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This is Why A War Between The United States And China Is Inevitable

December 21, 2023December 21, 2023 by Michael

One of the biggest bombshells of the entire year just dropped, but now it has almost entirely disappeared from the news cycle. NBC News is reporting that during their recent summit meeting in San Francisco, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Joe Biden to his face that a decision has been made to “reunify Taiwan with China” one way or the other. Normally the Chinese keep their cards very close to the vest, and so this was a very unusual move. My guess is that the Chinese wanted to see how Biden would respond to such a direct statement. Xi Jinping expressed his desire to take over Taiwan peacefully if possible, but we all know that isn’t going to happen. So war is coming, and the only thing that needs to be decided now is the timing…

Chinese President Xi Jinping bluntly told President Joe Biden during their recent summit in San Francisco that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China but that the timing has not yet been decided, according to three current and former U.S. officials.

Xi told Biden in a group meeting attended by a dozen American and Chinese officials that China’s preference is to take Taiwan peacefully, not by force, the officials said.

The Chinese leader also referenced public predictions by U.S. military leaders who say that Xi plans to take Taiwan in 2025 or 2027, telling Biden that they were wrong because he has not set a time frame, according to the two current and one former official briefed on the meeting.

I kind of expected the White House to deny that this exchange took place, but that did not happen…

The White House didn’t deny the exchange, which occurred during a Nov. 15 summit outside San Francisco that was attended by a dozen US and Chinese officials.

“I’m not gonna get into the specifics of the discussion between the two leaders,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Air Force One en route to Milwaukee.

Wow.

So why isn’t everyone in America talking about this?

Why has this almost entirely disappeared from the news cycle already?

This is one of the biggest stories of the year.

War with China is coming, and the Chinese have been feverishly preparing for it.

For example, the Chinese just imposed export controls on rare earth processing technology…

Following the meeting between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation event in San Francisco last month, the hopes for de-escalation in Sino-US relations seem to have fallen apart after China announced export controls on rare-earths technologies.

China is the world’s top processor of rare earths and has placed an export ban on technology to extract and separate rare-earth metals, according to Bloomberg, citing a document from the Ministry of Commerce.

The move comes as Washington and its allies try to reduce reliance on China’s stranglehold of the global rare earths market. There are 17 rare earth metals, and Beijing controls about 85% of the global refining capacity. These metals are found in everything from electric vehicles to wind turbines to military hardware.

Expect to see more dramatic economic moves by the Chinese in the months ahead.

China has also been working on a whole host of new weapons systems.

Reportedly, this also includes weapons that employ “advanced brain warfare technology”…

China is working on advanced brain warfare technology which is said to include devices that can send enemies to sleep and control their thoughts, according to an uncovered report.

Researchers have found two recent studies by China’s People’s Liberation Army that show the military is increasing its ‘hard power’ weapons with new technology to win wars without conventional weapons.

The biological weapons are designed to induce sleep, impair cognition and alertness as well as impact decision making, The Washington Times reports.

In addition, Chinese hackers have been feverishly hacking into “critical U.S. infrastructure” in anticipation of the coming conflict…

President Joe Biden’s administration warned that Chinese hackers have been positioning themselves inside critical U.S. infrastructure to cause “societal chaos” from within should war break out.

According to reports, the Communist Party of China’s military has burrowed into more than 20 major utilities suppliers in the last year including a water utility in Hawaii, a major West Coast port and at least one oil and gas pipeline. They reportedly also bypassed elaborate cyber security systems by intercepting passwords and log-ins unguarded by junior employees.

This project they are conducting amid growing tension over Taiwan was codenamed Volt Typhoon. Analysts commented this could unplug U.S. efforts to protect its interests in the South China Sea. “It is very clear that Chinese attempts to compromise critical infrastructure are in part to pre-position themselves to be able to disrupt or destroy that critical infrastructure in the event of a conflict,” said Brandon Wales of the Department of Homeland Security‘s (DHS’) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Meanwhile, it appears that the war in the Middle East could soon go to the next level.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the “buffer zone has moved south of the border, and the IDF faces daily mortar attacks from Hezbollah.”

And Newsweek is telling us that “Israel has edged closer to an all-out war with the Lebanese Hezbollah movement”…

Israel has edged closer to an all-out war with the Lebanese Hezbollah movement amid a worsening round of hostilities playing out as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is already engaged in its most intensive conflict to date in the Gaza Strip, an IDF official has said.

IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told reporters Monday that Hezbollah has fired “more than 1,000 different types of ammunition, rockets, missiles, drones, mortars and others toward Israel” since October 8, the day after the Palestinian Hamas movement led an unprecedented surprise attack against Israel from Gaza.

Conricus warned that “Hezbollah, who as everybody knows is a proxy of Iran, is dangerously dragging Lebanon into an unnecessary war that could have potential devastating consequences for the state of Lebanon and for the people of Lebanon.

Even though I have not been writing about the war in the Middle East much recently, it is just a matter of time before it absolutely explodes.

The Israeli government has decided to push Hezbollah beyond the Litani River, and Hezbollah will not ever allow that to happen willingly…

Israel is planning to invade Lebanon to push Hezbollah back from its northern border, according to reports, amid a barrage of rocket attacks since the war in Gaza broke out and fears that the terror group is ‘worse than Hamas’.

