The Economy

Why is demand at food banks all over the country higher than it has ever been before?  The media keeps insisting that economic conditions are just fine, but it has become quite obvious to everyone that this is not true.  In particular, the rising cost of living has been absolutely crushing households from coast to coast.  In the old days, most of the people that would show up at food banks were unemployed.  But now food banks are serving large numbers of people that actually do have jobs but that don’t make enough to pay for all of the basics.  The ranks of the “working poor” are growing very rapidly, and this is creating an unprecedented crisis all over America.

Perhaps you think that I am exaggerating.

Let me share some specific examples that will prove that I am not.

In Pennsylvania, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank saw “its highest need on record this past year”…

A new report shows the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank saw its highest need on record this past year. It comes as we mark Hunger Action Month across the country.

Toi Payne of Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood gets emotional thinking about how the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in Duquesne and other local pantries have been lifesavers for her for the past 30 years.

“We need these places,” Payne said. “Without the food banks, I think a lot of people would be struggling even more, you know, and it helps like the elderly and people like me that’s on disability.”

We are also seeing record demand in Montana…

North Valley Food Bank in Whitefish served 613 families a Thanksgiving meal – a record high.

They anticipate more than 1,000 food bank customers for their Christmas holiday distribution on December 18-19.

“Year round here we’re feeding over a 1,000 of our neighbors every week and the need goes up during the holiday season,” said North Valley Food Bank Director of Development Mandy Gerth.

And in the San Francisco area…

This holiday season, food banks say they’re facing greater need than ever before. In Silicon Valley, they say 1 in 6 people are coming in for food assistance. In San Francisco, that number is 1 in 5. But the organizations say donations are not keeping up with demand.

For all the food banks, December is a big month. Both in terms of need, and in terms of fundraising. And they say what happens now will impact the entire year ahead.

In some parts of the nation, food banks are absolutely shattering all of the old records.

At one location in New Jersey, demand has actually “quadrupled” since the peak of the pandemic…

Food banks across the Garden State are struggling to keep up with rising demand that may soon outpace donations.
At the Salvation Army’s Kroc Community Center in Camden, requests for services have quadrupled since the height of the pandemic, according to a spokesperson.

They keep telling us that everything is fine.

They keep telling us that there is no reason to be concerned.

But in some areas of the country demand at food banks is now four times higher than it was during the worst moments of the pandemic.

Wake up.

They aren’t telling you the truth.

In St. Louis, some people actually had to wait in line for eight hours just to receive a free Thanksgiving meal…

That high demand is felt all over the state. In St. Louis, people waited eight hours to get a free Thanksgiving meal from the Urban League.

This isn’t normal.

Poverty is rapidly growing all around us.

When will our leaders finally admit the truth?

In the state of Washington, approximately one-fourth of the entire population is now experiencing food insecurity…

The rising cost of living, particularly in housing and groceries, is pushing more families in Washington state to seek assistance from food banks.

According to Robert Ojeda of Food Lifeline, the largest hunger relief organization in the state, food insecurity affects about 25% of Washingtonians, meaning one in four residents is struggling to access enough food.

Ojeda said, “The percentage of food insecurity in Washington state is about 25%, so 1 in 4 Washingtonians are experiencing food insecurity.”

And the largest network of food banks in the state of Washington is reporting that overall demand has nearly doubled since the pandemic began…

• Before the pandemic, Food Lifeline served about 800,000 people annually.
• During the pandemic, that number rose to 1.1 million and has continued increasing, reaching 1.5 million in 2023 and 1.7 million in 2024, Coleman said.

Hunger in America is getting progressively worse.

Poverty in America is getting progressively worse.

Economic pain in America is getting progressively worse.

Meanwhile, the party on Wall Street never seems to end, and young bankers are “snorting lines of Adderall at their desks”…

Young Wall Street bankers working 90 hours a week are snorting lines of Adderall at their desks in a new office drug culture.

While cocaine was once the drug of choice, bankers are now reportedly turning to the ADHD medication for work days that can last as long as 22 hours, along with nicotine patches and energy drinks.

One young banker that was interviewed openly admits that he uses Adderall to help him cope with 22 hour days…

Jonah Frey, a former investment banker for Wells Fargo in San Francisco, said one colleague would snort lines of crushed Adderall pills at his desk and that “nobody blinked an eye”.

