Money

All Of The Elements Are In Place For An Economic Crisis Of Staggering Proportions

February 15, 2024February 15, 2024 by Michael

They were able to delay the U.S. economy’s day of reckoning, but they were not able to put it off indefinitely. During the pandemic, the Federal Reserve pumped trillions of dollars into the financial system and our politicians borrowed and spent trillions of dollars that we did not have. All of that money caused quite a bit of inflation, but it also created a “sugar rush” for the economy. In other words, economic conditions were substantially better than they would have been otherwise. Unfortunately, there will be a great price to be paid for such short-term thinking. From the federal government on down, our entire society is absolutely drowning in debt, and now it appears that our economic problems are about to go to the next level.

In early 2024, there are all sorts of signs that economic activity in the U.S. is really starting to slow down.

For example, we just learned that consumer spending “fell sharply” during the month of January…

Consumer spending fell sharply in January, presenting a potential early danger sign for the economy, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Advance retail sales declined 0.8% for the month following a downwardly revised 0.4% gain in December, according to the Census Bureau. A decrease had been expected: Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were looking for a drop of 0.3%, in part to make up for seasonal distortions that probably boosted December’s number.

However, the pullback was considerably more than anticipated. Even excluding autos, sales dropped 0.6%, well below the estimate for a 0.2% gain.

Sadly, the truth is that U.S. consumers just don’t have as much money to spend these days.

They are up to their eyeballs in debt, and delinquency rates have been spiking.

Many consumers are tightening up on their finances, and so it shouldn’t be a surprise that Disney+ lost more than a million subscribers during the fourth quarter of last year…

Disney+ Core subscribers (which include U.S. and Canada customers, as well as international users, excluding the India-based Disney+ Hotstar) dropped to 111.3 million from the 112.6 million reported in the previous quarter, according to Disney’s quarterly earnings results released Wednesday.

In early 2024, we have also seen large employers ruthlessly slash payrolls all over the nation.

The following summary of some of the most shocking layoffs that we have seen recently comes from Zero Hedge…

1. Twitch: 35% of workforce
2. Roomba: 31% of workforce
3. Hasbro: 20% of workforce
4. LA Times: 20% of workforce
5. Spotify: 17% of workforce
6. Levi’s: 15% of workforce
7. Xerox: 15% of workforce
8. Qualtrics: 14% of workforce
9. Wayfair: 13% of workforce
10. Duolingo: 10% of workforce
11. Washington Post: 10% of workforce
12: Snap: 10% of workforce
13. eBay: 9% of workforce
14. Business Insider: 8% of workforce
15. Paypal: 7% of workforce
16. Okta: 7% of workforce
17. Charles Schwab: 6% of workforce
18. Docusign: 6% of workforce
19: CISCO: 5% of workforce
20. UPS: 2% of workforce
21. Blackrock: 3% of workforce
22. Paramount: 3% of workforce
23. Citigroup: 20,000 employees
24. Pixar: 1,300 employees

During the pandemic we witnessed a lot of temporary layoffs, but the last time we saw large corporations conducting permanent mass layoffs on such a widespread basis was in 2008 and 2009.

And we all remember what happened back then.

Meanwhile, the cost of living continues to rise faster than paychecks.

For example, it is being reported that the cost of auto insurance has been increasing at “the fastest annual rate on record”…

The cost of auto insurance jumped 1.4% in January, bringing the total annual gain to 20.6% – the fastest annual rate on record. When compared with early 2019, motor vehicle insurance is nearly 40% more expensive. Experts say the problem could soon get worse before it begins to improve.

Needless to say, most Americans have not seen their paychecks increase by 20.6 percent over the past year.

Of course just about everything else has been rapidly getting more expensive too, and that isn’t going to change any time soon.

On top of everything else, we are also facing an unprecedented commercial real estate crisis.

Our financial institutions are sitting on mountains of bad commercial real estate loans, and Kevin O’Leary is warning that “thousands more” will fail within the next three to five years…

Regional banks are doomed.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing… if you’re prepared for it.

It’s been almost a year since Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed in March – the victim of idiotic management. But the sobering reality is the small banking crisis is far from over.

In the next three to five years, thousands more regional institutions will fail. That’s why I don’t have a dime saved or invested in a single one.

Is Kevin O’Leary right about this?

I don’t know.

We will just have to wait and see what happens.

But without a doubt, things certainly do not look good at this moment.

Needless to say, it isn’t just the U.S. that is experiencing economic turbulence these days.

This week, we learned that the Japanese economy has officially entered a recession…

Japan has lost its spot as the world’s third-largest economy to Germany, as the Asian giant unexpectedly slipped into recession.

Once the second-largest economy in the world, Japan reported two consecutive quarters of contraction on Thursday — falling 0.4% on an annualized basis in the fourth quarter after a revised 3.3% contraction in the third quarter. Fourth-quarter GDP sharply missed forecasts for 1.4% growth in a Reuters poll of economists.

The Germans are facing big problems too.

In fact, Germany is being called the “sick man of Europe” right now.

Interestingly, it is at this time that Jeff Bezos has decided to sell off billions of dollars worth of Amazon stock…

Amazon’s billionaire founder Jeff Bezos has sold another $2bn worth of the company’s stock, bringing the total value of shares he has offloaded in the past week to $4bn, according to regulatory filings.

An Amazon filing on Tuesday showed that Bezos, who stepped down as the Seattle-based company’s chief executive in 2021 but remains executive chair, sold 12mn shares for about $2bn between Friday and Monday.

He certainly doesn’t need the cash.

