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Squatters Are Taking Over Homes All Over The Nation On An Industrial Scale And Turning Them Into Dens Of Crime

February 8, 2024February 8, 2024 by Michael

Squatting has always been a problem, especially in certain parts of the nation, but now it is happening on an industrial scale all over America. Thanks to online listings, it is easier than ever to identify properties that are vacant, and many states have laws that make it exceedingly difficult to get squatters out once they have settled in. In some cases, squatters are able to live rent free in beautiful homes for months or even years. This is becoming an absolutely massive problems, especially in certain areas of the country. For example, it is being reported that squatters have taken over approximately 1,200 homes in the Atlanta area…

Squatters are ruining entire neighborhoods in Atlanta and police response to evict is so slow, some homeowners have resorted to paying nuisances to leave.

Brazen squatters even opened an illegal strip club on a property they had taken over — one of the 1,200 homes which has been squatted in the city, according to the National Rental Home Council (NRHC) trade group.

“I’d be terrified in Atlanta to lease out one of my properties,” Matt Urbanski, who manages a local home-cleaning company, told Bloomberg.

There is no way in the world that I would want to own a rental property in that city.

If you can believe it, there is even one company that has been running ads on social media offering to find a prime squatter home in Atlanta for you for a fee…

At first glance, it looks just like another real estate pro hustling to rent homes on social media.

But at 1 Time Payment Homes, the site makes it clear these are squatter homes and spells out just what that means in a pinned Insta story.

“The company’s owners will come out, so will the police. The police will tell you there’s nothing they can do about it — squatters rights,” our Channel 2 producer J.P. read off the Instagram account.

Recently, 1 Time Payment Homes has actually been running a “New Year’s special”.

$1,400 will get you the keys to a squatter home so that you can “stack money and turn ya life around”.

Whoever is behind 1 Time Payment Homes should be in prison.

But that is not how America works in 2024

Instead, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone gave those behind 1 Time Payment Homes some type of award.

Of course it isn’t just in Atlanta where squatting has become such a widespread issue.

In the state of Washington, squatters have taken over an entire apartment complex and have turned it into a den of crime…

Squatters and crime are taking over a Fife apartment complex. Families and the people handling the property are both beyond frustrated.

The problems are at the Sherwood Park Apartments. Police say the situation also attracted a ton of criminal activity. Now officers regularly patrol the area because of all the problems.

Most of the units at the complex are covered in plywood.

“It’s bad,” said Angel, a resident at the apartments. “The cops are here 24/7. Every day, every night. I keep my kids inside. I don’t let them out.”

Thanks to the absurd laws in that state, it isn’t going to be easy to get those squatters out.

California also has ridiculous laws, and right now “a very sophisticated criminal ring of squatters” is making a ton of money from the Beverly Hills mansion that they have occupied…

A Beverly Hills mansion seized by the court from a fugitive surgeon behind California’s biggest insurance fraud scheme is now a wild party house taken over by squatters, who are profiting off of regular ragers that are driving neighbors nuts.

The Mediterranean estate at 1316 Beverly Grove, listed for $4.5 million has been occupied by “a very sophisticated criminal ring of squatters,” the home’s listing agent John A. Woodward IV tells Los Angeles magazine. The squatters, he believes, are earning upwards of $30,000 a month renting rooms and hosting huge house parties with $100 entry fees.

This sort of thing is happening all over the nation, but the worst problems are in blue states with laws that are very favorable for squatters.

Every single day, predatory squatters are scanning online listings in order to identify their next targets…

It’s also gotten easier for squatters to find homes to move into.

Online listings and virtual real estate agents can allow squatters to find vacant addresses and gain access by booking fake appointments.

Some people may not even know they are squatters as scam artists can set up fake listings for empty properties and fake lease agreements.

Once a squatter is in, it’s hard to get them out. It can take three months to get a court hearing for an eviction, and another three months to get a deputy or marshal to clear out the home.

What these squatters are doing is so wrong, but it is getting worse with each passing year.

Meanwhile, things just get harder and harder for people that are trying to do things the right way. In recent years, many have seen rental prices skyrocket to absolutely insane levels…

Single mom Caitlyn Colbert watched as rent for her two-bedroom apartment doubled, then tripled and then quadrupled over a decade in Denver — from $750 to $3,374 last year.

Every month, like millions of Americans, Colbert juggled her costs. Pay rent or swim team fees for one of her three kids. Rent or school supplies. Rent or groceries. Colbert, a social worker who helps people stay financially afloat, would often arrive home to notices giving her 30 days to pay rent and a late fee or face eviction.

“Every month you just gotta budget and then you still fall short,” she said, adding what became a monthly refrain: “Well, this month at least we have $13 left.”

The worse that housing affordability becomes, the more people are going to be tempted to engage in squatting.

Of course this squatting crisis is just one of the ways that our society is descending into complete and utter lawlessness.

We wanted a society where anything goes, and now that is precisely what we have got.

If you need to leave your home for a while, you may want to lock it up very tight, because there are plenty of squatters that would love to invade while you are gone.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s extremely controversial new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned) 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. You can connect with Michael on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, and sharing his articles on your own social media accounts is definitely a great help. 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.

