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If you recently graduated from college, good luck trying to find a decent job. What we are experiencing right now reminds me so much of the early 1990s. If you were a new college graduate in those days, it was extremely difficult to even get an interview for a good job. Sadly, we are now entering a very similar environment. There is enormous competition for any good job that is available, and mass layoffs are occurring all over the nation. In fact, through the first 7 months of this year the number of job cut announcements in the U.S. was 75 percent higher than it was during the first 7 months of 2024. I am not here to give people the Pollyanna version of what is going on. I am here to give people the truth.

21-year-old Manasi Mishra believed that if she worked really hard and got a computer science degree she would be able to get a six figure job at a big tech company.

Instead, the only thing her computer science degree has gotten her is an interview with Chipotle…

Aspiring computer scientists are sinking in a job market overtaken by AI, as a recent graduate who expected to make six figures could only land an interview at Chipotle.

Manasi Mishra, 21, was under the impression that if she worked hard in school and mastered coding, she’d have a prestigious tech job with a cushy salary lined up straight from college.

‘The rhetoric was, if you just learned to code, work hard and get a computer science degree, you can get six figures for your starting salary,’ the San Roman, California native told The New York Times.

In case you are wondering, she did not actually get the job with Chipotle…

To her dismay, she did not secure the job.

‘Of course, the year I graduate is the year the tech industry goes downhill,’ she elaborated in the ‘get ready with me’ video.

If even the tech industry is going “downhill”, what does that say about the state of the overall economy?

At one time, it was fairly easy to get hired by Microsoft if you had certain skills.

But this year Microsoft has conducted multiple rounds of layoffs.  At this stage, the total number of workers that have been laid off has surpassed the 15,000 mark…

Microsoft has laid off over 15,000 people so far in 2025. The stress of the belt-tightening has gotten to CEO Satya Nadella.

“Before anything else, I want to speak to what’s been weighing heavily on me, and what I know many of you are thinking about: the recent job eliminations,” Nadella wrote in a memo to employees Thursday.

It would be difficult to overstate just how dramatically the environment has shifted.

Young people that are searching for jobs are running into closed door after closed door, and as a result many of them are experiencing financial difficulties.

According to Fox Business, “nearly 10% of credit card balances held by Americans aged 18-29 became 90 or more days overdue in the second quarter”…

Young Americans continued to make up the largest share of those transitioning into credit card delinquency in the second quarter, according to a report released by the New York Federal Reserve.

Despite ticking down slightly from the previous quarter, the report showed that nearly 10% of credit card balances held by Americans aged 18-29 became 90 or more days overdue in the second quarter.

New York Fed researchers said credit card delinquency rates for Americans under 40 have been “unusually elevated,” adding they are keeping a “close eye” on the trend.

Credit card companies are going to become much more stingy in extending credit to young adults.

As you can imagine, that will not be good for our economy at all.

But this is the environment that we live in now.

One recent survey discovered that 62 percent of Gen Z adults “have no emergency savings at all”…

Your car breaks down on a Tuesday morning, and the repair bill comes to $500. If you’re part of Generation Z, there’s a good chance you have nothing set aside to cover it. A new survey from Credit One Bank reveals that 62% of Gen Z have no emergency savings at all, nearly double the rate of baby boomers. There’s a very clear widening gap in financial preparedness happening between generations.

Let that sink in.

Nearly two-thirds of an entire generation of Americans is living on the edge.

There will be some that will argue that they should just toughen up and take whatever they can get.

In the old days, if times were tough you could at least get a job as a delivery driver.

But now UPS is trying to rapidly shed existing workers by offering them buyouts…

The undertaking, called the Driver Voluntary Separation Program, is the first in UPS’ history for delivery drivers. The financial incentive available through the program is in addition to earned retirement benefits like pension and healthcare, per UPS.

Word of the program spread on July 3, when the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union said UPS’ buyout plan was in motion. The Teamsters represent more than 300,000 UPS employees under a five-year contract reached in 2023.

Drivers that have literally been with UPS for decades are being encouraged to leave so that the company can cut labor costs…

About 85% of UPS drivers are at the top end of the pay scale. Those who have 25 to 40 years of service would be the most likely candidates to accept the buyout package, Nando Cesarone, president of the U.S. region and UPS Airlines, told analysts on the call.

UPS is offering $1,800 per year of service, with a minimum payout of $10,000. A driver with 27 years of experience would receive a $48,600 buyout, according to the offer sheet.

I wouldn’t want to be a new college graduate today.

If you get stuck in a bad job that is not in your field, it can permanently wreck your career.

I have seen it happen way too many times.

But getting hired for a good job has become an extremely challenging task.

In fact, one recent survey found that more than 60 percent of all Americans believe that it has “become more difficult to find a good paying job”…

According to the poll, more than six out of 10 Americans said it had become more difficult to find a good paying job, buy a home and afford childcare.

More than four out of five Americans, 83%, said they were concerned about the cost of groceries, with 46% saying they were very concerned. Some 47% said they were worried about being able to pay their rent or mortgage, 64% said they were worried about affording an unexpected medical expense.

It is time to face the truth.

We really are in the midst of a substantial economic downturn that has been going on for quite some time.

Needless to say, I believe that the difficult times that we are experiencing now are not even worth comparing to what is eventually coming.

So we are all going to have to adjust our plans and our expectations.

The system that we have all depended upon for so long is failing, and we all need to start becoming a lot more self-sufficient.

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.

The stage is being set for a dramatic showdown on the streets of the largest cities in the United States.  The mainstream media is freaking out about President Trump’s takeover of Washington D.C, and protests have already begun.  Needless to say, Washington D.C. is not friendly territory for Trump.  It has one of the highest concentrations of Democrats of any major city in the nation, and Kamala Harris won 90 percent of the vote in D.C. last November.  So this situation has the potential to get out of control very rapidly.

