Money

What in the world is happening to the middle class?  Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most vibrant middle class in the history of the world.  When I was growing up, a single income was all that was needed to support a middle class lifestyle for an entire family.  My mother didn’t work outside of the home, and that was the case with many other mothers that lived in our middle class neighborhood.  None of the kids that I played with or went to school with were “wealthy”, but everyone lived comfortably.  But now everything has changed.  The middle class in America is working harder than ever, but it has been steadily shrinking.  With each passing day, more Americans are falling out of the middle class and into poverty, and this is a trend that should deeply alarm all of us.

In most families, both parents have to work extremely hard just so that the bills can be paid each month.

In fact, in many cases both parents are either working multiple jobs or putting in insane amounts of overtime.  At this point, squeezing endless hours out of workers has become a permanent state of affairs in many industries.  The following comes from an NBC News article entitled “36-hour shifts, 80-hour weeks: Workers are being burned out by overtime”…

From firehouses and police stations to hospitals and manufacturing plants, workers say they are being required to work increasing overtime hours to make up for post-pandemic worker shortages — leaving them sleep-deprived, scrambling to cover child care duties, and missing birthdays, holidays and vacations. While the extra hours can provide a financial boost, some workers say the trade-off is no longer worth it as they see no end in sight to a problem that has now lasted for several years.

“It’s getting to that fever pitch moment,” said Gonano, who is president of the Virginia Beach Professional Fire and EMS union. “It’s just rampant. People are tired of working all the overtime. It’s definitely causing morale issues.”

Many years ago when I worked in Washington D.C., I remember putting in 80 hour weeks.

Working such long hours can really affect your health after a while.

Unfortunately, these days many Americans have no other choice.  The only way that the bills are going to get paid is by working countless hours.

But even though Americans are working so hard, they aren’t doing so well.  According to a brand new survey, only 14 percent of U.S. voters say that Joe Biden’s economic policies have made them better off…

A new poll spells out the steep economic cliff that President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is facing.

Just 14 percent of voters think his policies have made them better off, according to the survey published Monday.

And overall almost 70 per cent said Biden’s economic policies had either hurt the US economy or had no impact, including 33 per cent who said they believed the president’s policies had ‘hurt the economy a lot.’

This is one of the primary reasons why so many voters have soured on Biden.

And when that same survey asked about the sources of financial stress, the number one response was inflation…

When asked what was causing them most financial stress, some 82 percent of those surveyed said price increases.

‘Every group — Democrats, Republicans and independents — list rising prices as by far the biggest economic threat . . . and the biggest source of financial stress,’ said Erik Gordon, a professor at Michigan’s Ross School.

‘That is bad news for Biden, and the more so considering how little he can do to reverse the perception of prices before election day.’

Over the past several years, the cost of living has gone up much faster than paychecks have.

Just look at the cost of housing.  Home prices have gone into the stratosphere, and as a result housing is now more unaffordable than it has ever been before…

The income of a typical homebuyer in the United States surged to $107,000 from $88,000 last year, as home affordability precipitously worsened, according to an annual report from the National Association of Realtors.

The 22% jump was the highest annual increase on record, and puts homeownership out of reach for many families in the United States, where the median income is about $75,000, according to the Census Bureau.

Buying a home has become much harder for people as mortgage rates surged over the past two years and home prices continue to rise due to very low inventory.

And don’t even get me started on food prices.

When I get to the checkout counter at my local supermarket, I feel like asking the cashier what organ I should donate in order to pay for my cart of groceries.

In order to get inflation under control, the Federal Reserve has been aggressively hiking interest rates, and an economist that worked at the Fed for six years is warning that interest rates are going to go even higher…

“I worked at the Fed for six years and if inflation expectations are drifting higher and they’re not under control, the Fed absolutely will act,” Luke Tilley, chief economist at Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors, told CNN.

“That is the one thing that gives them trouble sleeping at night. They don’t lose sleep over recessions because they come and go, but they do lose sleep over long-term inflation expectations drifting higher,” he said.

Of course high interest rates are already absolutely devastating many sectors of the economy.

For example, the trucking industry is in the midst of “the great trucking recession” right now…

“Everybody’s calling this the great trucking recession, and it’s true because all the trucking companies right now are in dark times,” he said. “This is not a good time to be in the trucking industry. Just to paint a picture, the trucking industry is the engine that drives the American economy forward. We’re fueling growth [and] prosperity by transporting goods to where they need to be and when the engine breaks down or stops, it works like a heart. When that ceases to be, it brings the entire economic system to a halt.”

Yellow Corporation, for example, which is one of the nation’s oldest and largest trucking companies, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August, laying off 30,000 employees. Convoy Inc., a Seattle-based trucking startup that was valued by investors at $3.8 billion just last year, shut down last month.

Our politicians in Washington have been borrowing and spending trillions upon trillions of dollars in a desperate attempt to prop up the economy, but it isn’t working.

But all of that borrowing and spending is making our long-term financial outlook a lot worse.  In fact, Moody’s just reduced the rating outlook for the U.S. government from “stable” to “negative”…

Moody’s Investors Service on Friday lowered its ratings outlook on the United States’ government to negative from stable, pointing to rising risks to the nation’s fiscal strength.