The Commercial Real Estate Crisis Of 2024 Is Going To Be A Doozy…

February 7, 2024 by Michael

Over the last several years we have seen commercial real estate values plummet dramatically all over the United States. One of the reasons why this is happening is because millions of Americans started working from home during the pandemic, and many of them never returned to the office once the pandemic subsided. Another reason why this is happening is because there has been a mass exodus of businesses from our core urban areas. Conditions have rapidly deteriorated in many of our largest cities, and it is exceedingly difficult to run a profitable business in the midst of an environment of constant theft and violence. Ultimately, it is very easy to understand why commercial real estate values have crashed, and they will almost certainly go even lower.

Needless to say, this is a very big problem for financial institutions that are sitting on lots of commercial real estate loans.

Many of those loans have already gone bad, and more are going bad with each passing day.

A commercial real estate crisis of epic proportions is already here, and we will see many financial institutions fail in the months ahead.

At this moment, New York Community Bancorp finds itself in the center of the storm. The bank’s credit rating was just reduced to junk status, and it is desperately trying to reassure everyone that it is going to be able to survive…

New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) is attempting to reassure investors about its deposits, liquidity, and governance following a weeklong plunge in the company’s stock and a decision by Moody’s to cut the bank’s credit rating to junk.

The $116 billion commercial real estate lender put out a press release just before midnight ET on Tuesday following the Moody’s downgrade showing total deposits were up since the end of 2023 and that its total liquidity of $37.3 billion exceeded its level of uninsured deposits.

Of course the market isn’t buying it.

Shares of New York Community Bancorp have been crashing, and they fell even more on Wednesday after the press release was put out…

The comments did little initially to lift a crisis roiling one of the country’s top 30 banks that has deepened with each day.

Its stock has fallen by nearly 60% since it surprised Wall Street on Jan. 31 by slashing its dividend and reporting a net quarterly loss of $252 million. The price continued to slide by more than 13% after the market open Wednesday but that sell-off began to ease around noon.

Of course New York Community Bancorp is not the only institution that is hurting.

At this point, hundreds of U.S. banks find themselves in deep trouble, and banking stocks have been falling on a widespread basis over the past week…

The KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking Index, a collection of midsize bank stocks, has fallen nearly 12 percent in the past week as investors worry about lenders’ exposure to commercial real estate loan portfolios.

Will the federal government soon feel compelled to intervene?

On Tuesday, Janet Yellen admitted to members of Congress that there is a problem, but see insisted that “it’s manageable”…

US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers Tuesday that she had concerns about the exposure of some banks to commercial real estate.

“I believe it’s manageable, although there may be some institutions that are quite stressed by this problem,” she said.

Yeah, we’ll see if they are able to contain the damage or not.

Interestingly, a key program that was put in place last year to prop up the banks is scheduled to expire on March 11th…

On March 11, the Fed’s Bank Term Funding Program will stop making specially low-interest loans to distressed lenders. The program was established last year amid the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank to help lenders shore up their finances on the cheap, and restore the public’s confidence in the wider banking system.

Meanwhile, the commercial real estate turmoil in the United States is also having a tremendous impact on banks on the other side of the planet.

For example, shares of the 16th biggest bank in Japan have been crashing because some of their U.S. office tower loans are going bad…

Just last week, Aozora Bank, the 16th largest in Japan by market value, saw shares crash after slashing the value of some of its US office tower loans by more than 50%.

In Germany, Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG is now in very hot water due to commercial real estate loans that it has made in the United States…

The troubles in the US commercial property market, which have already hit banks in New York and Japan, moved to Europe this week, elevating fears about broader contagion.

The latest victim was Germany’s Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG, which saw its bonds slump on concern about its exposure to the sector. It responded by issuing an unscheduled statement Wednesday that it had increased provisions because of the “persistent weakness of the real estate markets.”

Most Americans have never even heard of Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG, but Germany’s largest bank is very well known. And at this point, Deutsche Bank is facing enormous losses due to “potential defaults on its US commercial real estate loans”…

Germany’s biggest lender Deutsche Bank said last week that it had allocated €123 million ($133 million) during the fourth quarter of last year to absorb potential defaults on its US commercial real estate loans. That’s more than quadruple the amount it set aside during the same three-month period in 2022.

I have been watching Deutsche Bank for a long time.

Could it be possible that they are finally nearing a point of no return?

I believe that we are going to see so much financial chaos this year.

As I discussed yesterday, in such an environment it is wise not to put all of your eggs in one basket.

You don’t want to wake up some morning and realize that all of your assets are trapped in an institution that has just failed.

If just a handful of banks fail as this crisis rolls along, the federal government will probably be able to handle that.

But what if dozens or hundreds of them start failing?

We are moving into unprecedented times, and during the years ahead we are going to see things happen that we have never seen before.

So enjoy the relative prosperity that we are experiencing today while you still can, because it will disappear way too quickly.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

Delinquency Rates Are Spiking! Has The Final Meltdown Of The U.S. Consumer Now Begun?

February 6, 2024February 6, 2024 by Michael

According to the New York Fed, total household debt in the United States increased by 212 billion dollars during the fourth quarter of 2023. It is now sitting at a grand total of 17.5 trillion dollars. I suppose the good news is that we aren’t 34 trillion dollars in debt like the federal government is. But 17.5 trillion dollars is still really bad, and it is far more than U.S. households can handle. Unsurprisingly, delinquency rates have started to spike, and I fully expect this trend to intensify in the months ahead.

Let’s start by taking a look at credit card debt. During the fourth quarter, it hit a brand new all-time record high of 1.13 trillion dollars…

Americans are increasingly turning to their credit cards to cover everyday expenses, with debt hitting a new record high at the end of December, according to a New York Federal Reserve report published Tuesday.

