Money

The Biggest Housing Bubble In The Entire History Of The United States Is In The Process Of Bursting

February 12, 2026February 12, 2026 by Michael

The housing bubble that burst during the Great Recession was enormous, but it was nothing compared to what we are facing now. Two decades ago, the average price of a home in the United States was about $140,000. Today, the average price of a home in the United States is above $500,000. We have literally never seen anything even close to a housing bubble of this magnitude. Unfortunately, what comes up must eventually come down.

Just like we witnessed during the Great Recession, home sales have started to crash.

In January, sales of previously owned homes were 8.4 percent lower than they were in December…

Sales of previously owned homes in January dropped a much wider-than-expected 8.4% from December to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 3.91 million, according to the NAR. Sales were 4.4% lower than January 2025. That is the slowest pace since December 2023 and the biggest monthly drop since February 2022.

This count is based on closings, so contracts that were likely signed in November and December, when the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage didn’t move much before dropping slightly in January. That rate is now 6.1%, according to Mortgage News Daily.

Regionally, sales fell across the nation month to month but were down the most in the South and West.

Sales of previously owned homes have been at a depressed level for years, and now things are getting even worse.

It is a really bad time to be a real estate agent in America. So many really good agents are deeply struggling right now.

One of the primary reasons why home sales are so low is because home prices are way too high.

Over a 20 year period, the average price of a home in the United States increased from about $140,000 to more than $503,000…

While there have been periods of rising and falling home values, the end result is this: In the past 20 years, the average home price in the U.S. has grown from about $140,000 to about $503,800 as of 2025.

That is what a bubble looks like.

If you can believe it, the median value of a home in Montana grew by two-thirds in just four years…

Montana’s typical home value has increased by two-thirds in four years, according to new valuations published this month by the Montana Department of Revenue.

The department estimates that the median residential property in Montana was worth $378,000 as of the beginning of last year. Four years previously, before the state housing market blew up during the COVID-19 pandemic, the median value was $228,000 — meaning values have increased 66%.

What we have witnessed this decade has been absolutely insane.

As a result, 64 percent of all single Americans are now struggling to make their monthly rent or mortgage payments…

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of single people struggle to afford their regular rent or mortgage payments, compared with 39% of married people, according to a recent Redfin survey conducted by Ipsos.

These survey results in this report are from a Redfin survey conducted by Ipsos in November 2025, fielded to 4,000 U.S. residents. We consider survey respondents to struggle with housing payments if they selected “I struggle greatly to afford them,” “I regularly struggle, but sometimes okay,” or “I sometimes struggle, but generally okay.”

This state of affairs couldn’t persist indefinitely.

It was just a matter of time before something started to give, and now we are being told that home prices are falling in 26 of the 50 largest metro areas in the United States…

The sales slump comes as home prices are now falling in 26 of the country’s 50 biggest metro areas, according to recent report from Realtor.com..

This reminds me so much of what we experienced just before the crash of 2008.

And as I discussed yesterday, last month the number of foreclosure filings was 32 percent higher than it was during the same month one year earlier…

With the number of Americans losing their homes to banks rising for an eleventh straight month, it’s clear the housing crisis is getting worse rather than better. US foreclosure activity jumped again in January 2026, with a total of 40,534 properties facing foreclosure filings – a 32 percent increase from the same time last year. Foreclosure filings cover every stage of the process, from the moment a lender issues a legal warning to the point a home is formally seized after missed mortgage payments.

Do you remember what happened the last time that foreclosures spiked dramatically?

It is starting to happen all over again.

Every economic bubble bursts eventually.

Sadly, we live at a time when multiple bubbles appear to be bursting simultaneously.

Former U.S. Representative Ron Paul is warning that the entire system is on the verge of collapsing…

Former Texas Representative Ron Paul said the U.S. economic order rests on “fraud” rooted in the 1971 break from gold and warned that the current system is nearing its end, in a wide-ranging 90th-birthday interview on The Tucker Carlson Podcast released Thursday.

Paul, a Republican-turned-Libertarian-turned-Republican, tied his warning to the end of dollar convertibility into gold under President Richard Nixon, calling it the nation’s “first declaration of bankruptcy,” and argued that persistent money printing and deficits have created a brittle order primed for a severe correction.

In 1971, the median price of a home in the United States was $25,200.

In those days, just about anyone that was willing to work hard could afford a home.

At the end of 1971, the U.S. national debt was sitting at 398 billion dollars.

Now it is sitting at 38.5 trillion dollars.

Do you understand what that means?

The size of our national debt will soon be 100 times larger than it was in 1971.

Just think about that for a moment.

We really are in the end game.

We have destroyed the value of our currency and we are absolutely drowning in debt.

Now the economic bubbles that we have inflated are starting to burst all around us, and the days ahead are going to be filled with a tremendous amount of pain.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” 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 “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine 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.

Breaking Point: A Million Jobs Suddenly Disappear, Foreclosures Rise 32 Percent, And Some Americans Are Now Facing $1,000 Power Bills

February 11, 2026February 11, 2026 by Michael

I feel quite exasperated right now. Everyone knows that the economic numbers that federal bureaucrats in Washington are feeding us each month are fraudulent. It has been that way for a very long time. The employment numbers are a perfect example of this. Every month they give us a headline number that looks pretty good, and then months later they revise it much lower when nobody is paying attention. That is the game they want to play, and many of us understand that. But this latest stunt that they have pulled is absolutely astounding. More than a million U.S. jobs suddenly disappeared from the numbers, and they would like us to believe that this is perfectly normal.

How are we supposed to have any faith in the numbers that the BLS releases each month if they are off by this much?

As Zero Hedge has reported, nonfarm employment in the United States as of December 31st, 2025 was revised down from 159.546 million to 158.497 million…

Starting at the top, total US payrolls were revised dramatically lower starting with the Jan 2021 data and every month since, and net of the cumulative changes December 31, 2025 total nonfarm employment was revised lower by 1.029 million from 159.546 million to 158.497 million.

