2020

As The Stock Market Soars, The Numbers Say That The Real Economy Is In The Midst Of A Historic Crash

Have you been watching the madness that has been unfolding on Wall Street?  Even though we are in the middle of the worst global pandemic in 100 years, and even though rioters and looters have been turning our major cities into war zones, stock prices have been going up day after day.  In fact, the Nasdaq closed at an all-time record high on Monday.  Sometimes people ask me to explain this rationally, and I can’t, because the Federal Reserve has transformed our “financial markets” into a total mockery at this point.  The real economy is literally collapsing all around us, but thanks to Fed intervention stock investors are doing just fine.  It has been absolutely disgusting to watch, and if Adam Smith could see what was happening he would be rolling over in his grave.  Unfortunately, thanks to our rapidly declining system of education most Americans don’t even know who Adam Smith is anymore.

I can’t recall another time in modern U.S. history when stock prices skyrocketed as the U.S. economy plunged into a recession.  What we have been witnessing has truly been extremely bizarre, and it will be fascinating to see how long it can last.

Meanwhile, the real economy is a giant mess.  On Monday, the National Bureau of Economic Research finally got around to letting us know that a recession has officially begun…

It’s official: The United States is in a recession.

The National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday the U.S. economy peaked in February, ending the longest expansion in U.S. history at 128 months, or about 10½ years.

In truth, the announcement codifies the painfully obvious. States began shutting down nonessential businesses in mid-March to contain the spread of the coronavirus, halting about 30% of economic activity and putting tens of millions of Americans out of work.

And in other news, the sky is blue and the moon is not made out of cheese.

Anyone with half a brain can see that the economy is falling apart.  For example, we just learned that U.S. factory orders were down 22.3 percent in April compared to a year earlier…

Having collapsed by a record 10.4% MoM in March, April factory orders were expected to accelerate even lower and it did. However, the 13.0% plunge in April was modestly better than the 13.4% MoM drop expected… but is still the worst in American history.

Year-over-year, factory orders collapsed 22.3% – the worst since the peak of the financial crisis.

Of course it is not that difficult to find a number that is even worse than that.

Just look at heavy truck sales.  Last month they were down a whopping 37 percent from the same month in 2019…

The last three months have been catastrophic for segments of the trucking business, after an already tough period that started in late 2018. In May, orders for Class 8 trucks – the heavy trucks that haul much of the goods-based economy across the US – plunged 37% from the  low levels in May a year earlier, and by 81% from May two years ago, to 6,600 orders, according to estimates by FTR Transportation Intelligence today.

Not to be outdone, the number of corporate bankruptcies shot up 48 percent last month compared to the same period a year ago…

Corporate bankruptcies spiked during May as the coronavirus pandemic slammed the U.S. economy, pushing the number of filings to levels recorded in the wake of the 2007-09 recession.

U.S. courts recorded 722 businesses nationwide filing for chapter 11 protection last month, a yearly increase of 48%, according to figures from legal-services firm Epiq Global.

But every time we get another horrific economic figure, the stock market goes even higher.

The worse the news gets, the more investors seem to like it.  Week after week, we have seen unprecedented numbers of Americans file for unemployment benefits, and at this point a grand total of more than 42 million Americans have lost a job since this pandemic began.

And yet investors keep taking these job losses as signs that they should buy even more stocks.

Perhaps someone should spread a rumor that a planet-killing asteroid is about to hit us, because that would probably really get investors salivating.

Of course most ordinary Americans don’t get to live in a Fed-fueled fantasy world, and this new economic downturn is hitting most of them extremely hard.

In fact, it is being reported that approximately a third of all Americans “are now showing signs of clinical anxiety and depression”…

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crash, which triggered depression-like unemployment with 40 million initial claims filed in ten weeks, a third of Americans are now showing signs of clinical anxiety and depression, according to new data collected by the Census Bureau. This, by far, is the most comprehensive and troubling sign yet of the psychological toll inflicted on Americans due to months of lockdowns.

The Census Bureau contacted one million households between May 7 and 12, and about 42,000 responded, said The Washington Post. The survey was about 20 minutes long and buried deep within, several questions asked respondents about depression and anxiety. Those who answered provided a laggard but clearest snapshot into people’s mental state at the tail end of the lockdown, where many folks were subjected to isolationism, virus fears, and widespread unemployment.

That is the most alarming number that I have shared with you so far in this article, but I am about to share with you some numbers that are even more alarming.

In recent days, we have watched rioters destroy large sections of our major cities all across America.  But when asked about “violent protests”, a surprising percentage of Americans actually support them…

A broad majority of Americans say the peaceful protests happening all across the country after police violence against African Americans are justified (84% say so), and roughly a quarter (27%) say violent protests in response to police harming or killing African Americans are justified. Both figures are higher than they were when similar protests rose in the fall of 2016. Then, 67% saw peaceful protests as justified while 14% felt violent protests were.

There isn’t much of a racial or partisan difference over whether peaceful protests are justified now, but the gaps are larger over violent protests. Among Democrats, 42% consider violent protests justified in response to police violence against African Americans, while just 9% of Republicans agree.

Yes, you read that last sentence correctly.

42 percent.

Unfortunately, a lot more economic pain is on the way, and that is just going to fuel even more rioting, looting and violence.

These are definitely not “the best of times” no matter what stock market investors seem to think.

We have entered a deeply disturbing new chapter in American history, and life in this country will never be the same again.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. 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. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. 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.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all many people as we possibly can.

