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Is It Just A Coincidence That The Great American Eclipse Of 2024 Will Enter The U.S. At Eagle Pass, Texas?

January 30, 2024January 30, 2024 by Michael

The Great American Eclipse of 2024 is just a little bit more than two months away, and amazingly the very first city that the path of the eclipse crosses over when it enters the U.S. is Eagle Pass, Texas. There are more than 19,000 incorporated cities, towns and villages in the United States, and out of all of them Eagle Pass is the very first that the eclipse will touch. On April 8th, 2024 the entire world will be watching as the Great American Eclipse travels across America. Prior to this historic event, the last total solar eclipse visible from the U.S. was the Great American Eclipse of 2017, and there will not be another total solar eclipse visible from our country until 2044.

So this is a really big deal.

During the Great American Eclipse of 2017, approximately 216 million Americans were watching either in person or online…

On April 8, 2024, an eclipse will cross the continental United States from Texas to Maine. It has been seven years since the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017, when the Moon cast a shadow on Earth that raced from Oregon to South Carolina, watched by around 216 million Americans in person or online.

This time around, that number is expected to be even higher.

We are being told that Texas will likely be the best state for viewing the Great American Eclipse of 2024 in person, and the entire Dallas metropolitan area just happens to fall directly within the path of totality…

Texas boasts the best weather forecast along the path in April, and has an excellent highway system and abundant accommodations in Dallas, Ft Worth, Austin, and San Antonio. Some cities with long durations of totality include Eagle Pass, Uvalde, Kerrville, Fredericksburg, Llano, Lampasas, Killeen, Waco, Sulphur Springs, and the southeastern suburbs of Dallas.

A remarkable fact is that the entire metropolitan area of Dallas and Fort Worth, a megalopolis of 7 million people, is entirely inside the path of totality! In fact, 12 million people in Texas reside within the path of totality, by far the largest of any state in the US.

According to GreatAmericanEclipse.com, the first city in Texas that the eclipse will reach will be Eagle Pass.

A partial eclipse begins in Eagle Pass at 12:10 CDT, and a total eclipse begins at 1:27 CDT.

Considering everything that has been happening in Eagle Pass in recent months, do you think that it is just a coincidence that the eclipse crosses over this city first?

After the path of the Great American Eclipse of 2024 leaves Texas, prime viewing will also be available in these states…

Oklahoma
Arkansas
Missouri
Illinois
Kentucky
Indiana
Ohio
Pennsylvania
New York
Vermont
New Hampshire

You will also be able to view the total eclipse is some parts of of Tennessee and Michigan.

When you put the path of the Great American Eclipse of 2024 on a map with the path of the Great American Eclipse of 2017, a giant “X” is formed…

As I have discussed previously, this has happened before.

If you put the path of the solar eclipse that occurred on June 16th, 1806 on a map with the path of the solar eclipse that occurred on September 17th, 1811, you will see a giant “X” over the New Madrid fault zone.

Just three months after the solar eclipse of September 17th, 1811, a series of catastrophic earthquakes began to erupt along the New Madrid fault.

Now two solar eclipses are forming another giant “X” over the New Madrid fault zone.

What will happen this time around?

And as I have repeatedly explained to my readers, if you add the “Ring of Fire eclipse” that happened on October 14th, 2023 to the map with the giant “X” on it, you get a paleo-Hebrew Aleph.

So many people are talking about this remarkable phenomenon. For example, the following comes from an excellent article by Kelly Ferrari Mills…

Because this next eclipse begins its path down in the Southwest and makes a swath up through New England, some say it will form an X across America (combined with the eclipse in 2017). But since there was another solar eclipse that traversed our nation in October of 2023, it is fascinating to see that these THREE ECLIPSES ACROSS AMERICA FORM THE HEBREW LETTER ALEPH!

If you think that everything that I have shared with you in this article is simply the result of completely random coincidences, you are stretching your credibility to the breaking point.

We have reached one of the most pivotal moments in our entire history, and now something truly extraordinary is taking place in the skies above America.

If you haven’t been paying attention, you need to wake up, because some really crazy things are going to start happening.

Of course the truth is that crazy things are already starting to happen all over the globe.

For example, Anchorage has already gotten more than 100 inches of snow this winter…

Alaska is on track to break snowfall records after Anchorage was blanketed with more than 100 inches − the earliest accumulation ever of that amount − collapsing roofs and closing schools.