After weeks of exchanging cross-border fire, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are said to be keen to launch a ground offensive into southern Lebanon which would aim to push the terror group north past the Litani River.

Elsewhere, the Russians are attacking on “six fronts” in Ukraine, and Kim Jong Un just threatened the United States with nuclear war…

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned Pyongyang will not hesitate to launch a nuclear attack on the US if ‘provoked with nukes’, state media said Thursday.

Kim’s warning follows a meeting between South Korea and the United States last week in Washington, where they discussed nuclear deterrence in the event of conflict with the North.

Without a doubt, we are living at a time of wars and rumors of wars, and I fully expect 2024 to be a year of war.

So I would encourage all of you to get prepared for the chaos that is ahead, because global events will soon spiral completely out of control.

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.

Has A “Silent Depression” Already Started In The United States?

December 20, 2023 by Michael

The Biden administration and the corporate media are telling us over and over that the economy is just fine, but the term “silent depression” has been going viral on TikTok. Housing, vehicles, food and just about everything else that we spend money on is far more unaffordable today than it was during the Great Depression of the 1930s. A realtor in Florida named Freddie Smith posted a video on TikTok with some absolutely startling numbers about the cost of living in the United States today, and that is what started the “silent depression” trend…

TikTok user Freddie Smith, a realtor based in Orlando, posted a video in September claiming that the U.S. economy is in what he calls a “Silent Depression.” In the video, which has amassed nearly 800,000 likes, Smith compares the average 2023 salary and basic costs to those of the Great Depression to highlight the growing cost-of-living crisis in the country.

“If you look back to the Great Depression, the house was only three times the average salary. Now, it is eight times the average salary,” Smith said. “The car was 46% of the salary, the car today is 85% of the salary. And here’s the craziest part, the rent was 16% of the average salary, it is now 42% of the average salary.”

Of course he is right on target.

There is a reason why 62 percent of the country is currently living paycheck to paycheck.

The cost of living has become incredibly oppressive for most Americans, and nobody can deny that reality.

@fmsmith319Great depression vs silent depression♬ original sound – Freddie Smith

When Whoopi Goldberg declared that “Millennials just need to work harder” during one of her crazed rants, Smith followed up with another video about the rising cost of living…

@fmsmith319Boomers: “Millennials just need to work harder.”♬ original sound – Freddie Smith

Many Americans are working as hard as they can, but they just keep falling farther and farther behind.

But we aren’t supposed to talk about what is happening.

We are just supposed to pretend that everything is just wonderful.

And now the corporate media has been putting out lots of articles attempting to debunk Smith’s videos. Here is just one example…

But economists strongly disagree.

“Any notion from TikTok that life was better in 1923 than it is now is divorced from reality,” said Columbia Business School economics professor Brett House.

So what is the truth?

Are we in a “silent depression” or not?

Let’s take a look at three key areas.

If honest numbers were being used, they would show that GDP growth has been negative for almost the entire time that Joe Biden has been in the White House.

That would indicate that we are at least experiencing a recession.

And if honest numbers were being used, they would show that the unemployment rate in this country is sitting at about 25 percent right now.

Needless to say, that is absolutely horrible.

And if the rate of inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, it would still be in double digit territory even though it has come down a bit.

The official numbers that the government gives us are designed to make us feel good about things.

But at this point things are so bad that the charade is falling apart.

It certainly feels like a “silent depression” if you just got laid off from your job.

And it certainly feels like a “silent depression” if you cannot pay your bills…

Millions of Americans strapped with student loan debt are still not paying their bills after a three-year payment hiatus ended this fall.

Federal student loan payments restarted at the beginning of October after President Biden declined to extend the pandemic-era pause that first began in March 2020 under his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.

However, 40% of the 22 million borrowers who had bills due failed to make a payment as of mid-November, according to a new report published by the Department of Education. That means about 9 million Americans who have payments due are not making them.

And it certainly feels like a “silent depression” if you cannot sell your home…

Home sales in California plunged to the lowest level in 15 years in November, according to the latest data shared by the California Association of Realtors (CAR).

According to a report released on Tuesday, existing single-family home sales were down 7.4 percent last month compared to October and down 5.8 percent from November 2022, totaling 223,940. It was the biggest monthly decline in the past year, which plunged existing home sales in California to the lowest level since the Great Recession of 2008-2009.

And it certainly feels like a “silent depression” if you are living in the streets…

Homelessness shot up by more than 12% this year, reaching 653,104 people. The numbers represent the sharpest increase and largest unhoused population since the federal government began tallying totals in 2007, the U.S. Department of Urban Planning and Development said Friday.

If the economy is in “good shape” why are Americans becoming homeless at the fastest pace ever recorded?

That doesn’t make any sense at all.

But those at the top of the economic food chain simply do not understand what all the fuss is about. Today, Americans age 70 and older now hold more than 30 percent of the nation’s wealth. For the moment, life is good for the elite, and they think that the rest of us just need to work harder.

