No Money

For Millions Of Americans, No Money = No Christmas In 2020

In modern times, there has never been a Christmas like this in America.  Millions are freshly unemployed, another wave of lockdowns is forcing countless businesses to close their doors, and people are waiting in line for hours at food banks all over the nation just to get a little bit of food for their families.  Of course those at the bottom end of the economic food chain are being hit the hardest.  It is being reported that employment among those that make $27,000 a year or less is down 20 percent from pre-pandemic levels.  That is an extremely shocking number, and it helps to explain why the number of Americans living in poverty rose to 52 million during the month of November.

But it isn’t just the unemployed that are suffering.  Many of those that are still working have had their hours cut or they aren’t able to make as much in tips, commissions or bonuses as they did prior to the pandemic.

Tens of millions of households are bringing home less income these days, and this has become a major national crisis.  In fact, one brand new survey discovered that a whopping 42 percent of U.S. households are currently making less money than they did prior to the pandemic…

Nine months into the pandemic, 42% of Americans say their household income is still below what it was before the coronavirus outbreak began, according to a new survey from Bankrate.com.

And that same survey found that 85 percent of Americans are concerned about how their incomes will be affected by this pandemic moving forward…

As the financial fallout from the pandemic continues and with expanded unemployment benefits and eviction moratoriums set to expire at the end of the year, 85% of adults are worried about a lasting negative impact to their income. That’s an increase from the percentage of people who reported that same concern in June.

With less money to go around, this is not a “normal Christmas” for millions of U.S. families.

And in some cases, there simply will not be any presents at all.  For example, an unemployed nurse in Kansas named Sierra Schauvilegee says that her children “will not open a single gift” on Christmas morning this year…

There will be no presents under the Christmas tree this year for Sierra Schauvilegee and her children. Schauvilegee lost her job as a nurse when the residential care facility she worked for permanently closed down at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Finding new work has proved impossible.

“This is the first year my children will not open a single gift, nothing under our tree,” said Schauvilegee, who lives in Ingalls, Kansas. “I used all my savings to survive and I begged my mother to move in until I received rental assistance and food stamps, that is all I literally have.”

Sadly, her case is not an isolated one.

There are so many others that are in the same boat, and that includes 60-year-old Melinda Cawthorne Shannon of Tampa, Florida…

“Since July 26, 2020, we have been surviving on an unemployment income of $900 a month after taxes which is Florida’s maximum unemployment payment. This amount does not even cover the cost of rent for our tiny apartment,” Cawthorne Shannon said. “We have sold all personal items, except for a car, that had any value just to pay a bill. So now we sleep on palettes or lawn chairs.” She is unsure whether they will be able to stay in their apartment after New Year.

For Thanksgiving, Cawthorne Shannon and her daughter were only able to afford to have stuffing and cranberry sauce sandwiches. This year for Christmas, they can’t afford to celebrate it at all. They are hoping next year will be better.

Could you imagine sleeping on a lawn chair?

But at least she still has a roof over her head, and that is more than 57-year-old Randy Chase has…

Randy Chase has lived in his pickup truck for months.

Luckily, the tiny cab of his 1996 Nissan is easy to heat and that’s a life saver in the sub-freezing winter chill outside of Denver.

Randy normally works as a construction worker, but work in his area has really dried up during this pandemic.

Now he spends his nights trying not to freeze to death in his truck, and that was made more difficult after his truck was “partially wrecked by a hit-and-run driver”…

Chase has suffered misfortune after misfortune since the spring: Unemployment benefits have been stuck in limbo. Work opportunities have been sporadic. Now, the cold makes it hard to find jobs in his trade, as a mason on construction crews. His savings depleted and his truck partially wrecked by a hit-and-run driver, Chase can’t move somewhere where jobs are more plentiful.

Have you ever spent a night sleeping in a vehicle in a strange location?

If not, you should try it some time.

I promise you that it will be an experience that you will never forget.

Unfortunately, millions more Americans could soon find themselves thrown out into the streets.

According to CNBC, over 11 million U.S. households have piled up $70,000,000,000 in unpaid rent…

By January, more than 11 million households will owe more than $6,000 in back rent, utilities and late fees, on average — about four months’ worth, according to an estimate from Moody’s Analytics. That’s a collective deficit of $70 billion.

In past articles, I have warned about the unprecedented wave of evictions that we could see in 2021.  Unless something dramatic happens, the suffering that we are going to witness is going to be off the charts.

Of course what we really need is for the lockdowns to end so that the economy can start getting back to normal, but instead a new round of lockdowns is depressing economic activity all over the nation.

Today, I was stunned to learn that Apple is temporarily closing all of their stores in the entire state of California.  The good news is that those stores will eventually open back up again, but countless other businesses that are shutting down right now won’t be so fortunate.