“Extreme Looting”: We Are Seeing Looters Use Absolutely Crazy Tactics That Have Never Been Seen Before

Do you have to go to “looting school” to learn this stuff?  It is not that difficult to smash a few store windows and grab a few things, but some of the incidents that we have witnessed over the last several days have been so bizarre that it is hard to believe that they are actually real.  In fact, if they were put into a big Hollywood disaster movie at lot of people would probably dismiss them as “unrealistic”.  But it is very important to understand what is going on out there, because these looters are giving us a preview of coming attractions.  If they will sink to such depths now, what will they be willing to do once things get really, really bad in this country?

There are so many examples that I could share with you, but I think that I will start with the looters in Fairfield, California that decided to use a telescopic forklift to break down the doors of a Best Buy store…

A particularly brazen attempt by looters to storm a store in Fairfield, California, has been caught on video, showing them commandeering what appears to be a telescopic forklift to force their way in.

A video has emerged showing vandals using heavy equipment on the doors of the Best Buy store in Fairfield, a city in Solano County, located between San Francisco and Sacramento.

I suppose that the moral of this story is that you should never leave a telescopic forklift sitting around where looters might find it.

Now that criminals have seen how much they can get away with, they are going to become more emboldened than ever, and the entire west coast is going to be a major danger zone for the foreseeable future.

In the East Bay area, police say that “caravans of cars full of looters” have been roaming around systematically searching for targets.  Authorities have been trying to crack down on these caravans of looters, but that has proven to be quite difficult because many of them are heavily armed.

Elsewhere in northern California, one group of looters just pulled off an absolutely stunning heist that is like something out of a “Fast and Furious” film…

Police in Northern California are searching for suspects after rioters reportedly stole more than 70 premium cars from a dealership near San Francisco Sunday night.

San Leandro Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealership owner Carlos Hidalgo said that although he blocked the exits as a precaution, the thieves “started ramming, ramming until they could get out. They took out chains and fence posts. It was a very malicious act,” FOX 2 in Oakland reported.

This means that at least 70 looters must have descended upon that dealership simultaneously, because each of those vehicles would have required a driver.

If you stop and try to envision what that must have looked like, it will send a chill up your spine.

Of course it isn’t just the west coast that is dealing with such over the top criminality.  The following is how Rachel Olding described the crazy looting that we just witnessed in Midtown Manhattan…

Hard to describe how rampant the looting was tonight in Midtown Manhattan and how lawless it was. Complete anarchy. Literally hundreds of stores up and down Broadway, Fifth Ave, Sixth Ave. Kids ruling the streets like it was a party.

These are the stores where the Wall Street elite shop.

If law enforcement authorities can’t even keep that area secure, do you think that any city in the entire country is truly safe at this point?

And some of these looters are not exactly “impoverished”.  In fact, the New York Post is reporting that some of the looters were pulling up to the stores “in luxury SUVs”…

New York City looters were caught on camera pulling up in luxury SUVs — including what was claimed to be a pricey Rolls-Royce — before apparently looting an upscale retail store in Manhattan, according to footage shared on social media.

The video, filmed by Justine Miller and Keith Feldman, shows a group of men in masks hopping out of two cars and charging through a smashed door in Soho before running back outside carrying boxes of goods on Monday night.

I honestly don’t know what the police in New York City were doing.

They had to know that the luxury retail outlets in Midtown Manhattan would be prime targets, and yet this was allowed to happen anyway.

Down in Philadelphia, the looting has been absolutely insane.  Just yesterday, I discussed the fact that looters were allowed to loot one drugstore for 15 hours straight.  Elsewhere in the city, one very ambitious looter ended up dying in a botched attempt to blow up an ATM machine…

A looter has been killed in a botched ATM explosion in Philadelphia, that police believe was part of a ‘coordinated’ effort to raid 30 machines across the city over a series of two nights.

Police said the 24-year-old man died early Tuesday, several hours after attempting to break into an ATM with explosives in the north of the city.

Needless to say, bank robbery has nothing to do with justice for George Floyd.

All over America, thousands upon thousands of criminals are using the George Floyd protests as an opportunity to commit crimes, and the fact that it is happening on such a widespread basis is extremely sobering.

At this point, things have gotten so crazy that looters are even looting from other looters.  The U.S. is descending into madness, and many people believe that this is just the beginning.

Of course all of this rampant lawlessness is deeply alarming millions upon millions of ordinary citizens, and a lot of people are deeply concerned that this sort of behavior could start spreading into the suburbs and beyond.  In fact, Polk County Sheriff Judd Grady has publicly acknowledged that in his county “some folks were threatening to take their criminal conduct into the neighborhoods”…

Grady said the department “had received information on social media that some folks were threatening to take their criminal conduct into the neighborhoods.”

“I would tell them, if you value your life, they probably shouldn’t do that in Polk County,” Grady said. “Because the people of Polk County like guns, they have guns, I encourage them to own guns, and they’re going to be in their homes tonight with their guns loaded, and if you try to break into their homes to steal, to set fires, I’m highly recommending they blow you back out of the house with their guns. So, leave the community alone.”

Hopefully things will start to cool down at least for a while.

But many Americans understand that it is just a matter of time before more violence erupts, and so they are preparing to defend themselves and their families.  Gun sales are absolutely soaring, and one shop owner in New York says that he has been so busy that he is literally running out of stuff to sell…

Phones have been ringing off the hook and the line has been wrapped around the building at Coliseum Gun Traders in Uniondale, Nassau County, ever since the coronavirus pandemic began. And now with protests and rioting after the killing of George Floyd, the store has seen another enormous spike in sales. Keeping the shelves stocked has been hard, store owner Andy Chernoff said.