So why is he doing this?

Does he know something that the rest of us do not?

I don’t think so.

Instead, I think that he can see what the rest of us can see.

Stock prices have risen to record highs even as the overall economy is clearly heading into a major downturn.

That makes this the perfect time to sell.

Jeff Bezos didn’t get to where he is by being stupid. He can see what is coming and he is getting out while the getting is still good.

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

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s extremely controversial new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”, “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 Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing. You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter. Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites. You can connect with Michael on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, and sharing his articles on your own social media accounts 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, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Israel’s National Security Minister Ominously Delcares “This Is War” After Hezbollah Unleashes A Barrage Of Missiles

February 14, 2024 by Michael

The countdown to a cataclysmic conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is rapidly picking up momentum. On Wednesday, a missile barrage that was unleashed by Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon hit multiple targets in northern Israel. If Hezbollah really wants peace like they claim that they do, they have a really strange way of showing it. It is being reported that this missile barrage “appeared to be the fiercest attacks from Lebanon since the confrontation began”…

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah intensified on Wednesday when Israeli towns and an army base came under what appeared to be the fiercest attacks from Lebanon since the confrontation began four months ago.

The assault, presumed to be carried out by Hezbollah fighters based in Lebanon, prompted Israeli fighter jets to launch extensive strikes on the Iran-backed group’s positions.

At one military base that was hit, a female IDF soldier was killed and eight other individuals were injured…

A female IDF soldier was killed and eight other people were wounded in Tzfat on Wednesday morning in a missile barrage fired by Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon in a clear escalation of the conflict launched on October 8th against Israel by the terror group.

Quite a few other targets in northern Israel were targeted as well…

Other areas in the Upper Galilee were targeted as well, including several IDF bases and the city of Kiryat Shmona, which has been attacked repeatedly since October 8th. The Red Alert incoming rocket siren was not triggered in Kiryat Shmona.

Some of the rockets were aimed at the headquarters of the IDF Northern Command, and some targeted the Meron radar base, Israeli media reported.

We have seen Hezbollah and the IDF exchange fire on a regular basis over the past few months.

But this time was different.

In response to this barrage, Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir ominously declared that “this is war”…

“This isn’t just a dribble anymore, this is war,” Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, who’s long advocated a more aggressive stance against Hezbollah, said. “It is time to change the way we think.”

Other officials were more measured, but also implied Israel would retaliate aggressively.

“This morning we experienced a severe attack for which the response will come soon and with strength,” said Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet but who heads an opposition party.

Sadly, there is no turning back now.

All of the Israeli citizens that have been evacuated from their homes in northern Israel can never return until Hezbollah is pushed north of the Litani River.

And Hezbollah will never pull back willingly.

The IDF will be going into southern Lebanon.

It is just a matter of time.

Even now, it is being reported that the IDF is preparing a “significant response” to this latest barrage which will go beyond “just attacking the source of fire”…

The Ynet news site reports that the military is preparing a “significant response” to the deadly rocket barrage on Safed this morning, which it describes as meaning more than just attacking the source of fire.

MK Yuli Edelstein, head of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, says Hezbollah will be moved off the border one way or another.

“Either there will be all-out war and Hezbollah will be moved away, and it will bear responsibility for the results in Beirut and Lebanon, or we won’t let them raise the bar and exact a severe response, and they will be moved away from the border,” he says, according to Army Radio.

Needless to say, every time the IDF responds, so will Hezbollah.

A war on the northern front is already here, and it is going to get really crazy in the months ahead.

By the way, the U.S. is already at war in the Middle East too.

Since the middle of October, 186 U.S. troops in the Middle East have either been killed or wounded…

Roughly 186 troops have been injured or killed in attacks on U.S. personnel in the Middle East since mid-October. Of those, 130 have been traumatic brain injuries, the Pentagon confirmed on Monday.

That means TBIs resulting from the blast impacts of missiles, mortars and drones make up 70% of the total number of casualties, which include three soldiers who were killed in the Jan. 28 attack on Tower 22 in Jordan.

Meanwhile, members of Congress are buzzing about a “serious national security threat” that is apparently related to Russia in some way…

House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner has made information concerning a “serious national security threat” available to all members of Congress to review, the committee said on Wednesday.

While Turner and the White House remained vague on what the threat entailed, two sources and a US official tell CNN the threat is related to Russia. Multiple sources familiar with the intelligence characterized it as “very sensitive.”

One of the sources who has seen the intelligence confirmed that “it is, in fact, a highly concerning and destabilizing” Russian capability “that we were recently made aware of.”

As I write this article, we don’t know what that “serious national security threat” is.

My guess is that it is something that we already know about.

As I have repeatedly warned my readers, the Russians have been feverishly preparing for a nuclear conflict with the United States for many years, and at this point their weapons systems are superior to our own and they have the strategic advantage.

But most Americans have no idea.

The Chinese have also been preparing for the coming global war, and that is why the unprecedented surge in Chinese nationals crossing our southern border is so alarming…

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), since October 2023, almost 16,000 Chinese migrants have attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border — more than doubling the previous fiscal year’s total number of Chinese migrants in a matter of months. These unprecedented numbers are making Chinese nationals the fastest growing population to cross into the U.S. from Mexico.

CBP data reveals that from January to November of 2023, over 30,000 Chinese people were detained by border agents after crossing illegally. In 2021, meanwhile, there were only 323 crossings.

Recently, videos that were posted on social media that apparently show some of these Chinese migrants training with firearms have created quite a stir…

Videos posted to X (Twitter) show Chinese migrants firing pistols. One video is of a Chinese female with a sniper rifle.