Of course they shouldn’t be looking down their noses at the rest of us, because hard times are coming for them as well.

The “silent depression” that has already started is hitting those at the bottom of the economic food chain the hardest, but those at the very top will soon be feeling it too.

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.

62 Percent Of Americans Live Paycheck To Paycheck And The Bottom Of The Economic Food Chain Is Already Collapsing

December 19, 2023December 19, 2023 by Michael

Thanks to a soaring stock market, the wealthy are feeling very good about things right now, but the rest of the country is really hurting. Homelessness is rising at the fastest pace ever recorded, the number of children that are suffering from hunger is rapidly growing, and more than 60 percent of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. The mainstream media continues to insist that the economy is in good shape, but how can that possibly be true if nearly two-thirds of the entire nation is just barely scraping by? According to brand new numbers that were just released, the percentage of U.S. adults that live paycheck to paycheck has actually increased by 4 percent just since the month of March…

Sixty-two percent of adults in December said they live paycheck to paycheck, up from 58 percent in March.
Forty percent of consumers living paycheck to paycheck have super-prime credit scores.
Fifty-seven percent of consumers who own credit cards are living paycheck to paycheck.

Yikes!

But even though most of the country is living on the edge financially, 96 percent of shoppers say that they plan to “overspend” this holiday season…

This year, holiday spending from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 is expected to increase between 3% and 4% over last year to a record total of $957.3 billion to $966.6 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.

Even as credit card debt tops $1 trillion, almost all — or 96% — of shoppers said they expect to overspend this season, a separate TD Bank survey found.

Half of consumers plan to take on more debt to cover those holiday expenses, according to another report by Ally Bank. Only 23% have a plan to pay it off within one to two months.

Are you kidding me?

Needless to say, those numbers are yet another confirmation of what I wrote about yesterday.

We just can’t help ourselves.

No matter how much we already have, we always feel the need to have more.

But even though we continue to spend more money, we certainly aren’t better off than in past years. Just check out these new poll numbers…

Almost half of voters say the Biden administration’s economic policies have hurt them and only 14 percent say they are better off, according to yet another poll that suggests President Joe Biden is struggling to get his message across ahead of next year’s election.

Even he realizes it, quietly benching the term ‘Bidenomics’ in speeches during the past month.

Overall, his economic policies have a 32-point disapproval rating in a new survey for Fox News, with far more voters feeling they have been hurt than helped.

The people that are doing better off are those at the very top of the economic food chain.

The stock market has been doing really well in recent weeks, but some experts are warning that this is just a temporary phenomenon.

In fact, Harry Dent is warning that “2024 is going to be the biggest single crash year we’ll see in our lifetimes”…

As the clock ticks closer to 2024, one outspoken economist is making a dire predication about the markets in the new year.

“Since 2009, this has been 100% artificial, unprecedented money printing and deficits; $27 trillion over 15 years, to be exact. This is off the charts, 100% artificial, which means we’re in a dangerous state,” Harry Dent told Fox News Digital. “I think 2024 is going to be the biggest single crash year we’ll see in our lifetimes.”

For some reason, he is pointing to the month of May as a time when things will get really bad…

“If I’m right, it is going to be the biggest crash of our lifetime, most of it happening in 2024. You’re going to see it start and be more obvious by May,” the analyst stressed. “So if you just get out for six to 12 months and stuff stays at the highest valuation history, maybe you miss a little more gains if I’m wrong. If I’m right, you’re going to save massive losses and be able to reinvest a year or year-and-a-half from now at unbelievably low prices and magnify your gains beyond compare.”

Of course predicting a stock market crash in 2024 isn’t exactly going out on a limb.

It is kind of like predicting that the sky will be blue or the Jets will stink.

At this stage, everyone can see that the stock market bubble is on borrowed time.

Meanwhile, the bottom of the economic food chain is already collapsing…

–1 out of 5 U.S. children already do not have enough food to eat.

-U.S. food banks are dealing with unprecedented demand.

-Homelessness in the United States is growing at the fastest pace ever recorded.

The homelessness crisis is particularly dire in the state of California.

If you can believe it, California accounts for almost half of all people living in the streets in the entire country…

California counted 181,399 people experiencing homelessness in January. Of those, 123,423 people (68%) were “unsheltered”, meaning living outside in tents, cars or other makeshift shelters, as opposed to indoor shelters or temporary setups. At 68%, the state has a greater share of its homeless population living outdoors than any other state and accounts for 49% of all people living on the streets in the US.

In most states, a majority of the homeless population is indoors. New York, for example, has one of the largest overall homeless populations, but only 4.9% were on the streets.

In my new book, I encourage those that are living in the state of California to consider relocating.

The state possesses immense natural beauty, but the left has turned it into a nightmare.

When an economic crisis arrives, it is those that are at the bottom of the food chain that often feel it first.

The bottom of the economic food chain in the United States is already collapsing, and it won’t be too long before those at the very top feel a tremendous amount of pain as well.

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.