Let us hope that cooler heads prevail, but some in the mainstream media are already trying to draw parallels between the current crisis and the George Floyd protests of 2020.  For example, the following comes from a Time Magazine article entitled “Trump’s Hostile Takeover of D.C. Is Straight Out of the Summer 2020 Playbook”…

As he announced he was taking over Washington’s police department and deploying FBI agents and 800 National Guardsmen to patrol the streets of the nation’s capital, President Donald Trump on Monday seemed to gunning for a trip back to the unsettled summer of 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic and racial justice protests set America on edge. It was an aspirational time jump for Trump, who is in search of a way out of political troubles of his own making.

Wow.

You can certainly feel the anti-Trump sentiment in that article.

And even though Trump just announced his takeover of D.C., the protests have already started…

As President Donald Trump announced Monday plans to place the Metropolitan Police Department under federal control, the group Free DC and its partners held a rally in northwest D.C.

“DC belongs to DC residents,” said a Free DC representative. “DC is our home and Trump can’t have it.”

We will keep a very close eye on these protests to see if they grow.

To me, the footage that we have gotten so far indicates that the protesters are very well organized.

I was curious about “Free DC”, and so I decided to learn more.

This is what they say about themselves on their official website…

The 700,000 people of the District of Columbia deserve to have the power over our local government. However, for far too long, Congress and federal administrations have interfered in DC communities by overturning our local laws, restricting our local budgets, and imposing their will on the people who live in DC for years and generations.

Free DC is a renewed campaign to protect Home Rule and win lasting dignity for our communities. We are no longer willing to accept anything less for our communities, and we are setting out to build the cultural and political movement it will take to win. We want you to be part of it.

To these people, President Trump is enemy number one.

And they were definitely not thrilled when Trump boldly declared that D.C. was just “LIBERATED”…

Washington, D.C. will be LIBERATED today! Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR. I will, MAKE OUR CAPITAL GREAT AGAIN! The days of ruthlessly killing, or hurting, innocent people, are OVER! I quickly fixed the Border (ZERO ILLEGALS in last 3 months!), D.C. is next!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT

We have never seen a president do this before.

During a press conference on Monday, Trump explained that the D.C. police are now under the control of the federal government, and he also announced that the National Guard is going to be brought in…

President Trump said Monday that he is deploying members of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and that the federal government has taken control of the D.C. police as part of a push to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital, despite data showing crime has declined in the city in recent years.

“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse,” Mr. Trump said at a news conference at the White House. “This is liberation day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back.”

It turns out that Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act does give President Trump the authority to do what he is doing…

Section 740 of the DC Home Rule Act allows the President to take control of the Metropolitan Police Department under “special conditions of an emergency nature.”

The President signed two executive actions on Monday, including invoking powers under section 740 and sending statutorily required letters to the DC Mayor and the necessary congressional committees. Section 740 requires the President to notify committee chairmen and the mayor in order to federalize the Metropolitan police for more than forty-eight hours.

But is it a good idea?

Only time will tell.

The capital city of our nation should be a place where people feel safe, and President Trump wants to make that a reality.

But the mainstream media is going to try to use this to stir up people’s emotions.  Here is more from Time Magazine…

As he appeared in a standing-room-only White House briefing room Monday morning flanked by his national security Cabinet, Trump looked to bait his critics into an uproar, hinting he would escalate to active duty military members if needed. The tableau was one designed to send the national conversation spiraling, a maximalist favorite tactic for Trump to move off a difficult moment.

“Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people,” the President said. The District’s revamped police force, he said, would be empowered to do “whatever the hell they want.”

If Trump’s effort to transform D.C. is successful, we could see similar efforts in other large cities.

During his press conference, Trump specifically mentioned New York City, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago and Oakland as urban areas that could be targeted next…

President Donald Trump said he might expand his crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital to other major U.S. cities as he announced plans to send 800 National Guard troops into Washington, D.C.

Trump singled out New York City, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago and Oakland, California during a Monday, Aug. 11, news conference as potential future targets in what would be a drastic escalation of federal presence on the streets of American cities.

“We’re not going to lose our cities over this. This will go further. We’re starting very strongly with D.C., and we’re going to clean it up real quick,” Trump said.

Does anyone out there think that the Democrats are just going to sit back and allow Trump to conduct crackdowns in all these cities?

To me, this could be the beginning of a scenario that leads to the sort of widespread civil unrest that I have been warning about.

In the days ahead, mainstream news sources will inevitably be filled with images of people being rounded up or dragged away.

Emotions will be running really high, and it won’t take much of a spark to set off a very large fire.

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.

Why are social media platforms filled with videos of Americans complaining about grocery prices right now? Needless to say, those videos must be striking a chord, because some of them are receiving millions of views. Government bureaucrats are telling us that the cost of food is only going up a few percentage points per year, but we can all see that is a load of nonsense. A trip to the grocery store has become an enormous expense, and this is especially true if you have kids to feed. As I wrote about earlier this month, one survey found that in 25 percent of U.S. households at least one person is skipping meals so that there will be enough money to pay the bills. Sadly, we are being warned that the cost of groceries will go even higher in the months ahead.

Several years ago, I kept warning my readers over and over again that soon the cost of groceries would become very painful.

Without a doubt, that time has arrived.

According to a recent AP poll, the cost of groceries is a “source of stress” for 86 percent of U.S. adults…

Does your run to the supermarket cause a spike in your blood pressure? You’re in good company.