There is no Second Amendment in China, and Chinese citizens are not permitted to possess firearms. So is it possible that the shooters in the videos are merely taking advantage of a new-found freedom in their new home country ?

Unlikely.

One of the migrants videoed was in America for only three weeks and arrived in the country with no money and no identification.

If you had just landed somewhere as a migrant with nothing to your name, you would undoubtedly be preoccupied with finding your next meal, getting a place to live, making a livelihood.

You would not, within weeks of entering your new homeland, be sharpening your skills to kill.

Most of our politicians don’t care about national security, because otherwise they would be doing something about this.

We are literally committing national suicide, and at one of the most critical turning points in our history we have a guy in charge that literally doesn’t know where he is much of the time.

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

Just Wait Until You See What Happens When They Realize What Is Really Happening To The Economy…

February 13, 2024February 13, 2024 by Michael

If stock prices are going to start plunging just because inflation is running a little bit hotter than expected, what is going to happen once the market finally realizes that the entire economy is literally starting to come apart at the seams? Consumer delinquency rates are spiking, the commercial real estate crisis is rapidly picking up steam, banks from coast to coast are in deep financial trouble, large corporations all over America are conducting mass layoffs, and homelessness has been rising at the fastest pace ever recorded. But if you ignore all of those little details, you can be just like Joe Biden and pretend that everything is just fine.

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 524 points. It was the largest one day loss since March 2023…

U.S. stocks tumbled in a broad sell-off after a hotter-than-expected inflation report may jeopardize the Federal Reserve’s plan to cut interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 524 points or 1.3%, trimming a deficit of over 700 points reached during the session. It is the worst trading day in 11 months.

The benchmark has erased almost half its gains for 2024 with the 10-year Treasury yield hitting 4.3%.

So why did this happen?

Well, we are being told that stock prices fell because the inflation numbers that were just released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics were a bit disappointing…

The latest Consumer Price Index revealed that prices rose by 3.1% for the 12 months ended in January, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Tuesday. On a monthly basis, CPI rose by 0.3% last month.

Both measures came in hotter than expected: Economists expected inflation to ease to 0.2% from December and slow to 2.9% annually, according to FactSet.

Honestly, I don’t know why anyone gives those numbers any credibility anyway.

Over the decades, the formula that is used to calculate the consumer price index has literally been changed dozens of times.

If inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, we would still be in double digit territory right now.

Meanwhile, we continue to get more signs that economic activity has reached a major turning point.

During the final three months of last year, Hasbro managed to lose more than a billion dollars…

For the last three months of 2023, Hasbro lost $1.06 billion, or $7.64 per share, drastically wider than losses of $128.9 million, or 93 cents, a year earlier. After major adjustments related to goodwill and intangible assets, the company reported adjusted earnings per share of 38 cents, still well below analysts’ estimates.

For the full year 2023, revenue declined 15% to $1.29 billion, including double-digit sales drops in its consumer products and entertainment segments.

I know that times are tough, but I have no idea how a company like Hasbro can possibly lose more than a billion dollars in just three months.

We are talking about a level of incompetence that is absolutely staggering.

Do they have Joe Biden running the company?

Because I don’t know how else to explain it.

Hasbro says that it plans to reduce costs by 750 million dollars by the end of next year, and that means that more mass layoffs are coming…

The company now expects to cut $750 million in costs by the end of 2025, up from a previous target of $350 million to $400 million.

In December, the toymaker laid off 1,100 employees after it had already cut 15% of its workforce earlier in the year.

Of course lots of other big names are laying off large numbers of workers as well.

In fact, I was quite surprised to learn that Paramount has decided that it is time for hundreds of their employees to hit the bricks…

Paramount Global is laying off hundreds of employees, just one day after the company announced CBS had record Super Bowl viewership, Chief Executive Officer Bob Bakish said Tuesday in an internal memo to employees.

Paramount will lay off about 800 people, or an estimated 3% of its workforce, according to a person familiar with the matter. Paramount Global ended 2022 with about 24,500 full-time and part-time employees.

The days when it was easy to find a decent job are gone.

Right now, corporate executives are discussing layoffs during earnings calls at a higher rate than we have ever seen before…

US companies are discussing cost control (i.e., layoffs) on earnings calls at a record rate, amid a push to reallocate funds and invest in new technologies, according to an analysis by Morgan Stanley strategists.

Transcript mentions of “operational efficiency” are at highest ever in the US during this earnings season as companies focus on expense discipline, but also invest in technologies “that can drive future productivity like AI,” a team led by Michael Wilson wrote in a note.

If you have a good job that you value, hold on to it as tightly as you can.

Because things are about to get really crazy out there.

So much of what we are witnessing at this moment reminds me of 2008.

Earlier this week, I was stunned to learn that a very large commercial building in Ohio just sold for 9 dollars a square foot…

A 262k sq ft building in Ohio has just sold for $2.4 million, or $9 per sq ft

Yes that’s not a typo – it literally sold for $9 per sq ft

It was the former site of FedEx Custom Critical in Green, Ohio

The commercial real estate ‘correction’ has gone from concerning to an outright apocalypse, primarily impacting office properties in most cities across the US

It is crazy how far commercial real estate prices have already fallen.

And the lower they go, the more financial pressure there is going to be on our banks.

In a desperate attempt to stay afloat, banks have been shedding workers and closing branches at a frightening pace…

American banks are continuing to close costly branches this year, notifying their regulator of a total of 36 closures in a single week.

