Suicide

Does Anyone Even Care That The U.S. National Debt Will Soon Cross The 30 Trillion Dollar Mark?

I didn’t think that this would happen.  A few years ago when the U.S. national debt crossed the 20 trillion dollar mark, I didn’t think that it would ever get to 30 trillion.  But at this moment the U.S. national debt is around 28 trillion dollars, and our politicians in Washington are about to pass a 1.9 trillion dollar “relief bill”.  We are going to have to borrow every single dollar that we spend in that bill, and that will be on top of all of the “normal” borrowing that we are already doing.  So by the end of 2021, the U.S. national debt will cross the 30 trillion dollar mark.  I am sitting here searching for words that will do justice to how foolish this is, but I can’t seem to find any.  We are literally in the process of committing national financial suicide, but fewer Americans seem to care about budget issues than ever before.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. GDP declined to 20.93 trillion dollars in 2020.

So once our national debt crosses the 30 trillion dollar mark, our debt to GDP ratio will be surging toward 150 percent.

That is madness.

But most Americans are greatly in favor of the 1.9 trillion dollar COVID “relief bill” that is currently going through Congress, because it includes more direct “stimulus payments” to the American people.

Of course most of the money in the bill is not going directly to the American people.  In fact, one analysis found that direct payments only account for about 35 percent of all money allocated…

About 22% of the total bill comes from the $422 billion set aside for $1,400-per-person stimulus checks. Another 13% ($246 billion) is for extending additional unemployment funding of $400 a week.

And that was before Joe Biden and moderate Democrats in the Senate agreed to dramatically reduce the number of Americans that will qualify for payments…

President Joe Biden has agreed to a compromise with moderate Democrats to narrow the income eligibility for the next round of $1,400 stimulus checks that are included in a bill the Senate is expected to take up this week, a Democratic source told CNN Wednesday.

That means 7 million fewer families will receive a partial payment than would have under the House version of the bill, according to an estimate from the Penn Wharton Budget Model. The new proposal will completely cut off those who earn more than $160,000 a year and individuals who earn more than $80,000 a year.

Much of the money in the “relief bill” is actually going to go to “pork projects” that are favored by prominent Democrats.  Here are just a few examples…

PolitiFact rated “Mostly True” a claim from conservative Stand for America that the bill contains unrelated projects. Examples cited in that fact check included a $1.5 million bridge connecting New York and Canada; a $100 million underground rail project in Silicon Valley; $480 million for Native American language preservation and maintenance; and $50 million in environmental justice grants.

It looks like some of those “pork projects” won’t make it into the final version of the bill that gets signed by Biden, but there will still be billions upon billions of dollars of wasteful spending.

But what does a billion dollars matter anyway, right?

After all, a stack of a billion one dollar bills would only be about a half mile high…

If you were to stack $100 bills on top of each other, one million dollars would be around the three feet mark – about the height of a chair or a toddler.

And if you keep stacking the $100 bills, eventually past the peak of the world’s tallest building, going a little over half-a-mile into the air, this would be one billion dollars.

A trillion dollars is another matter.

In order to get to a trillion dollars, you would need a stack of one dollar bills that would go beyond the orbit of the International Space Station…

This would have you stacking $100 bills into the stratosphere and past the International Space Station. You would have to stack these bills 631 miles above Earth’s crust. That would equal one trillion dollars. Now imagine 28 stacks of 631 mile-high $100 bills.

That’s America’s debt.

We are trapped in an endless debt spiral that has accelerated greatly over the past couple of years.

The only way to keep the game going is to keep creating, borrowing and spending more money, and in the process we are literally wiping out the bright future that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have.

Thomas Jefferson tried to warn us about the dangers of a large national debt…

I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared…. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt…. We must make our choice between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude…. If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and our comforts, in our labors and in our amusements…. If we can prevent the Government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.

But even though we were the wealthiest and most prosperous nation on the entire planet, we just couldn’t help ourselves.

We just had to keep spending money that belonged to our children and our grandchildren, and now we have accumulated the greatest mountain of debt in the history of humanity.

Jefferson understood that government debt was a way for one generation to steal money from other generations…

“The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”

Since Barack Obama first entered the White House, we have been stealing more than 100 million dollars from future generations of Americans every single hour of every single day.

Just think about that.

What we are doing to future generations of Americans is beyond criminal.

Of course if we stay on the path that we are currently on, there won’t be an America at all.

Can someone out there explain to me how this story can possibly end well?

I have been asking versions of that question for years, and nobody has ever risen to the challenge.

That is because it is obvious to everyone that our story is going to end tragically.

In our insatiable greed, we are systematically destroying the United States of America, and we should be utterly ashamed of ourselves.

***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.

The Economic Crisis Caused By This Pandemic Has Dramatically Altered How Americans Are Living Their Lives

This seemingly endless COVID pandemic is causing immense stress for millions of ordinary Americans.  In past articles, I have discussed the fact that surveys have shown that Americans are drinking more alcohol and taking more drugs during this pandemic.  Even more alarming, we have seen suicide rates spike over the past 12 months as well.  Sadly, this isn’t just happening here in the United States.  All over the globe, more people are ending their own lives during this pandemic.  But of course most people aren’t going to go that far.  Instead, most people are just going to quietly struggle along, but in the process many of them are making huge changes to their lifestyles.