The overwhelming majority of Americans – 86% – say the cost of groceries is at least a minor source of stress. The number includes 53% who say it’s a major source of anxiety in their lives right now. That’s according to a new Associated Press/NORC poll.

Those are very alarming numbers.

But this is the world that we live in now.

And this is why we are seeing so many videos on social media about grocery prices.

Someone put together a compilation of some of the best videos where people are really flipping out emotionally…

In my entire lifetime, I have never seen it so bad.

At one grocery store in Chicago, one woman admitted that it feels like “you’re spending your soul on groceries”…

At a South Loop grocery store, customers experience sticker shock and frustration.

“No matter if it’s organic or if it’s regular, it’s still going to be an arm and a leg for it. It’s like you’re spending your soul on groceries,” said shopper Tria Hutson.

This is one of the reasons why I get so frustrated with the talking heads on television that are telling us that everything is fine.

Just look around you.

People are hurting.

Some companies are trying to hide their price hikes by keeping the prices the same but putting less stuff in each package.

This is known as “shinkflation”, and Jim Quinn recently shared a personal anecdote from his own life…

I think a personal anecdote I’ve experienced will show you the devious methods corporations will use to pass these tariffs along. I have been buying a pack of coated paper plates at Wal-Mart for years. The pack contained 70 paper plates. Within the last four months, the pack was reduced to 50 plates, for the same price. They know the average dolt, after years of government schooling, is deficient in math skills, so they would not realize they just experienced a 40% increase in price per plate. This will show up nowhere in the fake BLS numbers. Shrinkflation is just as bad as inflation, but they can hide it and pretend all is well, while maintaining their profits.

I am sure that you are running into the same thing.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning.

How can I be so confident in saying that?

Let me give you just one example.

Approximately two-thirds of U.S. adults drink coffee, and approximately one-third of all the coffee we drink comes from Brazil.

Thanks to the 50 percent tariff that was just placed on imports from Brazil, coffee is about to become a lot more expensive…

The U.S. relies heavily on Brazil to import coffee for the 165 million people who need their daily caffeine fix, but Trump’s 50 percent tariff threatens the long-term availability and price of the drink.

“When people go to their local coffee shop, whether it’s Starbucks or something else, by and large they will likely be buying some form of Brazilian coffee,” Monica de Bolle, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told NPR.

“A 50 percent tariff will kill that market.”

I still remember the days when you could get a cup of coffee for 10 cents.

What did your latest cup of coffee cost you?

Of course everything else is becoming more expensive too, and our cost of living crisis never seems to end.

As a result, 62 percent of Gen Z Americans have no emergency savings at all…

• 62% of Gen Z have no emergency savings, nearly double the rate of baby boomers.
• 51% of Americans would use a credit card for a $500 emergency, with usage jumping to 70% among students.
• Two-thirds of consumers have six months or less in savings, with Gen X the least prepared.
• 76% lack a credit card set aside for emergencies, relying instead on everyday-use cards.

Most of the country is living on the edge financially.

The middle class is steadily shrinking, and those that remain in the middle class have much less discretionary income than they once did.

So restaurants all over the nation find themselves torn between rapidly rising costs and customers that now have a lot less money to spend…

Ike’s Chili in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been around for 117 years, surviving a myriad of challenges like the Great Depression, the Covid-19 pandemic and a once-in-a-generation burst of inflation. But 2025 already holds an even more complicated challenge.

“The cost of everything’s just going up, and we’ve got to figure out how to manage it right,” Len Wade, a managing partner at the restaurant, told CNN.

He pointed to surging beef prices as an example, specifically hamburger meat on the wholesale level. In July, those prices were up nearly 21% compared to the same month 10 years ago, federal data shows. And passing the buck to customers might not be the best solution, Wade said.

Tourist destinations from coast to coast are experiencing the same thing.

Las Vegas is getting far less tourist traffic than it once did, and those that do arrive are tipping a lot less…

Las Vegas servers say they’re feeling the heat as high prices and declining tourism hammer their tip earnings across the Strip.

Tipping in Sin City is reportedly down by as much as 50% among servers, as some of them blame the economy and policy while others point to high prices, a tipping backlash and poor service.

On Reddit’s r/VegasLocals forum, one cocktail waitress wrote, “I used to average about 80 cents a drink. Now I’m averaging about 10 cents.”

Nobody can deny what is happening.

We really are experiencing a very serious economic crisis.

Sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that everything is okay is not going to fix anything.

Our standard of living really is collapsing, and a lot more pain is ahead as our economic bubbles continue to burst.

We were warned that this storm was coming for a long time, and now it is here.

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.

If everything is going to be just fine, why are thousands of stores closing all over the country?  So far this year, the total amount of retail space that has been permanently closed has surpassed 120 million square feet.  We have never seen anything like this before.  Store closings spiked during the early days of the pandemic, but in 2025 stores are being permanently shuttered at an even faster pace.  In fact, during the first six months of this year 5,822 store closures were recorded…

Store closures across the U.S. continue to rise, and remain on track to far significantly surpass both new openings and the figures seen in 2024.

According to a new report from research and advisory firm Coresight Research, cited by CoStar News, 5,822 store closures were recorded as of June 27, compared to 3,496 closures announced during the same period of 2024.

If stores continue to close at this rate, we will break the old record that was established during the pandemic by a wide margin.

We are also being told that the total amount of retail space that has been permanently shuttered in 2025 has reached a staggering 120 million square feet…

In June, store closings by Plano, Texas-based home goods seller At Home and Philadelphia-based pharmacy chain Rite Aid, which have both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, “pushed the total amount of retail space to close in the U.S. this year to over 120 million square feet,” Coresight said. The real estate churn is happening “as cyclical impacts confront structural shifts,” according to one executive at the research firm.