At the head of the pack was US Bank, which between January 28 and February 3 told its regulator it would close 23 branches across the country – seven are in Oregon.

It was followed by Wells Fargo, which reported to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) it would shut five. Two were in California but the rest were scattered across the US.

Oh, but don’t worry.

Everything is fine.

Joe Biden is in control, and he is going to lead us into a new golden age of peace and prosperity.

Of course if you actually believe that nonsense there is a bridge in California that I would like to sell you.

The truth is that the economic difficulties that we have been through so far are not even worth comparing to the tremendous chaos that is ahead.

This crisis has been percolating for a number of years, and now we have finally reached a boiling point.

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

You Will Live In Tiny Homes And Electric Vehicles And Be Happy – This Is The Future They Have Planned For Us

February 12, 2024February 12, 2024 by Michael

In recent years, “van life’, “car life” and “tiny homes” have all become extremely hot topics on social media. Millennials and Generation Z have been particularly eager to try out these “minimalist” lifestyles. At a time when home prices have risen to absurd levels and the cost of living has become exceedingly oppressive, it can be very tempting to adopt a low cost way of life. But it is also important to understand that the elite are very much encouraging these trends. If they could get most of us happily living in tiny homes and electric vehicles, they would be very pleased. You see, the truth is that the smaller our living spaces are, the less carbon emissions we will produce, and that is precisely what they want.

Today, millions of Americans cannot afford to purchase normal homes, and so more of us than ever are turning to “tiny homes”.

A “tiny home” can be anywhere from 100 to 400 square feet, and today Airbnb has thousands of such listings.

It has been reported that 55 percent of tiny home owners are women, and 56 percent of all Americans say that they would actually consider living in a tiny home.

The biggest appeal of living in a tiny home is the cost. It has been estimated that the average cost of a tiny home is just $52,000, and that is “87% cheaper than the average price of a typical U.S. home”…

The average cost of a tiny home is $52,000, 87% cheaper than the average price of a typical U.S. home. Building or buying a tiny house requires far less capital than a standard house. This significant price difference allows more Americans to achieve homeownership without taking on a burdensome mortgage.

If you are very stressed financially, I can definitely understand why such an option would seem appealing.

It is certainly not easy to live a typical middle class lifestyle in today’s world.

One woman that now lives in a 300 square foot home made from straw bales and cob says that her life “looks radically different” compared to when her family was living in a large four bedroom house…

Ten years ago I was living a typical suburban life on the outskirts of Denver. My husband, Casey, and I were both teachers. We lived in a four-bedroom house with a small yard where our two kids liked to play.

Today our life looks radically different. We live entirely off the grid in a 300-square-foot home that we built from straw bales and cob, a natural building material made from soil, water, and other organic matter. We rely on solar power for electricity and rain collection for water, and we use a drop toilet to create “humanure” — compost made from human waste.

If this is what makes her happy, good for her.

But don’t let the elite push you into such a lifestyle.

The elite have been promoting the concept of tiny homes for a very long time. For example, the following comes from the official website of the WEF…

Interest is surging in tiny homes – livable dwelling units that typically measure under 400 square feet. Much of this interest is driven by media coverage that claims that living in tiny homes is good for the planet.

The reason why they love tiny homes so much is because they believe that they are good for the environment.

In fact, the same article that I just quoted above claims that for those that moved into tiny homes “ecological footprints were reduced by about 45% on average”…

I found that among 80 tiny home downsizers located across the United States, ecological footprints were reduced by about 45% on average. Surprisingly, I found that downsizing can influence many parts of one’s lifestyle and reduce impacts on the environment in unexpected ways.

“Van life” is another lifestyle that has become extremely trendy in recent years.

At one time, people looked down on those that “live in a van down by the river”, but now literally millions of Americans are doing it…

“Van life” or “van living” is a term that is becoming more popular around the country. People packing up their lives, moving into a mobile unit and exploring the states.

According to Yahoo Finance, the number of American van lifers has increased by 63% over the last couple of years, going from 1.9 million in 2020, to 3.1 million in 2022.

I was stunned when I first saw those numbers.

Needless to say, not having a mortgage or a rent payment is a big plus.

But there are a lot of negatives to such a lifestyle.

For one woman, regularly using public restrooms was something that she just couldn’t get over when she tried “van life”…

I pulled into a Shell gas station in my rented Ram ProMaster campervan.

Once parked, I headed into the convenience store and beelined to the bathroom.

Inside, there was an impossible-to-describe stench. Toilet paper covered the restroom floor, and pee covered the toilet seat. I used the bathroom as fast as humanly possible.

I certainly can’t blame her.

Most public restrooms along our major highways are simply disgusting.

And as the number of Americans living in their vans has multiplied, many communities have grown tired of them. Here is just one example…

The city of St. Petersburg is working to erase so-called eye sores downtown.

Thursday afternoon, city leaders will take a closer look at “van life” and where drivers can set up camp.

This comes after many complaints came into the city from residents within the city limits who say oversized RVs, large busses and conversion vans are taking up too much space and for too long.

Unfortunately, as economic conditions deteriorate more Americans than ever will be choosing to live in their vehicles.

In fact,”car life” is now being hailed by many on social media as an even cheaper alternative to “van life”…

YouTuber Michael Hickey – likely kicked out of his parent’s basement – built a bed in his 2009 Kia Rio. He said this option allows him to “live rent-free” and travel the country.

In the video, Hickey said the best parking lots to sleep in are ones owned by Cracker Barrel restaurants. He purchases groceries from supermarkets and prepares them right there in the parking lot on a portable stove.