The ratings agency has affirmed the long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings of the U.S. at Aaa.

“In the context of higher interest rates, without effective fiscal policy measures to reduce government spending or increase revenues,” the agency said. “Moody’s expects that the US’ fiscal deficits will remain very large, significantly weakening debt affordability.”

We really are in the endgame.

Our leaders were able to keep the party going for a long time, but now the jig is up.

Inflation is out of control, the value of our currency is being destroyed, and debt levels have reached cataclysmic proportions.

The era of seemingly endless prosperity is over, and an extraordinary amount of pain is ahead of us.

A full-blown economic meltdown has now begun, and there is nothing that Joe Biden can do to reverse this process.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have also started a brand new Substack newsletter, and I encourage you to subscribe so that you won’t miss any of my articles.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

All of a sudden, the giant rock that we all live on is starting to go a bit nuts.  Unusual volcanic activity is happening all over the globe, but the “experts” are assuring us that there is nothing to be concerned about.  But could it be possible that they are wrong?  After you have reviewed the information that I provide in this article, come to your own conclusion.  To me, it definitely appears that what we are currently witnessing is not normal.

Right now, volcanic activity is causing a brand new island to emerge from the Pacific Ocean just off the coast of Japan’s Iwo Jima island…

A newborn island that recently emerged from the Pacific Ocean after an underwater volcanic eruption is now visible from space, images from the European Space Agency (ESA) reveal. The satellite images show the new landmass sitting around 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) off the coast off Japan’s Iwo Jima island.

The submerged volcano began erupting on Oct. 21, with activity ramping up over the next 10 days. By Oct. 30, explosions were taking place every few minutes, according to a translated statement. The eruption threw large lumps of rock into the air, and shot a jet of gas and ash over 160 feet (50 meters) almost vertically above the water’s surface.

Needless to say, a new island is not born very often.

I have been warning my readers about the alarming rise of volcanic activity in our oceans, and this is yet more evidence that something really strange is taking place down there.

But when it comes to Japan, there is another volcano that I believe is far more of a threat.

Let’s keep a very close eye on Mt. Fuji in 2024 and beyond, because when it finally blows it is going to cause death and destruction on an absolutely massive scale.

Meanwhile, in Iceland residents of the town of Grindavík are being evacuated because thousands of earthquakes have “raised concerns that a volcanic eruption may be imminent”…

Some residents of the southwestern Iceland town of Grindavík were allowed to briefly return home Sunday to quickly gather essential belongings and pets left behind when evacuations were ordered amid thousands of earthquakes that have rattled the region and raised concerns that a volcanic eruption may be imminent.

Iceland’s government declared a state of emergency and began the mass evacuation of Grindavík on Friday.

Overall, that region has been hit by more than 4,000 earthquakes in recent days, and at least 1,000 of those quakes were actually “recorded within the magma tunnel”…

The Icelandic Met Office (IMO) has been providing continuous updates on the potential disaster and said that based on observations, there is a “significant likelihood” of a volcanic eruption in the coming days.

More than 4,000 earthquakes have struck the region over the past two days, and the IMO said that since midnight on Sunday, 1,000 earthquakes were recorded within the magma tunnel, or dike, that formed at the end of last week.

Here in the United States, Mount St. Helens has been rattled by 400 earthquakes since the middle of July…

400 earthquakes have been recorded under Mount St. Helens since mid-July, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

This is the longest series of tremors since the volcano’s last eruption ended in 2008.

We are being told that “magma has been flowing through chambers deep underground” as the volcano recharges…

Specialized equipment has detected that magma has been flowing through chambers deep underground, causing the volcano to recharge.

There are fears the earthquakes could lead to another massive explosion reminiscent of 1980s eruption that left 57 people dead and permanently altered the area’s ecosystem.

I do believe that Mount St. Helens will erupt again.

But as my regular readers already know, I am even more concerned about Mt. Rainier.

On the other side of the world, seismic activity has been regularly shaking an absolutely massive supervolcano known as Campi Flegrei…

It is now the site of multiple volcanoes that have been active for 39,000 years, many of which lie underwater. It’s also populated with villas, small villages and shopping malls and home to 800,000 people and a hospital under construction. More than 500,000 of the locals live in what Italy’s civil protection agency has deemed a “red zone,” an area encompassing 18 towns that’s at highest risk in the event of an eruption. An additional 3 million residents of Naples live immediately outside the eastern edge of the caldera, according to the civil protection agency.

The last major eruption of Campi Flegrei was in 1538, and it created a new mountain in the bay. Seismic activity in the area has been intensifying since December of 2022, according to Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), and experts fear that the volcano could be reawakening after generations at rest.

So far this year, Campi Flegrei has been hit by more than 3,400 earthquakes, and this has generated quite a bit of alarm…

Currently in a state of positive bradyseism, when the ground moves upward, the entire volcanic zone is also experiencing a surge in earthquakes that has rattled nerves and sent residents seeking safety out into the streets. In September, the strongest earthquake in 40 years struck the region, and that 4.2 magnitude quake was followed by one of a similar strength just days later.

