11 Signs That Economic Activity Is Plunging Off A Cliff

Have you noticed it too?  There has been a dramatic shift in the economy in recent days.  It has been sudden and it has been severe.  All over the country, sales are falling like a rock, inventories are piling up to alarming levels, and large companies are beginning to conduct mass layoffs.  Perhaps it was inevitable that such a downturn would arrive, but the Federal Reserve has made things far worse by rapidly hiking interest rates.  Every other time the Fed has engaged in such a rate hiking binge it has resulted in a recession, and there is no way that we are going to escape unscathed this time around.  The following are 11 signs that economic activity is plunging off a cliff…

#1 This year, only 74 percent of Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving because so many people are skipping the holiday in order to save money…

In 2021, researchers note that an IPSOS survey found that nine in 10 Americans planned to celebrate Thanksgiving. This year, the new poll of 1,000 people found that number has fallen to just 74 percent. In fact, 47 percent say they’re celebrating “Friendsgiving” because of its more budget-friendly menu. Specifically, just 24 percent of Friendsgiving celebrations will even have a turkey on the table, with 33 percent opting for a pizza instead!

#2 Used vehicle prices have just plunged at the fastest pace that we have seen since 2008.

#3 A Dollar General assistant manager named Travis Bennett recently posted a video on TikTok that showed unsold inventory at his store literally piling up to the roof

In a video with over 380,000 views addressed to “anyone inside this company that actually cares,” TikTok user Travis Bennett shows the conditions of his Dollar General. This includes boxes filling the aisles and numerous crates that have not been unpacked. Bennett says this is typical for “most Dollar General stores across the country.”

#4 Consumer confidence in the housing market just hit an all-time record low.

#5 All over America, companies are seeing depressingly low sales numbers.  In fact, it is being reported that the Net Rising Index “is getting close to a level which corresponds to several past recessions”…

A closely watched survey from the National Association for Business Economics has shown a decline in sales for companies that hasn’t been this sharp since the mid-2020 Covid crash and is getting close to a level which corresponds to several past recessions. The Net Rising Index (NRI) for sales — the percentage of survey respondents reporting rising sales minus the percentage reporting falling sales — peaked at 74% of firms in April 2021. As of October, it’s down to 36%.

#6 CNN is reporting that Facebook could start laying off thousands of workers “as early as this week”.

#7 Other large tech companies are also conducting mass layoffs, and many believe that what we have experienced so far is just the tip of the iceberg.

#8 Credit card debt growth has fallen to the lowest level in 4 months.

#9 20 million U.S. households are behind on paying their power bills.

#10 37 percent of all small business owners were not able to pay their rent on time during the month of October.

#11 A poll that was just released found that a whopping 73 percent of Americans will be “thinking a lot about the economy” when they vote.

The fact that voters are so focused on the economy right now appears to be really bad news for Democrats.

The guy in the White House always gets most of the credit or most of the blame for how the economy is performing, and right now Joe Biden’s approval rating is downright dismal

Voters’ approval of President Joe Biden remains deep in negative territory and 70 percent of voters say the country is on the wrong track — both results that bode ill for Democrats as Election Day approaches.

Fifty-five percent of registered voters said they disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president, and just 42 percent said they approve in the last POLITICO-Morning Consult poll conducted in advance of Tuesday’s election.

Of course Joe Biden is still going to be in the White House no matter what happens during the midterm elections.

In fact, either he or Kamala Harris will be residing there until at least January 2025.

So there won’t be any major policy changes for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, economic conditions are just going to continue to deteriorate.

As this new downturn accelerates, a lot of Americans are going to lose their jobs.

In fact, Bank of America is projecting that job losses in this country will soon hit 175,000 a month

As pressure from the Fed’s war on inflation builds, nonfarm payrolls will begin shrinking early next year, translating to a loss of about 175,000 jobs a month during the first quarter, the bank said. Charts published by Bank of America suggest job losses will continue through much of 2023.

“The premise is a harder landing rather than a softer one,” Michael Gapen, head of US economics at Bank of America, told CNN in a phone interview Monday.

Sadly, that is a wildly optimistic projection.

During times like these, you will want to be carrying as little debt as possible, and you will want to have a sizable emergency fund so that you can continue paying the bills if something happens.

In 2008 and 2009, millions of Americans ended up losing their homes because they couldn’t continue paying the bills once they lost their jobs.

Don’t let that happen to you.

The times that we are moving into won’t be pleasant.  Eventually, they will be far worse than anything that we experienced in 2008 and 2009.

But that doesn’t mean that we have to be depressed about what is coming.

When I was growing up, I was often told that “when times get tough, the tough get going”.

Those that choose to be bold and tough are going to have a much better chance of making it through what is ahead.

Unfortunately, boldness and toughness are in short supply in our society today, and the coming economic slowdown is likely to cause a massive national emotional breakdown.

***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.

Will A Dark Omen On Election Day Be A Sign That The United States “Is On The Eve Of Destruction”?