As for showering, he uses a network of Planet Fitness gyms to exercise and shower.

To make money, he works side-gigs, such as DoorDash and Instacart.

Hickey is not alone. Tons of other Gen-Zers post their stories of living in cars on YouTube.

Did you ever imagine that we would see a day when being homeless and living in your vehicle would be considered “trendy”?

But this is where we are at.

Millions of those at the bottom of the economic food chain are trying to make the best of a very bad situation.

Unfortunately, life in America is going to become a lot more harsh during the very painful years that are ahead.

So what will young people start doing once “van life” and “car life” become too expensive?

There is only one more step down, and that is living in the streets…

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

Chaos Reigns In The Streets Of America As An Epic Crime Wave Terrorizes The Nation

February 11, 2024February 11, 2024 by Michael

If you were hoping that the United States would become a lawless society, you have now gotten your wish. Some of the numbers that I am about to share with you are just mind blowing. For example, I had no idea that police in New York City were injured by criminals thousands of times last year. All over the nation, law enforcement is losing control and violent criminals are getting the upper hand. We have never seen anything quite like this before, and I am entirely convinced that this crime wave is only going to get worse as economic conditions deteriorate. Even in our capital city, crime is completely and utterly out of control. If you can believe it, the number of carjackings in Washington D.C. was up 97.9 percent last year…

Residents of the District of Columbia paid the sixth-highest amount on car insurance when compared to the 50 states in 2023 with an average annual full-coverage rate of $2,756 last year – which amounts to nearly $230 a month, according to a report by Insurify. The report found that Washington, D.C., residents’ car insurance premiums were 37% higher than the national average, which was $2,019 for a full-coverage policy, as national auto insurance rates increased by 24% last year.

Police data show carjackings in the nation’s capital spiked by 97.9% in 2023 with 958 reported carjackings last year compared to 484 in 2022, with motor vehicle theft up 82% from 3,756 in 2022 to 6,829 in 2023. Vehicle theft in the greater Washington-Maryland-Virginia area also rose by 68% last year, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Vehicle theft is even worse in some areas along the west coast.

In Oakland, approximately one out of every 30 residents had a vehicle stolen from them in 2023…

Robberies grew 38% last year in Oakland, according to police data. Burglaries increased 23%. Motor vehicle theft jumped 44%. Roughly one of every 30 Oakland residents had a car stolen last year, according to a San Francisco Chronicle analysis.

On Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he was taking action, deploying 120 California Highway Patrol officers to Oakland and the surrounding area to conduct a law enforcement surge operation. The aim: to crack down on crime, including vehicle theft, retail theft and violent crime.

Gavin Newsom wants to run for president at some point, and so he doesn’t want to look soft on crime.

Unfortunately for him, it is way too late for that.

Other west coast cities are also experiencing unprecedented crime waves.

In Seattle, one restaurant has actually been broken into five times in the last six months…

The sound of crashing glass has become too familiar at Sandia, a Mexican restaurant in Seattle’s Laurelhurst neighborhood on NE 45th Street.

“As of today, now we have been broken into five times,” said Nathan Yeager, the owner.

In the surveillance video provided to KING 5, you can see criminals break the front door with a crowbar, climb over the counter, steal money from the till, and then sneak around while looking in every door for something to take.

There is no way that I would open a small business in Seattle.

Or Portland.

Or Oakland.

Or San Francisco.

Or Los Angeles.

Of course I could say the exact same thing about many cities on the east coast as well.

In New York City, police officers “are getting beaten at a record-setting pace”…

City cops are getting beaten at a record-setting pace — a disturbing and dangerous trend fueled by radical protests, an influx of criminal migrants, bail reform, anti-cop rhetoric and soft-on-crime prosecutors, experts told The Post.

The number of cops hurt by suspects surged 20% in 2022, when 4,724 uniformed officers suffered injuries in attacks, compared to 3,933 in 2021.

But the law enforcement nightmare grew worse last year, when 4,077 cops were hurt by suspects in just the first nine months of 2023 — on pace for a record-breaking 5,436 injuries, the latest NYPD stats show.

At this stage in our societal collapse, the criminals are not even afraid to attack the cops.

It is so difficult to be a police officer these days. They literally put their lives on the line for us every single day.

Of course the Biden administration has made the national crime wave significantly worse by allowing millions upon millions of migrants to come pouring over the southern border.

In fact, we just learned that police in the Big Apple have arrested a “very, very violent” migrant that shot a tourist in the leg “after opening fire in Times Square”…

A teenager gunman burst into tears as he was hauled away in handcuffs for allegedly shooting a tourist in the leg after opening fire in Times Square.

Jesus Alejandro Rivas-Figueroa, 15, a migrant from Venezuela, was arrested by US Marshals in Yonkers after a nearly day-long manhunt.

NYPD Deputy Chief of Detectives Jason Savino called him a ‘very, very violent’ suspect who recklessly fired a ‘very large’ .45 caliber handgun in a crowded area of New York City.

Needless to say, our wide open borders have also made it easy for cartels to transport drugs all over the country.

Earlier today, I came across an article that explained that drugs that are produced in Mexico have been flooding the state of Montana…

Illegal drugs have long flowed from Mexico to the more remote parts of the U.S. But with the rise of fentanyl, cartel associates have pushed more aggressively into Montana, where pills can be sold for 20 times the price they get in urban centers closer to the border, state and federal law enforcement officials said.

