Money

The Truth About The Employment Numbers: 806,383 Job Cuts Through 7 Months Of 2025 – Up 75 Percent From Last Year!

August 1, 2025August 1, 2025 by Michael

Have the official employment numbers finally achieved peak fakeness? We just got another perfect example of why so many of us have completely lost faith in the fake figures that government bureaucrats have been feeding us. For months we were told that employment was booming, but now we are being told that just the opposite is happening. So what is the truth? If you want the truth, you need to look at the numbers coming in from private sources, because the government numbers are a load of bunk.

How in the world do 258,000 jobs suddenly disappear into thin air?

The BLS just revised the employment numbers for May and June by a combined total of 258,000 jobs, and this completely shocked a lot of the experts…

Nonfarm payrolls added 73,000 in July, far lower than the 100,000 expected by analysts. The unemployment rate also ticked up to 4.2 percent.

The report also sharply revised down the figures for May and June by a combined 258,000 jobs from the previously released figures.

Following the revision June’s total was left at just 14,000 and May’s at 19,000 — effectively flat. Analysts say July’s figure is also likely to be revised lower, possibly into negative territory.

The U.S. needs to add approximately 150,000 jobs a month just to keep up with population growth.

Even if these numbers were accurate, they would still be horrible.

But they aren’t accurate.

I have always felt that the Household survey is at least somewhat more accurate, and it showed a loss of 260,000 jobs last month…

The number was even uglier in the Household survey, which showed a drop of 260K workers in July, the 3rd biggest monthly drop of 2025.

So which is it?

Did the U.S. gain 73,000 jobs last month or did we lose 260,000 jobs?

I can understand why President Trump is so frustrated.

The numbers are all over the place.

Shortly after the employment report was released, Trump announced the firing of the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics…

Hours after disappointing jobs data reflected cracks in the U.S. economy, President Trump said Friday that he planned to fire the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, and implied on social media that she had manipulated the monthly data for political reasons.

Wow.

We have never seen a president do that before.

On Truth Social, Trump explained his reasoning for firing her…

I was just informed that our Country’s “Jobs Numbers” are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory. This is the same Bureau of Labor Statistics that overstated the Jobs Growth in March 2024 by approximately 818,000 and, then again, right before the 2024 Presidential Election, in August and September, by 112,000. These were Records — No one can be that wrong? We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes. McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months. Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative. The Economy is BOOMING under “TRUMP” despite a Fed that also plays games, this time with Interest Rates, where they lowered them twice, and substantially, just before the Presidential Election, I assume in the hopes of getting “Kamala” elected – How did that work out? Jerome “Too Late” Powell should also be put “out to pasture.” Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Personally, I believe that the numbers that we get from private sources give us a much truer picture of what is really going on in the economy.

According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. employers announced 62,075 job cuts in July. That figure is 140 percent higher than it was in July 2024…

U.S.-based employers announced 62,075 job cuts in July, up 29% from June’s 47,999. It is up 140% from 25,885 announced in the same month last year, according to a report released Thursday from global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

July’s job cuts are well above average for this month since the pandemic. From 2021 to 2024, job cut announcements in July averaged 23,584. Considering the past decade (2015-2025), last month’s announced cuts are still above the average of 60,398.

As I have been warning for months, we really are seeing widespread layoffs all over the nation.

Overall, U.S. employers have announced 806,383 job cuts during the first seven months of 2025. That is a 75 percent increase over the first seven months of last year…

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.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas doesn’t have a political agenda to push.

They are just reporting the facts.

The tech industry has been getting hit particularly hard by layoffs, and many of those layoffs are “directly tied to the advent of AI”…

Of those layoffs, the technology industry wielded the sharpest axe — private companies in the sector have announced more than 89,000 job cut, up 36% from a year ago. Since 2023, more than 27,000 job cuts have been directly tied to the advent of AI, according to the firm.

“The industry is being reshaped by the advancement of artificial intelligence and ongoing uncertainty surrounding work visas, which have contributed to workforce reductions,” Challenger, Gray & Christmas said.

Other numbers also confirm that the economy is rapidly moving in the wrong direction.

For example, factory activity in the United States just contracted “at the fastest pace in nine months”…

US factory activity contracted in July at the fastest pace in nine months, dragged down by a faster decline in employment as orders continued to shrink.

The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index decreased 1 point last month to 48, according to data released Friday. The gauge has been below 50, which indicates contraction, for five straight months.

A measure of factory employment slid to the lowest level in more than five years, suggesting producers are stepping up efforts to control costs amid higher tariffs and softer demand. Government figures this week showed sluggish consumer spending and business investment in the first half of the year.

We really do have a growing crisis on our hands.

Unfortunately, what we have experienced so far is just the beginning.

I fully expect economic conditions to deteriorate significantly by the end of 2025.

So hold on tight and don’t let go, because things are about to get a lot crazier.

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.

Deadline Day Is Here And The BRICS Countries Are Not Cooperating – So How Will The “Wall Of Tariffs” Impact The U.S. Economy?

July 31, 2025July 31, 2025 by Michael

It was nice while it lasted. Nations all over the globe had until August 1st to agree to a trade deal with the Trump administration. Some of them made deals, but most of them did not. Those that did not will now be hit by a “wall of tariffs”, with individual rates being determined at the discretion of the White House. So how will this “wall of tariffs” affect the U.S. economy? Ultimately, it is going to take some time for this drama to fully play out. The products that will be in our stores this month were brought into our country well before deadline day. The products that will be brought into our country after deadline day will start showing up in our stores during the months ahead, and that is when we could start experiencing price hikes on certain things.