The level of anger that we are witnessing all over the United States right now is extremely alarming.  Millions of voters on both the left and the right are filled with rage, and I have never seen this country more bitterly divided than it is at this moment.  Interestingly, survey after survey has found that the economy is the number one issue that voters are concerned about.  Our once great economic machine is coming apart at the seams, and the cost of living has become extremely oppressive.  But to be honest, for now the economy is still relatively stable.  So how angry will Americans be once the wheels start coming off and economic conditions really start deteriorating very rapidly?

As I write this article, we are a nation that is teetering on the brink of widespread civil unrest.  As NBC News has noted, candidates from both major political parties “have been physically attacked” in recent weeks…

Armed men in masks and tactical gear have shown up at secure ballot drop boxes. Candidates of both parties have been physically attacked, election workers intimidated. And threats against members of Congress are up tenfold.

For many voters, a vicious spiral of violence and fear is creating angst, paranoia and an overwhelming sense of dread that the nation is on the eve of destruction, according to a growing body of public opinion research.

I found it very interesting that NBC News acknowledged that there is “an overwhelming sense of dread that the nation is on the eve of destruction”.

It is not often that we get such a truthful admission from the mainstream media.

Nobody can claim that the mood in this country is “good” right now.  In fact, one recent survey found that two-thirds of all Americans believe that the U.S. “is at its lowest point in their memory”

Two-thirds of Americans say the country is at its lowest point in their memory, and more than a quarter report being so stressed they can’t function most days, according to a recent survey commissioned by the American Psychological Association in which more than three-quarters said the future of the country was a significant source of stress in their lives.

For millions of Americans, the struggle for survival from month to month is the biggest reason why they are so stressed.

One 31-year-old woman named Cashe Lewis often works “16 hours a day”, she is now looking for a third job, and she is literally selling her blood so that she can afford to buy food…

Cashe Lewis, 31, of Denver, Colorado works two jobs and is currently trying to find a third job to cover the recent $200 monthly rent increase to her apartment. She works days as a barista at Starbucks, but claims it’s been difficult to get enough hours even with taking extra shifts whenever she can due to scheduling cuts as part of the crackdown on union organizing by management.

At night she works at a convenience store because the hours are reliable, and works six days a week, often 16 hours a day.

“I’m exhausted all the time,” said Lewis. “On the one day I have off a week, I donate plasma for extra money. I’m literally selling my blood to eat because I have no choice.”

These days, a lot of Americans are “exhausted all the time”, but just about everything that our leaders do to fix our problems ends up making them even worse.

Yet another major survey has just discovered that the economy is the most important issue to U.S. voters, and I think that the election results will clearly reflect that sentiment.

It is likely that the Republicans will control at least one house of Congress after these midterm elections, and that means that there will be gridlock in Washington for at least the next two years.

And it is also likely that both sides of the political spectrum will only get even angrier as we approach 2024.

Interestingly, at this precise moment we are going to see a blood moon on an election day in the United States for the very first time in our history.  The total lunar eclipse that is about to happen will be visible on four different continents

Skywatchers on four continents will have the chance next week to catch the last total lunar eclipse for three years.

The eclipse will occur Tuesday, with the moon set to turn blood red as it slips into Earth’s shadow. The celestial show will be visible to viewers in North and Central America, Asia, Australia, the Pacific Islands and parts of South America.

Many consider a “blood moon” to be a very bad omen.

Could it be possible that this is a sign that we really are “on the eve of destruction” as NBC News has suggested?

And it should be noted that this “blood moon” also comes as the Taurid meteor shower is sending “brilliant fireballs” down on our planet…

During the next week or so, keep a sharp eye on the night sky for the possibility of catching sight of an outstandingly bright meteor, for there’s a chance that Earth will encounter a swarm of unusually large particles capable of generating some eye-catching really brilliant fireballs, the kind that make the unsuspecting public call the police.

Every year about this time, the Earth passes through a broad stream of debris left by the periodic comet Encke. The dusty material associated with this comet hits the Earth’s atmosphere at approximately 19 miles (30 km) per second and burns up, creating the Taurid meteor shower.

In the end, these “signs in the heavens” may not mean anything at all.

But without a doubt we are a country that is teetering on the edge.  Earlier today, I came across a story about a 21-year-old man that literally threatened to skin one Republican politician while he was still alive

A Chicago man has been arrested and charged after authorities say he left threatening voicemails for a Republican gubernatorial candidate.

Scott Lennox, 21, said in one message that he was going “to skin Darren Bailey alive” after killing the candidate’s family, according to a filing from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office that was obtained by The Epoch Times.

“He better kill himself and if he doesn’t, I am going to kill him,” Lennox said.

It is definitely a very dangerous time to be a politician in America.

On Sunday alone, there was a bomb scare that stopped voting in New York City, and police in Arizona were investigating “envelopes containing white powder” that showed up at Kari Lake’s campaign office…

Amid the campaigning, two incidents added to the tension on Sunday, one in Manhattan and one in Phoenix.

A bomb scare at an early voting site in East Harlem temporarily stopped voting, though NYPD said the threat was not related to the election. Voting resumed after a brief delay.

In Phoenix, law enforcement on was investigating after envelopes containing white powder arrived at the campaign office of GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

We truly are a nation that is descending into chaos.

But if you think that things are bad now, just wait until you see what is ahead.

No matter what the results of this election are, the divisions that are plaguing this country are only going to get deeper and deeper.