Cartels have been particularly focusing on Indian reservations throughout Montana, and one state lawmaker says that it seems like “fentanyl is raining on our reservation”…

On some reservations, cartel associates have formed relationships with Indigenous women as a way of establishing themselves within communities to sell drugs, law enforcement officials and tribal leaders said. More frequently, traffickers lure Native Americans into becoming dealers by giving away an initial supply of drugs and turning them into addicts indebted to the cartels.

“Right now it’s as if fentanyl is raining on our reservation,” said Marvin Weatherwax, Jr., who serves on the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council and represents the 15th district in the Montana House of Representatives.

There is nowhere that you can go in the U.S. to completely escape all of this.

From coast to coast, our society is literally coming apart at the seams.

In Alabama, thieves recently stole an entire 200-foot tall radio tower…

A landscaper in Jasper, Alabama, was doing a property cleanup when the crew discovered that a 200-foot radio tower was missing.

Brett Elmore, general manager of WJLX, said that every piece of equipment at the radio tower’s site had been stolen and the wires cut out.

“This is going to get out eventually, so I might as well make it public before it does,” Elmore wrote on Facebook. “I have heard of thieves in this area stealing anything, but this one takes the cake. This morning, my bush hog crew went down to a tower site we have … when [they] arrived, he called and notified me that not only was my building vandalized, but my TWO HUNDRED FOOT TOWER WAS GONE!” the radio manager wrote.

If things are this bad now, what will our society look like once millions upon millions of people in this country become extremely desperate?

You might want to think about that, because we really are right on the brink of an extremely apocalyptic chapter in human history.

But most people don’t want to think about such things.

Most people just want to stick their heads in the sand and pretend that everything is okay.

It can be so easy to ignore what is really going on in the world and tune in to the alternate reality that television creates for us.

Did you know that a 30 second commercial during this year’s Super Bowl cost 7 million dollars?

After sitting in front of the television for a few hours, you may be tempted to buy into the fictional reality that they are trying to sell you.

But the truth is that life in America is not good right now, and the crime in our streets is only going to intensify during the months and years ahead.

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

Squatters Are Taking Over Homes All Over The Nation On An Industrial Scale And Turning Them Into Dens Of Crime

February 8, 2024February 8, 2024 by Michael

Squatting has always been a problem, especially in certain parts of the nation, but now it is happening on an industrial scale all over America. Thanks to online listings, it is easier than ever to identify properties that are vacant, and many states have laws that make it exceedingly difficult to get squatters out once they have settled in. In some cases, squatters are able to live rent free in beautiful homes for months or even years. This is becoming an absolutely massive problems, especially in certain areas of the country. For example, it is being reported that squatters have taken over approximately 1,200 homes in the Atlanta area…

Squatters are ruining entire neighborhoods in Atlanta and police response to evict is so slow, some homeowners have resorted to paying nuisances to leave.

Brazen squatters even opened an illegal strip club on a property they had taken over — one of the 1,200 homes which has been squatted in the city, according to the National Rental Home Council (NRHC) trade group.

“I’d be terrified in Atlanta to lease out one of my properties,” Matt Urbanski, who manages a local home-cleaning company, told Bloomberg.

There is no way in the world that I would want to own a rental property in that city.

If you can believe it, there is even one company that has been running ads on social media offering to find a prime squatter home in Atlanta for you for a fee…

At first glance, it looks just like another real estate pro hustling to rent homes on social media.

But at 1 Time Payment Homes, the site makes it clear these are squatter homes and spells out just what that means in a pinned Insta story.

“The company’s owners will come out, so will the police. The police will tell you there’s nothing they can do about it — squatters rights,” our Channel 2 producer J.P. read off the Instagram account.

Recently, 1 Time Payment Homes has actually been running a “New Year’s special”.

$1,400 will get you the keys to a squatter home so that you can “stack money and turn ya life around”.

Whoever is behind 1 Time Payment Homes should be in prison.

But that is not how America works in 2024

Instead, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone gave those behind 1 Time Payment Homes some type of award.

Of course it isn’t just in Atlanta where squatting has become such a widespread issue.

In the state of Washington, squatters have taken over an entire apartment complex and have turned it into a den of crime…

Squatters and crime are taking over a Fife apartment complex. Families and the people handling the property are both beyond frustrated.

The problems are at the Sherwood Park Apartments. Police say the situation also attracted a ton of criminal activity. Now officers regularly patrol the area because of all the problems.

Most of the units at the complex are covered in plywood.

“It’s bad,” said Angel, a resident at the apartments. “The cops are here 24/7. Every day, every night. I keep my kids inside. I don’t let them out.”

Thanks to the absurd laws in that state, it isn’t going to be easy to get those squatters out.

California also has ridiculous laws, and right now “a very sophisticated criminal ring of squatters” is making a ton of money from the Beverly Hills mansion that they have occupied…

A Beverly Hills mansion seized by the court from a fugitive surgeon behind California’s biggest insurance fraud scheme is now a wild party house taken over by squatters, who are profiting off of regular ragers that are driving neighbors nuts.

The Mediterranean estate at 1316 Beverly Grove, listed for $4.5 million has been occupied by “a very sophisticated criminal ring of squatters,” the home’s listing agent John A. Woodward IV tells Los Angeles magazine. The squatters, he believes, are earning upwards of $30,000 a month renting rooms and hosting huge house parties with $100 entry fees.

This sort of thing is happening all over the nation, but the worst problems are in blue states with laws that are very favorable for squatters.

Every single day, predatory squatters are scanning online listings in order to identify their next targets…

It’s also gotten easier for squatters to find homes to move into.