As expected, the bulk of the negative revisions took place in 2025, with negative revisions to 2024 amounting to -413K, 2023 was just -73K while 2021 and 2021 were revised modestly higher.

Focusing on 2025, the negative revisions to both the year and previous years, meant that the change in total jobs for 2025 was revised from an already low +584,000 to a shockingly low +181,000.

How can over a million jobs suddenly disappear?

Well, the truth is that they never actually existed in the first place.

It was all smoke and mirrors.

Let’s take a look at the January numbers. We are being told that the U.S. added 130,000 jobs in January…

The Labor Department on Wednesday reported that employers added 130,000 jobs in January. That figure was above the expectations of economists polled by LSEG, who estimated the economy would add 70,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate was 4.3%, slightly lower than economists’ expectations of 4.4%.

But the “unadjusted” figure for January was actually a loss of 2.6 million jobs…

There is another reason why today’s report will be revised away: while the seasonally adjusted change was a stronger than expected 130K, the unadjusted was a negative 2.649 million. That means that the entire delta in today’s “surprise beat” was due to seasonal adjustments.

Isn’t that fun?

Everyone is running around talking about the “130,000 jobs” the U.S. added last month, knowing that the “adjusted” number will almost certainly be revised down multiple times later on.

But the “unadjusted” number shows that the U.S. economy lost 2.6 million jobs in January.

Yes, mass layoffs really are happening all over the nation.

In January, the number of job cut announcements was the highest that we have seen for that month since 2009.

And even though 2.6 million jobs were actually lost last month, the government is telling us that 130,000 were gained.

What a joke.

Meanwhile, more bad news about the housing market continues to roll in.

In January 2026, the number of foreclosure filings in the United States was 32 percent higher than it was in January 2025…

With the number of Americans losing their homes to banks rising for an eleventh straight month, it’s clear the housing crisis is getting worse rather than better. US foreclosure activity jumped again in January 2026, with a total of 40,534 properties facing foreclosure filings – a 32 percent increase from the same time last year. Foreclosure filings cover every stage of the process, from the moment a lender issues a legal warning to the point a home is formally seized after missed mortgage payments.

It is starting to feel like 2008 all over again.

We are off to such a bad start in 2026, and this comes on the heels of a year in which foreclosure filings were 14 percent higher than the previous year…

The bleak start to 2026 follows an already brutal 2025, when 367,460 US properties faced foreclosure filings – up 14 percent from the year before, according to a previus report from ATTOM.

Foreclosures are clearly trending in the wrong direction.

And the outlook for the months ahead is not promising at all, because mortgage delinquencies among low-income households have been steadily increasing…

90-day delinquency rates have skyrocketed among borrowers in the lowest-income ZIP codes, rising to 3% in the fourth quarter from 0.5% in 2021.

We are now at the highest level that we have seen in about a decade.

At the same time, electricity bills are rising to unprecedented heights.

Some are complaining that their monthly electricity bills now exceed $800, and others are complaining that their electricity bills now exceed $1,000…

On Reddit, one user in the r/homeowners group shared that their electric bill in Pittsburgh topped $800. Others weighed in with their experiences, and suggested making modifications to save money.

“Everyone needs to take quicker showers, don’t leave hot water run, and turn the heat down to 68 and wear clothes and warm pajamas and use blankets at night,” one comment advised.

On TikTok, user MamaSelena shared that her January electric bill in Ohio was $1,013, cutting into her grocery budget. She contacted local representatives in hopes they would advocate for lower costs, and encouraged others to do the same.

It is easy to tell people that they should just move to a state where the cost of living is lower.

Well, Alabama has a very low cost of living, but even some residents of that state are now facing electricity bills that are close to $1,000…

Alabama Power customer Miessha Reed is one of many customers who has seen a jump in their electric bills.

Reed said her monthly bill during last year’s summer months ranged between $300 to $400, but she can’t say the same about her latest power bill.

“It did a rapid increase. June was like $674, July was like $777, and I got an August bill for $963,” said Reed.

Soaring heating and cooling costs are one of the primary reasons why power bills are rising so much.

In fact, it is being projected that the average U.S. household will spend $995 just on heating their homes this winter…

A new report this week estimates that U.S. households could spend an average of $995 on home heating alone from mid-November to March, which is $84 more than they spent last winter.

The report is from the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association (NEADA), a policy organization that represents state governments seeking federal funds for low-income home energy programs. It predicts that heating costs will rise by an average of 9.2% over the next three months.

Of course it isn’t just power bills that are going up.

Just about everything is steadily becoming more expensive, but the bureaucrats in Washington would like us to believe that the inflation rate is in the low single digits.

Give me a break.

If a major conflict with Iran erupts in the Middle East, our power bills will experience another huge spike.

On Tuesday night, President Trump issued a very ominous warning to Iran…

The President on Tuesday night said he is considering ordering a second aircraft carrier strike group to position itself outside Iran.

US diplomats and Iranian officials met last Friday in Oman to discuss ending the ayatollah’s nuclear program. This is the first time the two countries have engaged diplomatic talks since the 12-day war with Israel in June.

‘Either we will make a deal or we will have to do something very tough like last time,’ Trump told Axios.

I have been warning about a final showdown with Iran for a very long time.

Once the missiles start flying, nothing will ever be the same again.

But for the moment, much of the population continues to believe that everything will work out just fine somehow.

There is nothing wrong with being optimistic, but right now our economy is crumbling all around us and there are very dark clouds on the horizon.

Optimism About The Future Plunges To An All-Time Record Low And Credit Card Debt Soars To An All-Time Record High

February 10, 2026 by Michael

As long as you have hope, you can face whatever challenges are ahead. Sadly, Americans have been losing hope at a rate that is absolutely unprecedented. As you will see below, optimism about the future has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded. One of the biggest reasons why people are losing hope is because we have been in a historic cost of living crisis for almost this entire decade. It is getting harder and harder just to pay the bills. Nobody can deny this. For most of the country, just surviving from month to month is a real struggle.