A house divided against itself will surely fall, and we appear to be headed into times that will literally rip our national unity to shreds.

***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 digital copies as gifts through Amazon 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.

This Tsunami Of Tech Layoffs Could Soon Be The Largest We Have Ever Seen

This is starting to look like 2008 all over again.  For years, the tech industry was the strongest part of the U.S. economy by a wide margin.  The largest tech firms were raking in billions upon billions of dollars in revenue and their stock prices soared to unprecedented levels.  But now the tech industry has suddenly fallen on difficult times.  Many large tech companies are laying off huge numbers of workers, and we are being warned that even more layoffs are ahead.  If the most prosperous sector of our economy is experiencing this much trouble already, what is the outlook for the rest of the economy as we head into 2023?

As I write this article, the layoffs that Elon Musk is conducting at Twitter are making headlines all over the planet.  It is being reported that approximately half of all Twitter workers could lose their jobs, and the widespread layoffs are apparently happening “in departments across the company”

Twitter on Friday laid off employees in departments across the company, in a severe round of cost cutting that could potentially upend how one of the world’s most influential platforms operates one week after it was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk.

Numerous Twitter employees began posting on the platform Thursday night and Friday morning that they had already been locked out of their company email accounts ahead of the planned layoff notification. Some also shared blue hearts and salute emojis indicating they were out at the company.

Needless to say, a lot of these former employees do not plan to go quietly.

In fact, some of them have already slapped Twitter with a federal lawsuit

Twitter has been sued by multiple staff members over an alleged violation of federal law, with workers claiming they were not given enough notice regarding planned layoffs.

Employees who had worked at Twitter’s offices in San Francisco, California, and Cambridge, Massachusetts filed a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco) on Thursday.

Sadly, Twitter is not alone.

Lots of other large tech companies are conducting mass layoffs, and in each case the current economic climate is being blamed.

For example, Lyft has announced that it will be laying off 13 percent of its workforce…

Lyft Inc. said it is cutting 13% of staff, or nearly 700 jobs, the latest technology company to say it needed to reduce costs ahead of choppy economic conditions.

Confirming an earlier report by The Wall Street Journal, Lyft co-founders John Zimmer and Logan Green announced the cuts to staff Thursday. “There are several challenges playing out across the economy. We’re facing a probable recession sometime in the next year and ride-share insurance costs are going up,” they wrote in the memo viewed by the Journal.

And it is being reported that Chime will be letting 12 percent of their workers go…

Chime is one of the latest private tech firms to announce layoffs amid a worsening economic outlook and a recent wave of cuts from both public and private companies.

A company spokesperson told CNBC that the so-called challenger bank – a fintech firm that exclusively offers banking services through websites and smartphone apps – is cutting 12% of its 1,300-person workforce, adding that while they are eliminating approximately 160 employees, they are still hiring for select positions and “remain very well capitalized.”

Not to be outdone, 18 percent of Opendoor’s workforce is about to get the axe…

Opendoor Technologies Inc. is laying off about 550 employees after higher mortgage rates cratered US housing demand.

The layoffs will reduce Opendoor’s headcount by about 18%, according to a company blog post. The cuts come after an abrupt shift in prices forced the company to sell homes for less than it paid for them.

In other cases, we are seeing companies that seemed to be doing really well let workers go.  As I discussed yesterday, Stripe has decided to “let go of 14% of its staff”

Silicon Valley payments giant Stripe announced that it has let go of 14% of its staff. Citing global economic challenges including inflation, higher interest rates and “sparse startup funding,” cofounder and CEO Patrick Collison said in an email to employees that Stripe needs to cut costs.

I guess Stripe isn’t doing quite as well as we all thought.

Meanwhile, we have also just learned that Dapper Labs will be reducing the size of their workforce by 22 percent

One of the biggest names in the non-fungible token (NFT) industry is dramatically reducing headcount as the crypto bear market continues to take a toll on Web3 companies.

Dapper Labs, which created the NFT marketplace NBA Top Shot, is laying off 22% of its staff, citing the “macroeconomic environment.”

But the economy is doing just fine, right?

Isn’t that what the federal government keeps telling us?

Well, if the economy is in such good shape, why does the tech industry keep laying off so many workers?

Even before this latest round of layoff announcements, the tech industry had already laid off over 52,000 workers so far this year…

After a banner year for tech, layoffs are here. In fact, as of late October, more than 52,000 workers in the U.S. tech sector have been laid off in mass job cuts so far in 2022, according to a Crunchbase News tally.

Tech companies as big as Netflix have slashed jobs this year, with some citing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and others pointing to overhiring during periods of rapid growth. Robinhood, Glossier and Better are just a few of the tech companies that have notably trimmed their headcount in 2022.

Of course it isn’t just the tech industry that is letting people go.

According to Reuters, Morgan Stanley is gearing up for “a fresh round of layoffs”…

Wall Street major Morgan Stanley is expected to start a fresh round of layoffs globally in the coming weeks, three people with knowledge of the plan said, as dealmaking business takes a hit due to rising inflation and an economic downturn.

So please don’t listen to any politician that tries to tell you that everything is going to be okay.