“We started out this week with a fair amount of merchandise. We’re running out. Literally running out,” Chernoff said. “Never thought I’d say that.”

Just six months ago, life in America seemed so “normal”, but now everything has changed.

All of the anger that has been building up for years is now starting to boil over, and the upcoming election in November is just going to increase tensions even more.

So please be very careful out there, because our society really is starting to fall apart right in front of our eyes.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. 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. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. 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.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all many people as we possibly can.

Hear The Tale Of A Fallen People Destined To Wander Their Broken Land

America is falling, is falling, and violence covers the land like a flood.  Let us cry for this once great land, because a day of reckoning is at hand.  As I was reflecting on the nightmarish events of the past several days, a line from a song from one of my favorite bands of all-time kept coming to mind, and I have made that line the title of this article.  We are truly a fallen people, and we definitely live in a broken land.  The death of George Floyd is evidence of how far we have fallen, the police brutality that has gone on for way too many years is evidence of how far we have fallen, and the out of control rioting and looting that we have been witnessing day after day is evidence of how far we have fallen.  Of course the truth is that just about every form of evil that you can possibly imagine has been exploding in our society in recent years, and the American people just keep going back for more.  We have had an insatiable appetite for wickedness, and now we are reaping what we have sown.

Do you think that it is just a coincidence that so many of our young people are completely and utterly lawless?  We raised them in a completely upside down society that says that good is evil and evil is good, and so the way that they are behaving now shouldn’t surprise us at all.

If our young people truly wanted to honor George Floyd, looting retail stores is definitely not the way to do it.  Sadly, many are taking advantage of this crisis to go on a crime spree, and we are witnessing looting on a scale that is unlike anything we have ever seen before in this country.

For example, one of the most famous retail stores in the heart of New York City was absolutely mobbed by looters on Monday night…

Disturbing footage shows swarms of looters rushing into one of the world’s most famous stores — Macy’s flagship on Herald Square — as Midtown descended into chaos overnight.

One overhead video showed looters racing into one of the boarded-up entrances shortly before the curfew started Monday night — with only a small unexplained explosion seeming to halt the rush.

There has been a tremendous amount of looting on the west coast as well, and a video that showed a wild mob voraciously looting an Amazon delivery truck made headlines all over the globe…

While looters targeted various clothing stores in Santa Monica, one onlooker posted a video to social media showing a group of people breaking into an Amazon van, throwing objects at the vehicle to break its windows before gathering in the back as a larger group of people appeared to run away with packages.

What in the world has happened to us?

I have been asking that question a lot lately.

To me, it is absolutely unthinkable that looters would be allowed to loot a store for 15 hours straight, but that is precisely what just happened at a ShopRite location in Philadelphia…

The owner of a West Philadelphia ShopRite says looters ravaged his store for 15 hours straight, taking whatever they wanted from the pharmacy, liquor department and cash register. Owner Jeff Brown says looters ransacked the ShopRite of Parkside and several other businesses at the ParkWest Town Center on 52nd Street over the weekend.

Many of the businesses were already on financially shaky ground after weeks of COVID-19 closures. They’re now left cleaning up massive damage.

Where else in the entire world would such a thing be permitted to happen?

Once upon a time we thought of ourselves as a shining example for the rest of the planet, but now the only example we are setting is a bad one.

One of the things that has been particularly alarming to me is the amount of violence that we are seeing directed toward police officers.  In St. Louis, four officers were shot by rioters last night alone…

Four police officers were shot in downtown St. Louis early Tuesday as a day of peaceful protests turned into a violent and destructive night in the city.

Hundreds of people had gathered across the St. Louis region Monday to protest the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

And in Las Vegas, one police officer is fighting for his life after being shot in the head…

In a night of deadly violence aimed at police officers, a cop in Las Vegas was shot in the head and is now on life support.

Despite George Floyd’s own family calling for an end to violence, multiple cities were again hit by mayhem last night.

A suspect was taken into custody after an LVMPD officer was shot in the head near Circus Circus late last night.

Being a police officer in this environment is one of the hardest jobs in America.

And things are not going to get any easier in the days ahead.

So many of these young people have hearts that have gone completely ice cold, and they don’t seem to have respect for even the most basic human values.  A perfect example of what I am talking about just took place in Richmond, Virginia…

The chief of the Richmond, Virginia, police department said Sunday that rioters set fire to a multi-family home with a child inside while blocking access for firefighters to get through to save the child.

“One incident that is particularly poignant, that truly illustrates the seriousness of the issues we’re facing,” Chief Will Smith told reporters. “Protesters intentionally set fire to an occupied building on [West] Broad Street. This is not the only occupied building that has been set fire to in the last two days.”

When I use the word “evil” to describe such people, I am not exaggerating one bit.

Unfortunately, many Americans are still in denial about how badly our society has decayed.

Did you know that there are people that actually write to me to tell me that my articles are “too negative” because I report about such things?

I suppose that we could all stick our heads in the sand and pretend that everything is going to be just fine somehow, but that wouldn’t do anyone any good at all.

What we desperately need to do is to fundamentally change course as a nation and start focusing on solutions that will give us real hope.  With that in mind, let me try to end this article on a positive note.  The title of this article was taken from a song entitled “Morningstar” by a band called Whiteheart, and the following are the full lyrics to that song…

Hear the tale of a fallen people
Destined to wander their broken land
Their eyes are vacant,
Full of empty meaning
What they’re missing they just don’t understand

Beyond the dark horizon
Out where the people are crying
A Morningstar will be rising
Rising to show us the way

Long ago a secret treasure was given
To change the heart
Of every woman and man
But somehow the treasure
Was forgotten
It lies buried underneath
The shifting sand

Beyond the dark horizon
Out where the people are crying
A Morningstar will be rising
Rising up with the bright
Dawn of healing
Rising up to show us the way

Our eyes are not seeing
Our hearts are not feeling
We want to believe…

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. 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. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. 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.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all many people as we possibly can.