We Have Become An Extremely Gluttonous Society That Consumes Far More Than It Produces

December 18, 2023December 18, 2023 by Michael

The United States has become an extremely gluttonous society. When I say that, I am not just talking about food. According to Gallup, obesity and diabetes “have both reached record highs”, but that is just a very small portion of the overall picture. As a society, we have an absolutely voracious appetite for just about anything that is not good for us. No matter how much we have already consumed, we feel compelled to consume even more. But of course our level of production is not keeping up with our level of consumption. So in order to maintain our ridiculously inflated standard of living we must endlessly go even deeper into debt, and all of the debt that we have accumulated is literally destroying the bright future that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have.

As a nation, we should be mourning for what we have lost.

Earlier today, I was greatly distressed to learn that U.S. Steel is being sold to the Japanese…

US Steel has agreed to be bought by Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker, in a $14.1 billion deal.

The deal marks the latest step in a gradual decline for the iconic 122-year old company, which was once the largest company on the planet. It was one of the first major conglomerates and a symbol of American industrial might.

But it is no longer even the largest US steelmaker, having been surpassed by Nucor Steel years ago.

U.S. Steel was one of the last remaining symbols of American industrial might.

It was literally founded by J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie, and without U.S. Steel the football team in Pittsburgh never would have been named “the Steelers”.

Thankfully, some lawmakers are pledging to oppose this deal. U.S. Senator JD Vance is one of them…

Some lawmakers from rust belt states joined the union in voicing opposition to a foreign buyer Monday.

“Today, a critical piece of America’s defense industrial base was auctioned off to foreigners for cash,” said Ohio’s Republican Senator JD Vance, in a statement. “I warned of this outcome months ago and will oppose it in the months ahead.”

He is right.

We can’t allow our industrial base to be auctioned off to foreigners.

If we want to have a great economy, we have got to be great at making stuff.

It really is that simple.

Meanwhile, our level of consumption continues to go up, and this is driving U.S. households into staggering amounts of debt…

A growing number of Americans are falling behind on their monthly credit card and car loan payments, a trend that may be a harbinger of economic troubles ahead, according to a new report from Moody’s Analytics.

Findings published by Moody’s indicate that household debt balances jumped to $17.29 trillion in the three-month period from July to September, up 1.3% from the previous quarter. That also marks an increase of $3.1 trillion since the last quarter of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Delinquency rates spiked just prior to the Great Recession, and it is starting to happen again.

In fact, Zero Hedge is reporting that “40% of student loan borrowers skipped their payment in October”…

In October, the number of Americans delinquent on subprime auto loans hit the highest rate on record, amid a rise in Google searches for “give car back” – while the number of people who are upside-down on auto loans is at the highest level since April 2020.

Now, according to data released Friday by the Biden administration, 40% of student loan borrowers skipped their payment in October, the first since the pandemic-era freeze on student debt expired.

Of course when it comes to debt, the federal government is the biggest offender of all.

Right now we are 33.8 trillion dollars in debt, and we will almost certainly hit the 34 trillion dollar mark before the end of the year.

We have stolen all of this money from future generations of Americans, and it is a crime that is so great that I don’t even have the words to describe it.

But we just can’t help ourselves.

If we think that something is going to make us feel good, we have just got to have it.

So we just keep spending and consuming with no end in sight.

Once upon a time, Christmas was considered to be a religious holiday by many Americans, but now it has just become a giant orgy of greed and consumption.

For most people, getting more stuff is the real “reason for the season”.

What in the world has happened to us?

At this point, we have become a society where literally anything goes…

A Democrat congressional aide who was fired for filming a gay sex tape in the Senate is facing possible criminal charges after his X-rated clip swept the internet.

Aidan Maese-Czeropski, 24, was fired by Maryland Senator Ben Cardin Saturday afternoon, less than a day after a lewd video showing two men having sex in a Senate hearing room was exposed.

The Capitol Police are reportedly now investigating the explicit incident, which occurred in the same room where Supreme Court justice nominees are grilled by senators.

What happens in Washington D.C. is truly a reflection of what is going on in our society as a whole.

Our leaders have been making horrendous decisions for decades, but the American people keep sending the same people back to D.C. over and over again.

But this game cannot go on indefinitely.

If we do not find a way to turn things around, time will soon run out for our nation.

So let us hope for a national awakening.

Unfortunately, our gluttony appears to be reaching a crescendo, and it appears that most Americans are unlikely to be shaken out of their stupor any time soon.

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.

The Biggest Spike In Homelessness Ever Recorded Is A Sign That The U.S. Economy Is Plunging Into An Abyss Of Pain And Suffering

December 17, 2023December 17, 2023 by Michael

At least things are still good for those at the very top of the food chain. But for everyone else, economic conditions have already become very painful. Today, the vast majority of Americans have less money than they did prior to the pandemic, and thanks to raging inflation our standard of living is steadily going down. We are in the early stages of “the greatest real estate correction” in our history, and 1 out of every five children in the United States does not have enough food to eat. With each passing day, more members of the middle class join the ranks of the poor, and more poor people find themselves getting kicked out into the streets. According to the Wall Street Journal, new numbers show that the number of homeless people in the United States has reached a brand new record high…

The U.S. count of homeless people surged to the highest level on record, reaching more than 653,000 people early this year as Covid-19 pandemic-aid spending faded, new federal data show.