Everything is definitely not okay.  According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the number of layoff announcements in the United States is far higher than it was last year at this time…

The job placement agency Challenger, Gray & Christmas released a report on Nov. 3, which revealed that American-based firms announced 33,843 job cuts last month, up from 29,989 in September.

This is higher than the same month last year, when 22,822 employees were laid off.

Hopefully your job is safe, because I believe that we will eventually see millions of Americans lose their jobs during this new economic downturn.

We are truly moving into unprecedented territory, but unfortunately most Americans simply do not understand what is ahead.

A lot of people seem to think that we will have some sort of a mild recession and then things will get back to normal.

I wish that was true.

Unfortunately, a day of reckoning is now upon us, and countless numbers of our fellow Americans are about to have their lives completely turned upside down.

***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 digital copies as gifts through Amazon 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.

On The Verge Of The Worst Homelessness Crisis In The Entire History Of The United States

If you live in a major urban area, you may have noticed that “tent cities” are starting to pop up all around you.  The worst inflation crisis in decades has combined with the worst drug crisis that we have ever seen to create an unprecedented homelessness crisis.  Every night, even more Americans join the rapidly growing “unsanctioned encampments” that are taking up more and more real estate in our largest cities.  If things are this bad now, how many of our fellow citizens will be sleeping in the streets when economic conditions are much worse a year or two from today?  We are supposed to be the greatest nation on the planet, but with each passing day even more tent cities are established.  Our system is failing, and the widespread economic suffering that we are witnessing right now is truly difficult to comprehend.

Just look at what is happening in Sacramento.  It is the capital of the California, and tent cities are being established all over the place.

In fact, it is being reported that the number of homeless people in Sacramento has risen by nearly 70 percent just since 2019…

During the pandemic, the unhoused population has soared all over California, but the increase in Sacramento has been particularly stunning.

The region has seen an almost 70% rise in homelessness since 2019, now counting more unhoused people than San Francisco.

Needless to say, absurd housing prices are one of the main reasons why so many people are being forced out into the cold streets…

The primary force behind the dramatic rise, according to the 2022 point-in-time count, is the high cost of housing. The median home price in the county has surpassed $500,000 and the median monthly rent is $2,774, up more than 5% from last year. Some studios downtown rent for $2,000 a month, said Crystal Sanchez, the president of the Sacramento Homeless Union, while thousands of people sleep outside.

Most middle class families can barely afford to pay $2,000 or more for housing each month.

And those that are poor don’t stand a chance.

Conditions are very similar up in Portland, Oregon.  Housing prices have soared to insane levels, and homelessness is spreading like wildfire.

At this point, Mayor Ted Wheeler says that there are “nearly 800 unsanctioned encampments” spread throughout the city…

“Nearly 800 unsanctioned encampments spread out over the 146 square miles of the City of Portland,” Wheeler said. “Something needs to change.”

But many Portlanders have lost faith in city leaders.

In a recent poll conducted by The Oregonian, nearly 75 percent of Portland voters said the city is “on the wrong track.”

At this stage, it has pretty much gotten to a point where you simply cannot avoid the tent cities.

Things are so bad right now that there is a possibility that the state of Oregon could actually elect a Republican governor in November…

The race for the governorship remains a tossup, with a new poll showing a narrow lead for the Republican candidate in a state that hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 1982.

Republican Christine Drazan leads Democrat Tina Kotek in the race, 44 to 41 per cent, according to a new Nelson Research poll, KOIN reported.

That gives Drazan a 2-point lead in the RealClearPolitics polling average, having narrowly led in every poll this fall.

I thought that we would never see another Republican governor in that state.

It looks like I might have been wrong about that.

Washington D.C. doesn’t have as many “unsanctioned encampments” as Portland does, but the New York Post is reporting that the number of tent cities in the capital of our nation has now grown to 120

In the past two years, homeless encampments have exploded in Washington D.C., as both the city and federal governments lifted enforcement measures during the COVID-19 pandemic — and made it a no-brainer for itinerants to lay down roots by providing for their every need.

A tour by The Post of the district’s major tourist areas this week found at least 35 vagrants in residence at a National Park Service site two blocks from the White House; more than 20 in the green spaces surrounding the State Department complex; and five across the street from the infamous Watergate Hotel.

And these sites accounted for less than 5 percent of the estimated 120 tent cities in Washington D.C.

Over a decade ago, I worked in the heart of Washington.

And during my entire time there, I didn’t see a single homeless person living in a tent.

But now tent cities are all over the place.

Of course a rise in crime often comes along with an explosion in homelessness.

In New York City, the rape of a female jogger by a homeless man with 25 prior arrests is making a lot of headlines this week

Police said the victim was out by Pier 45, near West and Christopher Streets in the West Village, at around 5:30am, when the man, Carl Phanor, 29, grabbed her from behind and choked her until she passed out, the New York Post reports.

Phanor, who has 25 priors and who is wanted for at least two other sex crimes, then removed her clothes, raped her, and then fled the scene on a Citi Bike with her headphones, cell phone and wallet.

The shaken victim was spotted by a fellow jogger, and first responders took her to a nearby hospital.

Sadly, the homeless population just continues to rise in New York City with each passing day.