The Horrifying Civil Unrest We Have Been Warning You About Is Here, And America Is Literally Coming Apart At The Seams

For a very long time, many of us have been loudly warning the American people that this was coming.  The mainstream media and many of our national leaders have been fanning the flames of hatred, anger, frustration and division on a daily basis for many years, and it was just a matter of time before we witnessed an eruption of violence of this magnitude.  Over the last week, we have seen protests in at least 145 different U.S. cities, and reports of rioting, looting and violence are coming in so fast that it is literally impossible to keep up with them all.  So far, at least 40 U.S. cities have imposed curfews, the National Guard has been activated in at least 15 states, and at least 4,100 people have been arrested.  On Sunday night, the violence in Washington D.C. became so alarming that President Trump was actually rushed to a secret bunker under the White House…

Agents reportedly rushed Trump to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) – which was used after the 9/11 terror attacks and is equipped with secret tunnels – on Sunday night.

Trump was moved to the bunker before more than 50 Secret Service agents were injured during the sixth night of violence prompted by George Floyd’s Monday death, the New York Times reported.

It is located in the ground below the East Wing of the White House, but its exact placement is kept secret.

To me, it is absolutely crazy that the rioters are being allowed to injure one Secret Service officer after another.

It just shows how much things have changed.  When I worked in the D.C. area many years ago, there was a tremendous amount of respect for the White House, and everyone understood that anybody that tried to mess with the White House would be dealt with severely.

In those days, anyone that attacked a Secret Service agent would have deeply, deeply regretted doing so.

But now we are apparently allowing our Secret Service agents to be “kicked, punched, and exposed to bodily fluids”…

Through Saturday and early Sunday, more than 60 Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers and special agents suffered multiple injuries from bricks, rocks, bottles, fireworks and other items hurled at them.

“Secret Service personnel were also directly physically assaulted as they were kicked, punched, and exposed to bodily fluids,” the agency said. A total of 11 injured personnel were transported to a local hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries.

What in the world is happening to this country?

In addition to these heinous acts, the “peaceful protesters” in D.C. decided that it would be a really good idea to deface the Lincoln Memorial and the National World War II Memorial…

The iconic Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. and the National World War II Memorial are among the landmarks in the nation’s capital that were vandalized amid weekend protests and defaced with graffiti.

‘In the wake of last night’s demonstrations, there are numerous instances of vandalism to sites around the National Mall,’ the National Park Service for the National Mall said in a tweet on Sunday along with photos of monuments covered in graffiti.

This isn’t about George Floyd anymore.

At this point, the protests have been taken over by radical leftists that are seeking to use this crisis as an opportunity to promote violence.

And others are simply taking advantage of the cover provided by these protests to commit crimes that they wouldn’t normally be able to commit.  For example, the looting that we have been witnessing in New York City has been unprecedented…

In New York City, despite clashes in lower Manhattan, police seemed to abandon much of the island to looters, who ransacked some of the most valuable retail real estate on the planet.

Best Buy. North Face. Coach. Kate Spade. Apple.

After 10 p.m., rioters in Union Square ignited boxes outside the Strand bookstore. They were captured on video smashing the windows of a Walgreens pharmacy and looting a GameStop store.

And in Chicago, the looters have been hitting store after store “in broad daylight”…

In Chicago, there was plenty of looting in broad daylight. A drive from The Loop to the city’s Deep South Side saw nearly every block feature at least one battered business. One beat cop bemoaned to The Daily Beast, “These aren’t protesters, they are opportunists. They are just destroying and looting because it’s the cool thing to do.”

Does this not sound exactly like what I have been warning my readers about for years?

If you do a search for “civil unrest” on The Economic Collapse Blog, you will get 13 pages of results.

If you do a search for “rioting”, you will get 11 pages of results.

And if you do a search for “looting”, you will get 10 pages of results.

Why do you think I included these sorts of violent protests in The Beginning Of The End?  Needless to say, it wasn’t just to entertain the readers.

I have been endlessly warning that these things were coming, and now they have arrived.

Others have been loudly sounding the alarm as well.  For example, former police officer Marty Breeden shared the following back in April…

I saw many of our large metropolitan areas in complete and total chaos.

It was absolute insanity!

Rogue gangs banding together and creating ABSOLUTE havoc!!

Looting, rioting, murdering….

People running for their lives.

I saw great fires on both large and small buildings.

The violence was staggering to my mind.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning.

And even though rioters viciously attacked and vandalized CNN headquarters, CNN and other mainstream media outlets continue to apologize for their behavior.  On Saturday, CNN’s Don Lemon actually suggested that these riots could be “some sort of mechanism for a restructure in our country”…

“We don’t know what’s happening in this country right now,” Lemon said. “Perhaps this is some sort of mechanism for a restructure in our country or some sort of change in our country for us to deal with whatever we need to deal with in this country as we look at pictures on the right of burning and pictures on the left of looting.”

He went on to lament the situation but said it could be indicative of those with “no other option” and “nothing left to lose.”

“This is quite actually sad to watch,” he said. “And it is an indication indicative of the pain and the sadness in this country — of people who feel they have no other alternative but to exhibit this behavior in our country, no other option. When you have nothing to lose, you have nothing to lose.”