So far in 2023 Campi Flegrei has recorded more than 3,450 earthquakes, 1,118 of which occurred in August alone. This is more than triple the previous year’s total, according to INGV’s data. More than 500 earthquakes occurred in October, the strongest of which hit 4.0 magnitude, followed by a dozen aftershocks.

All of this seismic activity has been happening at a time when the giant ball of fire that our planet revolves around has been extremely active.

In fact, a large coronal mass ejection that was just unleashed hit us this weekend…

That’s because the sun has unleashed an enormous coronal mass ejection (CME) which is set to hit the Earth this weekend, sparking a geomagnetic storm between Saturday and Sunday.

This will fling charged particles into our planet which will interact with oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere to emit green and red colours over our poles.

The Met Office’s Space Weather arm said Aurora borealis would likely be visible across parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and even ‘as far south as central England and Wales’ if skies are clear.

Scientific “experts” are going to just keep telling you that nothing unusual is happening at all.

And people like me are going to just keep telling you that cataclysmic times are now upon us.

So who is right and who is wrong?

As is the case with so many other things, time will reveal the truth…

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have also started a brand new Substack newsletter, and I encourage you to subscribe so that you won’t miss any of my articles.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

If someone attacks your troops 46 times in less than a month, you are at war with them.  But the Biden administration certainly does not want to admit that we are at war with Iran.  We are heading into an election year, and many Americans don’t want to hear that we are involved in yet another war in the Middle East.  The mainstream media isn’t telling us the truth either.  Even though U.S. troops in Syria and Iraq have now come under fire 46 times since October 7th, the mainstream media continues to insist that we aren’t actually “at war” with Iran.

But how can they say that?

Following the terror attacks of October 7th, Iranian-backed groups attacked U.S. troops more than two dozen times in Syria and Iraq.

So the Biden administration conducted a couple of airstrikes, and they were hoping that this would be enough to get the terrorists to back off.

But that didn’t work.

Instead, Iranian-backed groups just kept on attacking U.S. bases.

So now the U.S. military has conducted another “self-defense strike”.  The following comes directly from a statement that was just released by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin…

Today, at President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces conducted a self-defense strike on a facility in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups. This strike was conducted by two U.S. F-15s against a weapons storage facility. This precision self-defense strike is a response to a series of attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by IRGC-Quds Force affiliates. The President has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests.

Please go back and read the highlighted portion of that paragraph again.

We hit a base that is “used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps”.

In other words, this is a facility that is used by Iranian troops.

Of course this strike didn’t work either.

In fact, U.S. troops have already been attacked “multiple times” since then…

U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria were attacked multiple times by Iranian-backed proxies in the 24 hour period after U.S. forces conducted airstrikes against an Iranian-linked facility in Syria.

Three U.S. troops were injured in the four attacks, one against U.S. troops in Iraq and three in Syria, that occurred following the U.S. strike on Wednesday, deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters.

Overall, U.S. troops in the region have now been attacked a total of 46 times by Iranian-backed groups…

U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria that are there to counter ISIS have been attacked 46 times by Iranian proxies in the region since Oct. 17.

U.S. and coalition forces have been attacked 24 separate times in Iraq and 22 separate times in Syria by a mix of one-way attack drones and rockets, Singh told reporters.

And we are being told if these attacks continue that the U.S. “won’t hesitate to take further necessary measures to protect our people”…

“If these attacks continue against our personnel,” Singh added, “we won’t hesitate to take further necessary measures to protect our people and to do so at a time and place of our choosing.”

Needless to say, the attacks are going to continue.

And so the U.S. will be forced to hit back again and again.

This is what war looks like.

Meanwhile, the battle inside Gaza City has been heating up…

Israeli troops are locked in brutal close quarter warfare with Hamas on the streets of Gaza, with military officials claiming their troops toppled one of the Palestinian militants’ ‘strongholds’ this morning after a gruelling 10-hour-long battle.

Hamas fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and assault rifles fired on Israeli soldiers backed by armoured vehicles in the ruins of the besieged territory’s north.

Broken palm trees, mangled road signs and twisted lampposts marked the remains of what was once north Gaza’s main road, as Israeli tanks and APCs trundled south to enter Gaza City.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be very pleased with the progress that the IDF is making.

During a nationally televised speech on Tuesday, he declared that “thousands of terrorists above and beneath the ground” have already been wiped out…

The Israel Defense Forces has already killed “thousands of terrorists above and beneath the ground” in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a prime-time televised speech on Tuesday.

“In the south, the war in the [Gaza] Strip is progressing with a force that Hamas has never known,” said Netanyahu, speaking exactly 30 days after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel.

“Since the beginning of the ground maneuver, we have destroyed countless Hamas headquarters, tunnels, bases and facilities. We are reaching places that Hamas never thought we would reach,” he continued as he praised the “unparalleled fighting spirit” of the IDF.

Hamas is clearly in very big trouble.

So how long will Hezbollah wait before making a big move against Israel?

That is a question that a lot of people are asking right now.