In fact, the problem has gotten so severe that the National Guard has now been called in to deal with the crisis…

New York City has called in the National Guard to deal with the rising migrant crisis that is overwhelming homeless shelters and facilities as staff are unable to cope with the surge.

National Guard reservists are being deployed to help with day-to-day operations at many shelters, including managing the capacity, distributing food and helping out with staff shortages.

There are over 62,000 people currently living in New York City’s homeless shelters – close to 13,000 of which are migrants, according to the Department of Homeless Services.

But this is just the beginning.

Over the next few years, I expect millions of Americans to lose their jobs.

And the truth is that it is already starting to happen.  Just today, we learned that Stripe will be laying off approximately 14 percent of their entire workforce

Online payments giant Stripe is laying off roughly 14% of its staff, CEO Patrick Collison wrote in a memo to staff Thursday.

In the memo, Collison said the cuts were necessary amid rising inflation, fears of a looming recession, higher interest rates, energy shocks, tighter investment budgets and sparser startup funding. Taken together, these factors signal “that 2022 represents the beginning of a different economic climate,” he said.

Yes, as I detail in my brand new book, a “different economic climate” is definitely ahead of us.

As economic conditions deteriorate, the number of tent cities will grow much larger.

So the cold, hard reality of the matter is that our homelessness crisis is only going to intensify from this point forward.

I know that may be difficult news to hear, but the truth is that these are difficult times.

***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 digital copies as gifts through Amazon 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.

Famous Last Words: “We Will Stay The Course Until The Job Is Done”

The last time interest rates were this high, the U.S. economy plunged into “the Great Recession” and millions of Americans lost their jobs.  But the Federal Reserve is not going to stop here.  In fact, Fed Chair Jerome Powell is telling us that more rate increases are on the way and that officials at the Fed are determined to “stay the course until the job is done”.  If “the job” is to destroy the U.S. economy, they have already made a tremendous amount of progress toward that goal.  The housing market is completely and utterly imploding, and economic activity is steadily slowing down all around us.  But even though Powell can see the damage that is happening, he insists that the Fed will keep raising rates until the official rate of inflation returns to 2 percent.

But this isn’t the early 1980s.

Today, there are a whole host of factors that are working in unison to push prices up.

So the Fed can try to hammer demand as much as it wants, but getting inflation back under control is not going to be as easy as it was during the Volcker era.

And dramatically hiking interest rates at the beginning of a major economic downturn is literally suicidal.  Many of us have been pleading with the Fed to stop raising rates so rapidly, but we witnessed yet another 75 basis point rate hike on Wednesday

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved a fourth consecutive three-quarter point interest rate increase and signaled a potential change in how it will approach monetary policy to bring down inflation.

In a well-telegraphed move that markets had been expecting for weeks, the central bank raised its short-term borrowing rate by 0.75 percentage point to a target range of 3.75%-4%, the highest level since January 2008.

According to Fox Business, it was a unanimous vote, and this “marks the sixth consecutive rate increase this year”…

The three-quarter percentage point hikes in June, July, September and November underscore just how serious Fed officials are about tackling the inflation crisis after a string of alarming economic reports. Policymakers voted unanimously to approve the latest super-sized hike.

The widely expected move puts the key benchmark federal funds rate at a range of 3.75% to 4%, the highest since before the 2008 financial crisis, from near-zero in March. It marks the sixth consecutive rate increase this year and puts interest rates in firmly restrictive territory.

What we are watching is economic malpractice.

I don’t know how else to describe it.

Sadly, the Fed is telling us that “ongoing increases” will be needed until the overall rate of inflation is brought back down to 2 percent…

“The Committee anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time,” the Fed said in a new sentence added to its post-meeting statement.

So more rate hikes are on the way.

The good news, if you want to call it that, is that Powell told the media that future rate increases may be smaller in size

“I’ve said at the last two press conferences that at some point it will become appropriate to slow the pace of increases,” Chairman Jerome Powell told reporters during a press conference in Washington. “So that time is coming. And it may come as soon as the next meeting, or the one after that. No decision has been made.”

But of course rates are now clearly high enough to crash the economy.

The housing market is already coming apart at the seams, and we just keep getting data point after data point telling us that the economy is really slowing down.

There is no way in the world that the Fed should be raising rates, but Powell insists that the Fed “will stay the course until the job is done”

‘My colleagues and I are strongly committed to bring inflation down to our 2 percent goal… We will stay the course until the job is done.’

I truly believe that those words will come back to haunt him.

Look, I can understand why the Fed is so spooked about inflation.  We haven’t seen anything like this in decades, and one recent survey discovered that 50 percent of Americans are “feeling their health suffer as a result of the cost-of-living crisis”…

Research at Toluna, a consumer insights firm, found that 50 percent of those surveyed were feeling their health suffer as a result of the cost-of-living crisis, with inflation currently running above 8 percent according to the consumer price index.

Among them, 37 percent said they were feeling more stressed, 21 percent said they were eating less healthily, 16 percent said they were smoking more, and 13 percent were boozing more often.

And we have just learned that approximately 29 million U.S. households “have been unable to pay their energy bills this past year” due to rapidly rising energy costs…

Some 29 million households have been unable to pay their energy bills this past year, according to a survey that says the cold winter weather and rising utility costs will only worsen the crisis.