For example, this pandemic appears to be greatly affecting both marriage and divorce rates.  Here are just a couple of examples…

In Oregon, divorces in the pandemic months of March through December were down about 24% from those months in 2019; marriages were down 16%. In Florida, for the same months, divorces were down 20% and marriages were down 27%.

I can understand why so many Americans are putting off marriage right now.  A wedding can be extremely expensive, and many Americans may be hesitant to permanently tie the knot with so much economic uncertainty in our future.

But why are divorce rates down by so much?

That is a very good question.  Limited access to courts during the lockdowns was certainly one factor, and many Americans are also concerned about what a divorce would mean for them financially…

One reason for fewer divorces: In many states, access to courts for civil cases was severely curtailed during the pandemic’s early stages. Another reason, according to marriage counselors, is that many couples backed off from a possibly imminent divorce for fear it would only worsen pandemic-fueled financial insecurity.

Meanwhile, this pandemic has also caused more Americans than ever to put off having children.

In fact, birth rates are way down all over the country…

According to a Bloomberg analysis, births decreased by 19 percent in California between December 2019 and December 2020. Data from Florida, Hawaii, Arizona, and Ohio show large declines in birth rates since the pandemic started compared to the previous year’s data, too. A survey conducted by Modern Fertility, a company that sells fertility tests directly to consumers, found that 30 percent of nearly 4,000 people surveyed stated they changed their fertility plans due to COVID-19. One in four of those respondents said they’ve become unsure about having children at all; the most commonly cited reason was uncertainty about the world.

At the beginning of this pandemic, some had suggested that we may see a “baby boom”, but it appears that we are experiencing a “baby bust” instead.

The rising cost of living is causing a tremendous amount of stress for ordinary Americans as well.

Thanks to the crazy spending that Congress has been doing and the reckless money printing that the Federal Reserve has been engaged in, the money supply is skyrocketing and prices are aggressively rising all over the country.

Just look at what has been happening to natural gas prices.  The recent cold snap has created a dramatic spike in demand, and this has pushed natural gas prices to unprecedented levels.  The following comes from Zero Hedge…

… we hit the proverbial offerless market where any natgas that was available would be purchased at virtually any price, which is why midcontinent prices such as the Oneok OGT nat gas spot exploded from $3.46 one week ago, to $9 on Wednesday, $60.28 on Thursday and an insane $377.13 on Friday, up 32,000% in a few days. This is one of those places where having a limit up circuit breaker could actually be useful, even though there simply is nowhere near enough product to satisfy demand at any price hence the explosive move.

Hubs across the Midcontinent led the surge in prices again Feb. 12 as weather forecasts predicted the coldest temperatures in more than a decade would hit the region over the upcoming holiday weekend. Platts reported that at locations across Kansas, Oklahoma and Eastern Arkansas, hub prices were trading at single-day record highs around $200 to $300/MMBtu. Regional hubs, which typically service only limited local demand, saw fierce competition among shippers, utilities and end-users looking to meet weekend requirements.

This is a reminder of what can happen when things get crazy.

If a short-term cold spell can cause this much chaos, what would happen during a long-term national emergency?

That is something to think about.

Other Americans don’t need to worry about heating their homes, because this pandemic has forced them to live in their vehicles…

Americans are being driven into their vehicles by pandemic-fueled woes. And their ranks are likely to grow as the government safety net frays and evictions and foreclosures rise.

“It’s in times of crisis that the fragility of our systems are laid bare,” said Graham Pruss, a postdoctoral scholar with the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at the UC San Francisco Center for Vulnerable Populations.

Particularly on the west coast, government officials have been setting up huge parking lots where those that live in their vehicles can sleep safely at night.

Many of those that are now sleeping in their vehicles were once living comfortable middle class lifestyles, but now this crisis has changed everything.  Nicholas Atencio and Heather Surovik are two examples…

For months, Nicholas Atencio and girlfriend Heather Surovik spent nearly every minute of their lives together in a 2000 Cadillac Escalade.

After Atencio, 33, lost his job as a plumber in May, he and Surovik, 36, delivered for Grubhub by day and at night curled up with their puppy on an air bed in the back of their car parked in a lot in Longmont, Colorado, dreaming of being reunited under one roof with Surovik’s teenage son who was living with his grandmother.

Have you ever spent a night in a vehicle?

If you have, then you already know that it isn’t pleasant.

Unfortunately, once eviction moratoriums are finally lifted all over the country we are going to see the largest tsunami of evictions in American history.

So that means that a lot more people are going to end up sleeping in their vehicles.

These are very troubled times, and they are about to get even more troubled…

***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.

We Must Have MOAR: Almost Everyone In Washington Seems To Agree That More Free Money Will Fix The Economy

There seems to be a growing consensus in Washington that the only way to fix the worst economic downturn in more than 70 years is by giving out much more free money.  Joe Biden wants more “stimulus”, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wants more “stimulus”, and most members of Congress from both parties want more “stimulus”.  Of course none of the previous “stimulus packages” that we spent trillions of dollars on fixed the economy, but they insist that this latest one will finally do the job.  In addition to the 1.9 trillion dollar package that Biden has already proposed, Democrats in Congress are now pushing monthly direct payments to parents that have children under the age of 18.  Needless to say, that proposal has overwhelming support among the American people, because direct socialist payments have become wildly popular since they were first introduced last year.  But by borrowing and spending so much money, we are literally committing national suicide, but very few people are concerned about that at this point.

