These Economic Numbers Are Staggering

If you are struggling to make it in this economy, you are not alone, because there are millions of other Americans in the exact same boat.  Needless to say, the cost of living has become extremely oppressive, and that has put a tremendous amount of financial stress on U.S. families.  Unfortunately, the Federal Reserve has chosen to fight inflation by aggressively hiking interest rates, and that is starting to cause massive problems.  The money supply is actually shrinking, the banking system has been thrown into a state of chaos, and we are witnessing a tsunami of layoffs that is unlike anything that we have seen since the Great Recession.

For most Americans, employment is the only thing standing between them and poverty.  In fact, one recent survey discovered that 44 percent of Americans actually work more than one job…

Forty-four percent of Americans work a second job, a 13 percent increase relative to the Trump administration, a LendingClub report revealed Tuesday.

The recent increase under President Joe Biden is highlighted by a survey from FlexJobs, which found 69 percent of employed professionals either have a side job or want one.

This is our economy now.

Tens of millions of Americans have to work multiple jobs just to survive.

And at this point more than 60 percent of the population is living paycheck to paycheck

The LendingClub report also revealed 62 percent of Americans, including 48 percent of high-income consumers, were living paycheck to paycheck in February, up two percentage points from the month prior.

But if you are able to find a way to scrape by from month to month, you should be quite happy, because according to author Matthew Desmond approximately 18 million Americans have been living in a state of “deep poverty”…

In his book, Desmond, analyzing data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources, reports that 1 in 18 people in the U.S. live in what’s considered “deep poverty,” or what he calls “a subterranean level of scarcity.”

In 2020, this category included people who make less than $6,380 a year, or families of four living on less than $13,100. In 2020, almost 18 million people in America lived in these conditions, including some 5 million children.

As I sit here, I am having a difficult time comprehending these numbers.

They are just so bad.

Unfortunately, economic conditions are rapidly getting worse.  On Thursday, we learned that Roku will be conducting a second round of layoffs

Streaming device company Roku is planning to lay off another 200 workers, just months after it cut the same number of positions in 2022.

In a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing this week, Roku, Inc. wrote that it has “approved a restructuring plan to lower the Company’s year-over-year operating expense growth and prioritize projects that the Company believes will have a higher return on investment, which is expected to impact approximately 200 employees, approximately 6% of the Company’s workforce, and result in the exit and sublease, or cease use, of certain office facilities that the Company does not currently occupy.”

And EA has just announced that it will “lay off about 6% of its workforce”

Videogame publisher Electronic Arts said on Wednesday it will lay off about 6% of its workforce and reduce office space in an attempt to cut costs.

EA had about 12,900 staff as of March-end last year.

The Madden NFL publisher also said it will move away from projects that do not contribute to its strategy.

I was quite alarmed when I heard that.

I thought EA was doing well.

Burger King will also be giving the axe to large numbers of workers as it closes 26 locations

Burger King has announced it will lay off 424 members of staff as it gears up to close 26 restaurants through April.

Store closures began on 17 March and will continue through next month as the chain shuts doors due to ‘unforeseen business circumstance’.

And if Bed Bath & Beyond is unable to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, the entire company may soon go belly up…

Bed Bath & Beyond will sell up to $300 million of its stock to repay creditors and fund its business as it struggles to avoid bankruptcy.

If it’s not able to raise sufficient money from the offering, the home furnishings giant said Thursday it expects to “likely file for bankruptcy.”

There are going to be so many stories like this in the months ahead.

After years of super low interest rates and easy money, our leaders have thrown things into reverse.

At this point, our money supply is actually “falling at its fastest rate since the 1930s”

U.S. money supply is falling at its fastest rate since the 1930s, a red flag for the economy and financial markets. Money supply has now been shrinking year-on-year since December, an unprecedented development in modern times that should make investors sit up and take notice – growth, asset prices and inflation could all weaken.

According to Reuters, It is largely a consequence of the reversal of the liquidity generated by massive post-pandemic fiscal and monetary stimulus, the Federal Reserve shrinking its balance sheet via quantitative tightening, falling bank deposits, and weak demand for and provision of credit.

Needless to say, the 1930s were not a good time for our economy.

And as our historic banking crisis rolls on, small and mid-size banks all over the nation are going to get really tight with their money.

That means that they will be issuing fewer mortgages, fewer commercial real estate loans, fewer auto loans and fewer credit cards.

In other words, economic activity is really going to slow down.

The good news is that we can see what is happening in advance, and so those that are wise will be able to make preparations to weather the coming storm.

Unfortunately, most of the population still trusts our leaders when they say that everything is going to work out just fine somehow.

So many people have blind faith in the system, even though the system is now starting to crumble all around us.

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 the latest updates.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse BlogEnd 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.