According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, nations that decided not to make a deal will be receiving letters from President Trump which will inform them of the consequences…

For countries that were not able to strike a deal, they should expect a letter from the Trump administration soon, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing Thursday.

“The rest of those countries that either do not have a deal or have a letter, they will be hearing from this administration by the midnight deadline tonight,” Leavitt said.

It remains unclear what tariff will be placed on those countries’ imports to the United States, however. Those discussions are taking place today, Leavitt said, and Trump will sign executive orders this afternoon or this evening setting those new tariff rates.

Thankfully, deals with some of our most important trading partners have been reached.

For example, South Korea was able to make a deal with President Trump right at the deadline…

President Donald Trump announced a “full and complete trade deal” with South Korea on Thursday evening — an agreement committing $350 billion in investment into the United States and significantly eroding Korean automaker advantages in the U.S. market.

The Korean team did manage, however, to convince Washington to accept a deal that did not require South Korea to increase its imports of American beef or rice, a point of significant contention during prior negotiation sessions.

That is good news, because we do a tremendous amount of business with South Korea.

As for our closest neighbors, the news is mixed.

Mexico was given an extra 90 days to make a deal after a “very successful” call between President Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum…

President Trump on Thursday said he’s giving Mexico an additional 90 days to strike a trade deal, with the announcement coming a day before his administration’s Aug. 1 deadline to impose 30% tariffs on imports from the nation.

Mr. Trump had said earlier this month that the 30% import duties would begin on Friday for Mexican imports, saying at the time that the country had not done enough to stop North America from turning into a “Narco-Trafficking Playground.”

In his Thursday social media post, the president said he agreed to a 90-day extension during a phone conversation with Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum, which he described as “very successsful.”

Meanwhile, no deal has been made with Canada yet, and President Trump is warning that Canada’s support for a Palestinian state may make it “very hard” to do so…

While some Europeans are hailing Canada’s move, this has already provoked a swift and threatening reaction from President Trump.

“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh’ Canada!!!” he wrote on Truth Social.

The threat to blow up trade talks due to Palestinian recognition comes as the US is dangling a 35% tariff hike over Canada if a mutual agreement cannot be reached by August 1 – literally tomorrow.

I think that some sort of an agreement with Canada will eventually be reached, but I cannot say the same thing about the BRICS nations.

In fact, because Brazil has been so uncooperative they have just been hit with a 50 percent tariff rate…

Trump signed executive actions on Wednesday imposing a 50% tariff on Brazil, a 50% tariff on certain copper products and suspending a tax perk for all countries that allowed cheap packages to fly into the US duty-free.

Our relations with Brazil are going downhill really quickly, and that is not a good thing.

As for Russia and India, Trump just said that they “can take their dead economies down together, for all I care”…

In response, Trump lashed out on Truth Social media early Thursday morning, labeling India a “dead economy” and claiming the U.S. does “very little business” with the country.

“I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.

He continued, “We have done very little business with India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World,” adding, “Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way, and tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!”

Wow.

I am not sure what to say about that.

More than a billion people live in India, and so it is in our interest to have a positive relationship with them.

Of course more than a billion people live in China too, and a permanent deal with China has still not been reached.

Unlike the August 1st deadline for everyone else, the deadline for reaching a permanent deal with China is August 12th…

The Trump administration’s trade talks with China has taken a different tack than the rest of the world. The world’s second largest economy was firmly in Trump’s trade crosshairs from the moment he took office.

Rather than a deal, China has reached a series of suspensions over its “reciprocal” tariff rate. It was initially hit with a 34% tariff from “Liberation Day,” before a series of back-and-forth measures between the two sides saw the duties skyrocket to 145% duties for Chinese imports to the U.S. and 125% for U.S. imports to China.

However, both sides agreed to reduced tariffs in May, after their first trade meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. The truce was agreed to last till Aug. 12.

If August 12th arrives and tariffs on Chinese goods go up to 145 percent, that would create quite a bit of chaos.

Hopefully that will not happen.

But without a doubt we have entered a period of tremendous worldwide turmoil, and trade wars are definitely going to be a contributing factor.

If there are foreign-made goods that you are going to need in the months ahead, hopefully you have already purchased them by now.

Let us hope that we will see permanent trade deals get made with China, India, Brazil, Russia, Mexico and Canada, but we also need to be prepared for what will transpire if that does not happen.

Is The Federal Reserve Purposely Trying To Destroy The U.S. Economy?

July 30, 2025 by Michael

Oops, they did it again. Even though the housing market has been in a depressed state for an extended period of time and even though economic conditions are slowing down all over the country, the Federal Reserve has once again refused to lower interest rates. What in the world are they thinking? I certainly share President Trump’s frustration with the Fed. Central banks all over the world have been cutting rates, but our central bank just won’t budge. Have Fed officials gone completely insane, or are they purposely trying to destroy the U.S. economy?

Those that have been following my work for an extended period of time already know that I am not a fan of the Federal Reserve at all. And now we have another very clear example of the Fed’s lack of competence…

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it’s keeping its benchmark interest rate unchanged, citing elevated uncertainty over the nation’s economic outlook.