Online listings and virtual real estate agents can allow squatters to find vacant addresses and gain access by booking fake appointments.

Some people may not even know they are squatters as scam artists can set up fake listings for empty properties and fake lease agreements.

Once a squatter is in, it’s hard to get them out. It can take three months to get a court hearing for an eviction, and another three months to get a deputy or marshal to clear out the home.

What these squatters are doing is so wrong, but it is getting worse with each passing year.

Meanwhile, things just get harder and harder for people that are trying to do things the right way. In recent years, many have seen rental prices skyrocket to absolutely insane levels…

Single mom Caitlyn Colbert watched as rent for her two-bedroom apartment doubled, then tripled and then quadrupled over a decade in Denver — from $750 to $3,374 last year.

Every month, like millions of Americans, Colbert juggled her costs. Pay rent or swim team fees for one of her three kids. Rent or school supplies. Rent or groceries. Colbert, a social worker who helps people stay financially afloat, would often arrive home to notices giving her 30 days to pay rent and a late fee or face eviction.

“Every month you just gotta budget and then you still fall short,” she said, adding what became a monthly refrain: “Well, this month at least we have $13 left.”

The worse that housing affordability becomes, the more people are going to be tempted to engage in squatting.

Of course this squatting crisis is just one of the ways that our society is descending into complete and utter lawlessness.

We wanted a society where anything goes, and now that is precisely what we have got.

If you need to leave your home for a while, you may want to lock it up very tight, because there are plenty of squatters that would love to invade while you are gone.

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

The Commercial Real Estate Crisis Of 2024 Is Going To Be A Doozy…

February 7, 2024 by Michael

Over the last several years we have seen commercial real estate values plummet dramatically all over the United States. One of the reasons why this is happening is because millions of Americans started working from home during the pandemic, and many of them never returned to the office once the pandemic subsided. Another reason why this is happening is because there has been a mass exodus of businesses from our core urban areas. Conditions have rapidly deteriorated in many of our largest cities, and it is exceedingly difficult to run a profitable business in the midst of an environment of constant theft and violence. Ultimately, it is very easy to understand why commercial real estate values have crashed, and they will almost certainly go even lower.

Needless to say, this is a very big problem for financial institutions that are sitting on lots of commercial real estate loans.

Many of those loans have already gone bad, and more are going bad with each passing day.

A commercial real estate crisis of epic proportions is already here, and we will see many financial institutions fail in the months ahead.

At this moment, New York Community Bancorp finds itself in the center of the storm. The bank’s credit rating was just reduced to junk status, and it is desperately trying to reassure everyone that it is going to be able to survive…

New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) is attempting to reassure investors about its deposits, liquidity, and governance following a weeklong plunge in the company’s stock and a decision by Moody’s to cut the bank’s credit rating to junk.

The $116 billion commercial real estate lender put out a press release just before midnight ET on Tuesday following the Moody’s downgrade showing total deposits were up since the end of 2023 and that its total liquidity of $37.3 billion exceeded its level of uninsured deposits.

Of course the market isn’t buying it.

Shares of New York Community Bancorp have been crashing, and they fell even more on Wednesday after the press release was put out…

The comments did little initially to lift a crisis roiling one of the country’s top 30 banks that has deepened with each day.

Its stock has fallen by nearly 60% since it surprised Wall Street on Jan. 31 by slashing its dividend and reporting a net quarterly loss of $252 million. The price continued to slide by more than 13% after the market open Wednesday but that sell-off began to ease around noon.

Of course New York Community Bancorp is not the only institution that is hurting.

At this point, hundreds of U.S. banks find themselves in deep trouble, and banking stocks have been falling on a widespread basis over the past week…

The KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking Index, a collection of midsize bank stocks, has fallen nearly 12 percent in the past week as investors worry about lenders’ exposure to commercial real estate loan portfolios.

Will the federal government soon feel compelled to intervene?

On Tuesday, Janet Yellen admitted to members of Congress that there is a problem, but see insisted that “it’s manageable”…

US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers Tuesday that she had concerns about the exposure of some banks to commercial real estate.

“I believe it’s manageable, although there may be some institutions that are quite stressed by this problem,” she said.

Yeah, we’ll see if they are able to contain the damage or not.

Interestingly, a key program that was put in place last year to prop up the banks is scheduled to expire on March 11th…

On March 11, the Fed’s Bank Term Funding Program will stop making specially low-interest loans to distressed lenders. The program was established last year amid the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank to help lenders shore up their finances on the cheap, and restore the public’s confidence in the wider banking system.

Meanwhile, the commercial real estate turmoil in the United States is also having a tremendous impact on banks on the other side of the planet.

For example, shares of the 16th biggest bank in Japan have been crashing because some of their U.S. office tower loans are going bad…

Just last week, Aozora Bank, the 16th largest in Japan by market value, saw shares crash after slashing the value of some of its US office tower loans by more than 50%.

In Germany, Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG is now in very hot water due to commercial real estate loans that it has made in the United States…

The troubles in the US commercial property market, which have already hit banks in New York and Japan, moved to Europe this week, elevating fears about broader contagion.

The latest victim was Germany’s Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG, which saw its bonds slump on concern about its exposure to the sector. It responded by issuing an unscheduled statement Wednesday that it had increased provisions because of the “persistent weakness of the real estate markets.”

Most Americans have never even heard of Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG, but Germany’s largest bank is very well known. And at this point, Deutsche Bank is facing enormous losses due to “potential defaults on its US commercial real estate loans”…

Germany’s biggest lender Deutsche Bank said last week that it had allocated €123 million ($133 million) during the fourth quarter of last year to absorb potential defaults on its US commercial real estate loans. That’s more than quadruple the amount it set aside during the same three-month period in 2022.