More Pestilences Erupt: Marburg, H3N8, H5N1, And A “Mystery Disease” In Burundi

Has the next major global pandemic already started?  Right now, multiple outbreaks are alarming world health authorities.  We all saw the fear that COVID caused, but the diseases that I am going to discuss in this article could potentially create far more panic if they were to start rapidly spreading among humans all over the planet.  Sadly, the global population has been perfectly primed for future pandemics because hundreds of millions of people are now running around with highly compromised immune systems.  As I discuss in my latest book, we have entered a new era of great pestilences, and life is not going to “return to normal” any time soon.

To me, one of the most frightening pestilences that has erupted is the Marburg virus.  Seven confirmed cases in Equatorial Guinea are already dead, and twenty more people that had “links to the confirmed cases” have also dropped dead…

The Marburg outbreak in Equatorial Guinea continues to grow, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, as the global health agency stated that it knows of confirmed cases that the country has not yet reported.

To date Equatorial Guinea has acknowledged nine laboratory-confirmed cases, seven of whom have died. In addition, 20 other people with links to the confirmed cases died without being tested; they are considered probable cases. Throughout this outbreak, which is believed to have begun in early January, the government has been slow to release updates; last week the WHO expressed fears there may be undetected chains of transmission.

It sounds like this outbreak in Equatorial Guinea has escaped all efforts to contain it, and that is really bad news.

Meanwhile, people are also dying of the Marburg virus in Tanzania

Five people have died and three others are infected with the Marburg virus – a highly infectious, Ebola-like disease – in Tanzania’s north-west Kagera region, authorities said earlier this week.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 161 people have been identified as at risk of infection through contact tracing and are currently being monitored.

If you look at a map of Africa, you will see that Equatorial Guinea is on the west coast and Tanzania is on the east coast.

So either these are two unrelated outbreaks going on at the same time, or Marburg is far more widespread in Africa than we are being told.

Will it soon make the jump and start spreading outside of the African continent?

Earlier today, I was stunned to learn that the government of Indonesia is now warning their citizens to “anticipate the Marburg virus”

The Indonesian Government issued a circular on precautions for Marburg virus disease. Local governments, health service facilities, Port Health Office, health human resources, and related stakeholders are asked to be vigilant against the deadly virus.

A spokesperson for the Health Ministry Mohammad Syahril reminded the government and the public not to be headless about the virus. “We need to maintain early vigilance and anticipate the Marburg virus disease,” Syahril said in a statement, on Tuesday, March 28.

Indonesia is on the other side of the planet.

Do they know something that we do not?

We will want to keep a close eye on this story.

At the same time, concern about the bird flu continues to rise.

It has already killed well over 100 million chickens and turkeys globally, and officials are warning that if it starts spreading widely among humans the death toll could be catastrophic

Under one scenario, officials have modelled that the virus could kill up to 5 per cent of people who get infected.

The scientists said this was in line with SARS outbreak in 2002.

This is, however, much lower than current estimates. Bird flu has an actual case-fatality rate of around 50 per cent in humans.

Hopefully the bird flu will not become a pandemic among humans, but this is another outbreak that we definitely need to watch.

Just this week, Chinese authorities reported a third human case of the H3N8 bird flu in China

Chinese health authorities have reported a new human case of the H3N8 strain of bird flu – the third known infection since the virus was first detected in humans in China last year.

A 56-year-old woman in Zhongshan, a city in the south of the country, tested positive for the virus after she was exposed to live poultry, the Guangdong Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement on Monday.

And last month some human cases of the H5N1 bird flu in Cambodia made headlines all over the world…

On 23 February 2023, the Cambodia International Health Regulations (IHR) National Focal Point (NFP) reported one confirmed case of human infection with avian influenza A (H5N1) virus to WHO. A second case, a family contact of the first case, was reported on 24 February 2023. An outbreak investigation is ongoing including determining the exposure of these two reported cases to the virus.

Maybe this will be nothing, but several big pharmaceutical companies have already been working on a vaccine “just in case”…

Executives at GSK Plc, Moderna Inc and CSL Seqirus disclosed to Reuters they are already developing or are on the cusp of testing human vaccines matching this current strain as a precautionary measure. Likewise, Sanofi stands “ready” to begin production if needed.

I know that I have laid a lot on you in this article.

But before I end this piece, there is one more outbreak that I wanted to mention…

A mystery disease which can cause nosebleeds has killed three people in Burundi.

All of the deaths have occurred in the north eastern part of the African country — close to the borders with Tanzania and Rwanda.

And they reportedly died within 24 hours of their symptoms emerging.

They are telling us that this “mystery disease” in Burundi acts a lot like Ebola or Marburg, but at this point authorities are ruling them both out as the cause.

But if it isn’t Ebola or Marburg, what is it?

Hopefully we will get some answers.  I will be monitoring all of these outbreaks, and those that are subscribed to my Substack will receive any updates as soon as I publish them.

Our world is changing.

Once upon a time, major global pandemics were few and far between.