Wow.

You may have noticed that there are an increasing number of abandoned buildings in your particular area.

Sadly, this is just the beginning.

Consumers are under more financial stress than we have ever seen, and that has resulted in a substantial decline in store traffic…

Many of the retail store closures are a result of declining store traffic as more consumers respond to inflation by reducing spending. There also are more consumers turning to online shopping especially for apparel, accessories and household items. The winner is not merely Amazon but increased competition from Temu and Shein marketplaces and social commerce outlets like TikTok.

Needless to say, more stores are being closed down with each passing day.

After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Claire’s announced that it will be closing 18 more stores…

Claire’s, a mall-based teen accessories retailer, has identified several locations across the country it plans to close after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Claire’s U.S., which operates Claire’s and Icing stores, made the filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Wednesday. It’s the second time since 2018 the company has filed for bankruptcy.

While the company says the majority of its retail stores will remain open while it “continues to explore all strategic alternatives,” Claire’s said it identified 18 stores ahead of the Aug. 6 bankruptcy filing it would close, filings show.

And home goods retailer At Home just announced that it will be closing 6 more stores…

The home goods retailer At Home is closing an additional six stores across the country, bringing its total closure tally to more than two dozen as it grapples with high debt and dwindling sales.

The furniture and home decor retailer based in Coppell, Texas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 16, pointing to “broader economic and retail-specific market pressures,” in court documents. The bankruptcy filing and store closures follow several other “big box” retailers that have also significantly downsized their brick-and-mortar footprints this year, including Big Lots, Joann Fabrics, Kohl’s, JCPenney, Macy’s, and Party City.

The retailer intially announced 26 store closures in June, before paring that down to 24 when it decided to keep open two stores in New Jersey and Wisconsin. The company added another six stores to the list, according to a statement by retail firm Hilco Consumer-Retail on Aug. 1, bringing the current number of stores it will shutter in the coming months to 30.

We see more stories like this every single day.

So what is going to happen if our economic momentum continues to take us very rapidly in the wrong direction?

Earlier today, we learned that the percentage of student loans entering serious delinquency is absolutely exploding…

The total amount of outstanding student loan debt was $1.64 trillion in the second quarter of 2025 after rising by $7 billion in the quarter.

Additionally, the share of student loan debt entering serious delinquency, considered 90 days or more late, jumped to 12.9% at the end of June, up from 8% in March and above pre-pandemic trends that were around 9-10% from 2012 into early 2020, when the moratorium initially took effect.

The American people are drowning in debt, and I expect delinquency rates of all types to continue to rise in the months ahead.

We are going to see more layoffs too, and the fact that continuing claims for unemployment benefits just hit their highest level since 2021 is not a good sign at all…

Recurring applications for unemployment benefits surged to the highest since November 2021, adding to recent signs that the labor market is weakening.

Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, rose by 38,000 to 1.97 million in the week ended July 26, according to Labor Department data released Thursday.

On top of everything else, U.S. manufacturing activity is now in contraction territory…

From March to July, U.S. manufacturing activity contracted, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s monthly survey. The Manufacturing PMI last registered at 48, below the 50 score that differentiates growth and decline.

The effective average tariff rate on all imported goods now stands at around roughly 18% versus 2.3% last year, the highest levels since the 1930s.

We are in so much trouble.

After evaluating all of the latest economic numbers that have come in, Mark Zandi has come to the conclusion that the “economy is on the precipice of recession”…

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, on Monday wrote a post on X that the “economy is on the precipice of recession” – citing the weaker-than-expected jobs report released Friday and the inflation data from the previous day that showed consumer prices rose as indicating the economy’s precarious position.

“Consumer spending has flatlined, construction and manufacturing are contracting, and employment is set to fall. And with inflation on the rise, it is tough for the Fed to come to the rescue,” he wrote.

It is hard to argue with him.

Of course what is eventually coming is going to be so much worse than just a “recession”.

As conditions deteriorate, will store closings slow down or will they speed up?

The answer to that question is obvious.

If there are stores in your local area that you really enjoy, I would visit them now while you still can, because they might not be there next year.

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.

We have never seen a year quite like this.  I wrote about “the year of the flood” on July 15th and July 27th, and now I am writing about it again.  If I haven’t convinced you by now that something really weird is going on, I don’t know what to tell you.  Record-breaking storms and record-breaking floods just keep hitting us again and again all over the world.  During this past week, it is Asia that has been really taking a beating.  Sometimes when I write articles about what is taking place on the other side of the world, a certain percentage of my readers tune out, but please don’t do that because what I have to share today is very important.

Let me begin with what is happening in Hong Kong.

According to the New York Times, torrential rain that has been going on for days is turning roads into rivers and is picking up cars and sweeping them away…

Days of relentless rain in Hong Kong set off major floods on Tuesday that swept cars away, inundated a hospital emergency ward and left buses stranded. Roads winding down the city’s steep hills turned into rivers.

Even for Hong Kong, a city accustomed to seasonal typhoons, the record-breaking deluge has pushed it to its limits, straining city services and testing the patience and wits of its residents.

Hong Kong has never experienced anything like this before.

In fact, Hong Kong just had “its highest daily rainfall in August since records began in 1884”…

Parts of Hong Kong were brought to a standstill by flooding caused by heavy rains on Tuesday, after the highest-tier rainstorm warning was issued for the fourth time in eight days.

The city logged its highest daily rainfall in August since records began in 1884, at just over 355 millimetres recorded at the Hong Kong weather observatory’s headquarters at 2:00 pm (0600 GMT).