In the three-month period from October to December, total credit card debt surged to $1.13 trillion, an increase of $50 billion, or 4.6% from the previous quarter, according to the report. It marks the highest level on record in Fed data dating back to 2003 and the ninth consecutive annual increase.

The average rate of interest on credit card balances is now way above 20 percent, and so it has been very foolish of us to run up so much credit card debt.

And now millions of Americans are falling behind on their payments.

In fact, it is being reported that credit card delinquencies “surged more than 50% in 2023”…

Credit card delinquencies surged more than 50% in 2023 as total consumer debt swelled to $17.5 trillion, the New York Federal Reserve reported Tuesday.

Debt that has transitioned into “serious delinquency,” or 90 days or more past due, increased across multiple categories during the year, but none more so than credit cards.

With a total of $1.13 trillion in debt, credit card debt that moved into serious delinquency amounted to 6.4% in the fourth quarter, a 59% jump from just over 4% at the end of 2022, the New York Fed reported.

As delinquency rates rise, lenders will be forced to become more stingy, and that means that U.S. consumers will have less money to throw around.

The New York Fed is also telling us that delinquency rates on auto loans are surging too…

In the case of auto loans, delinquency rates are now above pre-pandemic levels “and the worsening appears to be broad-based,” New York Fed researchers wrote.

“Loans opened during 2022 and 2023 are, so far, performing worse than loans opened in earlier years, perhaps because buyers during these years faced higher car prices and may have been pressed to borrow more, and at higher rates,” they wrote. Increased delinquency rates “merit monitoring in the months ahead, particularly with the amplified distress shown by borrowers in lower-income areas.”

This is exactly what we would expect to see if the U.S. economy was plunging into a recession.

A lot more Americans are having trouble paying their bills these days, and as the economy slows down throughout the rest of 2024 that is just going to make matters even worse.

One of the reasons why Americans have been relying on their credit cards so much is because virtually everything has become so much more expensive.

At this point, even a trip to McDonald’s has become financially painful…

The CEO of McDonald’s admitted Monday that the sales for the fast food giant have dipped amid increased menu prices that have not gone unnoticed by customers.

The Chicago-based chain has taken heavy criticism over its Big Mac combo that is priced at nearly $18, among other menu hikes, and has promised to focus on affordability, the New York Post reported.

“I think what you’re going to see as you head into 2024 is probably more attention to what I would describe as affordability,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said on an earnings call with analysts.

In 1996, you could get a Big Mac for just 99 cents.

Things sure have changed since then.

I never imagined that we would be reminiscing about the “good old days” of the 1990s, but here we are…

I also miss the days when it seemed like there was a bank branch on just about every corner.

Once upon a time it was so easy to set up a bank account that even a kid could do it.

But now banks all over the nation have gotten into big financial trouble and they are shutting down branches at a staggering rate…

Bank of America has emerged as a front-runner in the ongoing elimination of costly brick-and-mortar banking locations in the US.

It said it would shut almost 160 last year and having already announced 30 in the first month of 2024 alone, there are no signs the trend will slow.

A total of 139 scheduled bank branch closures were made public in January – more than the monthly average across 2023, according to their regulator.

The Federal Reserve is doing all that it can to try to prop up the system, but I still expect another wave of bank failures in 2024.

In this sort of an environment, I think that it is wise to not have all of your eggs in one basket.

We really are moving into wild and unpredictable times, and no financial institution is 100 percent safe.

If you have spread your assets around, that will help mitigate your risk.

Of course most Americans don’t actually need to spread their assets around because they hardly have any at all.

According to one recent survey, 60 percent of all Americans have 500 dollars or less in their checking accounts.

That means that most of us are living right on the edge of financial disaster, and we are collectively piling up more credit card debt with each passing day.

The stage is set for the final meltdown of the U.S. consumer, and it will be truly horrifying to watch it play out.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

Millions Of Americans “Prepare For The Apocalypse” As The Global Food Crisis Reaches Unprecedented Levels

February 5, 2024February 5, 2024 by Michael

Hundreds of millions of people are “facing chronic hunger”, and in the time that it will take you to read this article the death toll from starvation on the other side of the globe will go even higher. But since the legacy media doesn’t really talk about the global food crisis much, most Americans don’t even realize that it is happening. Many of us are so obsessed with what Taylor Swift and other celebrities are doing, but when is the last time that you had a meaningful conversation with someone about global famine? According to the UN’s World Food Program, “a food crisis of unprecedented proportions” is unfolding right in front of our eyes at this moment…

Conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes and soaring fertilizer prices are combining to create a food crisis of unprecedented proportions. As many as 783 million people are facing chronic hunger.

783 million people are suffering from chronic hunger.

These people are not just missing a meal or two.

Those that are considered to be dealing with “chronic hunger” are hungry all the time.

If you took the entire population of the United States and doubled it, you still wouldn’t have 783 million people.

In some areas of the world, widespread starvation is already happening. For example, just check out what is taking place in Sudan…

The U.N. food agency said Friday it has received reports of people dying from starvation in Sudan, where raging fighting between rival generals is hampering the distribution of aid and food supplies to those most hungry.

I wish that I could tell you that things will get better, but that isn’t true.

Global hunger has been steadily rising for nearly a decade, and now global food supplies are really starting to get tight.