Mr Frey told the Wall Street Journal he began taking the drug in 2020 because his colleagues told him it would help with the long hours, frequently pushing through from 4am until calls with the East Coast office at 2am the next day.

They are so busy making money on Wall Street that some workers hardly get any sleep at all.

But at the same time economic suffering is spreading like wildfire in communities all over the nation.

If our economic pain is this bad while the party on Wall Street is still raging, what is our country going to look like once the party on Wall Street finally ends?

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

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When one of my readers sent me a photo of egg prices at a store in western Washington state, I could hardly believe what I was seeing.  I clearly remember when I could purchase a carton of quality eggs at the grocery store for just 99 cents, but thanks to inflation and a bird flu crisis that never seems to end, those days are long gone.  Now it is common to pay five, six, seven or even eight dollars for a carton of eggs.  In fact, it probably won’t be too long before we crack the ten dollar barrier.  In the old days, eggs were considered to be a very inexpensive way to feed your family, but now eggs prices have gone completely insane.

Unfortunately, it isn’t just egg prices that are spiking.

According to CNN, we just witnessed the largest monthly jump in grocery prices in almost two years…

In November, egg prices shot up by 8.2% nationwide, logging one of the highest monthly spikes in the past two decades, according to Consumer Price Index data released last week. And it’s not just eggs — shoppers have seen jumps in beef, coffee and non-alcoholic beverages, driving up overall grocery prices to their largest monthly gain since January 2023.

And more increases appear to be coming down the pike for the pulped-paper-packed protein: Wholesale prices for chicken eggs soared by nearly 55% last month, and wholesale food prices rose by 3.1% (their highest monthly increase in two years).

Our leaders in Washington promised us that food inflation was under control.

They lied.

I realize that this is very bad news.  I have heard from so many of you that are deeply struggling at this moment.  Now it appears that food prices are going to go substantially higher in 2025.  All of us are just going to have to adapt to this new environment somehow.

If you are barely scraping by from month to month, I want you to understand that you are definitely not alone.

In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau is telling us that 37 percent of Americans are having trouble even paying their most basic bills…

The Census Bureau reports that 37% of Americans are struggling to pay routine bills. Add in the cost of Christmas gifts and other holiday expenses and it can feel overwhelming to keep up with the Clauses.

The National Retail Federation predicts an increase in holiday spending this year, but the rise is more indicative of the higher cost of goods than anything else. We aren’t buying more; it’s just what we are buying costs more than before.

That is more than a third of the country.

It is difficult for people to hear that they aren’t going to be able to live the way that they previously did.

In an attempt to keep their lifestyles the same, many Americans are racking up credit card debt like never before…

A new study of Americans credit card debt finds the average household credit card balance as of the third quarter of 2024, was around $10,757 after adjusting for inflation.

That according to the personal-finance website WalletHub which Friday released its new Credit Card Debt Study, which found that consumers added $21 billion in debt during the third quarter of 2024.

Early results for the fourth quarter of the year show preliminary data for October at a new record high for credit card debt in the month, in absolute terms.

Sadly, we have now reached a point where debt saturation is becoming a major problem and delinquencies are rising.

Consumers simply cannot spend money like they once did, and the retail industry is really struggling as a result.

So far this year, retailers have announced the closing of more than 7,000 stores.  That represents an increase of 69 percent from last year…

Retail store closures in the United States rose sharply in 2024, with over 7,100 closures announced through the end of November, according to data from the research firm CoreSight. This number marks a 69 percent increase from the previous year under the Biden-Harris administration, which has been plagued by inflation.

The spike in closures is tied to a wave of retail bankruptcies, with 45 retailers filing this year compared to 25 in 2023. Economic challenges, including persistent inflation, have led consumers to cut back on discretionary spending.

As I discussed last week, evidence that the economy is really slowing down is all around us.

I am sure that you can see this where you live, and with each passing day we get even more troubling news.

For example, it is being reported that Macy’s is planning to close dozens of stores by the end of this calendar year…

Macy’s is ramping up store closures this year as it struggles to revive its faltering business.

In February, the embattled retailer announced plans to shut 150 underperforming stores within three years – including 55 closures by the end of 2024.

But the company now expects to close 65 locations by the end of the year. Bosses said they will remain open through the holidays to let regular customers shop but then shutter for good before the end of December.