The decision to hold rates steady marks a continuation of the Fed’s “wait-and-see” strategy this year, as it monitors the impact of the Trump administration’s tariffs on consumer prices.

There were two Fed governors that did not agree with this decision. This was the first time since 1993 that more than one Fed governor has dissented…

For the first time since 1993 more than one Fed governor voted against the Fed chair Jerome Powell and the committee’s majority decision.

The dissenters – governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman – were both appointed by Trump and like the President support cutting rates.

For months Trump has pressured Powell to cut rates – currently between 4.25 and 4.5 percent – threatened to fire him, appoint a shadow chair and even harangued him over the cost of improvements to the Fed’s offices.

There are some experts that argue that we need to continue to keep interest rates at elevated levels in order to get inflation under control.

I definitely acknowledge that our seemingly endless cost of living crisis is a major concern.

But what about the housing market?

It has been in a depressed state for a long time.

Last year, sales of existing homes in the U.S. fell to the lowest level that we have seen since 1995…

Sales of existing homes in the US fell last year to the lowest level in almost three decades, as sky-high home prices and elevated mortgage rates squeezed home buyers.

Sales of previously owned homes, which make up the vast majority of the market, totaled 4.06 million in 2024, the National Association of Realtors said Friday. That’s the lowest level since 1995 and slightly below 2023’s similarly anemic levels.

And this year, sales of existing homes are expected to be even lower than they were last year…

Sales volume for existing homes, previously projected to grow slightly this year compared with 2024, is now expected to fall 1.5% annually, to just 4 million transactions.

That would mark the slowest year for existing-home sales since 1995, when they registered 3.8 million. Home sales were also at their lowest since 1995 in both 2023 and 2024, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Things were not even this bad during the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009.

The primary reason why homes are not selling is because interest rates are way too high.

Is the Fed just going to sit there and watch the life get squeezed out of one of the most important pillars of our economy?

Of course there are many pundits that are pointing to today’s GDP number as evidence that the overall economy is doing well…

Gross domestic product, a sum of goods and services activity across the sprawling U.S. economy, jumped 3% for the April through June period, according to figures adjusted for seasonality and inflation.

That topped the Dow Jones estimate for 2.3% and helped reverse a decline of 0.5% for the first quarter that came largely due to a huge drop in imports, which subtract from the total, as well as weak consumer spending amid tariff concerns.

That number looks pretty good until you realize that it was artificially boosted by a massive decline in imports.

In fact, we are being told that a huge drop in imports somehow added 5.2 percentage points to our GDP during the second quarter…

With Trump’s double-digit tariffs looming, American retailers and manufacturers raced to order foreign goods early in the year before the levies took effect. That led to an unprecedented flood of imports, which must be subtracted from GDP – the goods that consumers, companies and the public sector bought – because they’re made overseas.

Since those purchases were pulled forward, companies didn’t need to order as many goods from other countries last quarter and imports plunged 30.3%, reversing the 37.9% rise that dampened output earlier and bolstering U.S. growth. As a result, those foreign shipments added 5.2 percentage points to growth after subtracting a whopping 4.7 points in the January-March period.

If you took away the 5.2 percentage points that were added to our GDP due to falling imports, economic growth would have been deeply negative last quarter.

And based on all of the other economic data that we have been getting, that would make all the sense in the world.

We see a similar thing going on with the official employment numbers that the government has been giving us.

Thanks to the “birth-death model”, the U.S. has supposedly added 614,000 jobs so far this year.

But if you take away the “birth-death model”, the U.S. has actually lost 62,000 jobs so far this year…

So far this year, the net birth-death model has converted what would have been a 62,000-job decline in not seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment into a 614,000-job gain. In the note cited above, Bloomberg Economics estimated that the model and other factors have been artificially boosting seasonally adjusted gains of 130,000 a month so far this year by about 80,000 a month. If even roughly correct (Bloomberg Economics’ payroll overcount estimates as of June 2024 were about twice as big as what the BLS eventually reported), this would mean another sharp downward revision next February, the fifth in the last seven years.

I don’t have any confidence in the numbers that the government gives us at this stage.

When President Trump called them “fake” prior to the election, he was right on target.

One recent survey found that 70 percent of Americans are feeling “anxiety and depression” due to the finances.

That wouldn’t be happening if our economy really was in good shape.

Unfortunately, as long as the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates at elevated levels it is going to be a real struggle to turn things around.

The Bubble Is Bursting: Delinquency Rates Have Doubled And Credit Card Defaults Are Soaring

July 29, 2025July 29, 2025 by Michael

Did you know that U.S. households are carrying $1.18 trillion in credit card debt? Considering the fact that the average rate of interest on credit card balances is now over 20 percent, that is not good news at all. Sadly, most of the country is just barely scraping by from month to month in this very harsh economic environment, and turning to credit cards for some relief can be extremely tempting. A thousand dollar credit card balance can turn into four or five thousand dollars in the blink of an eye, and once you get that deep into the hole it can be very difficult to ever dig yourself out. Of course if you end up losing your job or having a major medical emergency, that can be enough to push you completely over the edge financially. Today, that is happening to an alarming number of Americans.

For some perspective, let’s go back to the end of 2024. At that time, it was being reported that “credit card loan defaults soared this year”…

Experts are sounding the alarm over a new report indicating credit card loan defaults soared this year, warning the dam is about to break on Americans’ record-high consumer debt.