Data from the US Census Bureau show that many more American families — 43 million households — have cut back spending on groceries, medicine and doctors’ visits, so they could settle an energy bill.

So I definitely agree that inflation is a major problem.

But killing the economy is not the answer.

If you doubt the severity of the crisis that we are heading into, just take a look at what is happening at Wells Fargo right now

Mortgage volumes at Wells Fargo slowed further in recent weeks, leaving some workers idle and sparking concerns the lender will need to cut more employees as the U.S. housing slump deepens.

The bank had about 18,000 loans in its retail origination pipeline in the early weeks of the fourth quarter, according to people with knowledge of the company’s figures. That is down as much as 90% from a year earlier, when the Covid pandemic-fueled housing boom was in full swing, said the people, who declined to be identified speaking about internal matters.

If Wells Fargo is already facing a 90 percent decline, what will happen as the Fed hikes rates even higher?

Sadly, the “housing recession” that we are now experiencing could quickly become a “housing depression”.

In my brand new book entitled “End Times”, I explain that the U.S. economy has been going through a housing market crash every 14 years.

There was a crash in 1980, there was a crash in 1994, there was a crash in 2008, and now a new crash has begun in 2022.

But if the Federal Reserve was not being so foolish, we could have likely avoided a severe crash this time around.

Unfortunately, our leaders never seem to learn from history, and the months ahead promise to be exceedingly painful.

***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 digital copies as gifts through Amazon 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.

They Won’t Be Able To Deny The Cold, Hard Reality Of What Is Happening To The U.S. Economy Much Longer

They are trying really hard to convince all of us that everything is just fine.  But close to one-fifth of the U.S. population is skipping meals because food prices are too high.  And nearly 40 percent of our small businesses couldn’t pay rent in October.  Our leaders are trying to put a positive spin on things, but the truth is that we are witnessing a tremendous amount of economic suffering all over the United States right now.  The core consumer price index just surged to “the highest level since 1982”, and this is putting an enormous amount of financial stress on American families and businesses.

This week, I was stunned to learn that a survey that was just released found that 37 percent of all small businesses in the United States could not pay rent last month…

The survey of 4,789 randomly selected small business owners saw more than half of respondents say their rent is at least 10 percent higher than six months ago.

If you go back seven months, the majority said their rents had increased by at least 20 percent.

Moreover, the study found that roughly 37 percent of small businesses – almost half of all Americans working in the private sector – were left unable to pay rent in October.

Prior to getting this news, if someone had asked me to guess the percentage of small businesses that are currently unable to pay rent, I would have responded with a figure that was far lower.

So often, things turn out to be even worse than I thought they were.

If those small businesses continue to be unable to pay rent, they will eventually be forced to shut down.

So what will our communities look like if millions of small businesses suddenly close up shop on a permanent basis?

Meanwhile, a different survey has discovered that 18 percent of Americans are now skipping meals because food prices have become so crazy…

Over the last 12 months, nearly two in five American households (40%) received food or goods from a food bank (22% for Millennials), and the same amount (17%) stopped buying healthier foods (organic or high-priced healthy foods).

Nearly one in five Americans (18%) say they skipped meals or didn’t buy groceries due to high inflation (including 28% of Gen Z and 23% of millennials).

Skipping meals can be a positive thing, because fasting is actually really good for your health.

But most of these Americans are not skipping meals for the health benefits.

In addition, the same survey found that many Americans are not taking medications or seeing their doctors because prices have gone up so much

Many have cancelled or postponed plans in the past 12 months to see a specialist (14%), take a prescribed medication (10%) or get an annual physical (11%) due to high inflation.

If things are this bad already, what will those numbers look like next year at this time when economic conditions are significantly worse?

The American people are going to become increasingly frustrated as our standard of living continues to plunge.

All of us have to eat, and so many of the products that so many of us buy on a regular basis have gone up dramatically in price

A year ago, a bag of potato chips at the grocery store cost an average of $5.05. These days, that bag costs $6.05. A dozen eggs that could have been picked up for $1.83 now average $2.90. A two-liter bottle of soda that cost $1.78 will now set you back $2.17.

Sadly, this is just the beginning.

Even though the Federal Reserve has declared war on inflation, food prices are going to continue to rise for a variety of reasons.

And as the cost of living keeps becoming more oppressive, more American families are going to struggle to make it from month to month.

Even now, nearly two-thirds of the entire country is currently living paycheck to paycheck

As rising prices continue to outpace wage gains, families are finding less cushion in their monthly budget.

As of September, 63% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent LendingClub report — near the 64% historic high hit in March. A year ago, the number of adults who felt strained was closer to 57%.

“Consumers are not able to keep up with the pace that inflation is increasing,” said Anuj Nayar, LendingClub’s financial health officer.

The worse things get, the more we will see people clamoring for the federal government to help them.

In fact, one recent survey actually discovered that 63 percent of all U.S. voters are in favor of “inflation stimulus payments”

A recent poll found that almost two-thirds of Americans are proponents of the federal government sending out inflation stimulus payments.

About 63% of eligible U.S. voters expressed some degree of support for federal inflation relief checks being distributed, the Newsweek poll conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies showed. Of those who agreed the federal government should do so, 42% indicated they “strongly agree” while 21% said “agree,” according to the poll.