No, our country is not being “restructured”.

What is actually happening is that our country is literally coming apart at the seams, and a lot of us have been warning that this would happen for many, many years.

Of course these riots come at a time when our nation is already dealing with a huge global pandemic and a historic economic collapse.  The following comes from the Seattle Times…

America experienced a wave of burning cities in the aftermath of a racial killing in 1968. America was hit by a pandemic in 1918 that killed even more people than the 102,000 who have died of the coronavirus. America was battered by a Great Depression in the 1930s and laid low by a Great Recession just a decade ago. America has never experienced all of this kind of tumult in the same moment. It is more than the system can bear, and people grieve for the country.

As I have warned my readers more times than I could possibly count, we have entered the time of “the perfect storm” and global events are going to continue to accelerate.

Just when you think that one crisis has passed, something else is going to happen.  We are going to witness one major event after another, and everything that can be shaken will be shaken.

Anyone that has been surprised by these riots hasn’t been paying attention.  We have been warned over and over again that these things were coming, but most of the country did not want to listen.

Now that the economy has collapsed, a deadly pandemic is sweeping the land and riots are breaking out in most of our major cities, hopefully more people will start to listen.

Because the truth is that time is running out for America, and there is no future for our once great nation if we stay on our present course.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. 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. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. 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.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all many people as we possibly can.

The Cold, Hard Facts Which Prove That The Past Decade Was Actually Quite Awful For The U.S. Economy

If this is what “the good times” look like, how nightmarish are “the bad times” going to be?  In America today, more than 500,000 of us are homeless, about 40 million of us are living in poverty, 50 percent of all workers make less than $33,000 a year, and 70 percent of us have cried about money.  But at least the economy has been “growing”, right?  Well, in this article I would like to address that.  Even if you believe that the highly manipulated economic growth numbers that the government puts out are legitimate, they still show that we are in one of the worst economic stretches in all of U.S. history.

From 1930 to 1933, the U.S. economy experienced four years in a row during which GDP growth each year was under 3 percent.

Up until this current stretch, that was the longest streak in our entire history.

Of course we have absolutely shattered that old record, and now that 2019 is over we can add one more year to our growing total.  At this point, you have to go back to 2005 to find the last year in which the U.S. economy grew by at least 3 percent.

That means that the U.S. economy has not actually had a “good year” since the middle of the Bush administration.

14 years in a row of economic growth below 3 percent is not anything to cheer about.  In fact, it is downright abysmal.

But the good news is that stock prices have been steadily rising over the past decade.  Just check out the numbers that David Wessel recently shared with PBS…

So, look, the stock market had a terrific decade. The S&P 500 rose nine out of 10 years. The S&P 500 is up nearly 30 percent this year, just this year alone. And half the stock market wealth in America is held by the top 1 percent of people.

The Federal Reserve created trillions of dollars out of thin air and pumped that money into the financial markets, and of course that was going to be good for stock prices.  And pushing interest rates to the floor also helped inflate the massive bubble that we now see on Wall Street.  The following bit of analysis comes from CNBC…

The Fed has kept borrowing rates low throughout the decade, gradually raising them from the end of 2015 through 2018, only to cut quickly again in 2019 to try to fend off any uncertainty in the economy. The central bank’s balance sheet sits at roughly $4 trillion, quadruple its size in 2008.

Needless to say, there is going to be a great price to pay in the long-term for such manipulation, but as long as stock prices keep rising most people don’t seem to care.

Unfortunately, these high stock prices do not represent any sort of permanent wealth.  They are simply a snapshot of what people are willing to pay at this moment in time, and a major disaster could come along which could cut those prices in half by next month.

Economic optimists also like to point to the employment numbers as evidence that the economy is doing well, but those numbers are so manipulated that they are essentially meaningless at this point.

In fact, most of the people that are transitioning from not having a job to having a job each month did not even count as “unemployed” the month previously…

This year, the portion of people who got jobs each month who wouldn’t even have been counted among the unemployed the month before reached 75 percent. That’s by far the highest it’s been in the last three decades. The percentage of working-age Americans who have jobs only returned to its pre-Great Recession peak in the last few months. (It still has a ways to go before it returns to its previous peak, just before the 2001 recession.)

Today, more than 100 million working age Americans do not have a job, and John Williams has calculated that if honest numbers were being used that the real unemployment rate would be above 20 percent.

The truth is that we still have an employment crisis in this country, and anyone that suggests otherwise is not being straight with you.

Meanwhile, productivity growth has been absolutely terrible over the past decade, an increasing share of the economy has become concentrated in corporate hands, and small business creation has continued to collapse.  The following comes from an excellent article by Annie Lowrey…

In many ways, the American economy became more sclerotic. Corporate concentration increased, with more industry sectors dominated by a small handful of firms. All the stories about the furious innovation coming from Silicon Valley and other tech-dominated regions aside, the start-up economy continued its long, slow collapse. The number of IPOs has fallen, and there are now half as many publicly listed businesses as there were in the late 1990s. Our cultural obsession with start-ups peaked at a time when companies under a year old were half as common as they were 40 years ago.

At the same time, the cost of living for average American families has been skyrocketing but our paychecks have not.  As a result, more Americans are being squeezed out of the middle class with each passing month.  Here is more from Lowrey…

Millions of young families who tried to save for a home were unable to purchase one, sapped by the toxic combination of high rents and a lack of stock. Throw in sky-high child-care prices, spiraling out-of-pocket health-care fees, and heavy educational-debt loads, and the 2010s crushed a whole generation as it entered its prime earning years. The Millennials are on track to be the first generation in contemporary history to end up poorer than their parents—unless Gen X beats them to it.