In India, flash flooding just sent a “wall of water, mud and debris” slamming into the Himalayan village of Dharali…

A surge of flood water tore through a mountainous village in northern India Tuesday, leaving at least four people dead and dozens missing, officials said.

Dramatic video from the Himalayan village of Dharali, Uttarakhand state, shows the wall of water, mud and debris tearing down the mountainside and through the village, destroying the homes and businesses in its path. The flooding occurred around 1:45 p.m. local time, according to District Magistrate Prashant Arya in the city of Uttarkashi.

At least four people were confirmed killed, Arya said. “There are a lot of guest houses, restaurants and hotels there, because of which we immediately requested the army to aid rescue operations,” he said.

Apparently dozens of local residents had just gathered at a temple for some sort of a religious festival when the wall of water struck.

It is being reported that about 100 people have been reported missing and “scores remained unaccounted for”…

Dozens in the village had been gathered in a temple for a festival as the wave of dark water and debris struck at high velocity.

The Indian defence minister, Sanjay Seth, confirmed that four people had been killed in the disaster but officials feared the number could rise. Approximately 100 people were reported missing on Tuesday and scores remained unaccounted for and feared trapped in the mud, including about eight soldiers who were reported missing from a camp in the area.

In South Korea, 11 inches of rain in a 24 hour period caused “severe flooding across the southern regions of the country”…

An extreme rainfall event struck South Korea between August 3 and 4, 2025, triggering severe flooding across the southern regions of the country. Over 280 mm (11 inches) of rainfall was recorded in Muan in just 24 hours, with the hourly rainfall rates reaching over extreme 140 mm (6 inches) on August 4.

But that is nothing compared to what just happened in Taiwan.

In one district in southern Taiwan, more than nine feet of rain has fallen since July 28th…

Storms dumped more than two metres of rain in parts of Taiwan over the past week, killing five people and triggering floods and landslides in central and southern areas, authorities said Monday.

Torrential rain has lashed swathes of the island since July 28, forcing several thousand people to seek shelter, damaging roads, and shuttering offices.

Maolin, a mountainous district in southern Taiwan, recorded more than 2.8 metres (nine feet) of rain since July 28, the Central Weather Administration (CWA).

That’s more than Taiwan’s annual rainfall of 2.1 metres last year, according to the agency’s data.

I can’t even imagine that much rain.

Needless to say, all of that water caused horrific flooding and severe landslides over a very wide area.

Of course I don’t want to leave the recent flooding in China out of this article.

Last week, Beijing was getting absolutely pummeled by torrential rain, and at least 30 people died as a result…

Days of torrential rain have killed at least 30 people in the northern outskirts of Beijing, state media reported Tuesday, as China grapples with yet another deadly rainy season marked by extreme downpours, devastating floods and landslides.

In recent days, intense rainstorms have battered much of northern China – a densely populated part of the country home to massive metropolises as well as agricultural heartlands.

As vast quantities of water rapidly rushed through the Miyun District in northern Beijing, it took vehicles and electricity poles with it…

Footage circulating on social media shows brown floodwater sweeping through residential communities, washing away cars, knocking down electricity poles and turning streets into rivers in Miyun.

Dozens of roads have been damaged, potentially complicating rescue efforts, and in more than 100 smaller, more rural villages, the downpours have also cut off electricity.

Can anyone point to a time when we have seen so much catastrophic flooding all over the world in a single year?

As I keep reminding my readers, we really are living in apocalyptic times.

I wish that I could tell you that all of this is temporary and that conditions will soon return to normal.

But I can’t.

I fully expect “the year of the flood” to continue, and I also expect quite a few other “surprises” in the months ahead as well.

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.

Why have there been so many large earthquakes in recent weeks?  This is something that people on social media are really buzzing about right now.  And I am certainly glad that they are buzzing about it, because what we have been witnessing is not even close to normal.  We really are in the early chapters of an extremely apocalyptic chapter in human history, and people need to hear the truth.

It is being claimed that there were 396 earthquakes of at least magnitude 5.0 during a recent 30 day period, and this claim is being heavily circulated on multiple social media platforms…

Twitter is buzzing, Reddit’s rumbling, and TikTok’s tilting — people are freaking out over the reported 396 earthquakes of Magnitude 5.0 or greater (M5+) recorded worldwide in the past 30 days.

The following is an example of the sort of graphic that is getting a ton of attention right now…

I wanted to independently verify that this figure was accurate.

What I discovered was extremely alarming.

• 1 quake above magnitude 8
• 4 quakes between magnitude 7 and 8
• 33 quakes between magnitude 6 and 7
• 456 quakes between magnitude 5 and 6
• 1,809 quakes between magnitude 4 and 5
• 5,617 quakes between magnitude 3 and 4
• 10,512 quakes between magnitude 2 and 3
• 33,959 quakes below magnitude 2 that people normally don’t feel.

If these numbers are accurate, things are even worse than the claims that are being made on social media.

If you add together the top 4 lines, it gives you a grand total of 494 earthquakes of at least magnitude 5.0 within the past 30 days.

Nearly 500 earthquakes of at least magnitude 5.0 in a 30 day period is extremely unusual.

I asked Google AI about what is going on, and this is what I was told…

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Earth experiences an average of 1,300 to 1,500 magnitude 5+ earthquakes annually. This translates to approximately 110-125 earthquakes of that magnitude per month.

Therefore, while the reported 396 magnitude 5+ earthquakes in the last 30 days is significantly higher than the average, it is important to note that global earthquake activity tends to cluster, meaning there can be periods of higher activity followed by calmer periods, still within the realm of normal geophysical variation.

Hopefully things will start to calm down in the days ahead.