The increase reflects a collision of factors: rising housing costs; limited affordable housing units; the opioid epidemic; and the expired pandemic-era aid that had helped keep people in their homes, federal officials said Friday.

In addition to having more homeless people in this country than ever before, additional people are becoming homeless at the fastest pace on record…

Homelessness shot up by more than 12% this year, reaching 653,104 people. The numbers represent the sharpest increase and largest unhoused population since the federal government began tallying totals in 2007, the U.S. Department of Urban Planning and Development said Friday. Last year, federal data showed 582,462 people experienced homelessness.

We have literally never seen a spike in homelessness like this before.

It is being reported that prior to these new numbers “the previous largest increase was a spike of 2.7 percent recorded in 2019”.

Just think about that for a moment.

At no point during the “Great Recession” did we see an increase in homelessness like this.

Essentially the floodgates have opened up and an absolutely massive tsunami of homelessness has begun.

Sadly, some groups are being hit much harder than others…

Black people made up 13% of the U.S. population in 2023, but they made up 21% of the U.S. population living in poverty, 37% of all people experiencing homelessness and 50% of homeless people in families with children.
Asian and Asian American people had the largest percentage increase in homelessness, up 40% from 2022, to a total of 11,574.
Hispanic and Latino people saw the largest numerical increase, up 28% from 2022 to 179,336 in 2023.

And please keep in mind that these are the ones that they can actually count.

How many more homeless Americans are out there that can’t be found or that don’t want to be found?

Of course many of you don’t need me to tell you that we have a homelessness crisis in America.

All you have to do to see it is to step outside your front door.

In San Francisco, residents have to do “the Poopie Dance” as they go to work because so many homeless people use the streets as a toilet…

They call it ‘The Poopie Dance’ and San Franciscans are having to learn it – and quickly.

It involves constantly looking straight ahead to find a clean line between where you are on the street and where you want to go.

Sadly, it’s the reality in parts of the Bay City as the growing homeless population have taken to using the famed streets of San Francisco as one giant open-air toilet.

So why is this happening?

Well, the truth is that there are a lot of factors that are contributing to this crisis, but one of the biggest is the fact that housing in the U.S. is now more unaffordable than it has ever been before…

High housing costs continue to be a financial stressor for the poorest Americans. In recent years, more people in the U.S. are rent-burdened, according to HUD, meaning they spend more than 30% or even over 50% of their income on rent.

Of course just about everything is less affordable these days.

For example, just check out what a new Ford F-150 will cost you these days…

For the 2024 F-150 XLT, in the two-door rear-wheel-drive base-everything configuration, the MSRP before “destination and delivery charges” is $47,620 per Ford’s website today. The “destination and delivery charges” of $1,995 give the truck a total MSRP of $49,615.

The average transaction price for all new vehicles sold is about $46,000, according to J.D. Power. A fully decked-out high-end F-series 4×4 Crew Cab can be well over $100,000.

Ouch!

A new truck is out of reach for most Americans at this point.

And actually “a middle class lifestyle” is out of reach for most Americans at this point.

The numbers that the government gives us say that we aren’t officially in a recession at this moment, but to most of us it certainly feels like a recession has already begun…

That’s according to a recent survey conducted by Bankrate, which found 59% of U.S. adults feel like the economy is in a recession, defined by two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Regardless of income, households said they are feeling the pressure at about the same amount. Sixty percent of respondents in the lowest-income households, making under $50,000 a year, said the economy feels like it is in a recession. Of those in higher-income households making more than $100,000 annually, 61% agreed.

I wish that I could tell you that economic conditions will improve in 2024 and beyond.

But I can’t do that, because the truth is that they are going to get worse.

The U.S. economy really is plunging into an abyss, and so much pain and suffering is ahead.

So if you have a warm home to sleep in tonight, be thankful, because there are countless others that do 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.

The Truth About The Economy That The Mainstream Media Is Not Telling You

December 14, 2023December 14, 2023 by Michael

If it seems to you that the economic headlines that we are being fed by the mainstream media are completely and utterly disconnected from reality, you are definitely not alone. They tell us that inflation is under control, but I was just at the grocery store today and I could hardly believe the prices. They tell us that unemployment is “low”, but large companies are laying off workers in droves. And they tell us that things are getting better for the middle class, but the truth is that by mid-2024 the vast majority of Americans will have less money than they did in 2019…

The majority of Americans have burned through their excess savings piled up during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the coming months, JPMorgan says it is likely that almost everyone will be worse off financially than they were in 2019.

In a Thursday note, the bank’s top stock strategist Marko Kolanovic said 80% of consumers, a group that accounts for nearly two-thirds of consumption, has already depleted any savings cushion they may have built during lockdowns.

“It is likely that only the top 1% of consumers by income will be better off than before the pandemic,” Kolanovic wrote, pointing to the growing signs of credit card and auto loan delinquencies, as well as Chapter 11 filings.

If almost all of us are getting poorer, how is that good news?

Of course the money that we still have in our bank accounts continues to lose even more value with each passing day.

