The Economic Collapse

Is another domino about to fall?  Our system was greatly shaken when Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank suddenly collapsed, but we seem to have weathered that storm.  But what will happen if an even larger bank goes under?  As of March 31st, First Republic had approximately 290 billion dollars in assets, and that makes it much larger than Silicon Valley Bank was when it finally imploded.  A 30 billion dollar rescue plan that was hastily put together last month was supposed to stabilize First Republic, but that hasn’t worked.  On Tuesday, First Republic shares fell by about 50 percent after the public learned that “customers withdrew more than $100 billion during last month’s crisis”… (Read More...)

If we don’t get to have Tucker Carlson, they don’t get to have a network.  That is the message that we need to send to Fox News.  A few hours ago, I participated in the taping of a panel discussion about the firing of Tucker Carlson for a television show.  Former Fox News contributor Brigitte Gabriel was also on the panel, and she boldly declared that it is time for a national boycott of Fox News.  I couldn’t agree more.  Tucker Carlson was the only reason why many of us ever watched Fox News.  Like so many others, Tucker could have chosen to play it safe so that he could have continued to rake in millions of dollars, but instead he consciously made a decision to relentlessly tell the truth no matter the consequences.  By unceremoniously dumping Tucker like a smelly bag of garbage, executives at Fox News have not only shown great contempt for a national hero, but they have also shown great contempt for all of us who watched him.  Unless Fox News offers Tucker his job back and issues a truly groveling apology to the viewers, we should steadfastly refuse to ever watch the channel again. (Read More...)

Right now, financial institutions all over America are getting really tight with their money.  That means that less credit will be available for consumers and businesses, and that will mean less economic activity in the months ahead.  When economic activity slows down, more businesses fail, more layoffs happen, and more consumers start defaulting on their debts.  Of course if economic conditions steadily deteriorate it will cause financial institutions to get even more stingy with their money.  It appears that a vicious cycle has now started, and I believe that this will be one of the biggest stories of the next 6 months. (Read More...)

Once in a while, there is a moment that embodies what is going on in our society as a whole.  For me, one of those moments came on Saturday night.  A 45 foot tall animatronic dragon at Disneyland erupted in flames, but most of the people at the park seemed to think that it was no big deal.  The vast majority of them just went about their business as though nothing unusual was happening.  Incredibly, most of those that were there seemed to think that everything was “normal” even though an absolutely enormous fire was sending “massive flames” into the night sky… (Read More...)

It appears that the crisis facing auto dealerships is far more dire than any of us thought.  Financial institutions are starting to get extremely tight with their money, and that is putting extreme stress on dealers all over the nation.  Many of us expected that this would happen, but it seems that things are moving much faster than anyone would have anticipated.  Earlier today, I came across a tweet that absolutely floored me.  It was posted by a highly respected account known as “CarDealershipGuy”, and it contained some rather ominous news… (Read More...)

Our leaders were able to successfully kick the can down the road for a long time, but now many of our long-term problems are becoming short-term problems, and the economic outlook for the remainder of 2023 is extremely bleak.  But none of the economic hardships that we are experiencing at this moment should shock any of us.  The truth is that we were warned about all of these things well ahead of time.  Many independent voices have been warning us that there would be severe consequences for the exceedingly foolish economic decisions that our leaders were making, and now those severe consequences are starting to play out right in front of our eyes.  The following are 5 economic disasters we were warned about in advance that are happening right now… (Read More...)

This isn’t what a civilized society is supposed to look like.  We aren’t supposed to have vast mobs of very angry young people rioting, looting and generally going nuts all over the country.  But this is what our nation has become.  Our major cities have become cesspools of lawlessness where violence can literally erupt at any moment.  But if Americans are this eager to riot and loot now, what is going to happen once we are in the midst of a severe economic recession?  Needless to say, harsh economic times are certainly not going to improve the mood in this country. (Read More...)

If virtually everyone is expecting a recession, and most people start acting accordingly, do you think that will make an economic downturn less likely or more likely?  Needless to say, the answer to that question is obvious.  Right now, banks all over the country are getting really tight with their money, large corporations are laying off workers at a frightening pace, and consumers are cutting back on their spending.  In other words, it really is starting to look a lot like a recession out there, and economic conditions are only going to get even more harsh in the months ahead. (Read More...)