During the first nine months of 2024, lenders wrote off more than $46 billion in seriously delinquent credit card loans, according to a report from the Financial Times citing data analyzed by BankRegData. That’s an increase of 50% from the first three quarters of 2023, and the highest since 2010.

Unfortunately, this crisis has continued to intensify in recent months.

Delinquency rates have “hit the highest levels in more than a decade”, and this is especially true for younger borrowers…

Delinquency rates have doubled since the record lows of 2021. On one hand, this makes sense: Consumer credit has grown 20% since 2021. Stimulus-fueled excess savings drove down credit card balances during the pandemic, then, as the economy opened up, consumers depleted those savings. This has also reignited delinquencies.

But delinquency rates haven’t just rebounded — they’ve hit the highest levels in more than a decade. Even more concerning, the rate of credit card borrowers who transitioned to serious delinquency (90-plus days) is now at 2008 levels. Borrowers age 18-29 make up the biggest portion of this group.

This is starting to become a big problem for our banks.

In particular, small banks have been getting absolutely hammered by very high delinquency rates.

Let’s hope that we can get this turned around.

Our seemingly endless cost of living crisis is putting a tremendous amount of strain on our society, and even delinquency rates for high income households have been soaring…

Upper-income Americans are increasingly falling behind on credit card and auto loan payments, signaling an underlying vulnerability in the US economy as the labor market slows.

Delinquencies on such debts from those making at least $150,000 annually have jumped almost 20% over the last two years, faster than for middle- and lower-income borrowers, according to the credit-scoring firm VantageScore. A recent Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis study found the share of people making late card payments in the highest-income zip codes has risen twice as much over the last year as in the lowest-income ones.

Are the facts that I just shared with you a sign that the economy is healthy or that the economy is unhealthy?

Needless to say, the answer is self-evident.

Despite what the talking heads on CNBC are telling you, the truth is that most of the nation is really struggling right now.

But no matter how much you are struggling, you should avoid going into credit card debt, because credit card debt is financial poison.

Unfortunately, today the average U.S. household is carrying more than $6,000 in credit card debt…

The average U.S. household has $6,120 in credit card debt.
Total U.S. household credit card debt is currently at $1.18 trillion, making up 6% of all household debt.
Washington, D.C., carries the highest level of credit card debt per capita at $5,360 on average, while Mississippi carries the lowest at $2,940 on average.
Americans aged 65 to 74 have more credit card debt than any other age range, coming in at an average of $7,720 in debt.

Can you guess what the average rate of interest on all of that credit card debt is?

I just asked Google AI, and I was told that the “average APR for all credit card accounts in Q2 2025 was 21.16%”.

Wow.

If you are paying more than 20 percent interest on a credit card balance, you are getting absolutely killed financially.

And “buy now, pay later” plans can be even worse.

At this point, those plans have become so lucrative that even Costco is getting in on the game…

Costco is now offering a buy-now, pay-later option for online shoppers through a new multi-year partnership with Affirm.

The installment plans will allow customers to select the payment option at checkout for purchases ranging from $500 to $17,500.

Customers will be checked for eligibility in real time and can choose a monthly payment plan that fits their budget.

I know that it can be so tempting to reach for a short-term solution.

But don’t do it.

You will always regret it later.

But I certainly understand why so many Americans are looking for an easy way out.

I shared this yesterday, but I felt that I should share it again today. A recent survey discovered that 83 percent of U.S. adults 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.

If you are stressed about your finances, you have lots of company.

Economic conditions are very painful, and more Americans are falling out of the middle class with each passing day.

Unfortunately, even more trouble is potentially on the horizon.

The U.S. and China still have not been able to reach a permanent trade agreement, and if that does not happen by the deadline both nations “are set to once again place historic tariffs on each other’s imports starting August 12″…

Chinese and American trade negotiators concluded their two-day meeting in Stockholm without a resolution to avert tariffs from skyrocketing back to ultra-high levels that formed an effective blockade on trade between the world’s two largest economies. But President Donald Trump’s trade advisers and their Chinese counterparts sounded a hopeful note.

Without an agreement, the United States and China are set to once again place historic tariffs on each other’s imports starting August 12.

We have about two weeks.

Hopefully negotiators will be able to work something out.

But even if an agreement is reached, so many other long-term trends are taking us in the wrong direction very rapidly.

Now is a time to get “lean and mean” financially, because I have a feeling that the economic news is going to get very “interesting” during the second half of this year.

Another Canary: The Las Vegas Economy Is Tanking Just Like It Did In 2008 And 2009

July 28, 2025 by Michael

If you want to get a really good indication of where the U.S. economy is heading, just look at what is happening in Las Vegas. During good times, hotel occupancy rates are very high and lots of money is thrown around in the casinos. But when times are getting tough, less people head to Las Vegas and those that do go tend to be tighter with their money. We saw a perfect example of this during the Great Recession. Once the global financial crisis hit, gambling revenues in Las Vegas plunged. The following comes from an ABC News article that was published in 2009…

To almost everyone — and especially the Germans — Las Vegas seemed recession-proof. But now, since the summer of 2008, gambling revenues have dropped by more than 10 percent (see graphic) after having plunged to as much as 25 percent in the months immediately following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.

Of course things eventually turned around and Las Vegas thrived for many years.

