000.00 (14 trillion) to whomever the national debt is owed to, be it the Fed or the banksters who hold our debt.
2) The Constitution that we now have is not being followed. The USA, like any other organization, needs to re-write its bl-laws from time to time. The time to come up with a new Constitution is now. Many of the powers that have been centralized since The Civil War need to be returned to the states.
3) Abortion on demand and homosexual marriage are signs of a decadent society and must be eliminated. As the family goes, so goes the nation.
Common thread among the hell holes? All of them are run by LEFTIST DEMOCRATS that pushed unions, socialism and multiculturalism! People like Gary2 and ImpeachRonPaul need to acknowledge this fact. What more evidence do you need of the failure of socialist policies? The Republicans are as bad as Democrats at the national level, but at the local level it is the Democrat Marxists and poverty pimps who have destroyed our cities.
Better get rid of that gold-plated trillion dollar military. Its only real purpose, besides en-riching your corporate elites and terrorizing the world of course, is to remove resources so they cannot be used by the civilian economy. Once you understand the real purpose of the US military is to ensure you can never afford public health care, clean energy systems, a proper rail system, quality education, then everything in this articule will make perfect sense.
Your writing has improved enormously. Congratulations!
Thanks – I think…..
The sad part about it is that cities like Baltimore look like war-torn places in the Third World even during good economic times. America has been a third world country for decades and decades. The mainstream American media won’t tell you that half of San Francisco is places like Hunter’s Point, Portrero Hill, The Tenderloin and Sunnydale. Hunter’s Point in SF has the highest infant mortality rate on the West Coast, some of the worst projects in the country and SF has a higher murder rate for Blacks than Oakland. Baltimore and DC are also statistically more deadly than Iraq. DC also has a higher AIDS rate than places in West Africa.
http://www.sanfranciscohomicide.com/Stories/SanFranciscoMoreDeadly.htm
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/5/29/132706.shtml
http://21stcenturyurbansolutions.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/a-history-of-bayview-hunters-point-part-2-crime-contamination-and-crisis/
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-17-DC-AIDS_N.htm
Greetings,
This article is hogwash. I live in California and I do not see “millions of people” leaving the state and businesses fleeing to other states. As a matter of fact, lets take a quick look at what the 2010 Census tells us:
Data for California show that the five most populous incorporated places and their 2010 Census counts are Los Angeles, 3,792,621; San Diego, 1,307,402; San Jose, 945,942; San Francisco, 805,235; and Fresno, 494,665. Los Angeles grew by 2.6 percent since the 2000 Census. San Diego grew by 6.9 percent, San Jose grew by 5.7 percent, San Francisco grew by 3.7 percent, and Fresno grew by 15.7 percent.
Far from people fleeing, our State grew over the past decade.
This kind of reporting isn’t helping solve our problems.
Nickelthrower:
They also keep figures for those that have left the state and for those that have entered.
Most of your population growth is due to legal and illegal immigration.
These are not hell holes. They are gleaming examples of the finished work of democrat socialistic policies. These places mentioned have been governed and controlled by the democratic party and unions for decades. They just suck the life out of everything they govern. Well, you voted for them. You made your bed, so lay in it. Sweet dreams. Hope you are not murdered.
Great Article.
Wow.. I wonder why all those businesses left these once triving cities. Could it be crushing taxes, corrupt democrat governments, over regulation, blood sucking unions. Gary please notice there are no more rich to tax there. They got the hell out of dodge along time ago. Took their jobs with them.
This is a likely scenario, but not written in stone. With the recent moves to demolish collective bargaining for labor unions, businesses CAN be brought back to life. Industry can become prominant here once again. The key ingredient that you deftly leave out is the nation turning back to Christ. If you pay attention to hard times in our nation, and in others, look at the spiritual state of the nation at the time. The US economy almost tanked several times in the past. The recoveries all came during a revival that swept the nation with many turning back to Christ.
People can ignore that, as you have done; but it will never change the facts. If this nation puts aside the diversity aganda, and the moral relativity beliefs the state of the nation will change as well. You will see economic turn around when people wake up and turn back to Jesus as both Lord and Savior. The idea that there are many paths has to be disgarded again. If the majority of Americans, who claim to be Christian truly turn to Him again, then the signs you look to are worthless garbage.
You speak of none of these measures being complete. You are correct. The only consistant indicator is strong Christian growth. If you look at when the US took over Great Britain as the leading economic power, you find that the UK was turning away from God, and at the same time a revival was going on in the US. We do not have all those statistics you rely on for economies in the past, but we do have records of their alliegance to Christ. That is consistant throughout history. The acceptance of homosexuality coincides with the fall of a civilization. You’re examining the symptoms of the real problem, and because they are just symptoms, none of them are substancial, or very accurate. Believe what you want, if this country doesn’t turn back to God and the idea of the melting pot rather than multiculturalism and diversity, then we will fall, if we turn back to God, your statistics are worthless. You cannot measure spiritual components. They defy measurement as faith is in the unseen. Sure, a lot of you are laughing at this, snug in your relativistic world view; but the end is not certain as you declair.
One thing that is hurting more than most and is a domino roll – OIL .
We need to use our products we have here at home.
We have more oil , Coal , and natural gas for a few centuries without going outside our borders.Let evolution bring new product to mesh with what we use. There would be no terrorism if they we not getting money from middle eastern countries as pay offs to not start a take over of the large oil Cartel states.
Oil is causing high food prices , , driving is becoming difficult for many. Companies will not be able to afford to transport food . That will cause shortages.