The only thing that has saved our economy from plunging into a horrific depression has been the greatest debt binge in all of human history.

Over the last ten years we have added more than 10 trillion dollars to the national debt, state and local government debt has soared to record highs all over the nation, corporate debt has risen more than 50 percent, student loan debt has more than doubled and the total amount of U.S. household debt is now nearing 14 trillion dollars.

By stealing from the future, we have been able to stabilize the present, but the long-term cost will be more than we can bear.

It is only a matter of time before our mistakes catch up with us, and the clock is ticking.

So please don’t try to tell me that the U.S. economy is in good shape.

The last decade was one of the worst stretches for economic growth in our history, and a day of reckoning awaits us during the decade that is directly ahead.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. 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. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. 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.

50 Numbers From 2019 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe

One of the best ways to determine where things are heading is to look back at how much has changed over the past 12 months.  2019 has been one of the most memorable years in our history, and it has certainly set the stage for the critical events of the decade to come.  However, not everyone views this moment in our history the same way.  For example, one “expert” that is being heavily quoted by the mainstream media is claiming that 2019 was the culmination of “the best decade in human history”.  His main argument seems to be that since “the ecological footprint of human activity” appears to be shrinking, the world must be a better place than it was before as a result.  And certainly there are many other voices out there that are boldly proclaiming that we have entered a golden new era of peace and prosperity and that the best is yet to come.  You can buy that argument if you want, but there are other voices that believe that everything that is wrong with our society is reaching a very dangerous crescendo.  For those with that perspective, it appears that we are very close to a societal tipping point and that the years ahead are when we will finally pay the price for decades of exceedingly bad decisions.

So what do you think?

Will the 2020s be the best of times or the worst of times?

As you ponder that question, here are 50 numbers from 2019 that are almost too crazy to believe…

#1 According to a Gallup poll that was just released, Barack Obama and Donald Trump came in tied for “the most admired man in America” this year.  They both got 18 percent in the survey, and no other man had more than 2 percent.

#2 At 10 percent, Michelle Obama topped the list in the Gallup poll for “the most admired woman in America” this year.

#3 Global stocks have increased in value by more than 25 trillion dollars over the past 10 years.

#4 In the United States, 84 percent of all stocks are owned by the wealthiest 10 percent of all Americans.

#5 The U.S. government is now more than 23 trillion dollars in debt.

#6 During the Obama and Trump administrations, we have added more than 12 trillion dollars to the national debt.

#7 Over the past 12 months alone, we have added another 1.1 trillion dollars to the national debt.

#8 Every single hour of every single day, we are stealing more than 100 million dollars from future generations of Americans.

#9 According to the IMF, total global debt has now reached the 188 trillion dollar mark.

#10 U.S. corporations are now close to 10 trillion dollars in debt.

#11 Total corporate debt has now reached 47 percent of U.S. GDP.  That is the highest level in our history.

#12 Total U.S. household debt is about to cross the 14 trillion dollar mark.

#13 A study that was recently released found that 70 percent of all Americans are struggling financially right now.

#14 The average family in the United States cannot afford to buy a home in 71 percent of the country.

#15 58 million jobs in the United States pay less than $793 a week.

#16 According to the Social Security Administration, 50 percent of all Americans make less than $33,000 a year.

#17 63 percent of the jobs that have been created in the United States since 1990 have been low wage jobs.

#18 Roughly 40 million Americans struggle with food insecurity.

#19 70 percent of Americans “have cried about money”.

#20 A recent survey found that more than two-thirds of all U.S. households “are preparing for a possible recession”.

#21 According to the most recent government figures, 24.6 million Americans have used an illegal drug within the last 30 days.

#22 If you can believe it, 46 percent of all Americans have taken at least one legal pharmaceutical drug within the last 30 days.  That is almost half the country.

#23 A New York woman named Alexa Kasdan recently went to see her doctor because she had a cold and a sore throat.  Her insurance company was billed $25,865.24 for the visit.

#24 Americans spend more than 140 billion dollars a year treating cancer.

#25 If you are an American woman, there is a 1 in 3 chance that you will get cancer at some point in your life.

#26 If you are an American man, there is a 1 in 2 chance that you will get cancer at some point in your life.

#27 Over the past decade, the suicide rate among young Americans has risen by 56 percent.

#28 The suicide rate for the overall population increased by 41 percent between 1999 and 2016.

#29 One survey has discovered that 15-year-old students in China are almost four full grade levels ahead of 15-year-old students in the United States in mathematics.

#30 A different survey discovered that one-third of all American teenagers haven’t read a single book in the past year.

#31 According to a recent survey of 2,000 adults, a whopping 88 percent of all Americans believe that the holiday season is the most stressful time of the year.

#32 48 million Americans still have holiday debt from last year.

#33 23 percent of all U.S. children live with a single parent.  That is the highest rate in the entire world by a wide margin.

#34 Today, approximately 40 percent of all babies in America are born to unmarried women.

#35 The U.S. fertility rate has fallen 15 percent since 2007 and is now at the lowest level ever recorded.

#36 One very alarming survey found that the average American spends 86 hours a month on a cellphone.

#37 The average person will watch more than 78,000 hours of television programming over the course of a lifetime.

#38 Today, almost half of all homeless people in the entire nation live in the state of California.

#39 Over half of all California voters have considered leaving the state.

#40 According to an American Bar Association survey, only 38 percent of all Americans know that the U.S. Constitution is the highest law in the land.

#41 58 percent of American adults under the age of 35 agree that some version of socialism “would be good for the country”.