When there just isn’t enough money coming in, it can be very tempting to bridge the gap with debt.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, credit card debt has risen to the highest level in the entire history of the United States…

Americans ended 2025 more in debt than ever before.

Credit card balances hit a fresh high in the fourth quarter, rising by $44 billion to $1.28 trillion, according to a new report on household debt by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released Tuesday. That’s a 5.5% jump from a year earlier.

The central bank’s monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations, released Monday, also found that fewer consumers expect their households’ financial situations to be better off a year from now — and a larger share expect to be worse off.

Once you start piling up credit card debt, it can be exceedingly difficult to ever get it paid off.

Credit card rates are higher than ever, and this is allowing large financial institutions to rake in enormous profits.

But many on the other end of the equation feel like they are suffocating.

Needless to say, credit card debt is not the only type of debt that is becoming a major national problem.

Delinquency rates are rising for all types of debt, and this is particularly true for low income Americans…

That’s not just apparent in the number of auto loan, credit card and home equity lines of credit delinquencies, the New York Fed researchers said. “You also see that in rising mortgage delinquency rates,” the researchers said, referring to the growing number of homeowners who are falling behind on their mortgage payments.

Across the board, “elevated delinquency rates are more pronounced in the lowest-income areas,” the Fed researchers also found.

Everyone should be able to see that this crisis is not going to end well.

It is just a matter of time.

Americans have traditionally been very optimistic about the future, but a recent Gallup survey discovered that optimism about the future has now fallen to the lowest level ever recorded…

The percentage of U.S. adults who anticipate high-quality lives in five years declined to 59.2% in 2025, the lowest level since measurement began nearly two decades ago. Since 2020, future life ratings have fallen a total of 9.1 percentage points, projecting to an estimated 24.5 million fewer people who are optimistic about the future now versus then. Most of that decline occurred between 2021 and 2023, but the ratings dropped 3.5 points between 2024 and 2025.

Of course Americans are less optimistic about the present as well.

In fact, U.S. consumer confidence just dropped to a level that we have not seen since 2014…

The most dangerous economic divergence isn’t in wealth. It’s in confidence.

U.S. consumer confidence collapsed to 84.5—its lowest level since 2014, below even pandemic-era lows, the Conference Board recently reported. The Expectations Index fell to 65.1, well under the 80 threshold that historically signals recession. Across income levels, Americans earning under $15,000 remain the least optimistic of any group.

I am not surprised that Americans that are earning the least money are the most pessimistic.

For those with very limited resources, just going to the grocery store can be a traumatic experience.

From March 2025 to December 2025, the average price of beef rose nearly 20 percent…

That demand is also reflected in the meat case, where beef accounts for more than half of all fresh meat dollars, far outpacing other protein options like chicken, pork and seafood.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, the average price of beef in grocery stores climbed from about $8.40 per pound in March to $10.10 per pound by December 2025, a roughly 20% increase over that period.

We aren’t in the 1990s anymore.

The economic environment that we are living in today is completely different from what we experienced a few decades ago.

The middle class is being systematically eviscerated, and every day more Americans on the bottom half of the economic spectrum are simply giving up…

Today, the bottom half of the K-shaped economy is entering a new era. Call it the Quiet Riot.

This is the threshold where financial strain becomes behavioral exit—when people stop optimizing and start opting out. It is not through public unrest, but through millions of small, rational decisions that add up to something destabilizing: staying stuck instead of moving up, abandoning long-term planning, choosing short-term survival over long-term compounding.

It follows a simple framework. Fuel: affordability strain, debt stress, declining job quality. The oxygen is missing; a lack of agency, when people can’t see a credible path to mobility. The spark here is the shock that pushes households from “stressed but functioning” into opt-out mode. That can be job loss, medical bills, rent jump, or simply one more month where the math doesn’t work.

Most of the population is just one accident way from financial disaster.

If you can avoid going to the hospital or getting laid off, you get the opportunity to try to scrape by for another month.

But if the unexpected strikes, you can suddenly lose your spot in the middle class.

Our society has been transformed into a very twisted game of musical chairs, and for those that get bumped out of the game each round it can be absolutely soul crushing.

Alarmingly, it appears that some near the top of the economic spectrum are also becoming very alarmed about what is coming, because last week we witnessed “a notable wave of insider selling across multiple sectors”…

This week is shaping up to be an important one for rotation trades, particularly as insider activity continues to lean heavily toward selling.

On Friday, February 6, we saw a notable wave of insider selling across multiple sectors.

Two transactions stood out. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares each of GOOG and GOOGL, while CoreWeave’s Chief Strategy Officer sold over USD 23 million worth of shares, reducing his position to zero.

Signs of trouble are erupting all around us.

And if a major conflict with Iran begins during the weeks ahead, that will greatly accelerate our economic problems.

It has taken decades of very bad decisions for us to reach this point, and now our society is peering down into the abyss.

U.S. households are 18.8 trillion dollars in debt, the federal government is 38.5 trillion dollars in debt, and the U.S. dollar has been rapidly losing value.

We have accumulated the greatest mountain of debt in the history of the world, and there is no easy way out.

The Chinese Take A Hammer To The U.S. Dollar By Instructing Their Banks To Dial Back Their Holdings Of U.S. Treasuries

February 9, 2026February 9, 2026 by Michael

For decades, the dominance of the United States has been primarily based on the strength of the U.S. dollar. Having the main reserve currency of the world has meant that everyone else has wanted and needed our currency. In fact, our currency is our number one export. Most Americans don’t realize this, but far more dollars are used outside the United States than are used inside the United States. Having such a strong currency for such an extended period of time has allowed us to enjoy a standard of living that is far beyond what we actually deserve. So what is going to happen now that the rest of the world is starting to move away from the U.S. dollar?

In 2025, the value of the U.S. dollar declined precipitously. The U.S. dollar index was down about 10 percent for the year, and in recent days that decline has continued.

Now China has decided to pour fuel on the fire.