But now we have entered a completely different age, and mad scientists continue to perform very dangerous experiments on extremely deadly bugs in secret labs all over the planet.

As we have seen, it is way too easy for a bug to get loose.

And if the wrong bug gets loose, it could potentially result in hundreds of millions of deaths.

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 the latest updates.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse BlogEnd 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.

The Way That The Radical Left Is Reacting To The Nashville Shooting Shows The True State Of Our Country

When a great tragedy happens, it should bring us together.  But instead, each new tragedy seems to tear us apart even more.  The Nashville shooting is a perfect example of this.  Instead of focusing on the victims and grieving for the lives that have been lost, many are using this tragedy as an opportunity to make extremely inflammatory statements.  If you want to see how divided we have become as a nation, just look at how those on the left are responding to this story and compare it to how those on the right are responding to this story.  It is almost as if the two sides are living in completely different universes.

Right now, all Americans should be mourning the precious lives that were lost.  One of the victims was a little 9-year-old girl named Hallie Scruggs

Among the six victims shot and killed inside a private Christian school in Nashville on Monday was the young daughter of a local pastor, according to reports.

Hallie Scruggs, one of three children slain in the sickening school shooting, was the 9-year-old daughter of Chad Scruggs, the senior pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church, the church confirmed to CBS News.

It is truly evil to ruthlessly gun down a 9-year-old girl.

But according to Fox News, the “Trans Resistance Network” has actually released a statement that makes excuses for the shooter…

A radical transgender group said the transgender Nashville shooter felt “no other effective way to be seen” than killing six people at a private Presbyterian school.

The Trans Resistance Network (TRN), a far-left transgender “collective,” released an inflammatory statement on Monday in the wake of the Covenant School shooting by transgender woman Aubrey Hale in Nashville that killed three nine-year-olds and three adults.

I am sorry, but no matter what you have been through in life there is no excuse for murdering a 9-year-old girl.

But the “Trans Resistance Network” seems to think that they are the real victims in all of this

TRN wrote they “do not claim to know the individual or have access to their inner thoughts and feelings” but they “do know that life for transgender people is very difficult, and made more difficult in the preceding months by a virtual avalanche of anti-trans legislation, and public callouts by Right Wing personalities and political figures for nothing less than the genocidal eradication of trans people from society.”

“Many transgender people deal with anxiety, depression, thoughts of suicide, and PTSD from the near-constant drum beat of anti-trans hate, lack of acceptance from family members and certain religious institutions, denial of our existence, and calls for de-transition and forced conversion,” TRN claimed.

Another radical leftist, YouTuber David Pakman, is mocking the victims by suggesting that “they weren’t praying enough”

YouTuber David Pakman responded to the mass shooting of Christians by a transgender nutjob in Nashville on Monday by mocking the victims and asking if it’s “possible” that “they weren’t praying enough” despite being a Christian school.

“Very surprising that there would be a mass shooting at a Christian school, given that lack of prayer is often blamed for these horrible events,” Pakman said on Twitter. “Is it possible they weren’t praying enough, or correctly, despite being a Christian school?”

That is just sick.

But this is the mindset of these people.

They really do hate Christians.

Other radical leftists decided that this tragedy was a great opportunity to call for the end of private Christian schools

Two trans activists are demanding the end of the conservative ‘love affair’ with ‘radical religious schools’ in a response to the Nashville mass shooting, in which they appear to shift the blame away from twisted killer, Audrey Hale, 28.

And of course the anti-gun nuts are out in full force.

For example, Alyssa Milano is claiming that guns are “the leading cause of death for American children”

No, actually that is not true.

The leading cause of death for children in the United States is abortion, and nothing else is even close.

The second leading cause of death for children in the United States is auto accidents.

But if liberals lump in those that are 18 and 19 years old, they can get gun deaths to jump above auto accidents.

Needless to say, those that are 18 and 19 years old are legally considered to be adults.

Many on the left are also extremely upset that quite a few corporate media outlets originally “misgendered” the shooter.

In response to that criticism, corrections were hastily issued by many news organizations, and that even includes the New York Times

We live in such an upside down world.

A radical trans activist just gunned down six people, including the 9-year-old daughter of a pastor, but this story is rapidly being twisted into a vehicle for advancing the trans agenda.

But it was Christians at a Christian school that were specifically targeted.

Why won’t the mainstream media ever talk about all of the anti-Christian hate that is fueling so much anti-Christian violence all over America?

Of course we all know the answer to that question.

The divisions in this country are getting deeper with each passing day, and that should greatly sadden all of us.

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 the latest updates.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse BlogEnd 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.

Guess Who Is Now Warning That “Commercial Real Estate Is In Trouble”?