For example, it is being reported that the global rice shortage is about to get even worse…

Global rice shortages are set to worsen, as India’s exports of premium varieties encounter fresh hurdles due to a surge in freight costs amid the Israel-Gaza war – and domestic shortages hit shipments of other types of rice.

Exports of premium Indian basmati rice last month were half of what they were a year ago, with traders blaming freight rates that have doubled following a series of attacks on commercial ships by Iran-backed Houthi militants.

Global supplies of cocoa are getting very tight too.

In fact, the price of cocoa recently hit the highest level in 46 years…

Cocoa prices climbed to a 46-year high this week in New York as concerns mount that seasonal Harmattan winds across West Africa could dry cocoa fields and reduce yields for the Ivory Coast’s mid-crop in April. This would pressure global cocoa production even further.

Bloomberg reports the most active cocoa futures jumped as much as 2.2% to $4,961 per ton in New York. Prices are up 126% since Sept. 2022, threatening to raise costs for the world’s top chocolate makers, such as The Hershey Company.

If you like chocolate, you can still find it priced very low at many dollar stores.

So if you plan to hoard your favorite chocolate bars, now is the time to do so.

Meat is going to become even more expensive during the months ahead too.

The bird flu is wiping out millions of chickens and turkeys, and the size of the U.S. cattle herd has fallen to the lowest level since 1951…

The US cattle herd shrank to the lowest level in more than seven decades as ranchers continue to send their cows to slaughter, threatening to keep beef prices at stubbornly high levels for consumers for at least another couple of years while eroding profits for meat processors.

There were 87.2 million cattle as of January 1, down about 2% from a year ago and less than anticipated by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, the US Department of Agriculture said Wednesday in its biannual cattle-inventory report. That’s the smallest animal count since 1951, according to USDA data.

So why is that a problem?

After all, Americans were eating very well in 1951.

Well, in 1951 there were 150 million people living in this country.

Today, the population of the U.S. has reached 331 million.

So there is less than half as much beef to go around per person.

Of course this is precisely what the global elite want. In fact, the head of the WHO is publicly telling us that we need to eat less meat in order to fight “climate change”…

WHO head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declares war on meat and traditional agriculture, in the name of fighting “climate change”:

“Our food systems are harming the health of people and planet. Food systems contribute to over 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, and account for almost one third of the global burden of disease.”

“Transforming food systems is therefore essential, by shifting towards healthier, diversified and more plant based diets.”

Are you ready for a diet that is filled with lots of soy and lots of insects?

Because that is the future that they have planned for you.

And in a desperate attempt to control the climate, researchers funded by the elite are coming up with all sorts of extremely bizarre proposals. Here is one of them…

Climate scientists are developing an umbrella-like shade the size of Argentina that would block the sun’s rays to mitigate the effects of global warming on Earth.

The wild idea comes from Israeli researchers who believe the one-million-square-mile shade could reduce the Earth’s temperature by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit within two years.

The team at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is seeking up to $20 million for a prototype of 100 square feet, which they said could be achieved by 2027.

Seriously?

We are already not producing enough food for everyone and they want to block out the sun using a giant umbrella?

What do you think that would do to global food production?

The elite also have plans for what we will drink.

In fact, if you live in Los Angeles you will soon be tasting the refreshing sweetness of water that has gone from “toilet to tap”…

If you live in Los Angeles, California, and drink tap water — you might want to think again.

In December, the California State Water Resource Control Board (SWRCB) moved to implement a new system that will recycle up to 60% of LA’s sewage water, a process now being referred to as, “toilet to tap.”

The sewage water will be directed to a facility and then treated and piped back into Los Angeles homes after meeting purity standards evaluated by the city.

Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

Of course none of the plans and programs that the elite are implementing will be able to change our trajectory.

We are heading into the greatest period of chaos in all of human history, and tens of millions of Americans are feverishly preparing for what is in front of us. The following comes from an outstanding article by Kay Smythe…

A study published in mid-January found that a majority of Americans and Canadians in certain areas have done something to prepare for the apocalypse in the last 12 months. Are you even slightly surprised?

More than 40% of residents in Maine, Nebraska and Arizona, and half of those living in Ontario and British Columbia are prepping for a North American apocalypse by purchasing various goods, according to a study published in mid-January. Most people are stockpiling food, water, fuel, weapons, learning survival skills and more. But an overwhelming majority of residents in other states are totally blind and ignorant to the risks posed by being alive in the modern world.

America is in a massive amount of trouble and very few people want to admit it. As I recently told The First host Jesse Kelly: we don’t make anything the rest of the world wants to buy, except for upcoming seasons of “The Chosen.” We don’t produce most of what we need domestically, we buy it all from other parts of the world. And with the ongoing financial crises from the COVID-19 pandemic and idiot lawmakers post-2008 economic policies, there’s a good chance we won’t be able to buy anything in the coming years.

In addition to stockpiling food and supplies, many people are also having underground bunkers installed on their properties. The following comes from Fox Business…

Some of USA Bunker Company’s clients have included government and White House officials, who have lost confidence in the government’s structure. Other customers are looking for protection from natural disasters like tornadoes or accidents such as toxic train derailments, as seen last year in East Palestine – but the majority of clients reportedly have concerns about nuclear warfare.

“Ninety-five percent, I would say, want it for nuclear war, like World War III,” Stump said. “Just everything pretty much being destroyed.”

The elite continue to insist that they have everything under control, but everyone can see that they don’t.

All of their systems are starting to break down all around us, and global events have begun to spin wildly out of control.