It is no secret that our relations with China have been going downhill. The Trump administration doesn’t like China, and China doesn’t like the Trump administration. In recent months both of them have been implementing measures that are intended to do economic damage to the other side, and here in early 2026 it appears that things are going to an entirely new level.

On Monday, we learned that authorities in China have instructed Chinese banks “to rein in their holdings of US Treasuries”…

Chinese regulators have advised financial institutions to rein in their holdings of US Treasuries, citing concerns over concentration risks and market volatility, according to people familiar with the matter.

Officials urged banks to limit purchases of US government bonds and instructed those with high exposure to pare down their positions, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The directive doesn’t apply to China’s state holdings of US Treasuries.

Communicated verbally to some of the nation’s biggest banks in recent weeks, the guidance reflects growing wariness among officials that large holdings of US government debt may expose banks to sharp swings, the people said.

It isn’t as if the Chinese are suddenly selling everything.

But without a doubt, this is a major signal.

The Chinese are letting their financial institutions know that it is time to start moving in another direction, and the rest of the world is definitely going to take notice.

The Trump administration is going to take notice as well, because Trump administration officials have been very sensitive about “how foreign investors behave toward U.S. assets”…

If there’s one thing that catches the attention of the second Trump administration, it’s how foreign investors behave toward U.S. assets. Perhaps most notably, it’s their attitude toward the safe haven of U.S. Treasuries.

Last month, Deutsche Bank earned the ire of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent after one of its analysts suggested foreign investors may leverage their holdings of U.S. borrowing and equities against the White House’s threats over the sovereignty of Greenland. While Bessent dismissed the “irrelevance” of Denmark’s holdings of American debt, Trump eased up on his tariff rhetoric after the bond markets hiccuped.

The Trump administration is therefore unlikely to be pleased with reports this week that Chinese banks had been urged to limit their holdings of U.S. Treasuries.

I think that it is quite likely that we will see some sort of retaliation from the Trump administration.

Of course every time either side escalates matters, our relationship with China deteriorates even more.

And history has shown us over and over again that trade wars have a way of evolving into shooting wars.

For the moment, this latest news out of China has pushed the U.S. dollar index even lower…

Treasury yields, which move inversely to prices, were slightly higher on Monday morning. The dollar dropped more sharply, with the Dollar Index down almost 1% on the news. The fresh dip in the greenback follows its recent decline to four-year lows.

When the value of the U.S. dollar goes down, the purchasing power of our paychecks goes down.

And when the purchasing power of our paychecks goes down, our standard of living goes down.

We are already in the midst of a horrific cost of living crisis with no end in sight, and those running the system continue to treat our currency like toilet paper.

For years, I have been ranting about the size of the U.S. national debt.

Now it has crossed the 38 trillion dollar threshold, and Elon Musk is warning that unless an economic revolution involving AI and robotics produces some sort of an economic miracle we are “1,000% going to go bankrupt as a country”…

Reflecting on his work with DOGE, Musk said he had hoped to slow down the unsustainable financial trajectory the U.S. is on, buying more time for AI and robotics to boost growth.

“It’s the only thing that could solve the national debt. We are 1,000% going to go bankrupt as a country, and fail as a country, without AI and robots,” he predicted. “Nothing else will solve the national debt. We just need enough time to build the AI and robots to not go bankrupt before then.”

In late November, Musk made similar comments, saying on Nikhil Kamath’s podcast that the deployment of AI and robotics “at very large scale” is the only solution to the U.S. debt crisis.

Needless to say, I am even more pessimistic than Musk.

At this stage, I don’t think that there is any hope of reversing course quickly enough to avoid financial disaster as a nation.

The rest of the world can see how rapidly we are piling on more debt, and they are abandoning ship.

Of course the other elements of “the perfect storm” that we are experiencing are only going to accelerate the problems that we are facing.

There is going to be a lot of anger directed at China for starting to move away from the U.S. dollar, but ultimately we only have ourselves to blame.

Year after year, Congress should not have authorized the borrowing and spending of trillions of dollars that we did not have.

And the Federal Reserve should not have used trillions of freshly created dollars to artificially prop up the financial markets.

For a while it seemed like we were getting away with treating our currency like toilet paper, but now the consequences are starting to become apparent.

As the U.S. dollar circles the drain, other nations are feverishly stocking up on precious metals, and that isn’t likely to change any time soon.

There Is Something That 9 Out Of 10 Americans Agree On – And Cold, Hard Economic Numbers Support That Belief

February 8, 2026February 8, 2026 by Michael

Over the past 5 years we have been witnessing an economic shift of epic proportions. When the cost of living rises much faster than paychecks do for an extended period of time, an entire nation can be transformed. Just look at what has happened to Venezuela. It has the largest proven oil reserves in the entire world and at one time it was thriving. But now thanks to rampant inflation, almost everyone is living in poverty even though almost everyone is a “millionaire”. It just doesn’t do much good to be sitting on “millions” if your currency is worthless. Unfortunately, as you will see below, our money supply has been growing at an exponential rate. This is destroying the middle class, because it has created a cost of living crisis that is absolutely crushing struggling households all over this country.

According to a survey that was recently conducted, 52 percent of Americans “struggle to pay bills like rent on time each month”, and 9 out of 10 Americans believe that we are “experiencing a full-blown cost-of-living crisis”…

Rent is due. The electric bill sits on the counter. The grocery receipt from last week still stings. For half of Americans, keeping up with basic monthly bills has become nearly impossible.

A nationwide survey of 5,000 Americans from Talker Research reports 52% now struggle to pay bills like rent on time each month, while an equal number are struggling to afford necessities like groceries. Nine in 10 people believe the U.S. is experiencing a full-blown cost-of-living crisis, and nearly eight in 10 said everything became more expensive in 2025.

When is the last time that 9 out of 10 Americans agreed on anything?

As a nation, we are the most deeply divided that I have seen in my entire lifetime, and yet nearly all of us agree that we are in the midst of a horrifying cost of living crisis.

Of course this didn’t happen by accident.