This is what an economic depression looks like, and what we have experienced so far is just the beginning.

If you still have a warm home, plenty of food on the table and money for some of the luxuries in life, you should consider yourself to be extremely blessed.

Because for tens of millions of Americans, this Christmas is going to be an exceptionally bitter one, and the year ahead is not looking very promising at all.

***Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book, I have written four others 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 the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on 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 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, Twitter and Parler, 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 as many people as we possibly can.

A Potential Government Shutdown Is Literally Just Hours Away, But Congressional Leaders Insist That Everything Will Be Just Fine

Either the Republicans are going to give Democrats virtually everything that they want, or the federal government will shut down at the end of the day on Friday.  We have been through this process time after time, and in every single instance the Republicans have always folded like a 20 dollar suit.  Unfortunately, it looks like the Democrats are going to win big this time around too.  The spending agreement is essentially an updated Obama budget that fully funds Planned Parenthood, that contains no money for a border wall, and that doesn’t reflect any of President Trump’s other important priorities either.  On Thursday, the House is expected to pass this horrible bill, and the Senate is expected to take up the matter on Friday.  According to Bloomberg, right now this plan would keep the government open through December 22nd…

The House Rules Committee approved a rule setting the bill up for a floor vote Thursday, after which the Senate will have until the end of the day Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown. A formal check of how members would vote on the Dec. 22 deadline came back showing widespread support, said Representative Dennis Ross, a member of the vote-whipping team.

So even if this plan gets through both the House and the Senate, we will be facing another government shutdown deadline in just a few weeks.

And every time one of these deadlines approaches, the Democrats use it as leverage to get what they want.  In addition to getting a spending agreement that is extremely lopsided in their favor, many Democrats want to use this current deadline to pass the DREAM Act before the end of 2017.  In fact, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Dick Durbin, Elizabeth Warren and Corey Booker have all said that they will not vote in favor of any spending agreement unless it includes the DREAM Act.

Emboldened by their past successes, Democrats are asking for more than ever this time around.  But if we are just going to hand the Democrats whatever they want every time, what is the point of even having elections?  In 2016 we gave the Republicans control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, and yet the Democrats just keep winning over and over again.  This is deeply infuriating, and grassroots conservatives all over the country are sick and tired of Republicans acting like spineless jellyfish.

Fortunately, we do have a man with a spine in the White House, and it sounds like he has absolutely no intentions of giving in on the DREAM Act.  The following comes from NBC News…

“Democrats are really looking at something very dangerous for our country. They are looking at shutting down, they want to have illegal immigrants, in many cases people that we don’t want in our country,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We don’t want to have that, we want to have a great, beautiful, crime-free country.”

If the Democrats stand firm on their demands, there is a very real possibility that we could have a government shutdown, and federal agencies are already preparing for one.  When the government shuts down, it only affects about 13 percent of the federal government, and we don’t actually need most of that 13 percent anyway.

So even though the mainstream media would be totally freaking out, it definitely would not be the end of the world.

If you don’t remember the last government shutdown, the following is a pretty good summary of what would happen that was published by Newsweek…

If the shutdown does occur this weekend, the effects will be felt immediately. All nonessential employees of the federal government will stay home until further notice, and some will stop receiving paychecks. Refunds from the IRS could be delayed, as could the State Department’s passport service. Most air-traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration security will continue to go to work, but there won’t be as many as them so air-travel will be slower. Members of Congress will have limited staff and won’t be as responsive (well, as responsive as they normally are) to constituents. And after 10 days without a spending bill, federal courts will close.

Obviously it would be a good thing to avoid a government shutdown, but it is exceedingly foolish to give the Democrats whatever they want just to keep things functioning normally.

In case you are wondering, I would definitely vote “no” on the bill that is currently going through the House of Representatives.  I will not vote in favor of a spending bill that explodes the size of the national debt, that funds Planned Parenthood and that contains no money for a border wall.  I am never going to compromise on my most important principles, and any Republican that caves in and gives the Democrats whatever they want just to avoid a government shutdown should be ashamed of themselves.

Sadly, the Democrats have done a very good job of selling their story to the American people, and at this point most Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of a compromise…

Sixty-three percent say members of Congress should avoid a shutdown at all costs. Only 18 percent of voters surveyed say members should allow a temporary government shutdown if it helps them achieve their policy goals. The remaining 19 percent of voters are undecided.

Of course “compromise” means giving in to the Democrats on virtually every single point.  There are many things that the Democrats will never, ever compromise on, and that is why they keep on winning over and over again.

Most Republicans have been compromising for so long that most of them don’t even stand for anything any longer.

It is time to kick out the corrupt professional politicians and replace them with a new generation of leaders that are willing to stand up for us.  We will have a chance to do that in 2018, and we must not squander this opportunity.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.