And in a year when so many restaurant chains have already bit the dust, we now have another one to add to the list…

Arizona’s iconic frozen drink and sub chain Eegee’s has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, making it the latest casualty in a brutal year for fast-food restaurants.

The announcement came with the closure of five locations across Tucson and Phoenix, leaving die-hard fans heartbroken.

The December 6 filing in Phoenix federal court gives the embattled chain – owned by private equity firm 39 North Capital – a chance to reorganize its finances.

Four years of “Bidenomics” has taken an enormous toll on our nation.

We have built up a tremendous amount of economic momentum in the wrong direction, and the very foolish policies of our leaders are taking us exactly where I warned they would take us.

Many are hoping that things can be turned around when the new administration takes over.

But considering how rapidly conditions are deteriorating both here and around the world, it would literally be a major miracle to pull us out of this mess before a horrifying global crisis erupts.

So let us hope for the best, but let us also continue to prepare for the worst.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Get prepared for what is ahead by visiting some of our sponsors…

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The number of job openings in the United States has been “falling off a cliff”, and that is a major red flag.  The last four years have been an economic nightmare for most Americans, and that is one of the primary reasons why Donald Trump won the election.  But as we approach 2025, things are starting to get frighteningly bad.  When the number of job openings in the U.S. drops by 2 million or more, that normally signals that we are either in a recession or that one is about to happen.  Well, as you can see from this chart that was posted by Bravos Research on Twitter, we are witnessing a collapse in job openings that is absolutely unprecedented…

I was floored when I saw that chart.

I knew that job openings were falling, but I didn’t know that things had gotten this bad.

Not too long ago, there were about 12 million job openings in the United States.  Unfortunately, here in the second half of 2024 that figure has fallen below 8 million…

There were an estimated 7.4 million unfilled jobs on the last day of September, a drop from August’s revised tally of 7.86 million openings, according to new data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The largest drop-offs in openings were in industries that have driven much of the job growth in recent years: health care and social assistance, and government, according to the report.

Meanwhile, major employers continue to shed workers all over the nation.

For example, the U.S. lost a total of 78,000 manufacturing jobs during a recent three month period…

The manufacturing sector continued to shed jobs in October, bringing its tally of job losses to 78,000 over the past three months.

The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday released its jobs report for October, which found that the manufacturing sector lost 46,000 jobs last month, according to the agency’s preliminary analysis.

That followed a loss of 6,000 jobs in September, which is also a preliminary figure, as well as a decline of 26,000 jobs in August.

Every day, there are more layoff announcements in the news, and the number of people filing initial claims for unemployment benefits increased much more than experts were projecting last week…

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time jumped significantly last week (from 225k to 242k – well above expectations of 220k) – the highest since the first week of October.

On an un-adjusted basis, claims exploded higher (highest since January)…

Throughout the second half of this year, I have been arguing that the U.S. economy is rapidly heading in the wrong direction.

Now we have even more confirmation that this is indeed happening.

Once we get past the holiday season, retailers are going to be dropping like flies.

According to the Daily Mail, it appears that Party City could soon be forced to declare bankruptcy…

A major party and craft retailer with 850 stores across the nation is considering filing for bankruptcy.

Party City has been faced with the possibility of mass closures just a little over a year after the company surfaced from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The celebration retailer, known for selling balloons and essential party supplies, is currently behind on rent at some of its locations, people close to the matter told Bloomberg.

And it is being reported that 670 Family Dollar stores have already been shut down…

Discount behemoth Dollar Tree has shuttered 670 of its underperforming Family Dollar stores so far, about two-thirds of the nearly 1,000 it plans to close, as it considers whether to sell or spin off the struggling chain.

The Chesapeake, Virginia-based retailer provided an update on its portfolio optimization efforts when it reported is fiscal third-quarter earnings. Dollar Tree officials also said they were still reviewing options for Family Dollar, with no set deadline or timeline to complete that process.

Overall, thousands upon thousands of retail stores in the U.S. have been shuttered in 2024, and thousands upon thousands will be shuttered in 2025.

In many areas of the country, the landscape is absolutely littered with once thriving businesses that have now been boarded up.

More than a decade ago, I warned that we were headed for a future when impoverished areas of the U.S. would be filled with boarded up businesses and abandoned buildings.

Now we are there.

On top of everything else, inflation is starting to surge once again, and one recent survey discovered that about a third of all U.S. households have been forced to cut back spending just to keep the lights on…

With the cost of things like food and housing still straining people’s budgets, many U.S. households over the past year have found themselves having to pare their spending on basic necessities just to keep the lights on at home.