For a very long time, the people running the system have been doing a really bad job. Our money supply has been growing at an exponential rate, and things really got crazy once the pandemic hit. The following chart that comes directly from the Federal Reserve shows the growth of M2 since 1960…

We are on a road that would eventually lead to hyperinflation.

Even now, when I go to the grocery store I am astounded by the price changes that I see.

Over the past year, ground beef has become 18 percent more expensive and coffee has become 29 percent more expensive…

The price of ground beef, for example, is up 18% since Trump took office a year ago, while ground coffee prices are up 29%.

Needless to say, what we have experienced during the last 12 months is simply a continuation of a crisis that goes back a long way.

Housing costs have escalated dramatically since the beginning of the pandemic, and at this stage much of the population is convinced that they will never be able to afford to purchase a home where they really want to live…

The cost crisis isn’t just making people broke. It’s making them homeless in a different sense, forcing them to abandon places that used to feel like theirs.

More than a third of respondents have already moved because where they were living became too expensive. About a third of those relocated to a different city, while another third left their state entirely, searching for someplace they could actually afford. Half of Gen Z respondents reported moving due to costs, compared to just 19% of baby boomers.

What’s worse is how many Americans have stopped dreaming. About half of all respondents don’t believe they’ll ever be able to afford living in their “ideal” city or state. Among Gen Z, nearly two-thirds have abandoned hope of affording their ideal city. That’s not just about housing markets or inflation. That’s about an entire generation learning to aim lower because aiming higher feels pointless.

Meanwhile, the employment market just keeps getting tighter and tighter.

A woman named Megan Robinson that is very highly educated couldn’t find a job in New York City even after submitting nearly 1,000 applications…

Despite an undergraduate degree from the London School of Economics, an Oxbridge master’s degree, and professional experience, I couldn’t find a job after sending close to 1,000 applications. I eventually made it through a competitive hiring process for a writer-editor position at a small health research publication. The hiring manager praised my initiative and said I had gone “above and beyond” in my first interview.

But almost immediately, I was cut from the shortlist. I was told I brought “too many ideas” and seemed interested more in doing “extra things” than what was in the job description. I was cast, again, back down to the anonymous purgatory of millions of other job seekers who can’t get a foothold, regardless of credentials, enthusiasm, or positive attitude.

What is she supposed to do?

Get more education?

Give me a break.

A man named Alex English that was once making $125,000 a year hasn’t been able to find work for 18 months…

I’ve been unemployed for a year and a half. Before being laid off, I lived in LA and worked in marketing and communications at a startup. I was making around $125,000 and still felt poor.

After five years at my last job, I was handed a layoff like it was nothing. I moved back to where I grew up in Tampa, Florida, because I didn’t have the savings to sustain myself in LA.

I’ve relentlessly networked to find a full-time job, taken on freelance projects, and worked in retail. I feel like I’m working harder than I ever have and yet making significantly less money than I did before. My friends who aren’t dealing with long-term unemployment don’t see my crisis as a crisis. That can be really hard, but I’ve worked on removing the emotional intensity from the situation.

This is the reality of the U.S. economy in 2026.

And every day even more workers are being dumped into the constantly growing pool of job seekers.

Last week, I wrote about the fact that the number of announced job cuts last month was the highest that we have seen since 2009. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the final number for January 2006 was more than twice as high as the final number for January 2025…

U.S. employers’ announced job cuts surged in the month of January and hit the highest level since 2009, a new report shows.

Global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that employers announced 108,435 job cuts in January – an increase from the 49,795 cuts announced in the same month last year. Job cuts increased 205% from December, when there were 35,553 layoffs announced.

I tried to warn my readers that layoffs were going to accelerate.

And that is precisely what the numbers are telling us.

But what we have been through so far is nothing compared to what is eventually coming.

We were handed the keys to the greatest economic machine the world has ever seen.

But for decades, those running the system have been doing their best to wreck it.

Now a historic crisis is upon us, and a tremendous amount of pain is ahead.

It Is Starting! Layoffs Highest Since 2009, Job Openings Plummet And Bitcoin And Other Major Cryptocurrencies Are Crashing Hard

February 5, 2026February 5, 2026 by Michael

Look out below, because the dam is beginning to break. Many of us were projecting that our economic problems would accelerate during the early portion of 2026, and that is precisely what has taken place. Employers are conducting brutal layoffs all over the nation, the number of job openings continues to decline, stores and restaurants are closing everywhere we look, and now cryptocurrencies are crashing hard. We haven’t seen anything like this since the Great Recession, and the worst is yet to come.

According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, so far in 2026 the number of announced layoffs is the highest that we have seen since 2009…

Employers announced 108,435 job cuts in January, the highest tally for the first month of the year since 2009, according to a report out Feb. 5, and a sign employers may be taking defensive steps against economic uncertainty.

The report, from global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, mirrored other data released Feb. 5 that suggested the labor market is cooling. Unemployment benefits claims rose in the most recent week, and job openings slipped in December.

“Generally, we see a high number of job cuts in the first quarter, but this is a high total for January,” Andy Challenger said in a release accompanying his firm’s report.

We didn’t even experience a January this bad during the pandemic.

Large companies are ruthlessly swinging the axe, and white collar workers are being hit particularly hard.

And the fact that new applications for unemployment benefits are rising seems to confirm that the employment market is rapidly moving in the wrong direction…

Applications for jobless aid for the week ending Jan. 31 rose by 22,000 to 231,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s significantly more than the 211,000 new applications that analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had forecast.

Applications for unemployment benefits are seen as representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

Those that have been laid off are discovering that it is not easy to find a new job in this very harsh environment.

According to ABC News, the number of available job openings has dropped to the lowest level in over five years…

U.S. job openings fell to the lowest level in more than five years, another sign that the American labor market remains sluggish.

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that vacancies fell to 6.5 million in December — from 6.9 million in November and the fewest since September 2020.

That sounds like a lot of job openings, but one recent study found that about a third of all job postings aren’t actually real.

And most of the jobs that are actually available aren’t good paying jobs.

These days, employers can be flooded with thousands of resumes for a single good paying job.