Even though the previous round of “stimulus payments” is still being sent out, Biden and his minions can’t wait to start sending out another round.

In fact, Biden insists that we literally “don’t have a second to waste”…

“We don’t have a second to waste when it comes to delivering the American people the relief they desperately need. I’m calling on Congress to act quickly and pass the American Rescue Plan.”

Quite a few independent economists are alarmed by the inflation that previous “stimulus payments” have created, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is dismissing those fears.

Instead of focusing on inflation, she says that not sending out more free money would be an even greater risk…

“As treasury secretary, I have to worry about all of the risks to the economy, and the most important risk is that we leave workers and communities scarred by the pandemic and the economic toll that it’s taken, that we don’t do enough to address the pandemic,” Yellen told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

“I’ve spent many years studying inflation and worrying about inflation, and I can tell you, we have the tools to deal with that risk if it materializes,” she continued. “But we face a huge economic challenge here and tremendous suffering in the country. We’ve got to address that. That’s the biggest risk.”

She is assuring us that inflation is not an imminent threat, and perhaps we should believe her.

After all, if we can just completely ignore the hard numbers and the extremely shocking charts the Federal Reserve keeps putting out, what she is saying sounds pretty good.

I know that it is not “normal” for M1 to nearly double over the course of 12 months, but this is the “new normal” where the laws of economics are suspended and we can do whatever we want.

So let’s borrow and spend trillions more, because this party is just getting started.

A while back, “Republican” Senator Mitt Romney proposed thousands of dollars in direct payments to parents with children, and Democrats liked that idea so much that they plagiarized it…

Under the proposal, the Internal Revenue Service would provide $3,600 over the course of the year per child under the age of 6, as well as $3,000 per child of ages 6 to 17. The size of the benefit would diminish for Americans earning more than $75,000 per year, as well as for couples jointly earning more than $150,000 per year. The payments would be sent monthly beginning in July.

The benefits would not be deducted off taxpayers’ existing tax liability, meaning American parents would still receive $250 per month per child — or $300 per month per young children — even if they have an existing tax obligation with the IRS.

I think that this proposal will have a 90 percent approval rating with U.S. parents.

Of course a minority will strongly object.  They will insist that these are “socialist welfare payments” and that the federal government should not be doing this.

If you are one of those objectors, you are 100 percent correct.

But take the money anyway.

Let me be 100 percent serious for a moment.  Since the entire ship is going down anyway, take anything that they send to you and use it for yourself and your family.  At this point, survival is the priority.

There is no going back to the way that things once were.  We are literally committing national financial suicide, and at this point even most Republicans in Washington have completely discarded any pretense of fiscal responsibility.

In the old days, Republicans in Congress at least made minimal attempts to slow down the wild spending that the Obama administration was pushing.  But now almost all resistance is gone, and the left is greatly rejoicing that “the path to a fast recovery and an era of prosperity is now open for Biden”…

The left has stewed for a dozen years over Obama’s inability to secure more fiscal stimulus. And while he might perhaps have gotten a bit more out of Congress with more clever design, ultimately the most important constraints came from outside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Obama’s economic-recovery push came in an atmosphere of pure hysteria, in which media and business elites joined by many members of his own party believed the United States stood on the precipice of hyperinflation and a public-debt crisis, the resolution of which had willing partners across the aisle. All those myths now lay in tatters. After hard experience, the path to a fast recovery and an era of prosperity is now open for Biden.

Yeah, we’ll see about that.

But what we do know is that all of the insane borrowing and spending that has been going on is already causing inflation to show up in countless ways.

In 2020, silver performed even better than the stock market did, and it continues to climb higher.

Gold has been surging too, and the outlook for precious metals is going to continue to be bright as long as our leaders continue to flood the system with more money.

Meanwhile, the real economy continues to steadily deteriorate…

Without a fresh round of COVID-19 aid from the federal government, about a third of the nation’s pandemic-stricken small businesses are warning they won’t be able to survive.

That’s according to a new report published by the Federal Reserve, which found that sales for 88% of small businesses have not yet returned to pre-crisis levels. About one in three — roughly 30% — of businesses said they expected they could not stay afloat without further assistance from the government, according to the report from the U.S. central bank’s 12 regional offices.

No amount of complaining from the rest of us will prevent a new round of stimulus payments from going out.

The good news is that all of this new money is likely to improve short-term economic conditions for a very brief period of time.

But the bad news is that our long-term problems continue to get much, much worse.

We are literally in the process of completely destroying our money, and since the U.S. dollar is the de facto reserve currency of the whole world, the economic fate of the entire globe is in our hands.