The city, which was hit with almost 16 inches of snow over the weekend, has now had more than 8½ feet this winter, the second year to break the 100-inch mark. If the trend continues, Anchorage could break its all-time record of 134½ inches recorded in the winter of 2011.

I couldn’t even imagine dealing with that much snow.

It is being reported that the weight of the snow on some roofs has reached “more than 30 pounds a square foot”…

The snow’s weight reached more than 30 pounds a square foot, meaning a 1,500-square-foot roof would be supporting the weight of “eight full size light duty pickup trucks,” according to the notice.

If they have not already done so, officials in Alaska are urging residents to clear the snow off of their roofs while they still can…

Officials in Anchorage are urging people to clear the snow off their roofs to prevent them from collapsing, as has happened with some city buildings. Over the weekend alone, more than 16 inches of snow fell, pushing Alaska’s largest city past the 100-inch mark faster than ever before. With much of winter still ahead, Anchorage is on track to break its all-time record of 134.5 inches of snowfall.

Of course all of this snow will be forgotten by everybody living outside Alaska in a few days, because new things will come along to dominate the news cycle.

We live at a time when crazy things are happening in rapid fire fashion.

As I discussed yesterday, there were more billion dollar disasters in 2023 than ever before.

This year is certainly off to a dramatic start as well, and now the Great American Eclipse of 2024 is coming.

So buckle up and hold on tight, because I have a feeling that we are in for a wild ride.

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.

Homelessness In The U.S. Is Up 48 Percent Since 2015, And Americans Are Being Laid Off In Droves…

January 29, 2024January 29, 2024 by Michael

How can anyone out there possibly believe that the U.S. economy is doing well? As you will see below, the number of homeless Americans has risen to the highest level ever recorded, and large companies all over the country are laying off workers in droves. As I have discussed previously, the number of Americans that were laid off in 2023 jumped 98 percent compared to the year before, and now during the first month of 2024 it feels like we are being hit by a tsunami of layoffs. It literally seems like someone has turned a fire hose on, but the Biden administration continues to insist that unemployment is “low” and that the outlook for the U.S. economy is positive.

Honestly, I don’t understand how the Biden administration can say that the outlook for the U.S. economy is positive when the number of Americans that are homeless has been increasing at the fastest pace ever recorded. According to a brand new report that was just released by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, the number of homeless Americas has increased 48 percent since 2015…

According to a Jan. 25 report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, roughly 653,000 people reported experiencing homelessness in January of 2023, up roughly 12% from the same time a year prior and 48% from 2015. That marks the largest single-year increase in the country’s unhoused population on record, Harvard researchers said.

Homelessness, long a problem in states such as California and Washington, has also increased in historically more affordable parts of the U.S.. Arizona, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas have seen the largest growths in their unsheltered populations due to rising local housing costs.

We can see evidence of this all around us.

Tent cities are popping up like mushrooms in our major cities and countless Americans are living in their vehicles and RVs.

One of the primary reasons why homelessness has been surging so dramatically is because rental costs have soared to unprecedented heights…

Rent in the U.S. has steadily climbed since 2001. In analyzing Census and real estate data, the Harvard researchers found that half of all U.S. households across income levels spent between 30% and 50% of their monthly pay on housing in 2022, defining them as “cost-burdened.” Some 12 million tenants were severely cost-burdened that year, meaning they spent more than half their monthly pay on rent and utilities, up 14% from pre-pandemic levels.

People earning between $45,000 and $74,999 per year took the biggest hit from rising rents — on average, 41% of their paycheck went toward rent and utilities, the Joint Center for Housing Studies said.

Tenants should generally allocate no more than 30% of their income toward rent, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

But Joe Biden insists that inflation is “low”.

You believe him, don’t you?

Sadly, more Americans will soon be hitting the streets because we are witnessing an insane wave of layoffs all over the nation.

Right now, it is being reported that Salesforce has decided to conduct another round of layoffs…

Salesforce is cutting about 700 employees, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The job cuts, which amount to about 1% of its global workforce, follow a series of workforce reductions last year.

In 2023, Marc Benioff’s company laid off about 10% of its total workforce as it grappled with a swarm of activist investors who wanted margins increased faster than planned.

And we have just learned that REI will be giving the axe to 357 workers…

REI is laying off 357 workers, mostly in the outdoor retailer’s headquarters and distribution centers. In a letter to employees, CEO Eric Artz noted that “outdoor specialty retail has experienced four quarters of decline – and that trend has been worsening.” While REI was able to outperform this for much of last year, he said, this trend caught up to the company in the fourth quarter, and difficult conditions are expected in 2024.