What will our financial system look like once the 20 trillion dollar commercial real estate industry implodes?  You might want to start thinking about that, because the truth is that the industry is in a tremendous amount of trouble.   Occupancy rates are extremely low and getting lower, rising interest rates have created all sorts of havoc, and now many of the small and mid-size banks that the industry depends upon for financing are in serious jeopardy.  In essence, the commercial real estate industry is facing a “perfect storm” of nightmares, and this crisis is only going to escalate in the months ahead.

I may sound like a broken record to some of my readers, because I have been warning about a commercial real estate crash for some time.

But now what is happening is so obvious that even CNN is sounding the alarm…

After decades of thriving growth bolstered by low interest rates and easy credit, commercial real estate has hit a wall.

Office and retail property valuations have been falling since the pandemic brought about lower occupancy rates and changes in where people work and how they shop. The Fed’s efforts to fight inflation by raising interest rates have also hurt the credit-dependent industry.

Recent banking stress will likely add to those woes. Lending to commercial real estate developers and managers largely comes from small and mid-sized banks, where the pressure on liquidity has been most severe. About 80% of all bank loans for commercial properties come from regional banks, according to Goldman Sachs economists.

Amazingly, what you just read are three paragraphs from CNN that are completely factually accurate.

Needless to say, that doesn’t happen too often these days.

But at this point there is no debate about what is happening to commercial real estate.  In fact, short sellers are aggressively shorting the industry right now because they all want a piece of the carcass…

Recently, short-sellers have stepped up their bets against commercial landlords, indicating that they think the market will continue to fall as regional banks limit access to credit. Real estate is the most shorted industry globally and the third most in the United States, according to S&P Global.

This is going to be such a disaster.

But don’t just take my word for it.

According to Elon Musk, the commercial real estate crisis is “by far the most serious looming issue” facing our economy…

I don’t know if I would go quite that far, but I totally agree that we are headed for a commercial real estate implosion that is absolutely unprecedented in U.S. history.

Of course many would argue that it has already begun.

In recent weeks, we have witnessed a long list of high profile failures

The examples of large owners and prominent addresses in major markets abound.

Aside from Brookfield’s default in Downtown Los Angeles the other dominos include RXR, which is negotiating with lenders to convert two New York City office buildings to residential. In Washington, D.C., a $38.1 million commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loan on an office building that houses the U.S. Department of Treasury is headed to special servicing. And, in perhaps the most substantial sign of distress, Columbia Property Trust, which owns in San Francisco, New York and Washington, defaulted in February on $1.7 billion in debt backed by seven of its office buildings.

And this comes at a time when the entire economy is starting to tremble.

The St. Louis Fed Financial Stress Index just hit its highest level since the early days of the COVID pandemic, and the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Outlook Survey has now been in negative territory for 11 months in a row

For the 11th month in a row, The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Outlook survey printed negative (signaling contraction) in March, dropping to -15.7 (from -13.5), significantly below the -10.0 expected bounce.

The new orders index was negative for a 10th month in a row and came in at -14.3, little changed from February. The growth rate of orders index was also negative and largely unchanged, at -15.2.

As economic conditions continue to deteriorate, a lot more Americans are going to be losing their jobs.

And that even includes people working at some of the largest and most successful companies in the entire country.

For example, Disney has announced that it will actually be conducting three rounds of mass layoffs

In a company-wide message obtained by FOX Business on Monday, Disney CEO Bob Iger updated employees on the cuts expected to take place at the entertainment giant, saying the “first group of impacted employees” would receive notification they were being laid off “over the next four days.” Senior leaders at the company had been “working closely with HR to assess their operational needs” over the past handful of months, he said.

Two other rounds of layoffs will follow the one starting this week, with Iger telling Disney employees the “second, larger round” will take place in April and the third slated for “before the beginning of the summer,” according to the memo. The layoffs will ultimately trim Disney’s headcount by about 7,000 workers.

I am sure that many of you are asking the same question that I am asking.

Why don’t they just fire all 7,000 workers at once?

Laying off workers in waves is just going to create a lot of anxiety.

Maybe that is what they want.  After all, Disney has gotten really “weird” in recent years.

If it was me, I wouldn’t want workers stressed out for the next few months as they wonder whether they will survive the cuts or not.

But as our banking crisis rolls on, there is going to be so much stress all over America throughout the rest of 2023.

Just like in 2008, vast numbers of hard working Americans will be losing their jobs, and there will be so much emotional pain.

If you have a job that you cherish, try to hold on to it as tightly as you can, because good jobs will soon become a very precious commodity in this nation.

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 the latest updates.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse BlogEnd 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.