That’s according to a recent Lending Tree study which analyzed U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data from Aug. 20, 2024 to Sep. 16, 2024 to find the percentage of Americans 18 and older that had cut back on necessary expenses to pay their energy bill, kept their home at an unsafe or unhealthy temperature, or was unable to pay the full amount on an energy bill at least once over the preceding 12 months.

The study found that more than 34% of respondents said they have had to cut back or skip spending on certain necessary expenses at least once over the past year in order to pay their energy bill.

As I discussed the other day, prior to the election most Americans believed that we were already in a recession.

Since the election, conditions have only gotten worse.

Many are hoping that our economic momentum can be reversed once the new administration takes over.

We should all be hoping that is true.

But right now we are on a freight train that is steamrolling in the wrong direction, and that is not good news at all.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Get prepared for what is ahead by visiting some of our sponsors…

The Jase Case is more than an emergency medication supply. The right meds the moment you need them: https://shorturl.at/gMpOj

Protect your home and  vehicle with EMP Shield: https://shorturl.at/Hh2oz

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Have things been getting better for the middle class, or have things been getting worse?  Needless to say, the answer to that question is obvious.  The cost of living is absolutely crushing us, we can’t afford to replace our rapidly aging vehicles, debt levels are exploding, and the proportion of the country that is living paycheck to paycheck has been steadily rising.  Our economy is a mess, and America’s middle class is getting smaller and smaller.  Sometimes I feel like I am watching a very tragic version of musical chairs.  If you are still holding on to your chair, you should be very thankful, because more people are slipping out of the middle class and into poverty with each passing day.

If you are old enough, you can still remember a time when many middle class families would purchase a new vehicle every few years.

Sadly, today most of us are being forced to get as much mileage out of our rapidly aging vehicles as we possibly can.  As a result, the average age of the passenger vehicles traveling America’s roads has reached an all-time record high…

This should be the best of times for the people who help keep America’s cars running.

There have never been as many on the road—around 290 million light vehicles—and they have never been so old. One reason for that is good news: They are better made. Getting the odometer past 100,000 miles has gone from being noteworthy to normal. Thirty years ago the average passenger car was about 8.4 years old and today that is 13.6 years.

Even keeping our aging vehicles repaired has become exceedingly difficult.

These days, if the mechanic hands you a repair bill for less than a thousand dollars that is a reason to celebrate.

In the old days, you could get a really nice used vehicle for a thousand dollars.

Of course groceries have become insanely expensive as well.  Earlier today, I came across a USA Today article that discussed the fact that the average household in Miami spends 327 dollars at the grocery store per trip…

Many longtime Miamians say they’ve felt this way since the pandemic transformed much of their city. As New Yorkers and Californians faced lockdown orders and restrictions, many flocked to Florida, with the largest increase of New Yorkers moving to Miami where they could benefit from tax and mandate breaks while working remotely. But along with having the largest net population gain of any state in the country came exploding living and housing costs. Housing prices have risen almost 50%, according to the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index released last month.

Grocery prices shot up. (An average household spent about $327 per trip). So did electric bills. A carton of eggs last year cost $5.

327 dollars used to be a lot of money.

Now it will just buy you one cart of food.

I warned my readers that the economic conditions that we were witnessing in Venezuela would eventually come here, and now it has happened.

As I discussed a few days ago, core consumer prices have actually risen for 53 months in a row.

Our cost of living crisis is out of control, and there is no end in sight.

As they struggle to pay their bills, many Americans are turning to credit cards for some relief.

As a result, credit card debt balances have soared to record high levels…

The average American household credit card balance as of the third quarter of 2024 was about $10,757 after adjusting for inflation, according to a new study.

The personal-finance website WalletHub onFriday released its new Credit Card Debt Study, which found that consumers added $21 billion in debt during the third quarter of 2024.

Early results for the fourth quarter of the year show preliminary data for October at a new record high for credit card debt in the month, in absolute terms.

As credit card debt levels rose, it was inevitable that more Americans would start getting behind on their payments, and that is precisely what has happened…

Are you feeling financially stressed as 2024 comes to a close? You’re not alone, not even close. In fact, 7.8 million Americans have delayed payments on at least one of their credit accounts this year. That’s a million more than in 2023.