Difficult conditions are expected in 2024?

Oh really…

Who could have seen that one coming?

After their deal with Amazon fell through, iRobot announced that 31 percent of its staff would be hitting the bricks…

Amazon and iRobot, the maker of the popular Roomba vacuum, mutually called off their estimated $1.7 billion acquisition deal Monday, citing numerous regulatory hurdles.

Immediately after the deal was publicly squashed, iRobot announced it would lay off 31% of its staff and that founder Colin Angle would step down from his role as CEO, citing a focus on profitability, stability and growth. Glen Weinstein will serve as interim CEO.

Shares of iRobot (IRBT) were down around 9% in noon trading following the news. Amazon (AMZN), which was up about 0.5% in noon trading, will pay iRobot a previously agreed-upon $94 million cancellation fee.

Google, Microsoft, Levi’s, TikTok, Riot Games, eBay, Wayfair and Macy’s are some of the other big names that have also announced layoffs so far in 2024.

But no industry is being hit harder than the mainstream media…

Journalists across the country burst into flames of panic this week, as bad news for the news business crested and erupted everywhere all at once.

Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire publisher of the Los Angeles Times, laid off 20 percent of his newsroom. Over at Time magazine, its billionaire owners, Marc and Lynne Benioff, did the same for 15 percent of their unionized editorial employees. This latest conflagration had ignited at Sports Illustrated the previous week as catastrophic layoffs were dispensed via email to most staffers. Business Insider (whose parent company Axel Springer also owns POLITICO) jettisoned 8 percent of its staff while workers at Condé Nast, Forbes, the New York Daily News and elsewhere walked out to protest forthcoming cuts at their shops.

Perhaps if they had not made a habit of blatantly lying to us over and over again during the past several years they would not have lost all of their remaining credibility and they would not have had to lay off so many workers.

But even though so much is going wrong with the economy right now, many of the “experts” continue to tell us that happier times are just around the corner.

For example, Ed Yardeni insists that we will soon relive the Roaring Twenties…

Ed Yardeni, a veteran market strategist, thinks the US economy might be about to relive the “Roaring ’20s.”

The Yardeni Research president said during Friday’s episode of Bloomberg’s “Merryn Talks Money” podcast that he’s expecting a combination of loose post-pandemic monetary policy and rapid technological change to drive growth higher over the next decade.

Wouldn’t it be great if he was actually right?

Of course the truth is that he is just being delusional.

Things are bad now, and things are going to get really bad during the second half of 2024 and beyond.

If you still have a good job and a warm home to come back to at night, you should be very thankful.

Because more Americans are losing their jobs and losing their homes with each passing day, and the level of economic suffering that we are witnessing is already off the charts.

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.

Are We On The Verge Of An Apocalyptic War With Iran?

January 28, 2024January 28, 2024 by Michael

U.S. lawmakers are calling for military strikes inside Iran in the aftermath of a horrific terror attack that left three U.S. service members dead and dozens wounded. So if the U.S. does hit targets inside Iranian territory, how will the Iranians respond? It is theoretically possible that they could back down, but I doubt it. All of the airstrikes that we have conducted so far against Iranian-backed terror groups in Iraq and Syria have not caused them to back down. And the airstrikes that we have hit the Houthis in Yemen with have not caused them to back down either. The truth is that the U.S. is already at war in the Middle East, and it appears that it could soon take an apocalyptic turn.

U.S. forces in the Middle East have been attacked time after time over the past couple of months, but Sunday’s attack was the first one that actually killed members of the U.S. military…

Three U.S. service members were killed and dozens may be wounded after an unmanned aerial drone attack on U.S. forces stationed in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border, President Joe Biden and U.S. officials said on Sunday.

Biden blamed Iran-backed groups for the attack, the first deadly strike against U.S. forces since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October and sent shock waves throughout the Middle East.

It was just a matter of time before something like this happened.

Overall, U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria have been attacked more than 150 times since October 17th…

Iranian-backed militias have mounted more that 150 attacks since Oct. 17 on bases occupied by U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, according to the Pentagon. The majority of the attacks have been with rockets and one-way attack drones, most of which have been intercepted.

When someone attacks your forces more than 150 times, you are at war with them.

Anyone that thinks otherwise is just being delusional.

In response to Sunday’s attack, Joe Biden told the world that “we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing”…

“While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq,” Biden said in a statement.

“Have no doubt – we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing,” he said.