You Will Be Shocked By How Much Money Is Being Pulled Out Of U.S. Banks, And Now The Biggest Bank In Germany Is In Trouble

A trillion dollars is a lot of money.  If you stacked a billion dollar bills on top of one another, the pile would be 67.9 miles high, but if you stacked a trillion dollar bills on top of one another the pile would be 67,866 miles high.  And if you lined up a trillion dollar bills end to end, the line of dollar bills would be a staggering 96,906,656 miles long.  That is longer than the distance from the Earth to the Sun.  A trillion dollars is such a vast amount of money that it is truly difficult to comprehend, but as you will see below, that much money has already been pulled out of “vulnerable” U.S. banks over the past year.  Hordes of small and mid-size banks are now in trouble, and that is really bad news because those institutions issue most of the mortgages, auto loans and credit cards that our economy runs on.  The other day, I asked my readers to “imagine what our country will look like if the banking system implodes and the economy plunges into a depression”, because if our banks continue to collapse that is precisely where we are headed.

Unfortunately, the recent banking panic has greatly accelerated matters.  In fact, a whopping 98.4 billion dollars was pulled out of U.S. banks during the week ending March 15th…

The readout, released shortly after the market closed Friday, came around the same time as new Fed data showed that bank customers collectively pulled $98.4 billion from accounts for the week ended March 15.

That would have covered the period when the sudden failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank rocked the industry.

Just think about that.

Nearly 100 billion dollars in deposits evaporated in just one week.

And it turns out that small banks were being hit the hardest.  Unsurprisingly, big banks actually saw enormous inflows

Data show that the bulk of the money came from small banks. Large institutions saw deposits increase by $67 billion, while smaller banks saw outflows of $120 billion.

That article didn’t give numbers for mid-size banks, but it appears likely that they experienced large outflows as well.

Overall, JPMorgan Chase is telling us that the “most vulnerable” banks in this country have “lost a total of about $1 trillion in deposits since last year”

JPMorgan Chase & Co analysts estimate that the “most vulnerable” U.S. banks are likely to have lost a total of about $1 trillion in deposits since last year, with half of the outflows occurring in March following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

This really is a “banking meltdown”, and it has been going on for quite some time.

And as Bill Ackman has aptly noted, if something is not done our small and mid-size banks are headed for disaster.

There are more than 4,000 banks in the United States right now, and the vast majority of them are rapidly losing deposits.

As a result, U.S. banks are being forced to turn to the Fed for help at a very frightening rate

Banks have been flocking to emergency lending facilities set up after the failures of SVB and Signature. Data released Thursday showed that institutions took a daily average of $116.1 billion of loans from the central bank’s discount window, the highest since the financial crisis, and have taken out $53.7 billion from the Bank Term Funding Program.

Meanwhile, the banking crisis in Europe has taken another very alarming turn.

On Friday, shares of Deutsche Bank plunged due to renewed concern about the stability of Germany’s biggest bank…

Deutsche Bank shares fell on Friday following a spike in credit default swaps Thursday night, as concerns about the stability of European banks persisted.

The Frankfurt-listed stock was down 14% at one point during the session but trimmed losses to close 8.6% lower on Friday afternoon.

The German lender’s Frankfurt-listed shares retreated for a third consecutive day and have now lost more than a fifth of their value so far this month.

It will be interesting to see if Credit Suisse or Deutsche Bank ends up going under first.

Of course the politicians continue to tell us that everything is just fine.

In fact, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is insisting that there is “no reason to be concerned”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Friday that there was “no reason to be concerned” about Deutsche Bank.

“It’s a very profitable bank,” he told reporters in Brussels, where EU leaders issued a joint statement describing the European banking system as “resilient, with strong capital and liquidity positions.”

Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

Once upon a time we were told that Lehman Brothers would be just fine.

And earlier this month we were told that Silicon Valley Bank would be just fine.

As Robin Williams once observed, these banks love to make excuses.

But it isn’t just a few isolated banks that are in trouble these days.

Right now the entire system is coming apart at the seams, and Steve Quayle is warning that things “will really kick into high gear in April”

The word collapse is a great word, and the other word that comes with collapse is calamity. With the collapse and calamity under way, people think, well, as long as it doesn’t touch me, I’ll be okay or I’ll be dead, and my kids will have to deal with it. What a selfish way to deal with the Biblical times we live in. I think we are in big trouble with this banking situation that will really kick into high gear in April.

You may not have much sympathy for the banks, and I understand that.

But what is going to happen to our economy when the flow of mortgages, auto loans and credit cards is greatly restricted?

Our country is already being torn to shreds like a 20 dollar suit, and economic conditions are still relatively stable.

So what is going to happen when we do fall into a very deep economic depression?

These are such perilous times, and they are only going to get more difficult in the months ahead.

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 the latest updates.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse BlogEnd 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.

“The Banks Are Melting”, And Signs Of A Major Credit Contraction Are Already Starting To Emerge

When there is fear in the air, banks start getting really tight with their money, and right now there is lots of fear in the air.  A major credit contraction would be a nightmare scenario for the economy, and as you will see below, there is evidence that this is already starting to happen.  Hopefully our leaders can find a way to calm things down, because we all remember what happened during the last financial crisis.  Banks decided to substantially tighten their lending standards and that really deepened the economic downturn.  So our leaders should be doing what they can to support the stability of the system, but in so many cases they end up doing just the opposite.