AI has been replacing white collar workers on a massive scale and that isn’t going to change any time soon.

Could it be possible that many of us will soon end up working for AI?

There is now a website where AI entities can hire humans to perform physical tasks for them…

The machines aren’t just coming for your jobs. Now, they want your bodies as well.

That’s at least the hope of Alexander Liteplo, a software engineer and founder of RentAHuman.ai, a platform for AI agents to “search, book, and pay humans for physical-world tasks.”

When Liteplo launched RentAHuman on Monday, he boasted that he already had over 130 people listed on the platform, including an OnlyFans model and the CEO of an AI startup, a claim which couldn’t be verified. Two days later, the site boasted over 73,000 rentable meatwads, though only 83 profiles were visible to us on its “browse humans” tab, Liteplo included.

That sounds absolutely crazy.

But this is the world that we live in now.

Yesterday, I posted an article entitled “Deep Cuts: We Are Witnessing A Tsunami Of Very Painful Layoffs And Closings In 2026”, and now we have learned that another major chain is planning widespread closures.

Pizza Hut was once the most dominant pizza chain in the entire country, but now it intends to close somewhere around 250 more locations…

Pizza Hut will close about 250 locations in the U.S. through June as its parent company, Yum! Brands, moves to shut underperforming stores and reassess the brand’s long-term strategy, executives said.

Yum! Brands Chief Financial Officer Ranjith Roy said during an earnings call that the closures will primarily target weaker-performing Pizza Hut restaurants as part of a broader effort to modernize the chain.

The closures are tied to the company’s “Hut Forward” initiative aimed at refreshing Pizza Hut’s marketing, updating its restaurant model and improving franchise performance. Yum! said it is also reviewing broader strategic options for Pizza Hut, signaling the changes could be part of a deeper reset for the brand.

My parents would often take me to Pizza Hut when I was a kid, and I really enjoyed their pizza in those days.

So this is very sad news for me.

Of course it isn’t just the real economy that is crashing.

Cryptocurrencies are crashing too…

Digital assets, including bitcoin, have fallen deeper into the red as investors re-assess the practical utility of a token that has been championed not only as a hedge against inflation and macroeconomic uncertainties but also as an alternative to fiat currencies and traditional safe-havens such as gold.

That hasn’t panned out lately, since bitcoin peaked just north of $126,000 in early October.

On Thursday, bitcoin was last down to $67,675, its lowest since since November 2024. The cryptocurrency broke below $70,000 earlier in the session Thursday and then the selling increased. The cryptocurrency is down 20% this week alone.

We are witnessing a mad dash for the exits.

Overall, Bitcoin is now down more than 40 percent from last October’s peak…

Bitcoin is acting weird.

The world’s most famous cryptocurrency has tumbled 44% from its October peak, falling below $70,000 Thursday for the first time in 15 months.

That decline is actually not unusual at all. Crypto is notoriously volatile, and it’s gone through numerous crashes that are bigger than this one.

What’s strange is this: Bitcoin’s four-month slump has come at a time when, in theory, it had everything going for it.

As I write this article, the price of Bitcoin is sitting at $65,187.99.

Once it falls to $63,000 that will represent a 50 percent decline from last October.

Other major cryptocurrencies have experienced even larger crashes.

Needless to say, a lot of investors that got into cryptocurrencies recently are being wiped out.

We are also seeing turmoil in the stock market, bond prices are going nuts, and prices for precious metals have been flying all over the place.

In so many ways, what we are witnessing reminds me so much of the Great Recession.

The CFO of General Motors appears to be quite pessimistic as well, because he is saying that a major economic downturn is inevitably coming…

General Motors Co. is strategizing for an inevitable economic downturn by paring down dealer inventory and maintaining a cash safety net, Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said Wednesday.

Jacobson’s comments to a panel of auto insiders at the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank’s Detroit branch provide insight into industry leaders’ expectations for the broader economy, as well as reassurance that the Detroit company is taking steps to remain resilient in tougher times.

We all knew that this was going to happen.

It was just a matter of time.

The party wasn’t going to last forever.

Anyone that thought that was just being delusional.

Now a time of reckoning is upon us, and the pain that our society is about to experience will be absolutely excruciating.

Deep Cuts: We Are Witnessing A Tsunami Of Very Painful Layoffs And Closings In 2026

February 4, 2026February 4, 2026 by Michael

Do you remember the endless barrage of layoffs and store closings that we experienced during the Great Recession? Well, it is starting to happen again. All over the country, large employers are bringing down the axe really hard. For those that have been laid off, the outlook is not promising at all because competition for good jobs is extremely intense in this very tough economic environment. Meanwhile, stores and restaurants are being permanently shuttered at a blistering pace. We haven’t seen anything quite like this in many years. Of course a major economic meltdown is one of the 10 major trends that we have been anticipating. If a major war with Iran soon erupts, our economic meltdown will get a whole lot worse.

On Wednesday morning, approximately a third of all employees at the Washington Post were suddenly let go…

The Washington Post laid off about one in three employees across the company Wednesday morning, dealing another big blow to a newsroom that has reached a breaking point.

Post owner Jeff Bezos had no immediate comment about the cutbacks.

Bezos has been pushing the Post’s management team to return the publication to profitability, but many journalists at the paper have criticized his approach and questioned his motives.

One employee is describing the layoffs as “an absolute bloodbath”, but Jeff Bezos did not have much choice.

The Washington Post has been losing about 100 million dollars a year, and so something had to be done.

Now that several departments have been entirely gutted, the once great newspaper will only be a shell of what it once was…

According to various sources, the Post is killing its sports and book sections, “suspending its Post Reports podcast, restructuring its metro section, and shrinking its international footprint.”

What does that leave?

Nothing.

I mean, nothing other than D.C.-centered political coverage and an editorial page. In other words, the Post is now a blog — another Politico or New Republic or National Review.

Needless to say, the Washington Post is not the only newspaper that is downsizing.