This is really bad news for the economy as a whole, because our economy is highly dependent on consumer spending.

You can’t get blood from a stone, and restaurants all over the country are learning the hard way that most consumers simply cannot afford to eat out as regularly as they once did…

Seafood giant Red Lobster, Italian chain Buca di Beppo, fish taco eatery Rubio’s Coastal Grill and the owner of burger and pizza chains BurgerFi and Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza are among those that have sought to reorganize through bankruptcy this year. Hooters of America is also huddling with lenders and advisers amid revenue declines, Bloomberg reported.

Shares of Dine Brands Global Inc., the parent of Applebee’s and IHOP, are down about 30% year-to-date, while shares of Bloomin’ Brands Inc., which owns Outback Steakhouse, dropped to near 2020 lows last month after it reported a decline in US same-store sales.

Yes, a “restaurant apocalypse” has begun.

When I first started using that term, a lot of people thought that I was exaggerating.

But of course I was not exaggerating one bit.

There was a time when it seemed like just about anyone in this nation could achieve “the American Dream” if they just worked hard enough.

But now we have reached a point where only 31 percent of Americans believe that they have “made it” in life…

Despite being the land of opportunity, the American Dream remains frustratingly out of reach for most Americans, with a mere 31% believing they’ve financially “made it” in life.

Sadly, that figure is even lower for Baby Boomers…

However, the picture becomes less optimistic with age. Only 27% of baby boomers feel they’ve reached financial success, and among those who haven’t, just one-third believe they ever will. The survey found that Americans consider their path to financial success threatened by various external factors, including presidential elections (46%), interest rate changes (45%), and the job market (42%).

After working so hard for so many years, only 27 percent of Baby Boomers feel like they have “made it” in life.

Well, that is quite depressing.

Things could have turned out far differently.  Many of us ranted and raved for years that things would turn out this way, but most of the country did not want to listen.

Bad decisions lead to bad results.

Our leaders have been making comically bad decisions for decades, and thanks to them we now have a complete and utter nightmare on our hands.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Get prepared for what is ahead by visiting some of our sponsors…

The Jase Case is more than an emergency medication supply. The right meds the moment you need them: https://shorturl.at/gMpOj

Protect your home and vehicle with EMP Shield: https://shorturl.at/Hh2oz

Ready Hour Emergency Food: https://shorturl.at/RB6ul

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Are you ready for economic conditions to get even worse in 2025?  It would be difficult to find any economist that is willing to argue that global economic conditions are better in late 2024 than they were in late 2023.  The Chinese economy is deeply struggling, Europe is a mess, and four years of Bidenomics have had an absolutely devastating impact here in the United States.  Unfortunately, the outlook for 2025 is not good at all.  In fact, a WEF survey that was just released discovered that global business leaders are very concerned that a global recession is approaching…

Business leaders globally are worried about the risk of recession, labour shortages and rising inflation, despite some signs of improvement in economic conditions, a World Economic Forum survey said on Thursday.

Extreme weather events are an increasing concern, following a year of record temperatures, severe flooding and wildfires, including in major economies such as Brazil, Germany, Indonesia and the United States, according to the survey of more than 11,000 business leaders from G20 countries.

When asked to rank the top risks that they are facing over the next two years, business leaders actually ranked economic downturn number one…

Economic downturn is seen as the top risk for business leaders over the next two years, followed by labour and/or talent shortages and then inflation. Poverty and inequality ranked fourth, and extreme weather events came in fifth, the survey showed.

Business leaders tend to be relatively optimistic compared to the population as a whole, and so these results kind of surprised me.

Of course to many of us living in the United States, economic conditions are already so bad that it feels like a recession has already begun…

In August, roughly 60% of Americans said they believed the U.S. was in a recession, according to a survey from Affirm. Further, in October, more than half of Americans said they were worse off than they were four years ago, according to a Gallup poll.

If you are doing better than you were four years ago, you should consider yourself to be incredibly blessed.

Because the cost of living has been rising faster than paychecks have been, and so for most of us our standard of living has been steadily going down.

The Biden administration keeps telling us that inflation is under control, but the truth is that core consumer prices have risen for 53 months in a row…

The inflation story is far from over… no matter what The Fed or The White House claims…

For the 53rd straight month, core consumer prices rose on a MoM basis in October with the YoY pace re-accelerating to +3.33%…

Once upon a time, I actually enjoyed going to the grocery store.