For example, on Wednesday U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen publicly admitted that blanket coverage of all uninsured deposits in U.S. banks is not even under consideration

In response to a direct question about whether the Treasury would circumvent Congress to insure all deposits, Yellen replied, “I have not considered or discussed anything having to do with blanket insurance or guarantees of all deposits.”

When she made this statement, she poured even more lighter fluid on small and mid-size banks all over the country.

Wealthy individuals and large companies have already been pulling billions of dollars out of such banks, and a lot more money will inevitably be pulled out in the days ahead.

Now that these banks are bleeding deposits at an unprecedented rate, what do you think their approach to lending will be?

Needless to say, they are going to be extremely averse to taking risks at this point.

And that means that lending standards are going to be getting a lot tighter.

In response to a tweet in which Joe Biden touted the accomplishments of his administration, Elon Musk warned that “the banks are melting”.

Musk is quite correct.

Our banks are definitely in the process of melting, and hundreds of them could soon be in very serious jeopardy.

And just to make sure that hordes of banks will soon be teetering on the brink of disaster, the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates once again this week.

As CNN’s Richard Quest has pointed out, our banks “are stuffed to the gills with these government bonds”, and every time rates go up those bonds become even less valuable…

Quest said, “Now, if inflation was your goal and your number one target, then you’d have gone 50 [basis points]. But, obviously, the overriding concern today is the banking sector. And remember, Zain, the problem with the banking sector is that all the banks are stuffed to the gills with these government bonds. Raise the interest rate, and the bond becomes less valuable. So, even today’s action at 0.25% makes things that little bit worse for the banks.”

Later, he added, “More banks are going to go out of business. More state and regional banks in the United States will need to be resolved — to use the technical phrase — they’ll be taken over, they’ll be wound up, they’ll be taken into ownership, all sorts of things.”

So is there evidence that all of this banking turmoil is starting to directly affect the behavior of U.S. consumers?

Well, it appears that credit card transactions are already starting to tumble quite dramatically

As Citi’s Paul Lejuez writes in the latest “Citi’s Credit Card Insights” report (available to professional subs), the bank’s credit card data for the 16 sub-sectors it tracks show that total spending in March wk 3 (ended 3/18/23) decreased 10.3%, a big deceleration vs March wk 2 (-6.8%), and driven by a high-single digit decline in transactions. Ex-Food, spending decreased even more, tumbling by 13.0% vs -8.1% in March wk 2.

As Lejuez notes, “This was the first week of data following the disruption within the financial sector, and we were curious if it might have had an impact on the consumer. It sure did” and as Citi goes on to note, the third week of March, and the first week after America’s regional banks implodedwas the biggest decline in total retail spending we have seen since the pandemic began (April 2020).”

As economic activity slows down, companies all over the nation will be forced to slash payrolls.

We have already been witnessing a tsunami of layoffs in recent months, and it appears that this tsunami is gathering even more momentum.

For example, Walmart has just announced that it will be giving the axe to hundreds of e-commerce fulfillment workers…

Hundreds of workers at five U.S. Walmart facilities that fulfill e-commerce orders are being asked to find jobs within 90 days at other company locations, a spokesperson confirmed to Reuters.

About 200 workers at Pedricktown, New Jersey, and hundreds of others at Fort Worth, Texas; Chino, California; Davenport, Florida; and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania were let go due to a reduction or elimination in evening and weekend shifts, the spokesperson said.

And Accenture just announced that it will be laying off a whopping 19,000 workers worldwide in the months ahead

Professional services company Accenture plans to cut 19,000 jobs worldwide over the next 18 months in order to trim costs amid the tumultuous economic environment.

Most of the cuts will impact those working in the company’s non-billable corporate roles, Accenture said in a Thursday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Even Disney is being forced to slim down.  In fact, we are being told that the coming wave of Disney layoffs in April will be a “bloodbath”

With Disney’s April 3 shareholder meeting — a virtual affair this year — less than two weeks away, some clarity is emerging about the company’s plans to reduce staff and cut costs.

Insiders tell Deadline that multiple rounds of cuts are being prepared. The first one is being targeted for late March, likely next week, we hear. (March 30 or March 31 have been floated as possible dates, but that has not been confirmed.) According to sources, there will be a big wave in late April, described as “the big one” or a “bloodbath,” when a large portion of the cuts are expected to come.

Needless to say, this isn’t normal.

We haven’t seen anything like this since 2008, and every month this crisis just seems to escalate even more.

You know that things are bad when one of the largest employment websites in the entire world starts conducting mass layoffs

Job search platform Indeed announced on Wednesday that it plans to lay off 2,200 employees, or roughly 15% of its staff.

Indeed CEO Chris Hyams said in a letter shared with employees that the cuts come from nearly every team at Indeed and Indeed Flex, noting that the decisions were carefully made with human resources, the legal department, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging teams.