But for now, large earthquakes continue to hit diverse locations all over the globe.

For example, the Dominican Republic was just hammered by a magnitude 5.7 earthquake…

A 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the southeast coast of the Dominican Republic early Tuesday, jolting residents awake in the Caribbean country and in neighboring Puerto Rico.

The quake occurred 24 miles (38 kilometers) southeast of Boca de Yuma at a depth of 104 miles (168 kilometers), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. No damage was reported.

Here in the United States, New York and New Jersey just got hit by an unusual earthquake for a second consecutive day…

A 2.7-magnitude quake rattled the Tri-State area around midday Tuesday. The epicenter was located in Hillsdale, New Jersey, about 20 miles north of Manhattan, according to the United States Geological Survey. This is roughly the same area a 3.0-magnitude struck the New Jersey town of Hasbrouck Heights over the past weekend. On July 22, a 2.0 earthquake was measured near Randolph, New Jersey.

People in the city of Rye, New York, about 30 miles northeast of Manhattan, immediately reported feeling the earthquake on X. People from Rockland and Irvington, both cities along the Hudson River in New York, reported feeling the temblor.

Meanwhile, the “Year of the Fire” just continues to intensify.

“The Year of the Fire” began in southern California in January, and now another giant fire in the region is “out of control”…

BREAKING: SANTA BARBARA IS BURNING TO THE GROUND – AND IT STARTED ON FEDERAL LAND

The Gifford Fire has already exploded to 50,000+ acres, forcing mass evacuations in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

Flames are out of control. Smoke is choking the sky from California all the way to Las Vegas.

Over 1,000 boots on the ground and barely any containment.

According to an update that was just published by ABC News, the Gifford Fire has now grown to over 72,000 acres, and it is just 3 percent contained…

Over 1,000 firefighters continue to battle a wildfire in California that has burned over 72,000 acres, prompted evacuation orders and caused three injuries, according to officials.

The Gifford Fire, which began on Friday afternoon, is situated within the Los Padres National Forest in Solvang, California, impacting those within Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, officials said. As of Monday, the fire has engulfed 72,460 acres and is only 3% contained, according to Cal Fire.

If the Gifford Fire reaches 100,000 acres, it will be considered to be a “megafire”.

Of course the fire that has been raging in Grand Canyon National Park for a month is already considered to be a “megafire”, and it just keeps getting even larger…

A New Jersey hiker has been missing for more than a week in Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park where a raging “mega-fire” has exploded to more than 123,000 acres.

Thomas Daniel Gibbs, 35, last spoke with friends and family around noon on July 22 and was officially reported missing six days later — the same day his Tesla Cybertruck was discovered abandoned at a parking lot at popular vista Grandview Point, according to the National Park Service.

The Freehold native was believed to have embarked on a hike on the arduous Grandview Trail and Horseshore Mesa the day he was last heard from.

Up in Canada, hundreds of wildfires are prompting air quality alerts in quite a few northern U.S. states…

Air quality alerts were issued across the U.S. Midwest and Northeast on Monday, August 4, 2025, and remain in effect on August 5, as over 740 wildfires burning across Canada send smoke to the U.S. Currently, 2025 is the third most destructive year for wildfires in Canada and is likely to become the second most destructive year surpassing 1989 when wildfires burned over 17 million acres of land across the country.

Despite all of our advanced technology, wildfires are raging out of control all over North America.

And the month of August is just beginning.

There is one last thing that I wanted to mention today.

Weather patterns in much of Europe have also gone nuts, and it is being projected that we could see crop losses of up to 85 percent in some parts of Turkey this year…

Prolonged drought and extreme weather events during the 2024/25 agricultural year have caused crop losses of up to 85% in parts of Türkiye, according to the Türkiye Agricultural Chambers Union (TZOB). The impacts are most severe in Central and Southeastern Anatolia, while national output of key cereals, pulses, and vegetables is expected to decline significantly.

In 2025, we have been hit by one major disaster after another.

It is almost as if we are living in a disaster movie that never ends.

And the truth is that what is ahead of us will make what we have gone through already look like a Sunday picnic.

The giant space rock that we all live on is being shaken in so many different ways.

Most of the population is not alarmed by what we are witnessing yet, but they should be.

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.

Are you old enough to remember when you could buy a really nice house for less than $50,000? Today, the average price of a home in the United States is more than half a million dollars. Of course everything else has become dramatically more expensive as well. I just asked Google, and I was told that the average cost of health insurance for a single person in the United States was just $2,655 in the year 2000. That was for an entire year!  Our standard of living has been collapsing for a long time, but at first most people didn’t realize what was happening. But now things are so bad that YouTube and TikTok are filled with thousands of videos of normal people complaining about the cost of living. Unfortunately, I am entirely convinced that things are only going to get tougher as economic conditions continue to deteriorate all around us.

Earlier today, I came across a shocking new survey which discovered that 25 percent of U.S. households are skipping meals so that they will have enough money to pay their bills…

Twenty-five percent of respondents say they or someone in their household has skipped meals to save money in the past year—numbers that rose to nearly 4 in 10 for Hispanics (41 percent) and nearly 3 in 10 for Blacks (29 percent). The youngest Americans surveyed, ages 18–34, are by far the most likely to have skipped meals to pay bills (38 percent), and rates were similarly high for those in households with income below $50,000 per year (39 percent).

25 percent of the country doesn’t have enough food to eat!

How can you possibly spin that number to make it look good?

Let’s get real.

In June, the average price of a pound of ground beef actually surpassed the six dollar mark…

The average price for a pound of ground beef in the Northeast rose to more than $6.05 in June, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s a high point in records dating back to 2015.