***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.

It’s Like Magic! Lockdowns Are Ending All Over America Just Days After Biden’s Inauguration…

Isn’t it amazing how all of the lockdowns can now be lifted now that Donald Trump is no longer president?  It has been less than a week since Joe Biden was inaugurated, and COVID restrictions are being ended in Michigan, Chicago, California and New York.  What an odd coincidence, eh?  Now that Democrats are running everything, it turns out that there is no longer any need for such fear-based control mechanisms.  At this point, we are being told that happy days are here again and that the next four years are going to be just great.

Of course the economic devastation that was caused by all of the lockdowns is going to be with us for a while.  The lockdowns permanently destroyed more than 100,000 small businesses, they plunged us into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and they sent suicide rates skyrocketing all over the globe.

But at least our rightful rulers are now back in control, and so it was a small sacrifice to make.

Sometimes I use sarcasm to express my frustrations, and there is much to be frustrated about these days.

After putting Michigan residents through hell for most of 2020, two days after Biden was inaugurated Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that the restrictions in her state would start to be lifted…

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Friday that the restrictions worked, COVID-19 infection rates are declining, and indoor dining can resume Feb. 1.

The very next day, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot proudly announced that COVID restrictions were also being rolled back in her city…

“Due to recent progress in the fight against COVID-19, Chicago is now operating under Illinois’ Tier 1 mitigations—which includes limited indoor dining and more.”

Then on Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom “lifted regional stay-at-home orders across the state”…

California lifted regional stay-at-home orders across the state Monday in response to improving coronavirus conditions, returning the state to a system of county-by-county restrictions, state health officials announced. CBS San Francisco reports the move opens the way for a return to limited restaurant dining, religious services and other activities.

Somehow, major Democratic politicians all over the nation have simultaneously come to the exact same conclusion about the COVID lockdowns.

Isn’t that strange?

Of course there are some that are suggesting that all of this is a little bit too convenient.  For example, this is what Steve Cortes posted on Twitter…

Michigan, Chicago, now California.

It’s almost as if the “science” changed, once Biden became president? How convenient for Whitmer, Lightfoot, and Newsom?

Using small businesses, churches, schools, and citizens as pawns in a crass political game is evil.

Steve must not have heard the latest, because we just got big news out of New York…

The spread of Covid-19 has slowed enough in New York that Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to ease the extra restrictions some parts of the state have been living under for months.

Cuomo said today he expects to announce changes to the state’s Covid cluster zones soon. It would be the first update to the cluster zones in weeks.

They could have at least waited for a couple of weeks to make it look better.

Many Americans are going to be convinced that these lockdowns were a political ploy all along, and it is going to be extremely difficult to convince them otherwise.

Meanwhile, we are left with a nation in which the gap between the wealthy and the poor is now greater than ever thanks to the lockdowns.

According to Bloomberg, we just witnessed the largest yearly increase in poverty in the United States since the 1960s…

Economists Bruce Meyer, from the University of Chicago, and James Sullivan of the University of Notre Dame found that the poverty rate increased by 2.4 percentage points during the latter half of 2020 as the U.S. continued to suffer the economic impacts from Covid-19.

That percentage-point rise is nearly double the largest annual increase in poverty since the 1960s. This means an additional 8 million people nationwide are now considered poor. Moreover, the poverty rate for Black Americans is estimated to have jumped by 5.4 percentage points, or by 2.4 million individuals.

Of course we have also seen poverty rates explode elsewhere around the world, and Oxfam is warning that on a global basis we just witnessed the “greatest rise in inequality since records began”…

As featured in a recent Oxfam study which also sought to assess the financial impact of the pandemic — up to 500 million people globally have been newly pushed into poverty, while at the same time the world’s 10 richest men made a combined $540 billion over the same time frame.

Oxfam is calling it evidence of the “greatest rise in inequality since records began.”

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.  Meanwhile, the horrific civil unrest that I warned was coming is now raging all over the planet.

In fact, one group of protesters in the Netherlands just blew up a bridge.

When faith in our leaders and in our institutions is gone, it is going to be exceedingly difficult to ever restore it.

Perhaps “the science” really does indicate that our politicians should suddenly be lifting COVID restrictions all over the United States.  But even many Democrats are going to admit that it looks incredibly suspicious for them to be doing this in coordinated fashion just days after Biden was inaugurated.

In life, and especially in politics, perception can be everything.

However, even if there is funny business going on, we should all be glad that the lockdowns are finally starting to end because that will definitely help the economy.

Let us hope that economic conditions in this country will improve for at least a short period of time as we wait for the next shoe to drop.

***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.

The number of Americans that are depressed or considering suicide has soared because of the COVID lockdowns

As we head into winter, health authorities are telling us to stay at home as much as possible and to keep contact with others at a minimum.  They are telling us that we must do this for our own good, but the truth is that the mental health of the American people has been absolutely devastated by the various restrictions that have been imposed since the COVID pandemic first began.  Coming into this year, suicide was at an all-time record high in the United States and more Americans were on anti-depressants than ever before.  Unfortunately, the COVID lockdowns have made things even worse.  The following is an excerpt from a study that was released just a few days ago…

The unfolding of the current coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the worst global public health crisis in recent history, has caused unprecedented medical, social, and economic upheaval across the globe, and inflicted profound psychological pain on many people. The rapid spread of this highly contagious disease resulted in a host of mental health consequences: feelings of uncertainty, sleep disturbances, anxiety, distress, and depression. The wide adoption of restrictive measures, although helpful in controlling the spread of the virus, inevitably resulted in psychological and financial costs that may have long-term psychological sequelae.