I have been watching Deutsche Bank for a long time.

Could it be possible that they are finally nearing a point of no return?

I believe that we are going to see so much financial chaos this year.

As I discussed yesterday, in such an environment it is wise not to put all of your eggs in one basket.

You don’t want to wake up some morning and realize that all of your assets are trapped in an institution that has just failed.

If just a handful of banks fail as this crisis rolls along, the federal government will probably be able to handle that.

But what if dozens or hundreds of them start failing?

We are moving into unprecedented times, and during the years ahead we are going to see things happen that we have never seen before.

So enjoy the relative prosperity that we are experiencing today while you still can, because it will disappear way too quickly.

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

Delinquency Rates Are Spiking! Has The Final Meltdown Of The U.S. Consumer Now Begun?

February 6, 2024February 6, 2024 by Michael

According to the New York Fed, total household debt in the United States increased by 212 billion dollars during the fourth quarter of 2023. It is now sitting at a grand total of 17.5 trillion dollars. I suppose the good news is that we aren’t 34 trillion dollars in debt like the federal government is. But 17.5 trillion dollars is still really bad, and it is far more than U.S. households can handle. Unsurprisingly, delinquency rates have started to spike, and I fully expect this trend to intensify in the months ahead.

Let’s start by taking a look at credit card debt. During the fourth quarter, it hit a brand new all-time record high of 1.13 trillion dollars…

Americans are increasingly turning to their credit cards to cover everyday expenses, with debt hitting a new record high at the end of December, according to a New York Federal Reserve report published Tuesday.

In the three-month period from October to December, total credit card debt surged to $1.13 trillion, an increase of $50 billion, or 4.6% from the previous quarter, according to the report. It marks the highest level on record in Fed data dating back to 2003 and the ninth consecutive annual increase.

The average rate of interest on credit card balances is now way above 20 percent, and so it has been very foolish of us to run up so much credit card debt.

And now millions of Americans are falling behind on their payments.

In fact, it is being reported that credit card delinquencies “surged more than 50% in 2023”…

Credit card delinquencies surged more than 50% in 2023 as total consumer debt swelled to $17.5 trillion, the New York Federal Reserve reported Tuesday.

Debt that has transitioned into “serious delinquency,” or 90 days or more past due, increased across multiple categories during the year, but none more so than credit cards.

With a total of $1.13 trillion in debt, credit card debt that moved into serious delinquency amounted to 6.4% in the fourth quarter, a 59% jump from just over 4% at the end of 2022, the New York Fed reported.

As delinquency rates rise, lenders will be forced to become more stingy, and that means that U.S. consumers will have less money to throw around.

The New York Fed is also telling us that delinquency rates on auto loans are surging too…

In the case of auto loans, delinquency rates are now above pre-pandemic levels “and the worsening appears to be broad-based,” New York Fed researchers wrote.

“Loans opened during 2022 and 2023 are, so far, performing worse than loans opened in earlier years, perhaps because buyers during these years faced higher car prices and may have been pressed to borrow more, and at higher rates,” they wrote. Increased delinquency rates “merit monitoring in the months ahead, particularly with the amplified distress shown by borrowers in lower-income areas.”

This is exactly what we would expect to see if the U.S. economy was plunging into a recession.

A lot more Americans are having trouble paying their bills these days, and as the economy slows down throughout the rest of 2024 that is just going to make matters even worse.

One of the reasons why Americans have been relying on their credit cards so much is because virtually everything has become so much more expensive.

At this point, even a trip to McDonald’s has become financially painful…

The CEO of McDonald’s admitted Monday that the sales for the fast food giant have dipped amid increased menu prices that have not gone unnoticed by customers.

The Chicago-based chain has taken heavy criticism over its Big Mac combo that is priced at nearly $18, among other menu hikes, and has promised to focus on affordability, the New York Post reported.

“I think what you’re going to see as you head into 2024 is probably more attention to what I would describe as affordability,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said on an earnings call with analysts.

In 1996, you could get a Big Mac for just 99 cents.

Things sure have changed since then.

I never imagined that we would be reminiscing about the “good old days” of the 1990s, but here we are…

I also miss the days when it seemed like there was a bank branch on just about every corner.

Once upon a time it was so easy to set up a bank account that even a kid could do it.

But now banks all over the nation have gotten into big financial trouble and they are shutting down branches at a staggering rate…

Bank of America has emerged as a front-runner in the ongoing elimination of costly brick-and-mortar banking locations in the US.

It said it would shut almost 160 last year and having already announced 30 in the first month of 2024 alone, there are no signs the trend will slow.

A total of 139 scheduled bank branch closures were made public in January – more than the monthly average across 2023, according to their regulator.

The Federal Reserve is doing all that it can to try to prop up the system, but I still expect another wave of bank failures in 2024.

In this sort of an environment, I think that it is wise to not have all of your eggs in one basket.

We really are moving into wild and unpredictable times, and no financial institution is 100 percent safe.

If you have spread your assets around, that will help mitigate your risk.

Of course most Americans don’t actually need to spread their assets around because they hardly have any at all.

According to one recent survey, 60 percent of all Americans have 500 dollars or less in their checking accounts.

That means that most of us are living right on the edge of financial disaster, and we are collectively piling up more credit card debt with each passing day.

The stage is set for the final meltdown of the U.S. consumer, and it will be truly horrifying to watch it play out.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is 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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