In fact, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution just decided that it is time to cut ties with about 15 percent of their employees…

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) announced Tuesday that it would be laying off newsroom employees along with other staff across the company, according to the outlet.

About 50 positions will be cut as part of the layoffs and roughly half are newsroom positions, according to the AJC, which is 15% of the paper’s total staff.

It is a tough time to be a journalist in 2026.

People just aren’t as interested in the news as they once were.

The tech industry is another sector where we are witnessing mass layoffs.

In Northern California, hundreds of Amazon workers are about to get canned. Interestingly, we are being told that exactly 666 jobs are going to be eliminated in Santa Clara County…

Amazon is planning a fresh round of layoffs that will slash hundreds of Bay Area corporate jobs this spring, according to new state filings.

Notices filed with the California Employment Development Department showed that 769 employees in San Francisco and Silicon Valley are scheduled to be laid off effective April 28, marking one of the company’s largest local reductions in months.

Most of the Bay Area cuts are concentrated in Santa Clara County, where Amazon plans to eliminate 666 jobs across offices in Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto. The largest clusters of job cuts are in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, where dozens of employees are being laid off at multiple facilities tied to engineering, product and corporate operations, according to the filings.

In Washington state, T-Mobile will be conducting yet another round of layoffs that will result in 393 workers losing their jobs…

T-Mobile is laying off 393 workers in Washington as part of a new round of cuts, according to a filing with the state Employment Security Department released Monday morning.

More than 200 different job titles are impacted, according to the filing, including analysts, engineers and technicians, as well as directors and managers.

The cuts targeted nearly 210 senior- and director-level employees, plus seven employees with vice president or senior vice president titles. They include a senior VP of talent and four VP of legal affairs roles.

The commercials that T-Mobile has been running make it appear that they are doing very well.

Apparently they are not doing as well as we were led to believe.

On another note, Pinterest has announced that it will be firing hundreds of workers, and that includes two employees that had created “an internal tool to track which employees had been laid off”…

Pinterest said it fired two engineers who built an internal tool to track which employees had been laid off following a recent round of job cuts at the social media company.

The firings come about a week after the lifestyle app said it was cutting 15% of its staff as it invests in artificial intelligence. Pinterest, which had about 4,700 employees prior to the layoffs, said the restructuring should be complete by Sept. 30.

I could give you so many more examples, but let me give you just one more really big one.

It is being reported that Oracle will soon be eliminating at least 20,000 jobs…

Oracle is considering cutting 20,000 to 30,000 jobs and selling some of its activities as US banks pull back from financing the company’s AI data-center expansion, according to investment bank TD Cowen.

The job cuts would free up $8 billion to $10 billion in cash flow, TD Cowen said in a research report seen by CIO. Oracle is also weighing a sale of its health-care software unit, Cerner, which it acquired for $28.3 billion in 2022.

The measures come as multiple US banks have pulled back from Oracle-linked data-center project lending. “Both equity and debt investors have raised questions regarding Oracle’s ability to finance this buildout,” the report said.

Every day we learn of even more companies that are laying off workers.

And many workers that have already been laid off have not had any success in finding new employment even after applying for hundreds of jobs.

If you have been unemployed for an extended period of time, you know exactly what I am talking about.

Meanwhile, stores and restaurants continue to shut down all around us at a frightening rate.

Earlier today, we learned that the parent company of Eddie Bauer is preparing to file for bankruptcy. As a result, all Eddie Bauer stores could be permanently closed…

Eddie Bauer stores could be next on the chopping block.

Catalyst Brands, which owns the license to operate Eddie Bauer stores across North America, is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection, a source close to the matter told Fast Company.

The filing could cause the company to shutter all of its North American stores, the person said.

Overall, it is being projected that somewhere around 8,000 stores in the United States will close this year.

Personally, I think that it is quite likely that the final tally will be even higher than that.

Restaurant chains are also going belly up at a very alarming pace, and the latest victim is Bahama Breeze…

Darden Restaurants announced on Tuesday that it will close its Bahama Breeze chain after nearly 30 years in operation.

The Orlando-based company said it will permanently shut down 14 of Bahama Breeze’s 28 restaurants, while converting the remaining locations into other Darden brands.

Restaurants designated for permanent closure will continue operating through April 5, Darden said.

Many other chains have recently chosen to shut down locations as well. That list includes Noodles & Company, Red Robin and Wendy’s…

Just over two weeks into the new year, multiple fast-food and fast-casual chain restaurants across the United States have announced plans to downsize, with some stating they intend to focus resources on their stronger-performing stores.

Among the restaurants that have announced closures are Noodles & Company, Red Robin and Wendy’s.

Noodles & Company, in a Jan. 12 news release, confirmed it closed 33 company-owned restaurants and nine franchise restaurants in 2025. In the coming year, there will likely be 30 to 35 more closures, the company said.

I remember eating at a Red Robin a number of years ago when economic times were better.

It was a very pleasant experience.

But now everything is changing.

Our economy is literally being transformed right in front of our eyes, and the nightmare that we are now experiencing is still only in the very early chapters.

Have You Heard About The Crazy Things That Iran, China And Russia Just Did?

February 3, 2026February 3, 2026 by Michael

When global events reach a fever pitch, global leaders should be trying to bring the temperature down. But instead, we are witnessing almost constant provocations. In fact, I am extremely alarmed by a number of things that Iran, China and Russia have just done. Let me start with breaking news out of the Middle East. It is being reported that a U.S. fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone after it “aggressively approached” the USS Abraham Lincoln…

The U.S. military shot down an unmanned Iranian drone Tuesday after it “aggressively approached a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier with unclear intent,” a U.S. Central Command spokesman told Fox News.

“USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) was transiting the Arabian Sea approximately 500 miles from Iran’s southern coast when an Iranian Shahed-139 drone unnecessarily maneuvered toward the ship,” Capt. Tim Hawkins added.

“The Iranian drone continued to fly toward the ship despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters,” CENTCOM also said. ” An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defense and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board.”

With tensions so high at this moment, why would the Iranians send a Shahed-139 drone directly toward a U.S. aircraft carrier?