If you haven’t been getting prepared for what is coming, I would strongly encourage to do so, because 2024 is going to be such a major turning point.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

Theater Of The Absurd

February 4, 2024February 4, 2024 by Michael

They are taking gaslighting to a whole new level in 2024. The raw, unadjusted figures that the Bureau of Labor Statistics just released say that the U.S. economy lost more than 2.6 million jobs last month. That is what actually happened. But after they massaged that number with all sorts of “assumptions” and “adjustments”, it magically turned into a gain of 353,000 jobs. Amazingly, even Fox Business is attempting to claim that this adjusted number shows “the resilience of the labor market”…

U.S. job growth unexpectedly surged in January, underscoring the resilience of the labor market even in the face of high interest rates and stubborn inflation.

Employers added 353,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department said in its monthly payroll report released Friday, easily topping the 180,000 gain forecast by Refinitiv economists. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7%, against expectations for a slight increase.

Give me a break.

I am so disappointed in Fox Business.

And they actually interviewed an “expert” that was so excited about “how widespread the hiring has become”…

“So much for the cooling labor market,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist with Navy Federal Credit Union. “The best part of the blockbuster number is how widespread the hiring has become. … This shows a growing labor market reflecting a broad-based economic expansion, and not just recoveries in a few sectors such as health care and government.”

Seriously?

With all of the layoffs that are taking place all around us, you are going to try to convince us that what we can see with our own eyes is not real?

Thankfully, there are other news outlets that are telling the truth.

For example, the following comes from an excellent piece posted by Zero Hedge entitled “Inside The Most Ridiculous Jobs Report In Recent History”…

And speaking of seasonal adjustments, the January print was all seasonals, because while the seasonally adjusted payrolls was up 353K, the unadjusted was down 2.635 million, a 3 million jobs delta.

In other words, just a 10% error rate in the seasonal adjustment (roughly where it falls) would wipe out the entire gain and make January increase a decline.

The U.S. economy loses a certain number of seasonal jobs every January.

I get that.

But to magically turn a loss of more than 2.6 million jobs into a gain of 353,000 jobs is just ludicrous.

Right now, we are witnessing mass layoffs all over America, and most of the positions that are being eliminated are not seasonal positions.

According to Intellizence.com, last month the following companies announced that they would by laying off at least 1,000 workers…

-Microsoft

-Citigroup

-eBay

-Corning Inc.

-Macy’s

-Wayfair

-Bosch

-Google

-Unity Software

-GDI Integrated Facilities Services

-Xerox

Of course those layoffs represent just a small portion of the enormous tsunami of layoffs that is now happening from coast to coast.

As I discussed last week, Challenger, Gray & Christmas just issued a report which says that the number of layoffs in the U.S. increased by 136 percent from December to January.

At this point, everyone should just stop paying attention to the absurd numbers that the government puts out that have been radically adjusted to make certain politicians look good.

No, the U.S. economy did not add 353,000 jobs last month.

Instead, it actually lost 2.635 million jobs.

In the days ahead, I am sure that I am going to have to explain this again and again.

Because there are a whole lot of people out there that believe whatever their televisions tell them to believe.

If you are one of the workers that has been laid off in recent weeks, I am sorry for your loss.

Unfortunately, many more workers will lose their jobs during the coming months, and that will especially be true once World War III really starts ramping up.

On Friday, U.S. forces hit more than 80 targets inside Iraq and Syria…

At 4:00 p.m. (EST) Feb. 02, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups. U.S. military forces struck more than 85 targets, with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from United States.

The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions. The facilities that were struck included command and control operations centers, intelligence centers, rockets, and missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities of militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces.

The Russians were so concerned about this that they called for a special session of the UN Security Council.

Over the weekend, the U.S. military turned their attention to the Houthis in Yemen…

On Sunday the Pentagon said its forces again struck an anti-ship cruise missile launch position in Yemen. A US Central Command (CENTCOM) statement said the operation was conducted in “self defense” against a Houthi cruise missile “prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea” at 4 a.m. local time on Sunday.

This follows on the heels of a much bigger wave of strikes Saturday, which involved the US coalition attacking over 30 targets across 13 locations from air and ships, including using F/A-18 fighter jets.

This is such a “dangerous moment” for the Middle East.

One wrong move could potentially spark a major escalation, and international supply chains have already been greatly disrupted by the chaos in the Red Sea.

The U.S. economy is rapidly moving in the wrong direction, and the conflicts that are currently percolating around the globe threaten to throw this new economic crisis into overdrive.

When the final numbers for the first quarter of 2024 come out, I think that there is a very good chance that they could show that the U.S. economy has entered recession territory.

But I am also convinced that the first quarter of 2024 will be the best quarter of the entire year for our economy, because I believe that a tremendous amount of turmoil is ahead.

Events are already beginning to spiral out of control, and by the time we get to the election in November things will look far different than they do today.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

“This Is A Dangerous Moment In The Middle East”

February 2, 2024February 2, 2024 by Michael

We are rapidly approaching a point of no return in the Middle East. So far, more than 28,000 people have died as a result of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, but if a full-blown regional war erupts the final death toll would be many times higher. Unfortunately, it appears that a full-blown war is exactly what we are going to get. Day after day there are more escalations, and now the Biden administration has approved plans for “a series of strikes over a number of days” against targets in Syria and Iraq…

U.S. officials have confirmed to CBS News that plans have been approved for a series of strikes over a number of days against targets — including Iranian personnel and facilities — inside Iraq and Syria. The strikes will come in response to drone and rocket attacks targeting U.S. forces in the region, including the drone attack on Sunday that killed three U.S. service members at the Tower 22 base inside Jordan, near the Syrian border.