#42 Almost one-third of all U.S. Millennials are still living with their parents.

#43 According to the Pew Research Center, only 65 percent of Americans now consider themselves to be Christians.  That is the lowest level ever recorded.

#44 The bird population of North America has declined by 3 billion since 1970.

#45 Scientists are telling us that at the current rate of extinction, nearly all insects could be gone “in 100 years”.

#46 African Swine Fever has already killed one out of every four pigs in the world, and many experts believe this crisis is still in the very early stages.

#47 Within the last 365 days, there have been approximately 37,000 earthquakes of at least magnitude 1.5 in the United States.

#48 The upcoming election is a “significant source of stress” for 56 percent of U.S. adults.

#49 A survey that was conducted a couple of months ago found that 67 percent of all Americans believe that we are “on the edge of civil war”.

#50 The final full moon of this decade was on 12/12 at precisely 12:12 AM eastern time.  And it turns out that it was also exactly 6,666 days from 9/11.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. 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. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. 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.

Morgan Stanley’s Business Conditions Index Just Suffered The Biggest One Month Decline In History

We continue to get more indications that U.S. economic conditions are going to deteriorate rapidly during the second half of this year.  Yesterday, I reported on a brand new survey which found that 69 percent of U.S. CFOs believe that a recession is coming “by the end of 2020”, and today we learned that Morgan Stanley’s Business Conditions Index has fallen dramatically.  In fact, according to CNBC the sudden drop in the index was “the largest one-month decline on record”…

A reading of the economy from Morgan Stanley is signaling “June gloom.”

Morgan Stanley’s Business Conditions Index, which captures turning points in the economy, fell by 32 points in June, to a level of 13 from a level of 45 in May. This drop is the largest one-month decline on record and the lowest level since December 2008 during the financial crisis, according to the firm.

At this point, I really don’t see how anyone can possibly claim that the U.S. economy is doing well.  We also just learned that U.S. unemployment claims have now risen for three weeks in a row, and the trade war is clearly beginning to take an immense toll on the economy.

This week, Walmart, Costco and hundreds of other companies jointly sent President Trump a letter that essentially begged him to end this trade war with China.  The following comes from CNN…

More than 600 companies and industry trade associations — including Walmart, Costco, Target, Gap, Levi Strauss and Foot Locker — wrote to the White House urging Trump to remove levies on China and end the ongoing trade war.

“We know firsthand that the additional tariffs will have a significant, negative, and long-term impact on American businesses, farmers, families, and the US economy,” the companies said in the letter. “An escalated trade war is not in the country’s best interest, and both sides will lose.”

Of course this is exactly what I have been telling my readers for a long time.

There aren’t going to be any winners in this trade war, and anyone that suggests that there will be is just being delusional.

If there had been a quick resolution to the trade war, large corporations could have perhaps swallowed the increased costs that they are facing.  But since it appears that this trade war will be with us for the foreseeable future, big companies are going to be forced to pass those costs on to consumers, and some top executives are openly admitting this…

“At the end of the day, prices will go up on things,” Costco (COST) chief financial officer Richard Galanti told analysts last month. Dollar General (DG) Chief Financial Officer John Garratt also said the company’s low-income shopping base “will be facing higher prices as 2019 progresses.”

If prices go up but our paychecks stay the same, that means that our standard of living is going to go down.

And as I noted yesterday, it is being projected that U.S. corporate earnings will be way down in the second quarter, so the big corporations are definitely suffering as well.

Meanwhile, China is warning of substantial damage to their economy too, and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce just told the press that this trade war could lead to a global recession…

Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Deng told a Beijing press conference on Thursday that “there will be no winner in the trade war, which could cause a recession in the United States and global economies.”

The ministry did not disclose US investment growth in China for the month of May alone, but the plunge seems to have coincided with the collapse of trade talks between Beijing and Washington.

Of course we were almost certainly heading toward a global recession anyway, but the trade war is definitely accelerating our problems.

At this point, global trade has already collapsed to levels not seen since the depths of the last recession.  Manufacturing numbers are plunging all over the world, and we just got some brand new numbers from the U.K. that are extremely alarming…

Production output in the UK dropped by 2.7% in April from March, and GDP fell by 0.4% in just one month, according to the latest figures by the Office of National Statistics. The manufacturing sector provided the largest contribution to the downturn, with the manufacturing index plunging 3.9% in April, from March, its biggest monthly fall since June 2002.

June 2002 was 17 years ago.

Not even during the last recession did we witness a monthly decline of that magnitude.

The speed at which the global economy is now deteriorating is breathtaking, and the crisis that so many thought had passed us by could actually be right on the doorstep.

And of course most Americans are completely and utterly unprepared for any sort of an economic crisis.  Today, 59 percent of us are living paycheck to paycheck, and a survey that was just released discovered that the financial situation of most Americans has not improved since 2007…

Bankrate surveyed 2,740 adults across the country. Of those surveyed, 2,315 were older than 18 when the recession started.

Among people who were adults before the recession hit, 33 percent said their financial situation is “about the same” as it was before 2007, while 23 percent said their situation is worse.

When you add those two numbers together, you get a total of 56 percent of all Americans that say that their financial situation is either “worse” or “about the same” as it was just before the last recession hit.

That isn’t good, and now another major downturn is here.

But of course most Americans assume that everything is going to be just fine.  For most of us, the pain of the last recession is a fading distant memory, and things have been relatively stable for an extended period of time.

So for the moment, most of the population is not too alarmed about what is coming.

Unfortunately, that will soon change in a major way.

About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.