But now another enormous shift is taking place. A new downturn has begun “with hotel occupancy, visitor numbers and spending all slipping”…

Las Vegas is experiencing a notable downturn in tourism, with hotel occupancy, visitor numbers and spending all slipping.

Industry data points to several key reasons behind the shift, including rising costs, fewer international travellers, and broader economic uncertainties.

So why is this happening?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

Despite the absolutely nonsense that you hear on CNBC, the truth is that the U.S. economy is rapidly going in the wrong direction.

As a result, occupancy rates at Las Vegas hotels are absolutely plummeting…

Las Vegas hotels are posting some of the steepest year-over-year performance declines among major U.S. markets this summer as international visitor weakness and economic uncertainty take a toll.

Preliminary STR data indicates Las Vegas occupancy fell 14.9% in June, which, if actualized, would mark the city’s deepest monthly decline so far this year.

The deterioration continued into July, with the week ending July 5 showing Vegas with the worst declines across the top 25 U.S. markets: Occupancy fell 16.8%, to 66.7%, and revenue per available room (RevPAR) plunged 28.7%, to $102.75, according to STR.

Because things are so slow, workers are being laid off, and the unemployment rate in the Las Vegas area jumped quite a bit higher last month…

Las Vegas’ jobless rate ticked higher again last month amid a slump in tourism this year.

The Las Vegas-area’s unemployment rate was 5.8 percent in June, up from 5.5 percent in May, according to non-seasonally adjusted figures released this week by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.

Nobody can deny what is happening in Las Vegas, because the numbers are telling a very clear story.

And it turns out that casinos in other areas of the country are also experiencing financial difficulties right now. Here is just one prominent example…

Earlier this month, resort and casino operator Maverick Gaming filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Southern District of Texas. The Kirkland, Washington-based company owns five casinos across Nevada, Colorado, and Washington and reported that it currently has between $100 million and $500 million in liabilities.

The Nevada properties include a combined 1,200 hotel rooms, 1,700 slot machines and 43 table games. The Washington resorts also have 17 card tables used by visitors specifically seeking out the hotels for gambling trips.

This reminds me so much of the Great Recession.

If you think that I am exaggerating, let me give you another parallel to 2008 and 2009. Our housing market just experienced “its slowest spring season in more than a dozen years”…

The US housing market just logged its slowest spring season in more than a dozen years, leaving Glennda Baker, a veteran real estate agent in Atlanta, struggling to sell 21 listings.

She’s been slashing prices. But months of chatter about AI taking jobs and tariffs tanking the economy is feeding into buyer indecision.
“People say price solves everything,” Baker said. “But price doesn’t solve uncertainty.”

For the entire year of 2025, home sales in the United States are expected to hit the lowest level in 30 years…

Home sales are set to plunge to a 30-year low — with experts warning the slump could deepen into a full‑blown collapse. Just four million transactions are expected in the US this year, according to new data from Realtor.com. That would mark the lowest level since 1995, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Yes, it is being projected that home sales in 2025 will be even lower than they were in 2008 and 2009.

That isn’t just bad.

That is really bad.

So why do the talking heads on CNBC continue to insist that the economy is strong?

Have they gone completely nuts?

I simply don’t understand why they can’t see the parallels to 2008 and 2009, but one thing that we didn’t have in 2008 and 2009 that we are dealing with today is rampant inflation.

If you can believe it, the average list price of a 3-year-old used vehicle has risen by $9,476 over the past six years…

Detroit Free Press autos writer Jamie LaReau reported recently that the average list price for a 3-year-old vehicle is now $32,635, an infuriating $9,476 more than it was six years ago.

This is one of the primary reasons why so many Americans are driving around in 20-year-old vehicles these days.

The average age of the vehicles on U.S. roads has reached an all-time record high, and that isn’t going to change any time soon.

Meanwhile, meat prices just continue to skyrocket…

In June, meat prices well outpaced the entire food-at-home category, with steak and ground beef prices rising 12.4% and 10.3%, respectively, compared with a year earlier, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI).

Beef prices are now hitting a record $9.26 per pound at retailers as of June, according to the USDA.

Inflation is causing our standard of living to collapse.

This is something that I have written about over and over again.

At this stage, things are so bad that 83 percent of Americans are dealing with “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.

So if you are feeling stressed about the rapidly rising cost of living, you are certainly not alone.

Sadly, the long-term trends that have brought us to this point are not going to abate any time soon.

In fact, a tremendous amount of societal chaos is on the horizon.

So I would encourage you to batten down the hatches, because the storm that is heading our way is not going to be pleasant.

The “Year Of The Flood” Continues – The U.S. Was Just Hit By 4 More Catastrophic Flooding Events In Just 48 Hours

July 27, 2025July 27, 2025 by Michael

How much flooding is it going to take before people realize that something truly out of the ordinary is going on? This month, we have been hammered by “1,000 year storms” and “1,000 year floods” over and over again. In a previous article, I documented 13 catastrophic flooding events in just 13 days. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it. In fact, we were just hit by 4 more catastrophic flooding events in just 48 hours. In the entire history of our country, we have never seen anything like we have witnessed this month. Every region of the U.S. has been repeatedly hit by major flooding, and there seems to be no end in sight.