An absolutely outstanding article that was just posted on Schiff Gold analyzes how much a basket of groceries that Kevin bought in the 1990 movie “Home Alone” would cost today…

Kevin bought a basket full of groceries including a half-gallon of milk, orange juice, Wonder Bread, a Stouffer’s frozen turkey dinner, toilet paper, Snuggle dryer sheets, Tide liquid laundry detergent, plastic wrap, Kraft macaroni and cheese, and a bag of army men. He paid a grand total of $19.83 with a $1 off coupon for the orange juice.

In 2022, that same basket of groceries would have cost around $44.40 based on a shopping trip by a West Virginia mother. That’s a 123.9% increase. (Keep in mind prices vary somewhat depending on the store and location.)

This year, Kevin would have to fork out a whopping $72.28 for his provisions at a Chicago store. That’s another 62.8% increase in just one year. Since 1990, the price of Kevin’s groceries has gone up over 264%.

So how in the world can they possibly claim that inflation is “low”?

It is almost as if we are living in Bizarro World.

At this point, it would cost the typical U.S. household 3.4 million dollars to live the American Dream over the course of a lifetime…

The “American Dream” costs about $3.4 million to achieve over the course of a lifetime, from getting married to saving for retirement, according to a recent analysis from financial site Investopedia.

Meanwhile, median lifetime earnings for the typical U.S. worker stand at $1.7 million, earlier research from the Georgetown University has found.

Such figures underline the financial pressures that many families face trying to afford a middle-class life as expenses like child care, college tuition and buying a home continue to climb. The Investopedia analysis tallies the average cost of achieving other aspects traditionally associated with the American Dream, such as owning a house and raising two children to age 18.

If you are like most Americans, you are never even going to come close to earning enough money to live a middle class lifestyle.

That is why so many people out there have given up.

In this economic environment, just hanging on to a decent job is an accomplishment.

This week, we learned that General Motors will be laying off approximately 900 employees…

General Motors’ Cruise on Thursday announced internally that it will lay off 900 employees, or 24% of its workforce, the company confirmed to CNBC.

The layoffs, which primarily affected commercial operations and related corporate functions, are the latest turmoil for the robotaxi startup and come one day after Cruise dismissed nine “key leaders” for the company’s response to an Oct. 2 accident in which a pedestrian was dragged 20 feet by a Cruise self-driving car after being struck by another vehicle.

Meanwhile, Ford is cutting production of the F-150 Lightning pickup in half…

Ford Motor will cut planned production of its all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup roughly in half next year, marking a major reversal after the automaker significantly increased plant capacity for the electric vehicle in 2023.

The new production plans call for average volume of around 1,600 F-150 Lightnings a week at Ford’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, starting in January, according to a source familiar with the decision. The automaker most recently planned to produce roughly 3,200 of the vehicles on average per week.

They want us to purchase electric vehicles, but what they don’t tell us is that maintenance and repairs are insanely expensive…

Lucas Turner was driving his 2014 Infiniti hybrid when its check engine light made its annoying appearance on the scene, according to KPHO-TV.

Not good, but with fewer than 70,000 miles on the vehicle, he was not expecting the bill would be a whopper.

Wrong.

“They called me and said, ‘Oh, I’ve got bad news, Mr. Turner. You need a new hybrid battery and it’s going to cost $18,000 for the battery and another $2,000 to have it installed.’

No thank you.

I could never see myself buying an electric vehicle, and there are tens of millions of other Americans that feel the exact same way.

Switching to another industry, Hasbro just announced that it will be laying off more than a thousand workers…

Toy giant Hasbro is laying off more than a thousand workers and closing its office in Providence, Rhode Island.

Why would a toy company be laying off so many workers just before Christmas? Shouldn’t this be a boom time for them? Some people suspect it is directly due to their partnership with Disney, a brand which has become toxic for many Americans in recent years.

People aren’t exactly lining up to buy toys linked to the last Indiana Jones movie or the latest offering of the Marvels, both of which were total duds at the box office.

When a major toy company is laying off workers even before the holiday season is over, that is a really bad sign for the economy.

Of course things in Europe are even worse.

At this point, it appears that Europeans are facing “a continent-wide recession”…

The latest GDP figures show that the eurozone contracted in the third quarter and looks like it will do the same in the last three months of the year falling into a continent-wide recession, Oxford Economics said in a note on December 8.

“Final figures confirmed eurozone GDP contracted 0.1% in the third quarter. What’s more, the detailed breakdown showed the European economy has no engines of growth at the moment. Although private consumption posted a small gain over the previous quarter, the near-term outlook still looks dire, and with both investment and exports unlikely to provide much momentum, the economy looks set to slide into recession in the fourth quarter,” Oxford Economics said.

And on the other side of the globe, we are being told that “China’s banking system is collapsing”…

China’s banking system is collapsing, and the real estate crisis in the country could end up wiping out $4 trillion from its financial system, according to veteran investor Kyle Bass.

In an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC on Monday , the Hayman Capital Management CIO pointed to China’s property sector, which has been reeling in recent years as debts from major property owners sour and some firms default on their bonds. The real estate crisis has left enough empty homes in China to house 3 billion people, a former top Chinese official said, and the flood of unused supply will generation huge financial losses in the real estate sector.

So don’t believe the hype.