A lot of people will never be the same again after this.

Health authorities insist that the lockdowns are helping to prevent the spread of the virus, but they are also crippling people emotionally.  If you doubt this, just consider the following numbers which come directly from the CDC’s own website…

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been associated with mental health challenges related to the morbidity and mortality caused by the disease and to mitigation activities, including the impact of physical distancing and stay-at-home orders.* Symptoms of anxiety disorder and depressive disorder increased considerably in the United States during April–June of 2020, compared with the same period in 2019 (1,2). To assess mental health, substance use, and suicidal ideation during the pandemic, representative panel surveys were conducted among adults aged ≥18 years across the United States during June 24–30, 2020. Overall, 40.9% of respondents reported at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition, including symptoms of anxiety disorder or depressive disorder (30.9%), symptoms of a trauma- and stressor-related disorder (TSRD) related to the pandemic† (26.3%), and having started or increased substance use to cope with stress or emotions related to COVID-19 (13.3%). The percentage of respondents who reported having seriously considered suicide in the 30 days before completing the survey (10.7%) was significantly higher among respondents aged 18–24 years (25.5%), minority racial/ethnic groups (Hispanic respondents [18.6%], non-Hispanic black [black] respondents [15.1%]), self-reported unpaid caregivers for adults§ (30.7%), and essential workers (21.7%).

I was absolutely stunned when I read that more than a quarter of all Americans aged 18 to 24 had “seriously considered suicide” in the last 30 days.

That is more than one-fourth!

Sadly, a lot of young people are acting out those thoughts.  Over one six week period, one county in Pennsylvania had hundreds of patients come in due to “self-injury or suicidal thoughts”…

It’s not just physical ailments as emergency departments are also being bombarded with the emotional fallout from the pandemic. Over a six-week period this summer in Montgomery County, 400 people went to hospitals because of self-injury or suicidal thoughts.

Young children are being deeply affected emotionally by the COVID pandemic as well.

This week, a brand new study was released in the UK that found “children’s depression symptoms have increased substantially” due to the lockdowns…

A new study by researchers at the University of Cambridge finds that the government-imposed lockdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic cause significant harm to children’s mental health. The study, published this week in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, was the first of its kind to analyze data on younger children’s mental health before and during the first lockdown in the United Kingdom last spring.

Following 168 children between the ages of 7 ½ and 11 ½, the researchers conclude: “During the UK lockdown, children’s depression symptoms have increased substantially, relative to before lockdown. The scale of this effect has direct relevance for the continuation of different elements of lockdown policy, such as complete or partial school closures.”

What we are putting our children through is inexcusable.

Just the other day, a family was kicked off a flight and banned from United Airlines forever because a two-year-old child did not want to wear a mask.

This is how crazy our society has already become.

And if we can’t handle the COVID pandemic, what are we going to do when global events really start to spiral out of control?

The mental health of Americans was already the worst it had ever been coming into this year, and now people are literally having major meltdowns all around us.

Interestingly, according to one recent survey there is one group of people “that did not experience a mental health decline in 2020”…

According to a Gallup Poll released on Monday, frequent church attendees were the only group in the U.S. that did not experience a mental health decline in 2020.

Gallup has conducted its November Health and Healthcare Survey annually since 2001. The 2020 results show 34% of Americans consider their mental health “excellent,” and 76% consider their mental health “excellent/good,” both are all-time lows.

But of course you never heard that reported by the big corporate news networks did you?

That is because they only want to do negative stories about Christians.  Stories about moral failures of prominent Christians fit their anti-Christian agenda, but anything that is even remotely positive about Christians does not.

The average American watches approximately five hours of television a day, and more than 90 percent of what we watch on television is controlled by just 6 giant corporations.

If you allow anyone to pump propaganda into your mind for five hours each day, it is going to dramatically affect the way that you view the world, and there is a good chance that you will end up depressed and/or suicidal.

There is hope, but it isn’t in what the world is offering.  I once wrote an entire book about why people can have hope in these troubled times, but most people have been so brainwashed into running after what the world is offering that they don’t want to listen to the truth.

Sadly, even more people are going to plunge into a state of depression and even more people are going to commit suicide as we move into 2021 and beyond.

Everything that can be shaken is going to be shaken, and most people are not going to be able to handle it when our society literally melts down all around them.

***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.

After This New Wave Of Lockdowns, Most People Will Accept Any “Solution” Because They Will Be So Desperate

When people become desperate enough, those in power can get most of them to do just about anything.  The first wave of lockdowns knocked us into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, it sent suicide rates soaring all over the globe, and it plunged millions upon millions of ordinary citizens into a deep state of despair.  Now another wave of lockdowns is being instituted all over the planet, and this is going to perfectly set the stage for the “solutions” that the elite plan to offer all of us in 2021.

It has been said that if you want people to be willing to accept a solution, first you have to make them realize that they have a problem.

And once this “dark winter” finally ends, almost everybody will be absolutely desperate to return to their “normal” lives.