On Friday, 6 inches of rain fell on one area of Chicago in less than two hours, and as a result there was tremendous flooding…

Severe thunderstorms brought flash flooding to the Chicago metropolitan area on Friday afternoon, July 25, with some locations receiving over 150 mm (6 inches) of rainfall in under two hours.

Chicago Midway International Airport recorded 38 mm (1.5 inches) of rain in just 37 minutes. Within 90 minutes, the total had reached 70 mm (2.77 inches). A ground stop was issued at Midway, and both Midway and O’Hare International Airports experienced delays to inbound and outbound flights.

In Bridgeview, more than 150 mm (6 inches) of rain fell in less than two hours, overwhelming storm drains and flooding streets. Located in one of the lowest elevation zones in the Chicago area, Bridgeview is particularly vulnerable to flooding.

On Saturday, 10 inches of rain caused historic flooding in Lincoln County, Missouri…

Lincoln County is in a state of emergency following major flash floods overnight in and around the city of Elsberry. The Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency reports the northern part of Elsberry received over 10 inches of rain overnight.

The flooding in Lincoln County was so bad that rescuers in boats were going door to door to pull people out of their homes…

Severe flooding has hit Lincoln County, Missouri, particularly affecting the town of Elsberry, where emergency services have conducted multiple water rescues.

Quentin Laws, the Lincoln County Emergency Manager, stated, “We have multiple boat rescues going door to door.” He emphasized the importance of residents staying off the roads.

The flooding began around 11 p.m. Saturday night, with torrential rain causing flash floods in the area. Laws said the hardest hit area was between 2nd and 7th Street on the south side of Elsberry basically along Highway 79 and near the BNSF railroad. It’s a low lying area but doesn’t flood very often according to local officials.

Also on Saturday, violent flooding hit Ruidoso, New Mexico for the second time this month. In this instance, the rapidly moving floodwaters actually picked up an entire mobile home and swept it away…

Afternoon thunderstorms brought new flash floods to Ruidoso, New Mexico, where residents are still reeling from deadly floods at the beginning of July. One woman standing on her back porch recorded dramatic video of a mobile home being swept away in the muddy rapids.

New Mexico is not normally known for flooding.

But now everything is changing.

On top of everything else, several inches of rain within just a couple of hours caused widespread flash floods in three Ohio counties on Saturday night…

Thunderstorms that swept through central Ohio on Saturday night prompted flash flood warnings in parts of Franklin, Pickaway, and Fairfield counties.

Parts of southeast Franklin and Fairfield counties reportedly experienced between two and four inches of rain within a few hours.

High water was reported at the Groveport golf course, with multiple cars trapped in the parking lot due to flood water.

When I was growing up, thunderstorms were considered to be just a nuisance.

But in our time, they have become so violent that they can often be life threatening.

Of course they wouldn’t be such a problem if we hadn’t built millions upon millions of homes in FEMA flood zones…

In Louisiana, a nation-leading 23 percent of properties are located in a FEMA flood zone. In Florida, it’s about 17 percent. Arkansas, New Mexico, and Nebraska are perhaps less expected members of the top 10, as is New Jersey, which, with New York City, saw torrential rain and flooding that killed two people earlier this month.

Texas ranks seventh in the country, with about 800,000 properties, or roughly 6.5 percent of the state’s total, sitting in a flood zone.

What in the world happened to common sense?

If you currently own a home that is located in a FEMA flood zone, you might want to think about relocating.

Because our weather is only going to get wilder.

And it isn’t just happening in the United States.

Last week, flooding was a major problem all over China…

Heavy rain around Beijing and across northern China killed two people and forced thousands to relocate as authorities warned of further widespread rain and the risk of disasters including landslides and flooding.

Two people were dead and two missing in Hebei province, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday morning. Overnight rain dumped a record 145mm per hour on Fuping county in the industrial city of Baoding.

China’s water ministry issued targeted flood warnings to 11 provinces and regions, including Beijing and neighbouring Hebei, for floods from small and midsize rivers and mountain torrents.

On Friday, a year’s worth of rain fell on one part of China in just 24 hours…

Record-breaking rainfall hit Yi County, Baoding City, northern China, on July 25, 2025, delivering nearly a year’s worth of precipitation in just 24 hours and forcing the evacuation of over 19 000.

According to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), 448.7 mm (17.6 inches) of rain fell in Yi County, western Baoding, in the 24-hour period from 06:00 local time (LT) on July 24 to 06:00 LT on July 25. It was the highest single day rainfall on record for the area.

Local reports indicate that nearly all of the rainfall occurred in the 12 hours leading to the morning of July 25. Meanwhile, the highest hourly rainfall intensity was recorded in Renyizhuang village, with 98.1 mm (3.8 inches).

I really hope that people out there are starting to get the picture.

We truly are living in apocalyptic times, and things are going to get a whole lot crazier during the months and years that are ahead of us.

You see, the truth is that all of the flooding that we are experiencing is just one element of “the perfect storm” that we have now entered.

Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and this period of history is about to get quite a bit more interesting.

Why Has The Birth Rate In The United States Fallen To The Lowest Level Ever Recorded?

July 24, 2025July 24, 2025 by Michael

The birth rate in the United States just keeps setting one dismal record after another. In fact, according to the CDC it just dropped to the lowest level ever recorded. We are literally not even replacing ourselves, and that has all sorts of implications for our future. For instance, if we don’t produce enough offspring, there simply will not be enough workers to support Social Security and Medicare and those programs will inevitably collapse. A society with lots of old people and relatively few young people will result in poverty for everyone. So the truth is that the birth rate crisis is going to ultimately affect all of us.