Were they just trying to monitor it, or did they intend to test the Abraham Lincoln’s defenses?

A short while later, six Iranian gunboats reportedly tried to board a U.S. oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz…

Six Iranian gunboats unsuccessfully attempted to halt a U.S.-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The security firm Vanguard Tech told its clients on Tuesday that the Iranian vessels were armed with 50-caliber guns, and they ordered the oil tanker to turn off its engines and prepare to be boarded. Instead, the tanker sped up and was ultimately escorted to safety by a U.S. Navy vessel, according to the Journal.

We are very fortunate that a naval skirmish did not break out.

A single miscalculation could result in missiles flying all over the Middle East.

Talks that are scheduled for Friday represent the last hope to avoid an apocalyptic war in the region.

Unfortunately, the Iranians are apparently not happy with the venue and the format for the talks…

Iran has demanded changes to the venue and format for negotiations with the United States this Friday, potentially putting the talks at risk of collapse, two sources with knowledge of the situation tell Axios.

According to sources, the Iranians want to move the talks from Istanbul, Turkey to Muscat in Oman, and instead of a talks featuring several Arab and Muslim, they want to hold them in a bilateral format, only with the Americans.

Of course even if the negotiations go ahead as scheduled, the Iranians are extremely unlikely to agree to the core demands that the Trump administration is now making…

– Renunciation of the nuclear program

– Halting the ballistic missile program

– Cease all funding of proxy groups

– Proper treatment of protesters who participated in anti-regime demonstrations

There is no way that the Iranians are going to agree to all of that.

But if they don’t, President Trump is warning that “bad things would happen”…

“We have ships heading to Iran right now, big ones — the biggest and the best — and we have talks going on with Iran and we’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “If we can work something out, that would be great and if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.

“I’d like to see a deal negotiated. I don’t know that that’s going to happen,” he added.

At this stage, I think that just about everyone is losing patience.

On the Iranian side, one member of parliament is suggesting that it is time for preemptive strikes on U.S. bases and Israeli cities…

Iranian MP Amir-Hossein Sabeti called for ending negotiations and urged pre-emptive strikes on Israel and U.S. bases in the region.

Of course it is always possible that Israel could be the first one to pull the trigger.

According to Defense News, some Israeli officials are also considering the possibility of conducting preemptive strikes…

Israel’s security cabinet is approaching a critical decision on how to respond to Iran’s advancing military capabilities, amid growing concern in Jerusalem that U.S. strategy may diverge from Israeli threat assessments. According to reporting by Walla, senior Israeli officials are weighing whether to proceed with a preemptive military strike independently or delay action in anticipation of coordination with the United States, despite uncertainty over Washington’s direction.

We are so close to war.

So let us hope that the diplomats can pull off some sort of a miracle on Friday.

While tensions in the Middle East continue to rise, the Chinese are trying to encourage the use of the yuan as a global reserve currency…

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for the Chinese yuan to become a global reserve currency, perhaps capitalizing on the dollar’s decline over the past year.

Over the weekend, the ruling Communist Party quoted Xi as saying Beijing needed to build a “powerful currency” that could be “widely used in international trade, investment and foreign exchange markets, and attain reserve currency status.”

China can see that the U.S. dollar is steadily getting weaker and nations all over the globe are losing faith in it.

So now the Chinese are ready to step in and take advantage of the situation.

Of course it is our own fault.

We have been treating our currency like toilet paper for a long time, and now we are starting to suffer the consequences.

China has also just revealed plans to construct a “space carrier” that will be able to carry 88 unmanned fighter jets to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere…

China has unveiled plans for a futuristic ‘Star Wars’ space carrier than can deploy nearly 100 unmanned fighter jets and fly to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere.

The nation has claimed the Luanniao – slated to be 794ft-long, 2244ft-wide and have a takeoff weight of 120,000 tonnes – will be up in the air in the next 20 to 30 years.

The warship, set to be the biggest in the world if it is ever made, is being designed to carry up to 88 unmanned Xuan Nu fighter jets.

This is another example that demonstrates how far ahead of us China is when it comes to drone technology.

At this stage, our leaders can only dream of building something similar.

In this article, I also wanted to address a couple of things that Russia has just done.

As peace talks loom, the Russians just used an enormous barrage of ballistic missiles to attack Ukraine’s energy infrastructure…

Russia has used a record number of ballistic missiles to target Ukraine’s energy sector, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

The combined missile and drone strikes hit power plants and infrastructure in Kyiv and multiple locations causing “the most powerful blow” so far this year, according to private energy company DTEK.

The strikes were launched as temperatures dropped to -20C (-4F) and left more than 1,000 tower blocks in the capital without heating once again and damaged a power plant in the eastern city of Kharkiv beyond repair.

The Russians are making it clear that they are not going to back down until they get what they want.

And the Ukrainians have absolutely no intention of giving that to them.

So the war will continue to escalate.

It is being reported that Russians forces have just crossed the border of Ukraine in a new area of the Sumy region, and it appears that this new breach has been successful…

Russian troops crossed the border in the Belgorod region from the village of Kolotilovka and entered Pokrovka in the Sumy region, according to enemy analytical resources. They emphasize that the Russian advance currently covers an area of three square kilometers.

Of course Russian forces had already been operating elsewhere in the Sumy region, and Ukrainian resistance is really starting to crumble…

At the same time, reports are coming in of Russian forces advancing in the eastern Sumy region. Local authorities report that in the past 24 hours alone, Russian forces have liberated a 24-square-kilometer area.

A gain of 24 square kilometers in a 24 hour period is very significant.

Ukrainian lines are stretched so thin, and the Russians have all of the momentum at this point.

As the Russians gobble up more territory, European leaders will feel an enormous amount of pressure to intervene.

I think that this is going to be a huge story as the year rolls along.

But what is occurring in the Middle East is of more immediate concern.

We have one last chance to avoid an apocalyptic war with Iran, and so let us hope that a peace agreement can be reached before it is too late.

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