There have been reports of troop mobilizations, and Hezbollah officials have pledged not to let Hamas get completely wiped out.

But launching an all-out attack on Israel would definitely spark an absolutely overwhelming response.

And those that are running Hezbollah understand this very well.

The war in the Middle East has caused global events to go into overdrive.  I literally had my brand new book entitled “Chaos” almost completely ready for publication, but then the war in the Middle East erupted and I had to edit a bunch of chapters and add a significant amount of new material.  So that is the primary reason why the release of the book was delayed.

This is the great war in the Middle East that we have been expecting.

Right now, it is still in the early chapters, and it will get a lot more intense.

The U.S. is already deeply involved in this war, but most Americans have no idea what is really happening on the other side of the globe.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have also started a brand new Substack newsletter, and I encourage you to subscribe so that you won’t miss any of my articles.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Our economy runs on credit, and our banks are the beating heart of that system.  Without healthy banks, how would Americans buy homes, purchase vehicles or get credit cards?  The way that our system is currently constructed, it is absolutely imperative for our banks to function properly.  Unfortunately, the truth is that our banks have gotten into deep financial trouble.  They are sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars in unrealized losses, and the primary reason why those losses have become so large is because we have witnessed a historic bond market crash over the past several years…

Treasury bonds — debt instruments the government issues to fund its spending — have been on a nightmarish run since the onset of the pandemic, with investors fretting about rising interest rates and the long-term viability of the US’s massive deficit.

BlackRock’s iShares 20+ Year Treasury fund, which tracks longer-duration debt prices, has plunged 48% since April 2020.

Thanks to that historic bond market crash, our financial institutions were sitting on 650 billion dollars in unrealized losses as of September 30th…

As a result of that sell-off, some of the US’s biggest banks are now sitting on unrealized, or “paper,” losses worth hundreds of billions of dollars. That means the value of their bond holdings has plunged, but they’ve chosen to hold on rather than offload their investments.

Moody’s estimated last month that US financial institutions had racked up $650 billion worth of paper losses on their portfolios by September 30 — up 15% from June 30. The ratings agency’s data still doesn’t account for a hellish October where the longer-term collapse in bond prices spiraled into one of the worst routs in market history.

Go back and read that last sentence again.

After what we witnessed during the month of October, what is the real number now?

Has it surpassed 700 billion dollars?

Has it surpassed 800 billion dollars?

Nobody really knows.

However, what we do know is that we have never seen anything like this before.

The good news is that there won’t be a major problem in the short-term unless there is a run on the banks.

But if there is a run on the banks, the banks that are affected will need to start selling off their bonds at a huge loss, and that would be a nightmare…

While they are generally purchased and intended to be held until they mature, if banks experience a surge of withdrawals – a run on the bank – they may need to sell them. That is what happened to Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year.

The bank was forced to sell those bonds as its depositors sought to withdraw funds.

So as long as everyone has faith in the banks, things won’t get too crazy.

Hopefully that will remain the case for quite a while, because right now our largest banks are a ticking time bomb…

Bank of America is the big lender worst affected by the crash in bond prices, having disclosed a potential $130 billion hole in its balance sheet last month.

The other “Big Four” banks — Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo — have also racked up unrealized losses in the tens of billions, according to their second- and third-quarter earnings reports.

Just a few days ago, we witnessed the sixth bank failure this year.

The combined assets of those six banks actually exceed the combined assets of the 25 banks that failed in 2oo8.

And as James Rickards has aptly noted, more bank failures are coming…

I warned in March that the failure of Silicon Valley Bank would be just the start. Now we’ve had five additional bank failures.

And this latest failure won’t be the last.

Veterans of such crises (and I include myself in that category) know that once the dominoes start falling, they keep falling until some government intervention of a particularly draconian kind is imposed.

Meanwhile, the overall economy continues to steadily deteriorate.

According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the number of retail layoffs has jumped 258 percent compared to the same time period last year…

Amid the early holiday shopping season, retailers have cut 72,182 jobs through October, a 258% increase from the 20,191 jobs eliminated in 2022, according to a new report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. This marks the most significant number of job cuts since retailers cut 179,520 jobs in October 2020.

Over the past few years, economic conditions have just gotten harsher and harsher.

It has been a slow, steady slide that now threatens to turn into an avalanche.

According to a new poll that was just conducted by Bankrate, the American people don’t feel too good about the economic changes that we have witnessed since Joe Biden entered the White House…

A new survey published by Bankrate on Wednesday shows that 50% of Americans say their financial situation has gotten worse since the 2020 presidential election. By comparison, just 21% think their financial situation has improved, while 26% believe it is unchanged.

“The plight of the economy over the next 12 months may help to dictate whether it was wise, or not, for President Biden to trumpet the branding of ‘Bidenomics,'” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.

Among Americans who are feeling pessimistic about their financial outlook, about half — 45% — blame Biden and his economic policies. Another 35% think that Congress is responsible, while 27% identified the Federal Reserve as the culprit.

But as bad as things are right now, the truth is that what we are experiencing at this moment will be considered rip-roaring prosperity compared to what is coming.