In order for the population of our nation to remain perfectly stable, women need to be giving birth to an average of 2.1 children because not all children make it to adulthood.

Sadly, the birth rate in the United States is now way below replacement level.

The CDC just announced that the birth rate in the U.S. fell below 1.6 children per woman in 2024…

The United States’ total fertility rate fell to a record low in 2024, dipping below 1.6 children per woman, according to new federal data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This marks a significant demographic milestone for a country that once stood apart among developed nations for maintaining a replacement-level birth rate of around 2.1 children per woman.

Our society is not growing.

Our society is dying.

If you go back to the early 1960s, our birth rate was hovering around 3.5 children per woman, but it has been on a downward trend ever since…

In the early 1960s, the U.S. total fertility rate was around 3.5, but plummeted to 1.7 by 1976 after the Baby Boom ended. It gradually rose to 2.1 in 2007 before falling again, aside from a 2014 uptick. The rate in 2023 was 1.621 but inched down in 2024 to 1.599, according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

So what has caused such a dramatic shift?

According to CBS News, on average U.S. women are waiting longer to have children, and many are choosing never to have children at all…

The U.S. was once among only a few developed countries with a rate that ensured each generation had enough children to replace itself — about 2.1 kids per woman. But it has been sliding in America for close to two decades as more women are waiting longer to have children or never taking that step at all.

I think that it is important to also point out that many couples simply can’t have children today.

Infertility has been steadily rising among women, and among men sperm counts have been falling precipitously since the 1970s.

If we do not do something about this, eventually most males will simply be unable to produce offspring at all.

For couples that are able to produce babies, many are putting off parenthood due to the rising cost of living.

Most Americans are just barely scraping by from month to month these days, and having a kid is really expensive.

In fact, it takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to raise a single child to adulthood in the United States…

Raising a child from birth to age 18 in the United States can cost between $200,000 and $310,000, according to some sources. It is even pricier in some states, including Massachusetts, where families can spend up to $650,000.

Child care is a huge part of this: parents can expect to pay anywhere from $3,000 to $21,000 annually on child care.

When I was growing up, my father worked and my mother stayed home with the kids.

But that is very rare in America today.

Most women are working, and that is another reason why the birth rate has been falling. It is just very difficult to have a full-time career and to be a full-time mother…

This “shift” includes the fact that most women in high-income countries now work, while it was previously “reasonable to consider having children as a widespread priority for women.”

But they do not attribute this to “whether women work at all after they are married or have had their first child” but rather “the tension between a lifetime career and the way motherhood interrupts or alters that lifetime career progression.”

But even women that don’t work are having fewer children.

So how do we explain that?

The answer is actually very simple.

Throughout human history, children have been considered to be a blessing to be cherished, but our culture regards them as a burden to be avoided.

We have a very “me-centered” culture, and we now prioritize ourselves over everything else.

The idea of “making sacrifices” for your family and your children is anathema in this day and age.

Young people are frequently told that they will “ruin their lives” if they get married too early or have children too early.

Our society encourages them to run around and have lots of fun before they “settle down”.

Of course many are choosing not to “settle down” at all.

Our movies, our television shows and our music glorify the single lifestyle. As a result, a higher percentage of Americans are single than ever before.

But has that made us happier?

No, we have a raging loneliness epidemic in this country that I have written about on numerous occasions.

We were designed to love and be loved, and the family unit has always been the basic building block of society all throughout human history.

There is one last cause of our birth rate crisis that I wanted to mention.

If we stopped aborting a million babies a year, that would completely solve our birth rate crisis right there.

Of course that isn’t going to happen, and that is extremely unfortunate.

Given enough time, if we stay on the road that we are currently on it would lead to demographic collapse…

If trends continue on their present path, demographers warn, there won’t be enough people to work to support society. The extreme labor shortages would lead to stagnation, poverty, and ultimately — in the most dire scenarios — the collapse of civilization itself.

Of course I don’t believe that our society actually has enough time left for such a scenario to play out.

We are committing societal suicide in so many other ways, and the clock is ticking.

10 Economic Facts That Nobody Can Deny

July 23, 2025July 23, 2025 by Michael

If you ask 1,000 different Americans about the state of the U.S. economy, you will get 1,000 different opinions. But what is the truth? In this article, I am going to share information with you that is indisputable. I like to examine things from an analytical point of view, and so I always want to know what the cold, hard numbers are telling me. And what the cold, hard numbers are telling me is very troubling. The following are 10 economic facts that nobody can deny…

#1 The Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators fell more than expected last month, and during the entire first half of 2025 it declined at an even faster rate than it did during the second half of 2024…

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the US declined by 0.3% in June 2025 to 98.8 (2016=100), after no change in May (revised upward from –0.1% originally reported). As a result, the LEI fell by 2.8% over the first half of 2025, a substantially faster rate of decline than the –1.3% contraction over the second half of 2024.

“The US LEI fell further in June,” said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, Senior Manager, Business Cycle Indicators, at The Conference Board. “For a second month in a row, the stock price rally was the main support of the LEI. But this was not enough to offset still very low consumer expectations, weak new orders in manufacturing, and a third consecutive month of rising initial claims for unemployment insurance.