The One Thing That Could Almost Guarantee A Trump Victory In 2020 Is On The Verge Of Happening

The left has been salivating over the prospect of voting Donald Trump out of office in 2020, but now something has happened that could change everything.  On Sunday, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced that he is “seriously considering running for president as a centrist independent”.  If Schultz officially decides to run, and it looks like that is almost certainly going to happen, then a Trump victory in 2020 will become almost inevitable.  Unless something dramatic takes place, Trump is going to have the support of at least 40 to 45 percent of American voters in 2020.  But the key was going to be finding that last 5 to 10 percent that he needed to push him over the top.  Unfortunately for Trump, he does not do well with moderate independent voters, and Democratic strategists were counting on those voters to help them beat Trump.  But if a “centrist independent” like Schultz enters the race, he will inevitably steal a lot of those voters from the Democrats, and that is why the left is freaking out so much right now.

There is certainly room in the race for someone like Schultz.  If faced with a choice between Donald Trump and a radical leftist such as Kamala Harris, many Americans would be open to a third option.  And since Schultz is a billionaire, he could certainly provide the resources necessary to mount a serious independent bid.

But he would not have a prayer of actually winning.  40 percent of the country is going to vote Republican no matter what, and 40 percent of the country is going to vote Democrat no matter what.  If things go well for Schultz he could end up with 10 percent of the vote, and if things go perfectly for Schultz he could end up with 20 percent of the vote.

And he is likely to take far more votes from the Democrats than from the Republicans because everyone knows that he was a lifelong Democrat.  He was a big donor to top Democrats, and he voted Democrat his entire life.

So a three way race would be a dream come true for Trump.  In such a scenario Trump may only receive 45 percent of the national vote, but Schultz could pull enough support away from the Democratic candidate to push Trump over the top.

If you are a Trump supporter, send Schultz a message on Twitter encouraging him to run, because it looks like it isn’t going to take too much encouragement to push him over the edge.  In fact, it is being reported that he has already spent many months preparing an independent presidential campaign…

Before announcing his presidential ambitions this week, former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz secretly undertook a months-long effort to prepare an independent presidential campaign against the nation’s two-party political system, deploying more than six national polls and laying the groundwork for paid advertising that could debut in the next two months.

All of that effort tells me that Howard Schultz is not just “thinking about it”.  He really wants to do this, and that is extremely good news for Trump.

On Monday, Schultz released his brand new book entitled “From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America”, which is essentially his way of introducing himself as a presidential candidate to the American people.  If you will remember, Barack Obama did the same thing when he first ran for president.  Now Schultz is going on a book tour, and on this tour he will “test the appeal of his ideas”…

An early advertising effort, made possible by Schultz’s net worth of about $3.4 billion, would be designed to help Schultz show early promise in national polls during his book tour, which he has described as a time to test the appeal of his ideas.

But if he is a lifelong Democrat, then why didn’t he just run as a Democrat?

Well, these days the Democratic Party has taken a radical turn to the left, and Schultz simply doesn’t agree with many of the socialist policy positions that they are currently espousing…

But in 2019, he says he cannot in good conscience run as a Democrat. He is considering an independent run. “What the Democrats are proposing is something that is as false as the wall,” he says, indicating “free” health care, “free” college, and the entire litany of “free” things “which the country cannot afford.” He worries — oh, bless his pointy little head! — about the national debt, unfunded liabilities, and other examples of fiscal recklessness. He thinks that the Democrats’ current “liquidate the kulaks as a class” approach to taxes may prove counterproductive to the long-term interests of the United States as a whole. He worries that “extremists” have taken over both parties.

And in this political environment, a moderate white billionaire would simply not have a prayer of winning the Democratic nomination.

So if he wants to run for president, his only option is to do it as an independent, and the fact that he might actually do this is really stressing out those on the left.  The New York Times just published an editorial entitled “Howard Schultz, Please Don’t Run for President”, and Henry Blodget is urging Schultz “to go home”…

Unfortunately, right now, our political system is built around only two major parties.

The best way to defeat a candidate from one party is to vote for the candidate from the other.

So if you want to see President Trump fired in 2020, you should probably urge Howard Schultz to go home.

And the media attacks on Schultz have already begun.  For example, a Slate article is painting him as someone that was horrible to his employees…

For one, during Schultz’s long tenure as CEO, Starbucks repeatedly fought against workers’ attempts to organize a union. In 2008, for example, a National Labor Relations Board judge found that the company had illegally fired three workers for their union activities, as well as violated other aspects of the law. Starbucks workers in our country still don’t have a union. Although the right wing has tried for years to paint unions as extreme, a recent Gallup poll showed that 62 percent of Americans approve of labor unions; similarly, an MIT survey found that most workers wanted a greater voice on the job, and that almost half would join a union if given the opportunity. Squelching union organizing efforts may be routine for companies, but it’s not where our country’s political center lies.

Starbucks also pays its workers poverty wages. According to PayScale, an online salary information company, the average hourly rate for Starbucks employees is around $11 per hour. Baristas average $9.77 per hour, and wages don’t reach $15 per hour until a worker becomes a retail store manager ($17.44) or assistant manager ($15.17).

If there is enough abuse from the left, it is still possible that Schultz could pull the plug on his campaign before it has even begun.

But if you are a Trump supporter, you definitely do not want that to happen, because having at least one viable third party candidate is probably the key to Trump winning in 2020.  So everyone needs to encourage Schultz to run, because we absolutely do not want a radical socialist like Kamala Harris in the White House.

Get Prepared NowAbout the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.  His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News.  From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the nation.  If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so.  The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.

+ More