As I discuss in my brand new book entitled “Chaos”, we are on the brink of an economic shaking that will be unlike anything that our nation has ever seen before.

America is literally drowning in debt, the value of our currency is being destroyed, and now our financial system stands of the brink of an unprecedented crisis.

So I hope that you are prepared for what is coming next.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the population is not.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have also started a brand new Substack newsletter, and I encourage you to subscribe so that you won’t miss any of my articles.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

I truly wish that headline was an exaggeration.  Unfortunately, for decades Americans have been extremely irresponsible with their finances.  As a result, credit card debt is at an all-time high, auto loan debt is at an all-time high, mortgage debt is at an all-time high, corporate debt is at an all-time high, state and local governments all over the nation continue to get into absurd amounts of debt, and the federal government has piled up the single largest mountain of debt in the history of the world.  Our whole society is absolutely drowning in debt at this stage, and the only way out is for the entire system to collapse.

On Tuesday, we learned that the total amount of credit card debt in the U.S. has now reached a new record high of 1.08 trillion dollars…

Americans now owe $1.08 trillion on their credit cards, according to a new report on household debt from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Credit card balances spiked by $154 billion year over year, notching the largest increase since 1999, the New York Fed found.

“Credit card balances experienced a large jump in the third quarter, consistent with strong consumer spending and real GDP growth,” said Donghoon Lee, the New York Fed’s economic research advisor.

Credit card debt has always been one of the most insidious forms of debt, but now the banks are pushing credit card interest rates to unprecedented heights…

The rise in credit card usage and debt is particularly concerning because interest rates are astronomically high right now. The average credit card annual percentage rate, or APR, hit a new record of 20.72% last week, according to a Bankrate database that goes back to 1985. The previous record was 19% in July 1991.

If people are carrying debt to compensate for steeper prices, they could end up paying more for items in the long run. For instance, if you owe $5,000 in debt — which the average American does — current APR levels would mean it would take about 279 months and $8,124 in interest to pay off the debt making the minimum payments.

It should be illegal to issue a credit card that has an interest rate higher than 20 percent.

But banks are going to keep doing it because our politicians will not stop them.

So don’t fall into their trap.

Other forms of debt are rapidly growing as well…

Auto loan balances also contributed to the uptick, climbing by $13 billion over the course of the third quarter to $1.6 trillion. Student loan debt, meanwhile, increased by $30 billion while mortgage balances jumped by $126 billion to $12.14 trillion.

Overall, U.S. households are now more than 17 trillion dollars in debt.

I can’t even begin to describe how foolish we have been.

The only way to keep the party going is to borrow even more money, but thanks to higher interest rates we are not going to be able to purchase as much.

This is something that Kevin O’Leary pointed out in a recent interview…

“We’re looking at a downsized America. I tell it like it is,” O’Leary said on “The Big Money Show.” “Three years ago, even 24 months ago, you get a mortgage at 4.5%. You’re lucky to get one at eight today. So that means the size of the house you’re going to buy is 20 to 25% smaller. That’s a downsize.”

“You want to borrow for a car? Sorry, that’s 8 to 9%. Used to be five,” the O’Leary Ventures chairman added. “So, smaller, less expensive car. That’s happening at the same time.”

He is right.

But we just can’t help ourselves, and so we are going to continue to borrow more money.

The same thing is true for our corporations.

Today, corporate debt is at the highest level ever recorded.

And state and local governments continue to borrow money as if tomorrow will never come.

But the biggest offender of all is the federal government.

The national debt is currently sitting at 33.6 trillion dollars, and it is constantly going higher.

You can watch the national debt clock race upwards right here.  To me, that debt clock is actually a countdown to the financial destruction of America.

Once upon a time, I warned that the U.S. would be paying a trillion dollars in interest on the national debt by the year 2030.

Well, guess what?

We got there early.

According to Bloomberg, we have already crossed that ominous threshold…

Estimated annualized interest payments on the US government debt pile climbed past $1 trillion at the end of last month, Bloomberg analysis shows. That projected amount has doubled in the past 19 months from the equivalent figure forecast around the time.

The estimated interest expense is calculated using US Treasury data which state the government’s monthly outstanding debt balances and the average interest it pays.

Wow.

As usual, things are even worse than many of us were originally projecting.

Before I end this article, there is one more thing that I wanted to mention.

The “glitch” that affected the direct deposit of so many paychecks all over the nation still has not been resolved five days later…

Federal Reserve officials are urging banks to work with customers hurt by ongoing deposit delays that have prevented some people from accessing their paychecks and other funds.

A number of customers still haven’t received their direct deposit paychecks following a “human error” that damaged the plumbing of America’s banking system. The deposit delays are linked to a problem that emerged on Friday with the Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments system, causing headaches for consumers and employers.

“The Federal Reserve encourages banks to work quickly to resolve issues for customers experiencing delays in receiving direct deposit payments as a result of operational issues at a private sector payments provider,” a Fed spokesman told CNN in a statement.

Was it really a “human error” that caused this?

If someone just hit a wrong button, you would think that would be relatively easy to fix.