Needless to say, this was not strong enough for many Republican hawks in Congress. Here are just a few of their quotes that have been compiled by Axios…

-Mitch McConnell: Senate Minority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called for “serious, crippling costs” to Iran, “not only on front-line terrorist proxies, but on their Iranian sponsors who wear American blood as a badge of honor.”

-Lindsey Graham: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), said in a statement the attacks the U.S. has carried out on Iranian proxies outside Iran “will not deter Iranian aggression,” calling to “strike targets of significance inside Iran.”

-Tom Cotton: “The only answer to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iran’s terrorist forces, both in Iran and across the Middle East,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). “Anything less will confirm Joe Biden as a coward unworthy of being commander-in-chief.”

-John Cornyn: Sen. John Cornyn, in a post on the social media site X, said: “Target Tehran,” later specifying that he wants the U.S. to strike Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. and its Quds Force branch.

Okay, so let’s imagine that Biden does what they want.

Would the Iranians respond by launching missiles at U.S. targets in the region?

And how would we respond if the Iranians made such a move?

When it comes to geopolitics, one must always be thinking several moves ahead.

Meanwhile, one of Israel’s most prominent politicians is warning that Iran has become a “legitimate target” for Israeli missiles…

Iran is now a “legitimate target” for Israeli missile strikes, one of the country’s most senior ministers has told the Telegraph, raising the prospect of an all-out war with Tehran.

In a wide-ranging interview, Nir Barkat, Israel’s economy minister, also said Palestinians from the West Bank would never be allowed to work in the country again and would be replaced by more than a quarter of a million imported foreign workers.

He also complained that the war in Gaza had not been fought aggressively enough.

Those that are urging military strikes against targets inside Iran are assuming that the Iranians only possess conventional weapons.

But what if this isn’t true?

In fact, for a long time there have been many that have tried to warn us that this isn’t true.

The Iranians are not showing us all their cards, and they have been preparing for this showdown for decades.

Interestingly, the Iranians just launched three new satellites into space…

Iran says it has successfully launched three indigenous satellites into orbit using the Simorgh carrier rocket, marking the first time the country has simultaneously sent three satellites into space.

The satellites launched early on Sunday include Mahda, weighing 32 kg, and two nano-satellites, Keyhan 2 and Hatef 1, of less than 10 kg, sent to a minimum orbit of 450 kilometers (279 miles) and a maximum of 1,100 km (683.5 mi), state media reported, citing the public relations wing of the Defense Ministry.

The Simorgh satellite carrier that carried the three satellites to space has been developed by Iran’s Defense Ministry, the ministry statement noted.

It is believed that these satellites have been sent into orbit for the purpose of guiding ballistic missiles.

We are so close to the unthinkable. Once missiles start flying all over the region, the Middle East will never be the same again.

Meanwhile, the Chinese continue to probe Taiwan’s defenses…

Taiwan’s defense ministry announced on Saturday that over 30 Chinese warplanes were headed toward its country, in addition to navy ships.

Thirty-three aircraft were sent by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army from 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday, officials said. The aircraft included SU-30 fighters.

An apocalyptic conflict in the Middle East would give China the perfect opportunity to try to “reunite” with Taiwan by force.

So let’s keep a close eye on the Chinese.

And let us not forget about the Russians. Over the weekend, they took even more territory from the Ukrainians.

This is a time of “wars and rumors of wars”, and those that are familiar with my work will not be surprised to hear that I believe that things will greatly escalate later this year.

We should hope for peace, but we should also prepare for war.

Because war is definitely coming, and it will shake billions out of their current state of complacency.

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.

The U.S. Is A Lawless Society Where The Criminals Get To Go Free But Underwear And Socks Are Locked Up

January 26, 2024January 26, 2024 by Michael

We live in an environment of complete and utter lawlessness. When predators boldly roam the streets without fear but good people are literally afraid to leave their own homes, that is clearly a sign that our societal collapse has reached a very advanced stage. Even in the rare instances when they are actually caught and convicted, our system will still often allow violent criminals to go free. For example, a woman in California that was convicted of stabbing her boyfriend more than 100 times was given a sentence that didn’t include even a single day in prison…

The family of a man who was murdered by his date after she stabbed him more than 100 times has voiced their outrage after the California woman was sentenced to just 100 hours of community service with no jailtime.

Bryn Spejcher, 33, was given the lenient sentence after psychiatrists said the incident was ‘100 percent’ caused by cannabis-induced psychosis, which she suffered after taking two hits of the victim’s bong.