Sadly, most voters don’t seem to understand that sending out more stimulus checks would create even more inflation.

There is always a cost when the government gives out “free money”.

If our politicians would have exercised discipline over the past several years, we would not be in the mess that we are in today.

But now years of very bad decisions are catching up with us in a major way, and economic conditions are rapidly deteriorating.

At this point, the vast majority of the U.S. population can see this.  According to one recent Gallup survey, a whopping two-thirds of all Americans believe that economic conditions in this nation are getting worse.

So many people are talking about the possibility of a recession in 2023.

If all we have is a recession next year, we would be extremely fortunate.

Because right now the economy is starting to crack and crumble all around us, and the outlook for the months ahead is exceedingly bleak indeed.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written five other books that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”“The Beginning Of The End”“Get Prepared Now”, 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 digital copies as gifts through Amazon 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 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 ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior today.

A Crippling Shortage Of Diesel Fuel Threatens To Devastate Western Economies In 2023

In my entire lifetime, global supplies of diesel fuel have never been tighter than they are right now.  And that is really bad news, because the entire economy of the western world runs on diesel.  If we suddenly had no more diesel fuel, virtually all of our trains, trucks and ships would stop running.  Needless to say, just about everything that stocks our store shelves comes to us via trains, trucks and ships.  So the fact that there is not enough diesel fuel to go around is a really big deal.  Supplies have been declining for months, and at this point diesel inventories have fallen so low that we only have a 25 day buffer remaining…

The U.S. is facing a diesel crunch just as demand is surging ahead of winter — with only 25 days of supply left, according to the Energy Information Administration.

National Economic Council Director Brian Deese told Bloomberg TV that diesel inventories are “unacceptably low” and “all options are on the table” to bolster supply and reduce prices.

Unfortunately, this is not just a problem here in the United States.

Globally, supplies of diesel fuel have fallen to the lowest level that we have seen since 1982

“The demand for diesel tends to rise as you get close to the winter, because the molecule that makes up diesel is very similar to the molecule that you use for heating homes in the U.S., for winter fuels in Europe,” Tom Kloza, dean of U.S. oil analysts at Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), told Newsweek.

The issue is global, said Kloza, adding that diesel inventories around the world are the lowest as they’ve been since 1982, “and we’ve added about 3.4 billion people in that time.”

Read that last line again.

The total population of the planet has nearly doubled since the early 1980s, and so we truly are in unprecedented territory.

Like I said earlier, I have never seen global supplies of diesel fuel any tighter than they are at this moment.

Of course that doesn’t mean that we are about to totally run out of diesel fuel.

But as supplies get tighter, we are likely to increasingly witness temporary shortages that have the potential to cause immense supply chain headaches…

A shortage of diesel fuel is spreading across the United States, with one company launching an emergency delivery protocol, requesting a 72-hour advance notice from clients to be able to make the delivery.

Per a Bloomberg report, fuel supplier Mansfield Energy wrote in a note to its clients that “conditions are rapidly devolving” and “At times, carriers are having to visit multiple terminals to find supply, which delays deliveries and strains local trucking capacity.”

In a desperate attempt to alleviate the pressure, two tankers that were loaded with diesel and jet fuel that were headed to Europe have been turned back around

Meanwhile, the scarcity of diesel has prompted traders to start diverting cargoes with the fuel that were originally bound for Europe, Reuters reported earlier this month.

Tanker tracking data showed that at least two tankers with some 90,000 tons of diesel and jet fuel that were initially bound for Europe were diverted toward the U.S. East Coast.

That may help us a bit, but it is not good news at all for the Europeans.

In fact, some areas of Europe have already started to experience very serious shortages of diesel fuel.

Unfortunately, things are not likely to improve much any time soon.

In recent years, politicians in the United States and Europe have made life really difficult for refiners.

As a result, the number of refineries has actually been shrinking, and nobody has really wanted to build any new ones.

Now we get to experience the consequences of their very foolish policies.

At this point, we are being told that the only way to reduce demand for diesel is to have a “significant slowdown in freight movements and manufacturing activity”

Stabilizing then rebuilding inventories to more comfortable levels will require a significant slowdown in freight movements and manufacturing activity.

There are early indications manufacturing and freight activity peaked in the third quarter of 2022. If confirmed that would take some of the pressure of distillate inventories.

But a deeper and more prolonged slowdown in the United States and/or in Europe and Asia will be needed to boost inventories significantly.

Rebalancing diesel supply will likely require a further rise in interest rates and tighter financial conditions in the United States and other major economies to reduce fuel consumption to more sustainable levels.

In other words, it is going to take a recession and/or a depression in order to fix this crisis.

Ouch.

We should have never allowed things to get this bad.

Over the past decade, we should have been building a lot more refining capacity.

But our politicians didn’t want that, and so now we all get to pay the price.

And thanks to the war in Ukraine, supplies from Russia that could help alleviate this nightmare are not going to be available.

So there will be shortages.

Also, it is likely that diesel prices will go a lot higher than they are right now.

Needless to say, that is going to add even more fuel to our ongoing inflation crisis, because just about everything that we buy has to be transported.