But now it is so painful.

When I get to the register, I feel like asking the cashier what organ I should sell in order to pay for my groceries.

Sadly, we have reached a point where more Americans than ever are just barely scraping by from month to month.  In fact, Bank of America is telling us that the proportion of the U.S. population that is living paycheck to paycheck rose by 12 percent from early 2022 to the second half of 2024…

However you define “paycheck to paycheck,” more of us seem to be living that way.

In the Bank of America surveys, the share of consumers who said they lived from paycheck to paycheck has gradually risen, from about 35% in early 2022 to 47% in the third quarter of 2024.

Obviously, economic conditions in this country have been trending in the wrong direction for quite a while.

So what will our country look like if we keep going down this path?

At this stage, more than 20 percent of all U.S. renters already have to use “all of their regular income” just to pay the rent…

Just over one in five (22%) U.S. renters say all of their regular income goes directly to paying their rent, according to a recent Redfin-commissioned survey.

Working a second job is also a fairly common way for renters to pay housing costs, with 20% of renters citing that method. Nearly the same share (19%) say they have worked a job they hated to afford rent.

The bottom levels of the economic food chain are getting absolutely crushed.

In a desperate attempt to stay afloat, many Americans are piling up staggering amounts of debt.  According to the New York Federal Reserve, total credit card debt in the U.S. just reached another brand new all-time record high…

Americans’ credit card debt continues to climb, hitting a fresh record at the end of September, according to a new report from the New York Federal Reserve.

Total credit card debt rose to $1.17 trillion during the third quarter, an increase of $24 billion from the previous quarter, according to the report. It marks the highest level on record in Fed data dating back to 2003.

I have never seen U.S. consumers as financially stressed as they are right now.

And now here come more layoffs.  For example, we just learned that one of the largest private employers in the entire country has decided to send thousands of workers packing…

Sticking with the job market, approximately 8,000 pink slips are about to go out at Cargill. The privately-held company said it is laying off 5 percent of its global workforce. The job cuts are coming as one of America’s largest private companies is grappling with falling food prices.

Can anyone out there dispute the fact that we are heading in the wrong direction?

Just look around.  The middle class is coming apart at the seams, poverty is exploding all around us, homelessness in the U.S. is at an all-time record high, and demand at food banks has returned to pandemic levels.  For more than a decade, I have been warning about the exact scenario that we are facing right now.

It would be a monumental task for anyone to reverse our economic momentum, but Donald Trump is certainly going to try.

After the extraordinary amount of damage that Joe Biden and his minions have done over the past four years, can Trump turn this ship in the right direction?

Let us hope so, because at this moment the entire global economy is a dumpster fire that is rapidly getting worse.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

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Donald Trump is not messing around.  After trying to play nice during his first administration, Trump is making it very clear that he fully intends to use the full power of the presidency to shape economic policy during his second administration.  In particular, Trump is planning to impose massive tariffs on other nations that attempt to stand in the way of the MAGA agenda.  Last week, Trump threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all products coming into the United States from Mexico and Canada if those two countries do not work with him to secure our borders…

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday promised massive hikes in tariffs on goods coming from Mexico, Canada and China starting on the first day of his administration, a policy that could sharply increase costs for American businesses and consumers.

The move, Trump said, will be in retaliation for illegal immigration and “crime and drugs” coming across the border.

“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”

Needless to say, this really freaked out the leaders of Mexico and Canada.

After a call with Trump, the president of Mexico seemed optimistic that a trade war with the U.S. could be avoided, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just returned home from a personal meeting with Trump empty-handed…

He has since held a call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who said Thursday she is confident that a tariff war with the United States can be averted. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned home Saturday after meeting Trump, without assurances the president-elect will back away from threatened tariffs on Canada.

Most people do not realize this, but Canada is actually our number one trade partner.

If the Canadians get hit with 25 percent tariffs, it will crash the Canadian economy.

I just have to say something about Justin Trudeau.

He has been making incredibly bad decisions throughout his entire time in office, and he has really run Canada into the ground.

There are a lot of really bad leaders in the western world right now, but he may be the absolute worst.

After threatening Mexico and Canada, Trump decided to threaten the BRICS nations with 100 percent tariffs if they choose to move away from the U.S. dollar…

President-elect Donald Trump threatened the BRIC group of emerging-market nations on Saturday, warning that he would impose 100% tariffs if they make any moves to undermine the U.S. dollar.