The judge ruled Ms Spejcher ‘experienced a psychotic break from reality’ and ‘had no control over her actions’ when she killed Chad O’Melia, who was 26 years old at the time of his death, on Memorial Day weekend 2018.

This is America now.

Our major cities have become places where literally anything goes, and that is particularly true for members of Generation Z.

In fact, one recent survey discovered that about one-third of that entire generations openly admits that “they shoplift while cashing out at self-check”…

More than half of Gen Z shoppers prefer self-checkout lines — and would even switch their store of choice for the ease of self-serve kiosks, according to new data from Avery Dennison — but it’s not necessarily because they’re independent or introverted.

In fact, one-third of the young shoppers admitted that they shoplift while cashing out at self-check.

According to a recent LendingTree survey of 2,000 Americans, nearly half of Gen Z respondents said they steal the most expensive item from their cart, while only 37% said they would only lift necessities.

This is one of the reasons why self-checkout lanes are now being taken out at stores all over the nation.

I certainly won’t miss self-checkout lanes.

Honestly, I am not fond of them at all.

Of course taking away self-checkout options won’t do much to stop the tsunami of theft that we are witnessing from coast to coast.

In Oakland, the very first In-N-Out Burger location ever established is being closed down because the crime in that particular neighborhood never stops…

The In-N-Out slated for closure is in a busy business corridor that attracts travelers headed to the airport and baseball fans who attend A’s games at the Coliseum. Since 2019, police have logged 1,335 incidents in the vicinity of the restaurant on Oakport Street — more than any other location in Oakland, the newspaper reported.

They were far more patient than I would have been.

Needless to say, I wouldn’t have waited for 1,335 crimes to be committed before shutting that restaurant down.

In San Francisco, KPMG is actually moving out of the KPMG building because conditions in the city have deteriorated so dramatically…

Accounting firm KPMG is set to move out of its $400 million namesake building, another high-profile exit from San Francisco’s beleaguered downtown.

The consulting and accounting giant first leased space in the 25-story office tower when the building opened in 2002. Its name hangs above the entry to the skyscraper where the company currently occupies more than 100,000 square feet.

It comes as shoe store Alto prepares to exit San Francisco Centre, the city’s biggest mall, next week.

Businesses and residents have fled downtown San Francisco since the pandemic with groups blaming crime, homelessness and work-from-home keeping people from downtown.

It is easy to point a finger at the west coast, but things have gotten really crazy on the east coast as well.

As I discussed earlier this week, a CVS store in Washington D.C. is being permanently closed because teens would loot it multiple times per day…

A Washington D.C. CVS store is shutting its doors after being repeatedly ransacked by thieves, the chain has confirmed.

The pharmacy, located in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, went viral last October when videos emerged of it totally stripped of all its products after being targeted by a teen gang.

Staff claim more than 45 schoolkids would go into the store and steal chips and drinks in the morning, after their classes and late at night. It will close on February 29, according to WTTG-TV.

This is what a lawless society looks like.

At this point, things are so bad that Walmart and Target “have begun locking up underwear and socks”…

Walmart and Target have begun locking up underwear and socks – the latest items to be protected against shoplifters.

As thefts have surged over the past year, stores have been increasingly keeping items behind lock and key.

But these have tended to be electronics and toiletries.

As you can see, my headline was not an exaggeration at all.

We really are locking up underwear and socks, and we really are allowing violent criminals to go free.

The thin veneer of civilization that we all depend upon on a daily basis is breaking down all around us, and you never know when someone will totally flip their lid and start shooting at you…

A Las Vegas pastor was murdered in front of his family following a feud with a neighbor over the chickens and dogs she kept in her property

A disturbing image shows the moment Grace Point Church pastor Nick Davi, 46, was fatally shot by his female neighbor Joe Junio, 36, who also wounded his wife Sarah Davi on December 29.

The shooting happened after Junio had allegedly harassed the family for weeks, throwing feces on their backyard, flooding their home, and issuing threats after the Davis complained to the gated community’s homeowner’s association.

Now we are moving into the most chaotic election season in our entire history, and I believe that will usher in widespread chaos all over America.

Our society is not ready for the changes that are coming.

So I hope that you are doing your best to get prepared.

If you think that our country is lawless now, just wait until you see what conditions will be like a couple of years from now.

Social order is literally imploding right in front of our eyes, and life in America will never be the same as it once was.

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.

Is The U.S. Economy Actually Growing?