This is yet another reason why our standard of living is going to continue to go down at a frightening pace in the months ahead.

We truly have got a colossal mess on our hands, and it is going to be with us for quite some time to come.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written five other books that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”“The Beginning Of The End”“Get Prepared Now”, 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 digital copies as gifts through Amazon 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 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 ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior today.

Teetering On The Brink: 63 Percent Of Americans Are Living Paycheck To Paycheck

We have reached a point where nearly two-thirds of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.  So what happens if millions of those people suddenly lose their paychecks during the severe economic downturn that is ahead of us?  In 2008, unprecedented numbers of Americans found themselves unable to pay their mortgages when the recession struck, and foreclosures surged to absolutely shocking levels.  Unfortunately, we have set ourselves up for the same thing to happen again.  Most Americans are literally teetering on the brink of financial disaster, and it won’t take much to push them over the edge.

According to a survey that was just released, 63 percent of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck in September…

As rising prices continue to outpace wage gains, families are finding less cushion in their monthly budget.

As of September, 63% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent LendingClub report — near the 64% historic high hit in March. A year ago, the number of adults who felt strained was closer to 57%.

Why aren’t more people alarmed by the fact that nearly two-thirds of the entire country is just barely scraping by from month to month?

If you do not have anything to fall back on, you are just one major setback away from extreme financial distress.

A job loss, an auto accident or a serious illness could hit at any time.  If you suddenly experienced such a tragedy, how would you make ends meet?

A different survey that was recently conducted found that two-thirds of all working adults in the United States believe that they are “worse off financially” than they were 12 months ago…

As inflation pressures continue, two-thirds of working adults said they are worse off financially than they were a year ago, according to a recent report by Salary Finance.

To make ends meet, many are dipping into their cash reserves or going into debt.

Nearly three-quarters, or 72%, of consumers have less in savings than last year, a jump from 55% who said the same in February, the report found. And 29% said they have wiped out their savings entirely. The report is based on a survey of 500 adults in August.

So most of us are living paycheck to paycheck, and most of us are also doing worse than we were in 2021.

Isn’t that just great?

If things are this bad already, what will these numbers look like six months from now?

We continue to get even more evidence that we are plunging into a very painful economic downturn.  For example, on Tuesday we learned that U.S. business activity has now contracted for 4 months in a row

U.S. business activity contracted for a fourth straight month in October, with manufacturers and services firms in a monthly survey of purchasing managers both reporting weaker client demand, the latest evidence of an economy softening in the face of high inflation and rising interest rates.

S&P Global said on Monday its flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, fell to 47.3 this month from a final reading of 49.5 in September.

And just like we witnessed in 2008, home prices are starting to crash at an alarming rate.

In fact, it appears that prices are going down particularly fast in the western portion of the nation

The study was conducted by Ed Pinto—director of the American Enterprise Institute’s Housing Center. Pinto told Fortune that he predicts that the ‘damage’ will spread for the Northeast, with low and middle-markets being hit the worst.

It’s Northern California that leads the way, with San Jose experiencing a drop of 10.8 percent since September, followed by San Francisco at 8.5 percent, then it’s Seattle at 8.2 percent, Denver at 5.8 percent, San Diego 5.2 percent, Portland 5.1 percent, Las Vegas 4.8 percent and Phoenix at 4.4 percent.

Unfortunately, millions of Americans that purchased homes at or near the peak of the market could soon find themselves “underwater” on their mortgages.

Do you remember the last time such a thing happened?

It was a complete and utter nightmare.  Countless homeowners ended up simply walking away from their mortgages, and that caused a giant mess for our financial institutions that took many years to finally sort out.

In so many ways, what we are going through right now is reminiscent of what we experienced in 2008 and 2009.

And just like we witnessed in 2008, most Americans are completely and utterly unprepared for what is ahead.

To me, that is quite strange, because at this point what is happening to the economy should be apparent to everyone.

We are enduring the worst inflation crisis in decades, the housing market is starting to come apart at the seams, and economic activity is slowing down all around us.

The state of the U.S. economy has become a top issue during this election season, and pessimism about the future seems to be permeating just about everything.

In fact, at this point Americans are even becoming more pessimistic about the long-term future of their children…

Americans have as little optimism as they have had at any time in nearly three decades about young people’s chances of having greater material success in life than their parents. In all, 42% of U.S. adults think it is very (13%) or somewhat (29%) likely that today’s youth “will have a better living standard, better homes, a better education and so on.” This marks an 18-percentage-point drop since June 2019 and is statistically tied with the previous low in 2011.

But even though there is so much pessimism in our society right now, most people are still not getting prepared for a full-blown meltdown of the system.

And that is because most of the population does not think that it is going to happen.

After everything that has transpired, most Americans still have a tremendous amount of faith in the fundamental soundness of our system.

Overall, there is still an overwhelming consensus that most of the severe problems that we are facing right now are just “temporary” and that things will “return to normal” eventually.

It would be wonderful if that assessment was true.

Sadly, our leaders have really messed things up this time, and we are all going to experience a tremendous amount of pain as a result.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written five other books that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”“The Beginning Of The End”“Get Prepared Now”, 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 digital copies as gifts through Amazon 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 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 ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior today.