The price was up more than 10% from June 2024 and more than 3.4% from May. The price jump for beef from May was the biggest among a group of common grocery items that also included eggs, chicken, milk, bread and butter.

When I was growing up, my mother was constantly feeding us ground beef.

Now it has become a “luxury meat” that most Americans cannot afford on a regular basis.

If you can’t see that our standard of living is declining, I don’t know what to tell you.

The same survey that I quoted earlier also found that millions upon millions of Americans are spending a great deal of time worrying about their finances…

A shocking 1 in 4 Americans (24 percent) say they spend at least three hours on a typical day worrying about their finances and ability to afford basic necessities. More than 4 in 10 spend at least one hour per day. Millennials and GenZers are experiencing the greatest anxiety, with 56 percent and 50 percent, respectively spending one hour or more per day focused on financial concerns. While low- and middle-income Americans express the strongest financial concerns, one-third of those with incomes above $100,000 also spend at least an hour concerned about their finances on a typical day.

Most of us want to live the American Dream.

But the American Dream is out of reach for most of the population at this stage.

Back in 1975, the average price of a home in Spokane, Washington was just $22,450…

A Spokane cost of living survey showed that the average rental price of two-bedroom apartment was $135 per month, and the average purchase price for a house was $22,450, The Spokesman-Review reported on July 20, 1975.

Today, $22,450 won’t even cover the average monthly mortgage payment for one year…

Since 2017, the salary needed to buy a home in America has more than doubled.

Fueled by rising unaffordability and high mortgage rates, home buyers need to shell out $2,500 on average for monthly payments. Meanwhile, this soars past $5,000 in coastal cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

Housing has become more unaffordable than it has ever been in our entire history, and that is the number one reason why Americans are so financially stressed right now.

In the old days, we were told to always follow “the 30 percent rule”, but now that is realistic in only a handful of the top metropolitan areas in the United States…

The 30% rule — one in which potential homebuyers limit their mortgage payment to 30% of their monthly income — is a common standard that homebuyers typically follow so that the yearly cost of a home doesn’t put too much of a strain on their finances.

However, according to a new report from Realtor.com, places where homebuyers can follow that recommendation when buying a home are becoming fewer and farther between in the country’s major metropolitan areas.

Affordability in just three of America’s 50 top metro areas is such that households that make the median income can scoop up a home that won’t go above 30% of their yearly earnings, the report found.

Utility bills are rapidly rising as well.

In fact, it is being reported that electricity prices spiked by an average of 6 percent during the first half of this year…

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, the average price of electricity per kilowatt-hour has risen from $0.179 in January to $0.190 as of June—an increase of around 6 percent.

Between January and February, prices remained steady, according to BLS data. But between February and April, prices rose slightly to $0.181, and then marginally again in May to $0.182.

According to the BLS’s data, prices then jumped noticeably in June to $0.190.

Just about everything has been getting more expensive, and that explains why 83 percent of Americans are experiencing “stressflation”…

A LifeStance Health survey released today reveals “stressflation” is affecting most Americans, with 83% reporting financial stress driven by inflation, mass layoffs, the rising cost of living and recession fears. Millennials and Gen Z report the most significant mental health impacts.

And a different survey discovered that more than 80 percent of middle income Americans expect prices to continue to rise…

But two-thirds of middle-income Americans are bracing for a recession within a year.

More than eight in 10 expect prices to keep rising.

And nearly two-thirds of middle-income Americans who recently bought a home said they are living paycheck to paycheck.

Sadly, I am convinced that things are going to get even tougher because economic activity is slowing down and employers are conducting mass layoffs all over the nation.

In some cases, large employers have actually been conducting multiple rounds of mass layoffs.

For example, Intel has already been through a couple of mass cullings…

Intel this month officially began to cut down its workforce in the U.S. and other countries, thus revealing actual numbers of positions to be cut. The Oregonian reports that the company will cut as many as 2,392 positions in Oregon and around 4,000 positions across its American operations, including Arizona, California, and Texas.

To put the 2,392 number into context, Intel is the largest employer in Oregon with around 20,000 of workers there. 2,392 is around 12% of the workforce, which is a lower end of layoff expectations, yet 2,400 is still a lot of people. The Oregon reduction rose sharply from an initial count of around 500 to a revised figure of 2,392, making it one of the largest layoffs in the state’s history. Intel began reducing staff earlier in the week but confirmed the larger number by Friday evening through a filing with Oregon state authorities.

Intel’s Oregon operations have already seen 3,000 jobs lost over the past year through earlier buyouts and dismissals.

Not to be outdone, there have been three waves of mass layoffs at Microsoft…

In an ongoing effort to trim its workforce, Microsoft said as much as 4%, or roughly 9,000, of the company’s employees could be affected by Wednesday’s layoffs. In Washington, 830 employees were let go, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.

The move follows two waves of layoffs in May and June, which saw Microsoft let go of more than 6,000 employees, almost 2,300 of whom were based in Washington.

Since May, the company has laid off over 15,000 employees companywide and more than 3,100 in Washington.

But Disney takes the cake.

Within the past ten months, they have conducted four rounds of mass layoffs…

Early this month the company pushed out several hundred workers from its marketing for both film and television, television publicity, and its casting and development departments.

It was the fourth round of layoffs in the last ten months and came about a month after 200 employees were eliminated in March.

The layoffs in March hit Disney’s ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks unit. That round of layoffs even included the elimination of its once popular “538” website.

A lot of people out there like to criticize me, but they can’t deny the facts that I present because I carefully document them in all of my articles.

After reading all of the facts that I have documented in this article, it should be clear to everyone that our standard of living has been collapsing.

And if we stay on the road that we are currently on, that collapse will accelerate significantly.