With each passing day, more extremely harsh restrictions are being imposed.  For example, a brand new “stay at home order” was just issued in Los Angeles County…

All public and private gatherings with anyone outside a single household are now banned in Los Angeles County, as most of the country grapples with an unprecedented surge of Covid-19.

The ban will last three weeks, starting Monday and ending December 20.

It would be nice if the lockdown actually does get lifted before the end of the year, but for at least the next three weeks all 10 million people living in L.A. County will be forced “to stay home as much as possible”…

All 10 million residents are asked to stay home as much as possible and wear face masks when outside — even when exercising at the beach and parks, said the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which issued the order last week.

On top of that, California Governor Gavin Newsom is warning that he may soon impose “much more dramatic, arguably drastic” restrictions for the entire state…

California Gov Gavin Newsom just warned that more drastic steps could be taken to contain the virus after the state reported another 15k+ new cases yesterday. The Golden State could be facing “much more dramatic, arguably drastic” measures to contain the spread of the virus. The state also broke its record for hospitalized patients yesterday: The state reported 7,415 coronavirus hospitalizations, with more than 1,700 of those patients in ICUs. The number of hospitalizations broke the state’s previous record of 7,170 in July.

Unfortunately, we are witnessing similar craziness all over the nation.  In New Mexico, the new restrictions that were just instituted created so much panic that people were soon waiting for hours just to get into a supermarket to shop for food…

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) has put immense pressure on businesses with her “abrupt” lockdown order – forcing “nonessential” businesses to close and creating what has been dubbed “modern breadlines” — with people waiting 2-4 hours to enter essential retailers, former GOP Senate candidate Elisa Martinez explained during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday.

After seeing what the first round of lockdowns did to our nation, why would these politicians want to do it again?

More than 70 million Americans have filed unemployment claims so far in 2020, more than 40 million could be facing eviction in 2021, and there has been a dramatic spike in suicides during this pandemic.

When a 90-year-old woman named Nancy Russell found out that another lockdown was happening in her area, she decided to opt for assisted suicide…

According to CTV News, a 90-year-old woman living in Toronto took her own life via medically assisted suicide, the choice made in large part due to the second surge of coronavirus cases and a looming period of increased restrictions.

As I keep reminding my readers, there is always hope if you look at the bigger picture and suicide is never the answer to anything.

Unfortunately, most people are not getting a message of hope from the mainstream media, and Russell decided that the months ahead were going to be too bleak in her nursing home for her to be able to handle…

Residents eat meals in their rooms, have activities and social gatherings cancelled, family visits curtailed or eliminated. Sometimes they are in isolation in their small rooms for days. These measures, aimed at saving lives, can sometimes be detrimental enough to the overall health of residents that they find themselves looking into other options.

Just as we are hitting a low point with this pandemic, authorities all over the globe are announcing that vaccines will soon be available.

In fact, it is being reported that as many as ten different vaccines could be available by the middle of 2021…

Ten COVID-19 vaccines could be available by the middle of next year if they win regulatory approval, but their inventors need patent protection, the head of the global pharmaceutical industry group said on Friday.

As soon as the public can get them, it is inevitable that millions upon millions of people will rush out to get their shots so that they can return to their “normal” lives.

But what they aren’t telling you is that these new vaccines are entirely different from vaccines that you may have gotten previously.

These new mRNA vaccines will actually “hijack” your cells if you take them…

When Moderna was just finishing its Phase I trial, The Independent wrote about the vaccine and described it this way: “It uses a sequence of genetic RNA material produced in a lab that, when injected into your body, must invade your cells and hijack your cells’ protein-making machinery called ribosomes to produce the viral components that subsequently train your immune system to fight the virus.”

“In this case, Moderna’s mRNA-1273 is programmed to make your cells produce the coronavirus’ infamous coronavirus spike protein that gives the virus its crown-like appearance (corona is crown in Latin) for which it is named,” wrote The Independent.

Under normal circumstances, very few people would sign up to have their cells “hijacked”, but at this point millions upon millions of people will be so desperate for a “solution” that they will take a vaccine no matter what the long-term consequences might be.

And if you don’t take one of the vaccines, you may soon find that you aren’t able to fly internationally…

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced this week it is in the final phase of development for what it hopes will be universally accepted documentation that in turn could boost confidence among wary travelers.

The digital health pass would include a passenger’s testing and vaccine information and would manage and verify information among governments, airlines, laboratories and travelers.

If these new “digital vaccine passports” are implemented for international travel, it is probably just a matter of time before they are required for domestic travel as well.

Of course there are lots of people out there that are trying to sound the alarm about all of this, but UN communications director Melissa Fleming says that her organization has already recruited an army of “110,000 information volunteers” to combat the spread of “misinformation”…

Fleming told the World Economic Forum that #PledgetoPause and Verified have “recruited 110,000 information volunteers” thus far. She said “we equip these information volunteers with the kind of knowledge about how misinformation spreads and ask them to serve as kind of ‘digital first-responders’.” Fleming has stated elsewhere that the UN has “reached out to Member States, UN media partners, celebrity supporters” and “businesses” “to help us disseminate to the millions we will need to reach” with the campaign.

They want to control what you think as they lead you into a dystopian future that will ultimately turn into a complete and utter nightmare.