Trump’s comment, made on his Truth Social platform, is in apparent response to efforts to challenge or replace the U.S. dollar as the primary global reserve currency.

The BRIC alliance, originally comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, now includes five other countries: South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

We have never seen an economic threat of this magnitude in modern history.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump explained why he has decided to make this move…

The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER. We require a commitment from these Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy. They can go find another “sucker!” There is no chance that the BRICS will replace the U.S. Dollar in International Trade, and any Country that tries should wave goodbye to America.

I was stunned when I first saw this.

It is quite a bold move, but will it work?

We shall see.

Without a doubt, Russia and China would both like to avoid more economic turmoil right now.

The Russian financial system is already deeply struggling as a result of a recent move by the Biden administration.  50 major Russian banks were recently hit with sanctions, and the ruble has been absolutely plummeting…

The ruble has come off its lows from earlier in the week after the central bank halted all foreign currency purchases for the remainder of the year, but it remains battered—and resources for preventing a further collapse are shrinking.

On Friday, the central bank set the official rate at about 108 to the U.S. dollar. While that’s improved from Wednesday’s rate of 114 on the spot market, that’s still means one ruble is worth less than a penny.

The ruble has tumbled 9% against the dollar since Nov. 21, when the U.S. sanctioned some 50 Russian banks, including Gazprombank, which has emerged as a top linchpin for Russia in currency markets. And for the year to date, the ruble has crashed about 20% against the greenback.

Meanwhile, China’s economy is in a state of disarray, and Chinese officials are extremely concerned about what will happen once Trump is inaugurated.

For decades, China has been one of our largest trading partners, and we are highly dependent on cheap Chinese goods at this point.

What would it do to the global economy if our trading relationship with China suddenly broke down?  As they prepare for a potential invasion of Taiwan, this is something that the Chinese have already been studying…

China has been supporting Russia’s economy since the start of the Ukraine war by buying its oil while supplying it with everything from microelectronics to washing machines.

Meanwhile, Beijing has been getting its own strategic benefit: a real-world case study in how to circumvent Western sanctions.

An interagency group, set up by China in the months following the full-scale invasion, has studied the impact of sanctions and produced reports regularly for the country’s leadership, according to people familiar with the matter. The goal is to draw lessons about how to mitigate them, particularly in case a conflict over Taiwan prompts the U.S. and its allies to impose similar penalties on China, the people said.

If the U.S. and China start slapping one another with tariffs and sanctions, the entire world will feel the pain.

I have a feeling that this story is not going to end well.

Unfortunately, Europe is also dealing with severe economic stress at the moment.  The German economy in particular is not doing well, and VW is poised to conduct mass layoffs for the first time ever…

Tens of thousands of Volkswagen workers will participate Monday in strikes at plants across Germany, labor union IG Metall said, marking the largest walkouts at the carmaker’s domestic operations since 2018.

The walkouts, which are planned to last several hours, follow weeks of collective bargaining negotiations during which VW refused to rule out mass layoffs and potential plant closures in its home market — drastic measures the company says are necessary to prop up its fortunes amid competition from China and weaker European demand.

The global economy is more interconnected than it has ever been before, and everywhere you look there are signs that global economic activity is slowing down.

2025 was already shaping up to be a really bad year, and now a worldwide economic war threatens to greatly accelerate our problems.

Here in the U.S., we desperately need the rest of the world to use our currency, because that allows us to enjoy a standard of living that is far higher than we actually deserve.

We also desperately need the rest of the world to loan us gigantic mountains of money, because otherwise we would not be able to pay our bills.

So it would be a tremendous mistake to think that we have all the leverage and that we don’t need the rest of the world.

Sadly, I think that very soon it will become abundantly clear just how dependent we really are on a global economic system that is rapidly starting to fail right in front of our eyes.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

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If you live in a warm home and you have plenty of food to eat, you should consider yourself to be extremely blessed, because millions of others are deeply suffering right now.  Most of the country is living paycheck to paycheck, the number of homeless Americans is higher than ever, demand at food banks is back to pandemic levels, and many victims of Hurricane Helene are living in very thin tents and are not getting the help that they need from the government.  Children in the mountains of western North Carolina are literally shivering in the freezing cold all night long because their parents have nowhere else to go…

Nearly two months since Helene hit, hundreds of local families are left with nowhere to go.