Speaking at the Pentagon Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters that the U.S. won’t tolerate attacks on American troops.

“This is a dangerous moment in the Middle East,” Austin said, noting that Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen on commercial shipping in the Red Sea were also happening in the region. “We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in the region, but we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests and our people, and we will respond when we choose, where we choose and how we choose.”

I don’t remember ever agreeing with Lloyd Austin about anything.

But in this case I definitely agree that “this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East”.

One wrong move could result in thousands of missiles flying in all directions.

Of course the Houthis are already firing off missiles on a regular basis, and on Thursday the U.S. military hit them again…

The U.S. military on Thursday destroyed a ground control station and 10 drones in areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthis – the latest operation targeting their assets since the militant group began attacking commercial and Navy ships in the Red Sea.

The strikes were carried out “in self-defense” because the targets “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the U.S. Navy ships in the area,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement. “This action will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy vessels and merchant vessels.”

Hours earlier, U.S. forces shot down a ballistic missile fired from “Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” Central Command said. The military also destroyed three Iranian drones in the area.

The U.S. is already at war in the Middle East, but most Americans don’t seem to realize this yet.

Meanwhile, the IDF and Hezbollah are both preparing for an “inevitable” war in southern Lebanon. The following comes from ABC News…

The prospect of a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia terrifies people on both sides of the border, but some see it as an inevitable fallout from Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

Such a war could be the most destructive either side has ever experienced.

According to the agreement that ended the last war in Lebanon, Hezbollah forces are not supposed to be south of the Litani River.

Israeli officials are determined to restore the buffer zone in southern Lebanon, but Hezbollah will never withdraw north of the Litani River willingly.

So war is coming, and it is likely to get really messy…

A full-scale war would likely spread to multiple fronts, escalating the involvement of Iranian proxies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen — and perhaps even draw in Iran itself.

It could also drag the U.S., Israel’s closest ally, deeper into the conflict. The U.S. already has dispatched additional warships to the region.

Hezbollah has 150,000 to 200,000 rockets and missiles of various ranges, said Orna Mizrahi of the Israeli think tank Institute for National Security Studies. This arsenal is at least five times larger than that of Hamas and far more accurate, she said.

But there is one ray of hope.

A potential deal that would result in at least a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is currently being negotiated…

Hamas has given its initial approval for a ceasefire and hostage deal in the Gaza Strip, the Qatari foreign ministry announced on Thursday evening.

Israel had also agreed to the proposal agreed to in talks in Paris, Doha added. “There is no deal yet.

Hamas has received the proposal positively, but we are waiting for their response,” a Qatar official told Reuters. Hamas received the Paris truce proposal for a ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza but did not give a response to any of the parties, the media adviser to the head of the political bureau of the Islamist movement told Reuters on Thursday.

There has been talk that a deal could “pause” the fighting for a couple of months.

If that actually happens, the war would not resume until after the winter is over.

And I find that timing to be extremely interesting.

On the other side of the globe, U.S. officials are feverishly preparing for “a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan”…

The United States is rushing to improve its military capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region in preparation for a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Five years ago, anyone that suggested that China would invade Taiwan was laughed at.

But now everything has changed.

In recent months, Xi Jinping has been openly threatening to invade Taiwan, and this has created a tremendous amount of concern…

Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered the country’s military to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. The U.S. holds a position of “strategic ambiguity” when it comes to defending Taiwan, but President Joe Biden has warned on multiple occasions that the U.S. will have direct military involvement if China invades the island, which the White House has had to continually walk back.

The moment that China invades Taiwan, the U.S. and China will be at war.

And as I discuss in my new book, that is just one of the major wars that we could potentially be facing in the next few years.

So enjoy this period of relative stability while you still can, because it won’t last for too much longer.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

What Do You Call It When The Number Of Layoffs In The U.S. Goes Up By 136 Percent In Just One Month?

February 1, 2024February 1, 2024 by Michael

Wow, our economic problems really are starting to accelerate at a shocking pace. I know that I have been writing about layoffs a lot lately, but what is happening to the employment market right now is definitely big news. Day after day, more large companies are announcing mass layoffs. Why would all of these large companies be doing this if the outlook for the U.S. economy is promising? That wouldn’t make any sense at all. But if these companies are convinced that the U.S. economy is heading into a recession (or worse), it would make perfect sense to slash payrolls at this time.

To me, the most accurate numbers that we get are those that come from non-government sources. And so I was greatly alarmed to learn that Challenger, Gray & Christmas has just published a report which shows that the number of layoffs in the United States went up by 136 percent from December to January…

The pace of job cuts by U.S. employers accelerated at the start of 2024, a sign the labor market is starting to deteriorate in the face of ongoing inflation and high interest rates.

That is according to a new report published by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which found that companies planned 82,307 job cuts in January, a substantial 136% increase from the previous month.

So what should we call it when the number of layoffs in our country goes up by 136 percent in just one month?

A catastrophe?

A tsunami?

I don’t know.

According to the report, financial companies laid off more workers than anyone else in January…

Financial companies bore the brunt of the job losses in January, with the industry shedding 23,238 employees. That is the highest monthly layoff total for the financial sector since September 2018, when it announced 27,343 job cuts.