As economic activity slows down, it is inevitable that many more Americans will suddenly lose their jobs.

Just hope that it doesn’t happen to you.

We have been anticipating that a major economic meltdown was coming, and now it is here.

Unfortunately, most Americans still assume that our leaders know exactly what they are doing, but the truth is that way too often they are taking actions that are making our problems even worse.

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 the latest updates.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse BlogEnd 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.

Are They Actually Trying To Crash The Economy On Purpose?

They actually did it.  The Federal Reserve just raised interest rates by another 25 basis points right in the middle of a major banking crisis.  I honestly do not understand what Fed officials are thinking.  They had already blown a 620 billion dollar black hole in the balance sheets of U.S. banks by raising rates so aggressively, and that resulted in the second and third largest bank failures in U.S. history earlier this month.  Apparently they are not yet satisfied with the carnage that they have caused, and so they have decided to make things even worse.  What we are witnessing is either extreme incompetence of epic proportions, or they are trying to crash the economy on purpose.  I am sitting here trying to think of a third alternative, but so far I am coming up blank.

Fed officials can see exactly what their reckless rate hikes are doing to the system, but they are pressing forward anyway.  Wednesday’s rate hike was “the ninth consecutive rate increase”

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a point, forging ahead with its fight against stubborn inflation despite a spate of bank failures and a growing crisis within the financial sector.

The unanimous decision puts the key benchmark federal funds rate at a range of 4.75% to 5%, the highest since 2007, from near zero just one year ago. It marks the ninth consecutive rate increase aimed at combating high inflation.

The fact that it was a “unanimous decision” should greatly alarm all of us.

Isn’t there a single voice of reason left at the Fed?

The last time the Fed raised rates like this was just before the financial crisis of 2008.

And we all remember what that did to our banking system.

But the Fed insists that this time is different.  In fact, we were just told that our banking system “is sound and resilient”

“The U.S. banking system is sound and resilient,” the Fed said. “Recent developments are likely to result in tighter credit conditions for households and businesses and to weigh on economic activity, hiring, and inflation. The extent of these effects is uncertain. The Committee remains highly attentive to inflation risks.”

Of course banks don’t tighten the flow of credit when things are good.

They tighten the flow of credit when they get into trouble.

And it appears that another major U.S. bank is now exhibiting signs of distress

Shares of regional bank PacWest Bancorp dropped Wednesday after the company disclosed it had shed more than $6 billion in deposits during the recent squeeze on midsized banks, though PacWest said it did not plan to raise more capital.

The bank said in a press release Wednesday that it had $27.1 billion in deposits as of March 20, which is down from $33.9 billion at the end of December and from $33.2 billion on March 9. The change appears to have largely come from venture banking deposits, which accounted for a third of PacWest’s deposits at the end of December and now stand at just 24%.

There are more than 4,000 banks in the United States today, and hundreds of them could end up failing before this crisis is over.

That would mean fewer mortgages for potential homeowners.

That would also mean fewer auto loans, credit cards and debit cards.

Unfortunately, the flow of credit is the lifeblood of our economy, and so we need our banks to be healthy.

But if the Federal Reserve continues to go down this road, bank after bank will be absolutely crushed.

Needless to say, the Fed’s insane policies are also bursting the housing bubble.  At this point, U.S. home prices are down 12.3 percent just since last June…

The national median existing-home price fell 0.2% in February from a year earlier to $363,000, the first year-over-year decline since February 2012, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. Median prices are down 12.3% from their record $413,800 in June.

U.S. homeowners have already lost trillions of dollars of home equity, and now the Fed has just poured more fuel on the fire.

It is madness.

It is literally insane for the Federal Reserve to aggressively hike rates as we are plunging into a major economic downturn, but that is precisely what they are doing.

Look, if the long-term economic outlook was positive do you think that Walmart would be closing even more stores?

Walmart has announced plans to close stores in Hawaii and Minnesota, which join a handful of other stores closing in several states this year.

The retail giant said the decision was made after a review process that determined the impacted stores failed to meet financial expectations, the company told USA TODAY.

Ten stores in Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin will close by the end of the year, along with two experimental “pickup” locations in Illinois and Arkansas.

Walmart exists to make money.

If there was a chance that those stores could be turned around, Walmart would not be permanently shutting them down.

Sadly, other major retailers are also closing locations all over the nation.

They can see what is coming.

Higher interest rates are already crushing economic activity from coast to coast, and they are battening down the hatches.

The “experts” at the Fed are assuring all of us that they know exactly what they are doing, but the truth is that they have lost control.

As you read this article, wealthy individuals and large companies are pulling uninsured money out of small and mid-size banks all over America.

Many of those small and mid-size banks will soon be in very serious jeopardy, and that will significantly reduce the flow of credit into our economy.

Is this what they want?

Do they really want to see the U.S. economy implode?