No matter how hard we may try, we cannot escape the law of cause and effect.

For every action that we take, there is a consequence.

Unfortunately for us, the consequences for our very foolish actions are starting to catch up with us in a major way.

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.

If you have applied for hundreds of jobs and still find yourself out of work, you are certainly not alone. In many industries, it is absolutely brutal out there right now. U.S. employers have been laying off hundreds of thousands of workers in 2025, and there is immense competition for any good jobs that do happen to be available. So if you have a good job that you highly value, I would hold on to it as tightly as you can, because you don’t want to end up among the desperate hordes that are scrambling for work in this very harsh economic environment. For example, a 46-year-old woman in Florida that was laid off last September has applied for 900 jobs without any success at all…

Jennifer Smith, 46 years old, says she has applied for 900 jobs since being laid off last September from a financial-services provider in the Tampa, Fla., area, where she led the user-experience department. She has landed just one interview and no offers. This has left Smith, who has three children, increasingly anxious about her finances.

Smith decided this past week to sell her five-bedroom home and trade down to a smaller house. While severance pay has helped, it is about to run out, and Smith has been paying soaring premiums to keep her health insurance.

I feel so badly for her.

Searching for work in this environment can be just as exhausting as a full-time job, but you don’t get paid for it.

If she doesn’t find a job soon, she could potentially lose everything.

Of course there are countless others that are in the exact same boat.

On the other side of the country, 61-year-old John Comber says that he has applied for about 500 jobs since late 2023 with no success…

Some older, out-of-work Americans are wondering if they will find jobs again.

“I’m considering myself semiretired at this point,” says John Comber, 61, a software quality engineer in Sandpoint, Idaho. He hoped to work another decade and thought he would easily pick up more work when his last contract work wrapped up in late 2023. Instead, he estimates he has applied for 500 jobs with no hits.

This isn’t a bum with no skills that we are talking about.

Comber is a highly skilled software engineer.

But this is the economic environment that we live in now.

It is being reported that the number of Americans that have been unemployed for at least 27 weeks is now at “the highest level since 2017, not counting the pandemic’s unemployment surge”…

Job seekers are out in the cold this summer. Especially the ones who have been hunting for a while.

Beyond the headline-grabbing top-line numbers in the jobs report for July was another striking piece of data: The number of people unemployed for at least 27 weeks topped 1.8 million, the highest level since 2017, not counting the pandemic’s unemployment surge. The median length of unemployment in the U.S. has also ticked up, from a seasonally adjusted 9.5 weeks in July 2024 to 10.2 weeks last month.

Wow.

And that figure is only going to go higher, because employers all over the nation are feverishly laying off workers right now.

I shared this on Friday, but I feel like I should share it again in this article.  According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. employers have announced 806,383 job cuts so far in 2025.  Compared to the same time period in 2024, that is a 75 percent increase…

So far this year, companies have announced 806,383 job cuts, the highest YTD since 2020 when 1,847,696 were announced. It is up 75% from the 460,530 job cuts announced through the first seven months of last year and is up 6% from the 2024 full year total of 761,358.

How are you going to spin those numbers to make them look good?

You can’t.

This reminds me so much of what we witnessed in 2008 and 2009.

Most of the country is living on the edge financially, and so a job loss can be absolutely catastrophic.

Once you are out of work, it can be so tempting to turn to debt to bridge the gap.

Of course these days many Americans are piling on tremendous amounts of debt without even being out of work.

As a result, U.S. households are now more than 18 trillion dollars in debt.

Take a moment and think about how crazy that is.

When you break that down, that is approximately $53,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States.

We are literally drowning in debt, and one recent study discovered that about two-thirds of all U.S. adults “lie about or hide their financial struggles from family and friends”…

• Two-thirds of Americans with debt lie about or hide their financial struggles from family and friends
• The average American carries $42,000 in debt but understates the amount by $6,565 when discussing it
• Shame drives the secrecy, with nearly 30% citing embarrassment as their main reason for hiding debt
• Financial deception damages relationships for 73% of people with debt, often causing arguments and isolation

Most of us try to hide our financial struggles because we are ashamed.

But it shouldn’t be that way.

If we could just be open and honest with one another about what is going on, we would find that there are countless others that are going through the same thing.

The entire economy is failing, and if we can get people to understand that they won’t be so quick to blame themselves for their troubles.

Unfortunately, right now conditions are moving in the wrong direction very rapidly.

Residential investment was down during the first quarter of 2025, and it was way down during the second quarter of 2025…

In May, Citi Research recalled that the late economist Ed Leamer famously published a paper in 2007 that said residential investment is the best leading indicator of an oncoming recession.

“We would be wise to heed his warning,” Citi said.

In fact, residential fixed investment shrank 4.6% in the second quarter, according to data released Wednesday, after contracting 1.3% in the first quarter.

One of the primary reasons why residential investment is way down is because home sales are way down.

In fact, during the second quarter home sales were the lowest that we have seen in 13 years…

America’s spring homebuying season just hit its weakest point in over a decade — marking the slowest market since 2012 and sparking fears that a full-blown price collapse could be next.

Spring is traditionally the hottest time for pending home sales but that’s no longer the case in the in the now struggling US housing market.

In 2025, April through June brought the lowest sales in 13 years, according to Redfin.

Let’s get real.

The housing market is in a depressed state.

And if we stay on the path that we are on, the rest of the economy will be in a depressed state soon too.

Decades of very foolish decisions have brought us to this point, and more Americans are falling out of the middle class with each passing day.

If you still have your spot in the middle class, you should be very grateful.

Because soon even more Americans will be applying for hundreds of jobs without any success at all.

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.