The technology sector followed with 15,806 layoffs, the most since May 2023 and a stunning 254% increase from just one month prior.

Let’s talk about the financial industry for a moment.

Our banks are in very serious trouble. Higher interest rates have hit them very hard, and many institutions have been forced to lay off workers in recent months.

In addition, U.S. banks have been permanently shutting down hundreds and hundreds of branches in a desperate attempt to save money…

Banks are shutting hundreds of branches a year – this month some 41 closures were announced in a single week and among those affected were nine US Bank locations.

Bank of America, Chase, PNC, Citizen, Capital One, First National Bank of Pennsylvania and Huntington also said they were axing branches.

Such closures deal a huge blow to customers looking to visit in person to submit a document, make a withdrawal or deposit, cash in a check or simply run through their finances with a trusted bank manager.

This is a trend that I expect to continue all throughout 2024.

Meanwhile, the tech industry continues to bleed jobs at an alarming pace.

On Thursday, Zoom announced that 150 employees would be hitting the bricks…

Zoom is cutting about 150 jobs, CNBC confirmed on Thursday, the latest tech company to slash headcount this year as investors continue to push for efficiency.

I thought that Zoom was doing quite well.

I guess not.

Identity management company Okta is giving the axe to even more workers than Zoom is…

Identity management company Okta said on Thursday in a message to employees that it would lay off 400 employees, which is about 7% of the company’s headcount. Okta also reaffirmed its fourth-quarter and full-year guidance in a securities filing.

CEO Todd McKinnon said in his message that the “reality is that costs are still too high.”

So many layoff announcements are coming in now that I can’t possibly keep up with them all.

But there is one more that I wanted to specifically mention in this article. The Messenger is shutting down all operations, and all of their employees will now be searching for new employment…

The Messenger, an online news site that promoted itself to deliver unbiased and trusted news, abruptly shut down Wednesday after eight months of operation.

Jimmy Finkelstein, the founder of The Messenger, sent an email to its over 300 employees announcing the immediate shutdown.

This is such a stunning development.

In less than a year, the publication burned through 50 million dollars…

The Messenger received $50 million in investor money in order to launch in May 2023 with hopes of growing its newsroom relatively fast. With experienced journalists joining their team, Finkelstein’s plan was to bring back the old days of journalism that he and his family once shared.

How in the world did they manage to burn through 50 million dollars in less than a year?

Did they have employees flushing hundred dollar bills down the toilets?

I just don’t understand.

The layoffs that I mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg.

Zero Hedge has put together a list of some of the most notable layoffs that we have seen during the past few months…

1. Twitch: 35% of workforce
2. Hasbro: 20% of workforce
3. Spotify: 17% of workforce
4. Levi’s: 15% of workforce
5. Zerox: 15% of workforce
6. Qualtrics: 14% of workforce
7. Wayfair: 13% of workforce
8. Duolingo: 10% of workforce
9. Washington Post: 10% of workforce
10. eBay: 9% of workforce
11. Business Insider: 8% of workforce
12. Paypal: 7% of workforce
13. Charles Schwab: 6% of workforce
14. UPS: 2% of workforce
15. Blackrock: 3% of workforce
16. Citigroup: 20,000 employees
17. Pixar: 1,300 employees

Needless to say, there are quite a few more that could have been added to that list.

Google, Microsoft, Salesforce and Sports Illustrated are just a few names that quickly come to mind.

We have been anticipating that a massive wave of layoffs would be coming, and now it is here.

Just in time for the most chaotic election season in our history, a great deal of economic chaos is breaking out all around us.

The outlook for the rest of 2024 is not good at all, and the outlook beyond 2024 is even worse.

So many people are going to lose their jobs during the months ahead.

Just pray that you will not be one of them.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

An Egg McMuffin Was Once Just 99 Cents. Can You Guess How Much One Costs Today?

January 31, 2024 by Michael

The days of the 99 cent Egg McMuffin are never coming back. Our central bank has been treating our currency like toilet paper, and our politicians in Washington have been borrowing and spending trillions of dollars that we do not have. As a result, we are in the midst of an inflation crisis that seemingly has no end. Of course the mainstream media insists that inflation is “low”, but literally just about everything that we shell out money for on a regular basis costs a lot more these days. For example, just check out what it will cost you to get a single Egg McMuffin at one McDonald’s location in Connecticut…

A McDonald’s customer was left astounded after paying $7.29 for a single Egg McMuffin in a Connecticut drive through.

Bespoke Investment Group posted a picture of the customer’s receipt with the caption ‘$7.29 for one McDonald’s Egg McMuffin. What has the world come to?? These were 2 for $2 pretty recently.’

The bill records the purchase of two Egg McMuffins for $14.58 and one Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddle without two half-strips of bacon for $7.19.

$7.29 for just one Egg McMuffin?

Are you serious?

So that means that the price of an Egg MucMuffin in Connecticut is now more than 7 times higher than it was during the Reagan administration…

Watching old commercials like that makes me sad, because our country has become a completely different place since that time.

Of course it isn’t just the Egg McMuffin that has become ridiculously expensive.

One customer in Idaho was stunned when he recently had to shell out $16.10 for his value meal…

Another customer in Idaho was also shocked to discover the prices of combo deal in December.

Topher Olive, was visiting one of the restaurant’s locations in Post Falls when he picked up a Smoky BLT Quarter Pounder with Cheese, a large fry, and a large Sprite setting him back $16.10.