The mainstream media would like us to believe that 2024 will be a wonderful year for the economy.

But the truth is that economic conditions have already been deteriorating all around us, and I am extremely concerned about what is coming during the year ahead. I would encourage you to check out my brand new book entitled “Chaos” for a detailed analysis of what is coming in 2024.

We have been propping up our standard of living for years by engaging in the greatest debt binge in the history of the world, but now that bubble has started to burst.

A tremendous amount of discomfort is ahead of us, but the mainstream media will continue to insist that every jolt of pain is simply a bump on the road to endless prosperity.

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.

In 2025, The U.S. Will Finally Begin Preparing To Fight A Nuclear War With Russia

December 12, 2023 by Michael

Will the upgrades that are coming to our strategic nuclear arsenal be ready in time? Right now, hopelessly outdated Minuteman missiles that first went into service in the 1970s form the backbone of our strategic nuclear arsenal. The silos where they stand ready to be launched still use rotary phones and 8 inch floppy disks in many cases. Once they are launched, the brand new S-500 anti-missile systems that the Russians have deployed will be able to intercept them. Meanwhile, the Russians have introduced a brand new intercontinental ballistic missile known as the Sarmat. A single Sarmat carries enough firepower to destroy an area the size of Texas, and our anti-missile systems are not able to deal with this new threat. The balance of power has fundamentally shifted, and so we desperately need to update our capabilities.

Unfortunately, this process will not even begin until 2025.

So we better hope that we do not get into a shooting war with Russia during the next couple of years.

The U.S. has been developing a brand new ICBM known as “the Sentinel”, and it is desperately needed…

The control stations for America’s nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles have a sort of 1980s retro look, with computing panels in sea foam green, bad lighting and chunky control switches, including a critical one that says “launch.”

Those underground capsules are about to be demolished and the missile silos they control will be completely overhauled. A new nuclear missile is coming, a gigantic ICBM called the Sentinel. It’s the largest cultural shift in the land leg of the Air Force’s nuclear missile mission in 60 years.

These upgrades cannot happen fast enough, because right now the infrastructure of our strategic nuclear arsenal is constantly breaking down and falling apart…

The silos lose power. Their 60-year old massive mechanical parts break down often. Air Force crews guard them using helicopters that can be traced back to the Vietnam War. Commanders hope the modernization of the Sentinel, and of the trucks, gear and living quarters, will help attract and retain young technology-minded service members who are now asked each day to find ways to keep a very old system running.

This is something that I have been warning about for years, but most people didn’t want to listen.

Now our military is in a race against time, because the clock is ticking.

Overall, 750 billion dollars will be spent to overhaul our strategic nuclear forces, and it is being projected the silo work for the Sentinel could begin “as soon as 2025”…

The Sentinel work is one leg of a larger, nuclear weapons enterprise-wide $750 billion overhaul that is replacing almost every component of U.S. nuclear defenses, including new stealth bombers, submarines and ICBMs in the country’s largest nuclear weapons program since the Manhattan Project.

For the Sentinel, silo work could be underway by lead contractor Northrop Grumman as soon as 2025.

I am glad that they are moving forward.

But if work will not even begin until 2025, when will it finally be completed?

Until the Sentinel is ready, the Russians will continue to possess a major strategic advantage over us, and they know it.

If the war in Ukraine spirals out of control, we could easily find ourselves facing a nightmare scenario.

The Russians have been steadily gaining ground in Ukraine in recent weeks, and over the past few days they have started to gobble up significant chunks of territory.

The Ukrainians are running out of warm bodies to throw into the fight, and that is a major problem.

They are also running out of ammunition and equipment, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky just made a trip to D.C. to beg for more money…

Zelensky is in D.C. to ask Congress to pass $61 billion more for Ukraine, on top of the $113 billion they approved early this year. However, it looks increasingly likely that any more funding for Ukraine will have to wait until next year.

The Biden administration requested the funding as part of a $106 billion package, which includes only $13 billion for securing the border, but Republicans say it does not go far enough, and are calling for a number of reforms to reduce the number of asylum seekers and illegal border crossers, which recently hit 12,000 per day.

Johnson said at a Wall Street Journal event on Monday that Democrats and the White House must agree to some or all of the border-security measures outlined in H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act.

Even with all of the money that we have given him already, his forces are still losing.

And even if we give him what he is asking for now, Russians forces will continue to advance.

Zelensky is holding a losing hand, and as the Russians advance he is going to become very desperate.

And very desperate people do very desperate things.

Eventually, I expect that events in Ukraine will force the U.S. and Russia into a showdown.

When that day arrives, will the U.S. be ready?

Earlier today, I came across an article about a calendar that is being sold in Russia that shows “a Russian soldier outside the US Capitol building in Washington DC with a drone and helicopter overhead”…

A Russian veterans organisation is selling a 2024 calendar featuring a muscle-bound Vladimir Putin.

The calendar continues a series of propaganda images including one showing a Russian soldier outside the US Capitol building in Washington DC with a drone and helicopter overhead.

Many Russians believe that a war with the United States is inevitable.

And as I have repeatedly warned my readers, the Russians have been feverishly preparing for such a conflict for a long time.