The truth is that none of us will be going back to our “normal lives” ever again.

But the elite will continue to hold that carrot out there in order to get you to do what they want, and millions upon millions of people will fall for it.

***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.

2020 Has Been A Miserable Year, And Americans Are The Unhappiest They Have Been In Ages

What a year this has been so far.  First, the greatest public health crisis in 100 years hit us, then the U.S. economy imploded, and now the streets of many of our major cities resemble war zones after weeks of rioting, looting and violence.  It has been one thing after another, and this has taken a great toll on the mental health of the American people.  Of course we weren’t exactly in great shape coming into this year.  In 2019, it was being reported that the suicide rate in the U.S. was at an all-time record high, alcohol-related deaths were at an all-time record high, and drug overdose deaths were at an all-time record high.  So the truth is that we were already deeply miserable before 2020 came along, and now a brand new survey has discovered that as a result of everything that has happened so far this year we have become even more unhappy…

Spoiler alert: 2020 has been rough on the American psyche. Folks in the U.S. are more unhappy today than they’ve been in nearly 50 years.

This bold – yet unsurprising – conclusion comes from the COVID Response Tracking Study, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. It finds that just 14% of American adults say they’re very happy, down from 31% who said the same in 2018.

Would you say that you are “very happy” with your life?

I hope so, and I would like to think that most of my readers are more content with their lives than the general population as a whole.

Personally, I would definitely label myself as “very happy”, but it looks like most of the population definitely does not feel the same way.

According to the survey, the coronavirus lockdowns are one of the big reasons why Americans are feeling less happy these days.  Being forced to stay away from others has caused many people to feel increasingly lonely…

About twice as many Americans report being lonely today as in 2018, and not surprisingly given the lockdowns that tried to contain the spread of the coronavirus, there has also been a drop in satisfaction with social activities and relationships. Compared with 2018, Americans also are about twice as likely to say they sometimes or often have felt a lack of companionship (45% vs. 27%) and felt left out (37% vs. 18%) in the past four weeks.

Humans are inherently social creatures, and we were created to love and be loved.

I think that our politicians greatly underestimated the damage that social isolation would cause for many people.  In some cases, the consequences have been absolutely devastating.

Meanwhile, a lot of Americans are also feeling unhappy these days due to economic reasons.

Up to this point in 2020, more than 100,000 businesses have permanently shut down, economic activity all over the planet has dropped precipitously, and more than 44 million Americans have filed claims for unemployment benefits.

Initially, it was hoped that most of those jobs would eventually come back, but now it has become very clear that is not going to happen.  In fact, one new estimate is projecting that a whopping 42 percent of the job losses “will be permanent”…

“50% of U.S. job losses come from the combination of lockdown and weak demand, 30% from the reallocation shock, and 20% from high unemployment benefits,” Bloomberg found.

A report by the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago estimated 42% of layoffs that occurred as a result of the pandemic will be permanent.

In other words, millions upon millions of Americans that have lost their jobs during this pandemic will never be getting their old jobs back.

When I first started telling my readers that a lot of these jobs would never return, I got some really nasty emails.

There were some people that were absolutely incensed that I would suggest such a thing, but now the truth of the matter has become obvious to everyone.

Unfortunately, a large portion of the population was not prepared for an economic shock of this magnitude.  In fact, another new survey has found that 33 percent of all Americans “do not feel prepared to deal with the financial impact of the pandemic”…

Even before COVID-19 was a household name, many Americans struggled to build up an emergency fund. Now, for some, the need for such a foundation is painfully clear. A full third – 33% – of respondents said they do not feel prepared to deal with the financial impact of the pandemic.

“If our current financial situation gets worse before it gets better, Americans need to have money set aside that they can lean back on as a last resort,” Frerichs said. “If you don’t currently have an emergency fund, try to set aside as much as you can every month, and aim to build enough to cover between three and six months of living expenses.”

For years, I have been strongly urging my readers to build up their emergency funds, and hopefully most of them heeded that advice.

Because things are not going to be turning around any time soon.  The bad news is that much of the economic suffering that had been deferred by unprecedented government intervention is about to hit us in a major way, and the really bad news is that the economic problems that we are facing now are going to pale in comparison to what we will be facing in future years.

Needless to say, this is going to put even more stress on the mental health of Americans.

So if you think that people are going absolutely nuts right now, just wait until you see how bad things get when our society really starts to melt down.

But just because things will be falling apart all around you does not mean that you have to be personally miserable.

If you derive meaning and purpose in life from your career, your ambitions, your bank account, your social status and all of the things you have accumulated, then you will definitely have an exceedingly difficult time dealing with the things that are coming.

However, if instead you choose to derive meaning and purpose in life from the things that really matter, you will not be shaken even if all of your plans, programs and material possessions are taken from you.

All of human history has been building up to the moment that we are living in right now, and you were born for such a time as this.  So don’t crawl into a hole and complain about how bad things are as conditions deteriorate.  Instead, choose to stand up and become the person that you were created to be.

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 as many people as we possibly can.