Keep a close eye on the banks.  As I discuss in my new book entitled “Chaos”, the banks are the beating heart of our economy and enormous trouble is brewing.

Without healthy banks, our entire system will go haywire very rapidly.

We need to borrow money for just about every major purchase that we make, and it is the banks that make the vast majority of those loans.

If the flow of credit starts to dry up, so will our standard of living.

Unfortunately, a credit crunch has now begun, and that is going to have very serious implications for all of us.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have also started a brand new Substack newsletter, and I encourage you to subscribe so that you won’t miss any of my articles.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Should we be concerned about all of the problems that are suddenly erupting at our banks?  U.S. banks have been shutting down hundreds of branches, they have been laying off thousands of workers, and as I discussed yesterday vast numbers of customer accounts are being unceremoniously shut down without any warning whatsoever.  If all of that wasn’t bad enough, now endless “glitches” are plaguing our banking system.  For example, the glitch that caused paychecks not to be deposited at many banks on Friday still has not been fully resolved…

Customers at major U.S. banks including Bank of America and Wells Fargo complained about delays with their direct deposits on Monday, following a glitch with processing payments that began Friday.

The Federal Reserve on Friday said the problem wasn’t related to a cybersecurity issue and that it had been resolved.  But customers on Monday continued to report delays with direct deposits, reaching out to their banks on social media to report that their paychecks hadn’t landed in their accounts as expected.

Wells Fargo and Bank of America referred questions to The Clearing House, a payments company that operates the only private-sector automated clearing house (ACH) system in the U.S.

I have never seen a problem with direct deposits that is so widespread.

The Clearing House is promising to have things fixed “as quickly as possible”, but that could mean just about anything…

The Clearing House, the private operator of ACH, told CNN on Monday it is working with banks and the Federal Reserve to “resolve this issue as quickly as possible.”

“Many of the delayed payments have already posted, and we will continue working with financial institutions to ensure the remaining transactions are processed,” The Clearing House spokesperson Greg MacSweeney said in an email.

An industry source confirmed to CNN on Monday that it’s likely some customers haven’t received their deposits yet. The source stressed that banks are at the mercy of the originating bank to resend payment files.

Meanwhile, online banking services are suddenly being disrupted all over the country on a massive scale.  Steve Quayle was reporting this on his website, and this prompted me to go to downdetector.com to check it out for myself.

And I discovered that all of the big banks were experiencing unusual outages on Monday.

The following is a screenshot of Chase outages…

Citibank suddenly started getting hit by a spike in outages during the early morning hours on Monday too…

Unfortunately, the same thing also happened to Bank of America…

And outages followed the same pattern at Wells Fargo…

So why was there such a dramatic spike in outages all of a sudden?

Is this evidence that our banks are being hit by cyberattacks?

I don’t know.

Hopefully things will settle down and these “glitches” and outages will start to subside.

But the credit crunch that has now begun is not going to go away any time soon.

According to the Federal Reserve, lending standards for business loans got even tighter during the third quarter…

Banks continued to tighten standards for business loans in the third quarter, according to a survey of loan officers conducted by the Federal Reserve.

In addition, a “significant” number of banks tightened lending standards for credit-card, automobile and other consumer loans.

Key details: Banks tightened standards on loans to firms of all sizes. Tightening was accomplished in premiums for riskier loans, spreads of loan rates over the cost of funds and costs of credit lines.

And a survey that was recently conducted by Goldman Sachs found that nearly 80 percent of small business owners in the U.S. “are concerned about their ability to access capital”…

A survey by Goldman Sachs quizzed small businesses owners, who reported serious concerns that the nationwide credit crunch is hindering their growth. Some expressed fear that they would have to close up shop.

According to the survey, 78% of small business owners are concerned about their ability to access capital, and 29% say they can’t afford to take out a loan given current interest rates. In addition, 85% say that if access to capital continues to tighten it will impact their growth forecast. Of those, 67% will halt expansion plans if credit continues to tighten, and 21% would close their business if the credit market continues on this trajectory.

Banks all over America have gotten very tight with their money.

And that is going to have enormous implications for the U.S. economy in 2024 and beyond.

The era of easy credit is over, and now our banks are drowning in mountains of bad debt.  In a desperate attempt to save money, banks are shutting down branches and laying off workers.

In fact, at this moment workers at Citigroup are waiting to see who will survive and who will get the axe during the wave of layoffs that is rapidly approaching…

When Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser announced in September that her sweeping corporate overhaul would result in an undisclosed number of layoffs, a jolt of fear ran through many of the bank’s 240,000 souls.

“We’ll be saying goodbye to some very talented and hard-working colleagues,” she warned in a memo.

Employees’ concerns are justified. Managers and consultants working on Fraser’s reorganization — known internally by its code name, “Project Bora Bora” — have discussed job cuts of at least 10% in several major businesses, according to people with knowledge of the process. The talks are early and numbers may shift in coming weeks.

In my new book entitled “Chaos”, I warn about the extreme financial instability that is dead ahead.

The flow of credit is going to get even tighter, more bank branches are going to be shut down, and more prominent banks are going to fail.

And that is really bad news for all of us, because the banks are the beating heart of our economic system.