#2 We just learned that sales of previously-owned homes have fallen to their lowest level in nine months…

Sales of previously-owned homes in the United States hit their lowest rate in nine months, according to industry data released Wednesday, as high home prices and mortgage rates weighed on the market.

Existing home sales dropped by 2.7 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.9 million, said the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

#3 It is being reported that millions of Americans that are on existing health insurance plans will be hit with “double-digit rate hikes” next year…

Consumers who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace will likely face double-digit rate hikes next year.

Insurers plan a median premium increase of 15% for 2026 plans, which would be the largest ACA insurance price hike since 2018, according to a Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker analysis published on July 18.

And many working-age consumers who get their health insurance through the workplace won’t be spared, either. Benefits consultant Mercer said more than half of big employers expect to shift a larger share of insurance costs to employees and their families next year by raising deductibles, copays, or out-of-pocket requirements.

#4 The price of beef in the United States has risen 9 percent since January…

First it was eggs, now it’s beef.

The last time Americans likely noticed spiking prices at the grocery store was when eggs reached record-highs. Since then, egg prices have fallen after the deadly avian flu outbreak was contained and producers built back supply.

Now, beef prices are hitting records, rising almost 9% since January, according to the Department of Agriculture, and retailing for $9.26 a pound. June’s consumer price index showed steak and ground beef prices are up 12.4% and 10.3%, respectively, over the last year.

#5 More Americans than ever are using “buy now, pay later” loans to pay for groceries…

25% of BNPL users say they’ve used the loans to buy groceries. That’s up from 14% just a year ago, amid rising prices at the supermarket. One-third of Gen Z BNPL users say they’ve done so, making it the fourth-most common BNPL purchase for that age group, trailing clothing, technology and home decor.

#6 The official rate of inflation just increased at the fastest pace that we have seen in 5 months…

Consumer prices in June posted the biggest increase since the beginning of the year and are likely to keep the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates later this month, but there were only scattered signs of tariff-related inflation.

The consumer-price index rose 0.3% last month, the government said Tuesday, and matched Wall Street’s forecast. It was the biggest rise since January.

#7 A recent survey found that 23 percent of Americans have decided to delay retirement. That figure is up from 14 percent last year…

Older Americans are kicking the can down the road on retirement over concerns about the economy and their own financial readiness to step back from work.

That’s according to a new survey from F&G Annuities & Life, which polled 2,000 U.S. adults over 50 years old. The life insurance and annuities company found that 23% of those polled have already decided to delay their retirement as they grapple with questions about their financial readiness, up from 14% in 2024.

The findings come at a time when the median savings of 55-year-olds is just $50,000, far from enough to fund a secure old age, according to another recent study by Prudential Financial.

#8 According to another recent survey, nearly 70 percent of Americans are feeling “anxiety and depression” because of the state of their finances…

Americans are feeling increasingly uneasy about their financial future.

Nearly 7 in 10 (69%) say financial uncertainty has led them to feelings of anxiety and depression, according to a recent survey from Northwest Mutual — an 8-percentage-point increase from 2023.

#9 The percentage of the U.S. population that is dealing with food insecurity has almost doubled over the past four years…

In May, 15.6% of adults were food insecure, almost double the rate in 2021. At that time Congress had beefed up SNAP benefits and expanded the Child Tax Credit driving down poverty rates, and giving people more money for food.

#10 Freight-related companies all over the country are conducting mass layoffs…

Another wave of closures and layoffs has hit workers and companies tied to commercial transportation, manufacturing, lumber production, distribution and logistics across the U.S.

Over the past several weeks, there have been 4,137 job cuts announced, according to media reports and Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices.

The companies facing layoffs include: Republic National Distributing Co. (1,756), Canfor Corp. (290), Bluestem Brands (160), DeRoyal Industries (153), Weaber Lumber (145), Howard Miller Co. (133), Ohio Eagle Distributing (124), Pocino Foods Co. (124), Western Forest Products (112), Americold Logistics (110), Lightspeed Logistics Miami LLC (110), Cartparts.com (104), MacMillan-Piper (92), GSC Enterprises Inc. (80), SalonCentric (79), Auto Warehousing Co. (75), BRP Marine US Inc. (72), Marshall Excelsior Co. (71), Backyard PlayNation (66), Spectrum Plastic Group (34) and CHS Inc. (25).

This would not be happening if the U.S. economy was in good shape.

When the economy is strong, lots of stuff is being shipped all over the place.

Sadly, a lot more layoffs are on the horizon.

In addition to facing another major economic downturn, we have also entered the “AI revolution”.

According to author Robert Kiyosaki, AI is going to “cause massive unemployment”…

Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki has a sobering take on one of today’s hottest trends: artificial intelligence (AI).

“BIGGEST CHANGE in MODERN HISTORY,” he declared in an X post on July 1. “AI will cause many ‘smart students’ to lose their jobs. AI will cause massive unemployment. Many still have student loan debt.”

Kiyosaki isn’t alone in sounding the alarm. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic — the AI company behind the large language model Claude — recently warned that AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs and push the unemployment rate as high as 20%.

Thanks to AI and other technological advancements, our society is now in a period of exponential transformation.

Many would argue that many of the changes that we are witnessing are not for the better.

It is going to be very challenging to make good decisions in this environment, because many of the old rules no longer apply.

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