He shared a video of his meal on, where he has more than 334,000 followers, admitting that he was shocked over the price.

I clearly remember when I could get a combo at McDonald’s for just five bucks.

Now only the wealthy can afford to eat at McDonald’s on a regular basis.

Needless to say, the definition of “wealthy” has changed too.

Once upon a time, if you had a million dollars you were set for life.

But now Kevin O’Leary says that you need at least five million dollars in the bank…

Kevin O’Leary, Shark Tank star and investor, sparked significant discussion with his assertion that individuals need $5 million in their bank accounts to ensure lifelong financial stability.

In an August 2023 YouTube video, O’Leary said, “You have to get to a place where you have $5 million in the bank,” emphasizing the importance of this amount to “survive the rest of your life, no matter what happens.” This statement, along with his detailed financial advice, has been a subject of both support and criticism among viewers and financial experts.

Only a tiny percentage of the population has that kind of money.

In fact, one recent survey found that 60 percent of the U.S. population has 500 dollars or less in their checking accounts.

And only 12 percent of the U.S. population has $2,001 dollars or more in their checking accounts.

Just 12 percent.

We are a nation that is literally living on the edge.

Amazingly, in this very tight economic environment there is a campaign to increase the salaries of members of Congress by 70 percent…

A campaign has started to raise the salaries of House and Senate members by 70% to $294,000 from the current $174,000 in return for better “performance.”

Federal analyst Steven Kopits, the president of Princeton Policy Advisors, argued that since most members are lawyers, salaries should at least be equal to what first-year associates in Manhattan receive, plus a 20% bump up.

“Most legislators are lawyers by trade, and we — or at least I — would hope that the public would prefer the best and the brightest to become members of Congress. First year law associates in New York are the best and brightest of their year, typically from Ivy League universities, and their salaries are tied to the market for premium legal services in the U.S. Therefore, if we believe we would like to recruit top-line legal professionals to serve in Congress, then first year associate salaries are a plausible comparable,” Kopits said in a memo.

Just like the rest of us, they are also being crushed by the terrible inflation that they played a major role in creating.

Considering how poorly they have performed, there is no way in the world that they should be getting a raise.

It is the rest of the country that needs help. The middle class is shrinking, food banks are facing unprecedented demand all over the nation, and homelessness is rising at the fastest pace ever recorded.

And our politicians are making things even worse by bringing in vast numbers of extremely desperate people from other countries.

In Denver, 40,000 new migrants have arrived during the past year, and they are absolutely overwhelming the city’s social services…

Nearly 40,000 migrants have arrived in Denver over the past year, making a city with a population of just over 710,000 the top destination per capita for newly arrived migrants crossing the U.S. southern border and traveling north in buses from Texas.

The influx is taking a toll on the city’s public safety net. Starting Feb. 5, Denver will limit the number of days migrants can stay in shelters and send those who exceed their stay out onto the streets.

One Venezuelan family, a mother, father and their three daughters, told NBC News they’ve been staying at a hotel paid for by the city, but they’ve just received notice that they’ll be evicted.

“Just yesterday they started throwing away the toys, the bicycles in the common area,” the mother said. “We don’t know where we will go next.”

This is happening all over the nation, and there is no end to this crisis in sight.

Meanwhile, we are being warned that the economy will “cool considerably” during the months ahead…

The U.S. economy is set to cool considerably in the coming months as once-rampant spending by American consumers finally comes to an end, according to Wells Fargo.

In a recent note to clients, Wells Fargo senior global market strategist Scott Wren warned that retail spending is likely to slow over the course of 2024 as the job market eases and layoffs start to rise.

“Americans with jobs and money in their pockets are going to spend,” Wren wrote. “However, as the economy slows as we move through the middle portion of this year and the labor market softens, we continue to believe the holiday spending that occurred last year was a bit of a last hurrah for the consumer.”

Of course there are lots of signs that the economy is already heading in the wrong direction quite rapidly.

Sales of iPhones are typically a very good indicator of where things are going, and right now projections for 2024 are quite dismal…

Apple stock, which on any given day is either the most or 2nd most valuable company in the world, rotating with MSFT, reversed earlier gains and slumped to session lows after widely-read TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (best known for gathering intelligence from his contacts in Apple’s Asian supply chain) reported that Apple has lowered its 2024 iPhone shipments of key upstream semiconductor components to about 200 million units, which correspondents to a decline of 15% year-on-year.

As a result, he notes that iPhone 15 series and new iPhone 16 series shipments will decline by 10–15% year-on-year in 1H 2024 and 2H 2024, respectively (compared to iPhone 14 series shipments in 1H 2023 and iPhone 15 series shipments in 2H 2023, respectively). Even worse, Apple’s weekly shipments in China have declined by 30–40% year-on-year in recent weeks, and this downward trend is expected to continue.

And layoff announcements continue to roll in from coast to coast.

This week, we learned that UPS will be laying off approximately 12,000 workers…

UPS plans to layoff nearly 12,000 employees following a massive year-over-year decline in revenue, company officials told USA TODAY Tuesday morning.

The workforce reduction is part of an effort to align resources in 2024 and will save the company nearly $1 billion, the Atlanta-based company’s CEO Carole Tomé said on a company earnings call.

A slow-motion train wreck is playing out day after day right in front of our eyes.

So many of the things that we have been warning about are literally happening right now.

But most of the population still appears to be in a deep state of sleep.

What will it take for them to finally wake up?

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

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