We desperately need healthy banks, but now we stand on the verge of a banking crisis that will be unlike anything we have ever seen before.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is now available on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “Chaos” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have also started a brand new Substack newsletter, and I encourage you to subscribe so that you won’t miss any of my articles.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

In recent weeks there have been numerous high profile bank “glitches”, accounts are being shut down without warning at a staggering rate all over the nation, and more institutions continue to get into very serious financial trouble.  For a while, I was ignoring some of these reports because I thought they were isolated issues.  But when you step back and take a bigger picture view of things, it really does appear that we have a major problem with the banks.

According to CNN, on Friday many of our largest banks “were hit by deposit delays”…

Multiple US banks were hit by deposit delays on Friday caused by an error at a payment processing network, according to the Federal Reserve.

The Clearing House, which operates the Automated Clearing House system, which allows banks to send electronic payments to each other, experienced a processing error with a batch of bank transactions. Banks send everything from direct deposit paychecks to customer bill payments for mortgages and utility bills through the ACH system.

This caused a tremendous amount of distress, because paychecks were not showing up in the accounts of a lot of people.

And considering the fact that more than 60 percent of the country is currently living paycheck to paycheck, that is a big deal.

Incredibly, some banks are still trying to fix the problem.  The following is a message that PNC Bank posted on Twitter on Sunday…

Good morning, Amy. Due to an industry-wide delay with Federal ACH transactions, some ACH credits and debits, including some Direct Deposits, haven’t been processed. We recommend that you contact your employer or ACH originator for more information. Thank you.

There have been so many bank “glitches” this year.

So why is this happening?

Could this latest incident have been caused by a cyberattack?

I wish that I had answers to those questions.

Meanwhile, banks all over the U.S. are suddenly shutting down thousands of accounts without any warning whatsoever…

The reasons vary, but the scene that plays out is almost always the same.

Bank customers get a letter in the mail saying their institution is closing all of their checking and savings accounts. Their debit and credit cards are shuttered, too. The explanation, if there is one, usually lacks any useful detail.

Can you imagine how you would feel if your cards suddenly did not work and you did not have access to your money?

Right now, we are seeing a tsunami of “de-risking” by banks that is unlike anything we have ever seen before…

Or maybe the customers don’t see the letter, or never get one at all. Instead, they discover that their accounts no longer work while they’re at the grocery store, rental car counter or A.T.M. When they call their bank, frantic, representatives show concern at first. “Oh, no, so sorry,” they say. “We’ll do whatever we can to fix this.”

But then comes the telltale pause and shift in tone. “Per your account agreement, we can close your account for any reason at any time,” the script often goes.

These situations are what banks refer to as “exiting” or “de-risking.”

To me, this is one of the most alarming financial trends that I have seen in a long time.

On top of everything else, Citizens Bank in Iowa has become the sixth U.S. bank this year to go belly up.  The following comes from a press release issued by the FDIC…

Citizens Bank, Sac City, Iowa, was closed today by the Iowa Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect depositors, the FDIC entered into a Purchase and Assumption Agreement with Iowa Trust & Savings Bank, Emmetsburg, Iowa, to assume all of the deposits of Citizens Bank.

The two branches of Citizens Bank will reopen as branches of Iowa Trust & Savings Bank on Monday during normal business hours. This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Citizens Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

Depositors of Citizens Bank will become depositors of Iowa Trust & Savings Bank, so customers do not need to change their banking relationship in order to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers of Citizens Bank should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Iowa Trust & Savings Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow its branch offices to process their accounts as well.

As of September 30, 2023, Citizens Bank had approximately $66 million in total assets and $59 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, Iowa Trust & Savings Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank’s assets.

U.S. banks are sitting on an absolutely colossal mountain of unrealized losses.

So it is just a matter of time before more fail.

And other types of financial institutions are also on shaky ground.

In fact, the biggest publicly traded brokerage firm in the country has started giving large numbers of workers the axe…

Charles Schwab on Monday began laying off employees across the company.

Schwab, the largest publicly traded US brokerage, didn’t disclose how many employees were affected in an internal message seen by The Wall Street Journal. Some remaining employees will have new jobs or managers, according to the message.

Of course layoffs are starting to pick up speed from coast to coast.

According to Zero Hedge, the number of employed Americans went down by 348,000 last month…

Yes, payrolls may still be positive but the actual change in monthly employment isn’t. In fact, in October the number of employer Americans collapsed by 348K (per the Household Survey). This was the second negative print this year, and the 7th negative employment month since the covid crash. Ironically, since then, we have seen just one negative payrolls months which makes sense, since the nonfarm payrolls number is far less accurate and much more gamed due to its market-moving abilities. The plunge in employment coupled with the jump in unemployed workers (by 146K) is also the reason why the unemployment rate unexpectedly went up.

Economic turmoil is erupting all around us, and much more chaos is on the way.

So I hope that you have prepared for very harsh economic times, because the pace of change is only going to get quicker from here.

Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have also started a brand new Substack newsletter, and I encourage you to subscribe so that you won’t miss any of my articles.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Over the past few days, there has been a tremendous amount of speculation about whether or not the conflict in the Middle East will soon become a two front war.  But the truth is that there shouldn’t be any speculation at all.  As you will see below, the conflict in the Middle East has already become a two front war.  The IDF and Hezbollah have already been exchanging fire day after day, and Hezbollah just conducted “19 simultaneous strikes on Israeli army positions on Thursday”…

A formidable military force backed by Iran, Hezbollah has been engaging Israeli forces along the border, where 50 of its fighters have been killed in the deadliest escalation since it fought a war with Israel in 2006.

The group said it had mounted 19 simultaneous strikes on Israeli army positions on Thursday using guided missiles, artillery and other weapons, coinciding with what it called strikes using two explosive drones.

Hezbollah may not have officially “declared war” on Israel yet, but nobody can argue that conducting “19 simultaneous strikes on Israeli army positions” is not an act of war.

In response, the IDF hit a wide range of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon by air…

The Israel Defense Forces says it is carrying out wide-scale airstrikes on Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon in response to rocket attacks on northern Israel earlier.

The IDF says that among the targets hit so far by fighter jets, tanks, and artillery are military headquarters, rocket launching positions, weapons storage sites, military complexes, and other infrastructure belonging to the terror group.

Israel has not officially “declared war” on Hezbollah yet either, but this is what war looks like.

A two front war has already begun, and that is really bad news for all of humanity.

On Friday, the leader of Hezbollah is scheduled to deliver his very first public remarks about the war…

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will on Friday make his first public comments since the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel went to war, a speech that will be scrutinised for clues on how the group’s role in the conflict might evolve.

This speech is being hyped up like crazy.

In fact, I have never seen this much hype for a speech by Nasrallah.

Is he going to announce that Hezbollah is formally entering the war?

We shall see.

But whatever he plans to say, there is sure a huge effort to get people to tune in and watch…

It would appear Hezbollah was going out of its way to ramp up expectations ahead of Nasrallah’s speech, presumably as his behest. A promotional video shows Nasrallah walking down a hallway with his back to the camera, with the Hezbollah symbol parading in the background. It announced Nasrallah will speak in a ceremony celebrating “Martyrs who died on route to Jerusalem”.

Other unaffiliated sources have since flooded social media with videos and pictures associated with Hezbollah, conveying vague messages designed to raise tensions and to get people to endlessly speculate on what he’ll say, a tactic likely designed to beef up ratings for the actual speech.

As a descendant of Mohammad, he will be wearing his customary black turban during the speech, and everyone agrees that he is “a skilled orator”…

Wearing the black turban of a sayyed, or a descendent of the Prophet Mohammad, and Shi’ite clerical robes, Nasrallah is one of the most prominent figures in the Arab world.

Recognised even by critics as a skilled orator, his speeches have long been followed closely by friend and foe alike. He is deemed a terrorist by adversaries including the United States.

If Hezbollah officially enters the war, things are going to get really crazy.

The U.S. has already warned Hezbollah that if it launches large numbers of missiles at Israel there will be a military response.

Do most Americans even realize that we are literally on the verge of war with the largest terrorist organization on the entire planet?

And the Israelis have warned that they will respond with overwhelming force if Hezbollah decides to officially join the conflict…

Israel has warned any conflict with Lebanon would be much more destructive than the 2006 Lebanon war, which killed at least 1,200 Lebanese.

“Hezbollah may decide to act, and we will have to respond,” Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer told reporters earlier this week.

“The response now will make what happened in 2006 look like child’s play.”

Recently, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly stated that there will be “unimaginable” devastation in southern Lebanon if Hezbollah starts launching large numbers of missiles at Israel.

Needless to say, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what he is talking about.

Israel possesses nuclear weapons and Hezbollah does not.

And one member of the Knesset has already called for a “Jericho missile” to be used against Hamas…

Revital “Tally” Gotliv, an Israeli lawyer and member of the Knesset representing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, made several posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating that Israel must consider nuclear warfare as an alternative to deploying large ground forces.

“Jericho Missile! Jericho Missile! Strategic alert. before considering the introduction of forces. Doomsday weapon! This is my opinion. May God preserve all our strength,” Gotliv wrote on X.

The Jericho-2 and the Jericho-3 are both very sophisticated, and they both have enough range to hit any of Israel’s enemies in the region…

Israel later developed the Jericho-2, a longer-range missile in the late 1980s, with a length of 15 metres and a diameter of 1.35 metres, while maintaining the same payload capacity. It had a range between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres (about 932 to 2,175 miles).

The Jericho-3, an intermediate-range system, was introduced years later and was reportedly tested in 2008, entering service in 2011. It featured improvements over the previous models, with a longer length than Jericho-2 and a larger diameter of 1.56 metres.

If Hezbollah missiles start raining down on Israeli cities, this is an option that will be very strongly considered.

And it is important to keep in mind that the Israelis will hold Iran directly responsible for anything that Hezbollah does.

We are so close to the unthinkable, and so let us hope that Hezbollah pulls back from the brink while they still can.

Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have also started a brand new Substack newsletter, and I encourage you to subscribe so that you won’t miss any of my articles.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.