Now some of these children are living in tents and cars as their parents try desperately to find a new home.

One of those parents is Dana Wunsch.

She showed News 13 the camper where she and her partner, along with her two daughters, are now staying.

We are taxed extremely hard, and one of the things that our tax dollars are supposed to pay for is disaster relief.

But while FEMA personnel in North Carolina are sleeping in heated trailers, many victims of Hurricane Helene are sleeping in extremely flimsy tents that look like they could literally be blown away at any moment.

Could you imagine having your kids sleep in a flimsy tent night after night?

And now snow has arrived in the mountains of western North Carolina…

Some survivors in western North Carolina have had to navigate their recovery efforts around potentially hazardous conditions as snowfall ranging from a light dusting up to about 2 feet has blanketed the area.

In addition to snow, those living in tents have also been facing very high winds…

Additionally, Helene survivors in western North Carolina will also have to manage with powerful winds. Wind gusts are expected to reach 30-40 mph in Asheville, while other areas may feel gusts of 50 mph or greater.

Of course Hurricane Helene is just one of the historic natural disasters that have hit our country here in 2024.

Overall, there have been 24 “billion dollar disasters” in the U.S. so far this year…

During the first 10 months of this year alone, 24 disasters have occurred in the U.S. with losses exceeding $1 billion, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.

That’s roughly three times the average annual number since 1980.

Our nation just keeps getting pummeled over and over again.

Is there anyone out there that still believes that this is just a coincidence?

Meanwhile, the homelessness crisis in the U.S. just keeps getting worse, and there are millions more Americans that could soon be joining the ranks of the homeless.

If you can believe it, one recent survey discovered that 22 percent of all U.S. renters say that “all their regular income goes toward rent payments”…

22% of U.S. renters say all their regular income goes toward rent payments, according to a recent Redfin-commissioned survey. 19% of renters report they have worked a job they hated to afford rent.

Just over one in five (22%) U.S. renters say all of their regular income goes directly to paying their rent, according to a recent Redfin-commissioned survey.

Working a second job is also a fairly common way for renters to pay housing costs, with 20% of renters citing that method. Nearly the same share (19%) say they have worked a job they hated to afford rent.

If all of your income is going to paying rent, you are just one step away from being homeless.

Sadly, most of the country is just barely scraping by from month to month at this point.

According to Bank of America, from 2019 to 2024 there was a 10 percent jump in those that are living paycheck to paycheck…

The share of U.S. households living paycheck to paycheck has grown across all income brackets over the past five years, according to a new study from the Bank of America Institute.

A new analysis released by the think tank on Tuesday found that more than a quarter of Americans, 26%, have necessary expenses that chew up more than 95% of their takehome pay, and nearly a third, 30%, of households spend upwards of 90% of their income on critical bills like groceries, housing, utilities, gas, insurance and child care.

The data showed a 10% increase in those living paycheck to paycheck in 2024 compared to 2019.

Economic pain is all around us, and the cost of living just continues to go even higher.

Once upon a time, if you were making $50,000 a year you were doing well.

But now the average American believes that it takes an income of $270,000 a year in order to be “financially successful”…

The average American thinks a salary of just over $270,000 a year qualifies them as “financially successful,” but there are huge disparities between generations, according to a new study.

Needless to say, the vast majority of the population does not make that sort of money.

Instead, the vast majority of us are just trying to survive.

Unfortunately, the outlook for the year ahead is not good because our economic momentum is heading in the wrong direction very rapidly.

In fact, it is being reported that the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators has fallen for eight months in a row…

Weakness in the housing market and manufacturing, as well as higher jobless claims, pulled the leading indicators for the U.S. economy down for the eighth consecutive month in October.

The Conference Board said its index of leading indicators dropped 0.3 percent last month. The Conference Board pointed out that over the six-month period between April and October 2024, the index declined by 2.2 percent, slightly more than its two percent decline over the previous six-month period, suggesting that drags on the U.S. economy picked up.

If we are seeing such tremendous economic suffering now, what will conditions be like if the U.S. economy continues to deteriorate?

For decades, we have been living a debt-fueled standard of living that is way beyond what we have actually earned.

Now that bubble is starting to burst, and our society is not going to be able to handle it.

We are in far more trouble than most people realize, and an immense amount of pain is ahead of us.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Get prepared for what is ahead by visiting some of our sponsors…

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