The country is being strangled by the administration policies , and lack of common sense.
Our founding documents let us reform America if necessary. Socialism does not work , it never has anywhere , any time.
We need a new strong informed leadership , not a 40K electric car.
Everyone was paid off in the last election with TARP ,Stimulus , and we find our money debased by QE1 & QE2.
We can not let up on our needs that are at our feet.
The rest of the world uses petrochemical products , until they can marry in others to their societies.
America Say NO !
North Korea has one overriding principle:
ARMY FIRST
As long as there is still enough tax money to spend on grenades and bullets, the economy can’t be THAT bad.
Seriously, did you elect your government or did you just trust in God that the right one gets elected?
Do you need to wait for someone else to fix “it”? Can’t you do something by yourselves?
All my plants at home are herbs. They smell nice, are cheap to handle and find their way into food, and some are used as medicine.
And the tomatos from the balcony – they are delicious.
Prepare for the Worst and Hope for the Best…but the hope is getting thinner after 2 years of broken promises. Its harder to say When the Collapse started…was it 9/11? or July ’08? One thing for sure it is underway already. My Question that is of more immediate concern is When will it End?
We help Americans find jobs and prosperity in Asia. For details, visit http://www.pathtoasia.com/job1/
i so enjoy reading these, lol, almericans gettings e piece of what they’ve been exporting for ages, MISERY
Just me
You said, “What happened to Detroit?? UNIONS happened to Detroit”.
Explain to me why the non union low wage US textile industry fled to the third world?
US minimum wage is too much for industry to pay when 50 cent/hr labor can be had overseas w/o tariffs.
Personally I’m happy the Us unionized labor made a good living before the great evisceration of industry in the developed world. At least the children of those union workers may inherit some of the blessings of what once America.
TruckerMark,
I wish you could take your excellent description of America’s industrial demise to the floor of Congress and read in front of all the bickering obstructionists in DC. That was one of the best written comments I’ve ever seen here and should appear as an editorial in every major newspaper. Thanks for taking the time. I am also a product of that generation and remember well the opportunities that existed for anyone with even a high school diploma in those days. Just within a reasonable commute to where I grew up we had US Steel, 3M, General Motors Fisher Body, Nabisco, The Budd Co., Strick Trailer and others providing thousands of jobs that enabled you to provide a decent living for your family. There were also plenty of part time jobs to keep high school students busy enough to avoid the pratfalls of idle youth and afford the 28 cent/ gallon gas for their used cars. Most of it is gone now and I don’t blame the Mexicans or the Chinese for stealing it. I blame the greed of the globalists and their flunkies, the phony free trade advocates in office, who’ve spent the last twenty years giving it all away.
Anyone here read “Atlas Shrugged”? Ayn Rand saw this coming years ago. It won’t end well unless we stop government socialists, regulation, and redistribution of wealth. Stop the class warfare. If you destroy the rich, you destroy capitalism and America.
I just want to know, where are the WHITE gangs? We know where the bad behavour comes from, minorities. Political correctness, ain’t it wonderful? That is why the countries of those races are in such bad shape and now they’ve brought it to us.
I live in northern NJ in a suburb a very short ride from NYC.
Our region was hit very hard — we once had a very prosperous and booming industrial area; mixed use with many warehouses and commercial buildings, hirise and lowrise.
The majority of companies that were in those buildings are gone. Long vacant; the signage is left and nobody is inside them.
One large commerical building with 15 floors now is home to 2 tenants: a law firm and a Korean shipping company.
IT’s very sad what’s happened out here.
The only “companies” moving into these buildings are small change tenants that that are usually Chinese or Middle Eastern; you’ll see them subletting out 2 or 3 offices in these buildings and they operate out of those offices. They’re mostly importers of apparel or soft goods.
My guess is that they are there on very short term leases.
This will benefit our local and state economy not. These groups usually send the money home.
If this is the shape of things to come, we can hang it up right now. No viable companies are moving into our area; if anything new is being built it is retail and service industry garbage, like crummy fast food chain restaurants. No livable wage jobs are entering our local economy.
I took the “red pill” some time ago and it’s obvious that most of the posters here did as well back whenever it was that we realized that the MSM was pulling our legs in numerous directions other than toward the path of truth.
What sort of irks me though is when I hear such terms as “doom and gloomers” and “fear mongering” coming from who are most often pollyannas who just have to believe, for their own comfy paradigms, in the big fat government and all it’s suicidal entitlement programs.
When it’s thrown out during a statement from a realist that, hey the sky is falling, they’ll say we need to offer a solution and stop being so negative.
Problem is, for us little folk, mere observers really like ants on a window ledge, the current mess and coming disaster isn’t something I can actually do anything about to help the bigger picture (what, hold a sign and vote I guess) but I can get myself and my family more self reliant as we’ve done over the past three years.
Kicking around to see what other hopefully like minded folk are thinking from around the country at this site: http://www.survivalistboards.com I saw a post starting with a poll asking people if they considered themselves a “prepper” or a “RAIDER”. The raider self label ended up being something like 36% of those who took the poll.
Way I see it, of those who identified themselves as “preppers” a good many likely had full bellies at the time of the poll. Katrina showed how people react three days after the food runs out.
So call other’s fear mongerers if it makes your inaction decision more comfortable to yourselves all you pollyannas but my motivation for getting the word out is that I’d like to see more people in the “prepper” category and not in the “raider” category and I fear way too many people will be in the “victim” category.