Americans Are Lonely, Miserable And Depressed – The Legacy Of A Society That Has Rejected Family, Faith And Patriotism

What in the world has happened to us?  Once upon a time, America was made up of tightly-knit communities that were united by family, faith and patriotism, but now we are more isolated than ever before.  Of course one of the biggest reasons for this is the fact that we are all spending countless hours staring at screens instead of interacting with real people, and this is something that I covered in a previous article.  However, our fundamental beliefs are also significantly shaping how we behave.  For the past couple of generations, we have de-emphasized family, faith and patriotism as a nation, and instead we have become an extremely “me-centered” society that is primarily focused on doing whatever makes ourselves happy in the moment.  But this single-minded pursuit of individual happiness has resulted in much of the country being perpetually mired in loneliness, depression and/or addiction.

When you look at the numbers, they truly are startling.  For example, a recent survey that was conducted by Cigna found that almost half of all Americans feel lonely…

Nearly half of Americans are lonely, according to a survey of 20,000 people across America by Cigna, which used the well-regarded UCLA Loneliness Scale to measure responses. Indeed 46% said they sometimes or always feel alone and 47% say they sometimes or always feel left out.

And other surveys have produced numbers that are even more alarming.  A Harris Poll that was conducted a few years ago actually discovered that 72 percent of all Americans “experience loneliness”…

The survey of more than 2,000 Americans conducted by the Harris Poll last month on behalf of the American Osteopathic Association, showed that almost three-quarters (72 percent) of Americans experience loneliness. And for many, it’s not just a once-in-a-while occurrence — one-third said they feel lonely at least once a week.

Of course this is commonly known as “the happiest time of the year”, but for many it just magnifies their loneliness.

People see love, warmth and community modeled in television commercials and in Hallmark movies, and they assume that most people out there must be living lives like that.

Sadly, that is not true at all.  What we see on our televisions are echoes of the way that America used to be, and many of us would love to see that type of culture make a roaring comeback.

But for now, America is a very, very lonely place, and this reality is reflected in a song that was just released by one of our most popular pop singers…

Mabel, the singer behind the hit “Don’t Call Me Up,” has a new track for those who struggle with loneliness during the holidays.

Titled “Loneliest Time of Year,” Mabel captured how for some people, the holidays can heighten feelings like loneliness, loss and depression. In the song, released Friday, she sings lines like, “Sorry I’m not so merry/But I feel like this yearly/Christmas time isn’t my vibe/Brings no joy into my life” and “If I’m feeling lonely/I can’t be the only one.”

Yes, millions of American families will gather during the holidays, but way too many of those gatherings are filled with bitterness, resentment, strife and discord.

In fact, another new survey has found that the average American only needs 3 hours and 54 minutes “before they start to feel sick of their families”…

The holidays are supposed to be a time to come together with family and celebrate, but a new survey finds that most Americans can barely get through an evening with their family before needing a break. A total of 2,000 Americans who usually travel to visit family during the holidays took part in the research, and 75% say they will inevitably need to get away from their relatives and indulge in some much needed “me time.”

In fact, it only takes respondents an average of three hours and 54 minutes before they start to feel sick of their families.

This isn’t how it is supposed to be.

We were created to love and to be loved.  And when you remove love from the equation, people become very miserable quite rapidly.

In America today, “deaths of despair” are happening at the highest rate in all of U.S. history.  The following information comes directly from the United States Congress Joint Economic Committee…

Anne Case and Angus Deaton famously chronicled a dramatic rise among middle-aged non-Hispanic whites since 1999 in “deaths of despair”—deaths by suicide, drug and alcohol poisoning, and alcoholic liver disease and cirrhosis.1 The Social Capital Project has extended Case and Deaton’s research to cover the full American population as far back as available data permit: to 1900 in some cases, and to 1959 or 1968 in others. We present here a snapshot of the long-term trends in deaths of despair. We also attach our full dataset for use in future research, including results broken down by age, sex, and race.

Mortality from deaths of despair far surpasses anything seen in America since the dawn of the 20th century. (The trend for middle-aged whites reveals a more dramatic rise but only goes back continuously to 1959.) The recent increase has primarily been driven by an unprecedented epidemic of drug overdoses, but even excluding those deaths, the combined mortality rate from suicides and alcohol-related deaths is higher than at any point in more than 100 years.

So it would appear that our very unhappy nation is rapidly becoming even unhappier.

And it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what this is happening.

As a society, we decided that marriage wasn’t important.  So now we have one of the lowest marriage rates and one of the highest divorce rates in the entire world.

As a society, we decided that children weren’t important.  So now our birth rate has dropped below replacement level and a third of all U.S. children live in a home without a father.

As a society, we decided that patriotism wasn’t important.  So now the American flag is being banned by some schools as a “divisive symbol” and most of our young people have never even read the entire U.S. Constitution.

As a society, we decided that God wasn’t important.  So now just about every form of evil that you can possibly imagine is exploding in our society, and we are literally on a path that leads to national suicide.

If you feel lonely, miserable or depressed this holiday season, I would definitely encourage you to get my latest book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  It is filled with very practical advice that will enable you to start turning things around immediately.  But even more importantly, reach out to those that you love during this holiday season.

Life is way too short to live it alone.

Society would have us believe that those that have the most money are the most “successful”.  But that is not true at all.  In reality, those that love the most are really the most “successful”, and so let us endeavor to be people of great love.

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.

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