Thankfully, the U.S. is finally starting to get prepared as well.

But if work is not even going to begin until 2025, will the much needed upgrades to our strategic nuclear arsenal be completed in time?

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.

Last Chance To Get Out Of Dodge?

December 11, 2023December 11, 2023 by Michael

Time is running out. Lately, I have been hearing from so many people that believe that 2024 will be the year when our society goes over the edge. Our financial system is teetering on the brink of disaster, crime is absolutely exploding all over the country, homelessness is rising at the fastest pace ever recorded, food banks are facing unprecedented demand for their services, and I believe that 2024 will be the most chaotic election year in the entire history of our nation. And of course all of this is happening in the context of a global environment in which war, pestilences, economic problems, famine and natural disasters are all on the rise. A “perfect storm” is raging all around us, and millions upon millions of Americans have become deeply concerned about what our immediate future will look like.

So where will you be when things finally hit the fan?

During the past several years, we have seen a mass exodus of conservatives from blue states. For example, Fox News is reporting that 65 percent of those that have recently moved to the state of Idaho are Republicans, and only 12 percent are Democrats…

Data published by the Idaho Secretary of State’s office shows that out of the nearly 119,000 people who recently moved to the state, 65% registered as Republicans, compared to just 12% registering as Democrats.

The data, which was reviewed by Fox News Digital, show that out of the roughly 20,000 Americans who moved from Washington state to Idaho, 62% registered as Republicans, compared to 12% as Democrats, 24% as unaffiliated and 2% as “other.” The percentage of registered Republicans originally from Washington who recently moved to Idaho is actually higher than the state’s overall percentage of registered Republicans, which sits at about 58%.

And for those moving from the state of California, the numbers are even more dramatic…

Out of the nearly 40,000 people who left California for Idaho, a whopping 75% registered as Republicans, the data reviewed by Fox News Digital show. Only 10% of the California pool registered as Democrats, 14% as unaffiliated and 2% as “other.”

Wow.

Real estate agents in Idaho are urging potential clients to “escape liberal hell” and to get to the state “before the coming collapse”…

The Seattle Times noted that real estate ads advise residents in states such as Washington to “escape liberal hell” and move to Idaho.

“Time is not on your side, flee the city NOW before the coming collapse!” another ad for a house listing in Idaho states, the outlet reported.

Perhaps you are thinking that you should move to Idaho too.

Unfortunately, for many Americans it is already too late, because property values in some areas of the state have more than tripled.

Of course property values have also skyrocketed in desirable areas in many other red states as well.

Meanwhile, mortgage rates have also soared, and as a result home payments have risen to absolutely absurd levels during the Biden administration…

WSJ analysis of the housing market:

Average monthly new home payment
when Biden took office: $1,787

Average monthly new home payment
today: $3,322

You can still try to relocate.

But it will cost you much more than it would have a few years ago.

Renting is also an option, but we have just been through a period of time when rental prices have also jumped substantially…

After suffering through a three-year period when rents jumped by 30% or more in many U.S. cities, renters are now starting to enjoy small breaks like this.

Ultimately, if you were planning to relocate, you should have already done it by now.

But the good news is that conditions are still at least somewhat relatively stable as we approach the end of 2023.

So if you want to get out of Dodge, you can still do it.

In fact, for many of you this may be your last chance.

But don’t wait too long, because the clock is ticking.

At this point, most Americans can feel that something has gone horribly wrong. The warning signs are all around us, and conditions are getting worse with each passing day.

Even Warren Buffett can sense that a really big shift is coming. During the first three quarters of this year he sold off a whopping “$28.7 billion of stock”…

Warren Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway sold $28.7 billion of stock in the first three quarters of 2023 in a move that some economists have interpreted as ringing alarm bells for the American economy.

According to the company’s earnings, the Nebraska-based firm of the legendary investor and billionaire, known as the Oracle of Omaha, sold a net $10.4 billion of stock in the first quarter of the year. In the second quarter, it sold close to $13 billion of shares and bought less than $5 billion. In the third quarter, it sold about $5.3 billion worth of stocks.

As Buffett is considered one of the greatest investors of all time, as well as one of America’s richest men, his moves are closely observed and analyzed.

He didn’t make so much money by being stupid.

Buffett may not fully understand all of the specifics, but he realizes that something is up.

As our society crumbles, most of the population is not going to be able to handle it.

The suicide rate just continues to go up, and psychologists are reporting unprecedented demand for their services…

For the third consecutive year, many psychologists across the country say they are seeing patients struggle with worsening symptoms, many of them needing longer treatment times.

Those are among the findings of an annual survey by the American Psychological Association, released this week. The APA first launched this survey in 2020 to gauge the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on practicing psychologists.

A majority of psychologists reported that more people are seeking mental health care this year, adding to already long waitlists. Over half (56%) said they had no openings for new patients. Among those who keep waitlists, average wait times were three months or longer and nearly 40% said that their waitlist had grown in the past year.

When conditions get really bad, we are going to witness a national emotional meltdown of epic proportions.

Where will you be when that occurs?

Global events just continue to accelerate, and 2024 is less than three weeks away…

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.

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