How did we get to a point where nearly half of the entire population is struggling to even pay for the most basic necessities? A lot of people talk about “economic collapse” as something that will occur someday in the future. The truth is that “economic collapse” has been slowly happening for decades as the middle class has been systematically eviscerated. It now takes 5.3 million dollars to live the American Dream over the course of a lifetime. Who can afford that? Most Americans aren’t even going to come close to making 5.3 million dollars during their working years. Of course in this economic environment, much of the population is just concerned with trying to survive from month to month. The cost of living crisis that has been raging for this entire decade is absolutely crushing millions upon millions of U.S. households, and now we just learned that the official inflation rate has gone up again.
If financial stress has become a major theme in your life, I want you to know that you are not alone.
According to a shocking new survey just released by the Pew Research Center, 44 percent of Americans struggle to even pay for the most basic necessities…
More than four-in-ten Americans (44%) indicate they have had trouble paying for at least one of these basic necessities in the past year
We aren’t talking about having difficulty paying the phone bill.
The survey found that an alarmingly high percentage of the population can’t even afford to pay for housing, food and medical care.
It also discovered that a whopping 27 percent of Americans can’t pay their monthly bills in full…
- 60% say they do not currently have enough income to lead the kind of life they want.
- 53% say they do not have emergency funds that would cover their expenses for three months.
- 27% cannot pay some of their monthly bills or can only make partial payments.
- 32% say they worry every day or almost every day about the cost of healthcare and the amount of debt they have.
More than a quarter of the population is getting behind on their debts.
That is what you call a crisis.
And there is no end in sight.
Most Americans don’t want to be rich.
Most Americans just want to live a middle class lifestyle like their parents did.
Unfortunately, it now costs 5.3 million dollars to live the American Dream over the course of a lifetime…
The cost of the American dream is rising at a faster pace than household earnings, driven by notable increases in the cost of homeownership, raising children and paying for college, according to a new report.
An analysis by Investopedia finds that the lifetime cost of the American dream rose 4.1% from 2025 to 2026, with the cost increasing by more than $208,000 from $5.11 million a year ago to $5.32 million this year.
Are you going to make more than 5 million dollars during your working years?
If not, you are out of luck.
Housing costs have been eroding the middle class faster than just about anything else…
Homeownership costs rose the most in dollar terms, with the lifetime cost rising by over $91,000 from $1.184 million in 2025 to $1.275 million in 2026. That rise amounts to a 7.7% increase year over year.
That figure includes a 20% down payment on a median-priced single-family home of $420,000, with a 6.32% 30-year mortgage that brings the total cost with interest to about $837,000, as well as $3,057 a year in insurance costs, property taxes and 30 years of upkeep and utilities which adds another $438,000 to the price tag.
Of course the figures quoted above no longer apply, because the average rate on a 30 year mortgage is now well over 7 percent.
So now homeownership is even more unaffordable.
And just about everything else is becoming more expensive too.
Today we learned that the official rate of inflation just went up again…
September brought little relief to the accelerating cost of living, as consumer prices increased again and kept the inflation rate well above the Federal Reserve’s goal.
The consumer price index, a broad measure of goods and services costs across the U.S. economy, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.6% for the month, putting the 12-month rate at 3.7%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected respective gains of 0.6% and 3.6%.
The formula that is used to calculate the official rate of inflation has been changed dozens of times since the Jimmy Carter era, and at this stage it doesn’t even come close to accurately reflecting how quickly prices are actually going up.
But the fact that even the government is admitting that inflation is rising is not good.
Soaring energy costs were the primary reason for the spike in the inflation rate…
Energy costs drove inflation in September, and high retail prices in October suggest pain at the pump will continue. Prices have soared since the Iran conflict started at the end of February.
Gasoline prices last month rose 9.1% from the prior month—a faster pace than August’s 3.9% increase—and are up 34% over the past year. Fuel-oil prices, meanwhile, are up 74% since last September.
When this inflation report was released, it really spooked investors, and bond yields spiked dramatically…
The 10-year Treasury note yield rose on Wednesday following the latest U.S. inflation print.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note — the main benchmark for mortgages, auto loans and credit card debt — jumped more than 7 basis points to 5.289% and reached the highest level since Oct. 8.
The longer-dated 30-year U.S. Treasury yield — which tends to react most to geopolitical events — was up more than 3 basis points to 5.602%.
The U.S. Treasury has been working really hard to keep bond yields under control.
I think that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is going to need a bigger boat.
During most economic downturns, normally we are either facing an inflation crisis or an unemployment crisis.
This time around, it appears that we will have both.
Mass layoffs have been occurring all over the nation, and on Wednesday we learned that Netflix is joining the party…
Netflix is reportedly laying off 1,000 workers – the streaming giant’s biggest cuts since 2022.
Staff were told Wednesday that about 6% of the workforce – within product, tech, legal, and human resources teams – was being slashed, according to a memo obtained by the Post.
I thought that Netflix was doing well.
I guess not.
Kroger is another company that was once thriving, but now they have decided to give the axe to about 3,000 highly-paid corporate workers…
Kroger is planning to eliminate approximately 3,000 corporate positions over the next three years as the grocery giant expands its use of artificial intelligence and looks to cut costs, according to a report.
The planned cuts would affect roughly 37% of Kroger’s approximately 8,200 corporate employees, Reuters reported Monday, citing an internal memo from CEO Greg Foran.
The restructuring comes as Kroger faces pressure to improve sales, keep grocery prices competitive and streamline operations through increased use of AI.
Every time more highly-paid jobs are wiped out, the middle class gets even smaller.
If you still have your seat in the middle class, you should be very thankful, because more chairs are being pulled out of the game with each passing day.
The top 10 percent of all income earners are still thriving, but for almost everyone else life is a struggle.
It didn’t have to turn out this way.
Decades of insanely bad decisions have brought us to this point, and now the cost of living is the number one political issue during this campaign season by a very wide margin.
Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing. You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter. Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.