Our leaders continue to make mind-numbingly bad decisions, and we are on a course that leads to national suicide.

When will the American people finally wake up?

Sadly, most Americans are still blindly trusting the “experts”, and the “experts” have us on a highway to extreme misery.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

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 published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse BlogEnd 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.

What In The World Is Happening To The Sun?

We could not survive without the giant ball of fire that our planet revolves around, and so the stability of our sun is of the utmost importance.  Unfortunately, it has started to behave very erratically lately.  Scientists are telling us that they think everything is just fine, but the truth is that they don’t really know.  We are witnessing activity that is truly unusual, and I believe that should deeply alarm all of us.  In fact, I am entirely convinced that the behavior of the sun will become a really big story in the years ahead.

Let me give you an example of what I am talking about.

Last month, a portion of the sun’s northern pole actually “broke off” and created a “massive polar vortex”

The sun has been experiencing bizarre behavior recently – in February, a piece of its northern pole broke off.

A video shows a giant filament of plasma, or electrified gas, shooting out from the sun, separating and then circulating in a ‘massive polar vortex.’

While astronomers are baffled, they speculate the prominence has something to do with the reversal of the sun’s magnetic field that happens once every solar cycle.

The size of this polar vortex was absolutely astounding.

It is being reported that it was 74,500 miles high and “14 times larger than Earth”

The incredible moment a colossal ‘solar tornado’ that is 14 times larger than Earth swirls on the sun’s surface has been captured by NASA in a new video.

The twister, composed of plasma and heat, measured more than 74,500 miles high and moved up to 310,000 miles per hour.

Is this behavior normal?

Scientists don’t really know, because they have never seen anything quite like this before.

A few weeks later, we witnessed an absolutely colossal coronal mass ejection that traveled away from the sun at a speed of “at least 3,000 kilometers per second”

Late on Monday, March 13, the Sun blasted out a coronal mass ejection (CME) traveling at at least 3,000 kilometers per second (6,700,000 miles per hour), possibly the fastest ever recorded. The expelled particles reached the Earth’s orbit in less than a day. Had they hit the Earth, the results could have been catastrophic, but fortunately the CME was directed almost directly opposite. However, the explosion is a reminder the next time we may not be so lucky.

Wow.

This coronal mass ejection was so powerful that NASA actually classified it as “an R, for rare”.

The good news is that this eruption happened on the far side of the sun

“Even though the CME erupted from the opposite side of the Sun, its impacts were felt at Earth,” NASA said. “As CMEs blast through space, they create a shockwave that can accelerate particles along the CME’s path to incredible speeds, much the way surfers are pushed along by an incoming ocean wave.”

If the Earth had been facing the coronal mass ejection, it could have potentially caused another “Carrington Event”

The potentially “catastrophic” CME has been compared to the Carrington Event, the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history, peaking from September 1 to 2, 1859.

That event knocked out the ‘internet’ of the time, with telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failing.

In some cases, operators received electric shocks and telegraph pylons threw sparks.

NASA previously said a similar storm today could have a “catastrophic effect on modern power grids and telecommunication networks.”

If you have been following my work for years, then you already know that I have been warning about such a catastrophe for ages.

Scientists assure us that it is just a matter of time before our planet experiences another “Carrington Event”, and such a disaster could literally fry electronics all over the globe.

Just imagine what society would look like if the power grid was destroyed and there was suddenly no Internet for anyone.

Can you imagine the complete and utter chaos that would create?

The “near miss” that we just experienced should have made major headlines all over the world, but instead it only made a minor blip in the news cycle.

But someday we will take a direct hit, and in that moment everything will change.

Before I end this article, there are two other items of astronomical interest that I wanted to mention.

Firstly, I found it to be quite interesting that scientists have discovered that the deep interior of our planet is “wickedly hot”

Researchers on Tuesday said an intensive study of Earth’s deep interior, based on the behavior of seismic waves from large earthquakes, confirmed the existence of a distinct structure inside our planet’s inner core – a wickedly hot innermost solid ball of iron and nickel about 800 miles (1,350 km) wide.

Secondly, we are being told that an asteroid that is approximately 200 feet long will fly past our planet at about “half the distance from the surface of the planet to the moon” on Saturday…

Astronomy fanatics may be in for a treat this Saturday as an estimated 200-foot asteroid is expected to “zip” past Earth in about half the distance from the surface of the planet to the moon, according to a report.

EarthSky.org, a website that specializes in science-based reporting about the cosmos reported that asteroid 2023 DZ2 will make its closest approach to Earth on March 25 at about 3:52 p.m. EDT at a speed of 17,403 miles per hour.

That is actually a very close call.

Thankfully, this one is not going to hit us.

But if you have read my books, then you already know why I keep a very close eye on any asteroids that are potential threats.

We live at a time when very strange things are happening above our heads.

The clock is ticking, and one of these days our luck is going to run out.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

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 published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse BlogEnd 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.