January 25, 2024January 25, 2024 by Michael

Okay, so they want us to believe that the U.S. economy grew at a very brisk pace during the fourth quarter of 2023 even though mass layoffs are happening all over America, sales of previously owned homes are at the lowest level in 28 years, homelessness is rising at the fastest pace ever recorded, and survey after survey is showing that most Americans are just barely scraping by from month to month. Needless to say, something does not add up. The American people are deeply frustrated with how the economy is performing, but the government keeps giving us numbers that indicate that everything is just great. On Thursday, we were told that the U.S. economy grew at a 3.3 percent annualized rate during the fourth quarter of 2023…

The economy grew at a much more rapid pace than expected while inflation eased in the final three months of 2023, as the U.S. easily skirted a recession that many forecasters had thought was inevitable, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Gross domestic product, a measure of all the goods and services produced, increased at a 3.3% annualized rate in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to data adjusted seasonally and for inflation.

That compared with the Wall Street consensus estimate for a gain of 2% in the final three months of the year.

If that number actually reflected reality, it would be very good news.

But how is it possible that layoffs were up 98 percent in 2023 while the U.S. economy was supposedly “growing” all year long?

To me, it appears that something fishy is going on.

And that is precisely what we see when we take a deeper look at the numbers. According to Zero Hedge, “GDP-boosting gimmicks” are being employed to make things look better than they actually are…

Turning to the all important consumption, we can’t help but smile when noticing that the BEA is again resorting to such favorite GDP-boosting gimmicks of the old Obama administration as spending on healthcare and… RVs! The two contributed to roughly half the growth in consumer spending in the fourth quarter.

Other numbers that don’t come from the Biden administration tell a much different story.

For example, the Chicago Fed’s National Activity Index was negative in December, and it has been negative for 8 of the past 12 months…

Against expectations of a small rise from 0.03 to 0.06, The Chicago Fed’s National Activity Index (which draws on 85 economic indicators) tumbled to -0.15 in December. 2023 ends with 8 of the 12 months in negative territory…

So how in the world can the economy be “growing” if national economic activity was in negative territory for two-thirds of last year?

It doesn’t make any sense at all.

And if the outlook for the future is positive, why are so many mass layoffs happening?

Business Insider had already conducted one round of mass layoffs, but they just decided that another round has become necessary…

In the latest wave of layoffs to hit the digital media biz, Business Insider said it will cut 8% of its staff in a restructuring aimed at positioning the company for growth.

Business Insider CEO Barbara Peng announced the job cuts in a memo to staffers Thursday. “We have already begun to refocus teams and invest in areas that drive outsize value for our core audience. Unfortunately, this also means we need to scale back in some areas of our organization,” she wrote.

Back when it first started, Business Insider was actually quite good.

But those days are long gone.

Microsoft is another big name that is putting large numbers of workers on the chopping block…

Microsoft will lay off 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox, the latest tech company to announce cuts so far in 2024.

The layoffs represent about an 8% cut of its video gaming staff of 22,000 workers and come months after Microsoft acquired Activision in a blockbuster deal. The $69 billion transaction in October represented one of the largest tech deals in history as Microsoft took over the studios behind bestselling games like Call of Duty, Diablo and Overwatch for its Xbox console.

And even though things are looking up for IBM these days, they are planning job cuts too…

IBM also said it will also cut a percentage of positions in the low single digits in 2024.

The planned job cuts follow similar announcements in January by major tech companies, including Alphabet’s Google and Amazon.com.

Chief financial officer James Kavanaugh said IBM will likely spend the same amount on restructuring as it did in 2023 – US$400 million – when it reduced its workforce by about 3,900 jobs.

Day after day, I share examples of very large companies that are conducting mass layoffs.

Why would they be doing this if tremendous prosperity is ahead of us?

It wouldn’t make any sense at all.

Of course the truth is that an economic downturn has already begun and it is going to get even deeper in 2024.

Those on the bottom of the economic food chain are being hit the hardest. Earlier today, I was saddened to read about homeless people in California that are being evicted from caves that they had dug into the banks of a river…

Rough sleepers in California were found living inside furnished caves dug into the banks of a river 20 feet below street level.

The groups were removed from the eight caves – along the Tuolumne River in Modesto – over the weekend, and they were emptied of belongings, furniture and 7,600 lbs of rubbish, filling two trucks and a trailer.

Some of the caves were decorated with murals, had broken floor tiles and one even had a makeshift fireplace with a chimney.

There are countless others just like them all over the country.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that homelessness was rising at the fastest pace ever recorded in 2023.

But don’t worry about any of that.

According to Joe Biden and his minions, the U.S. economy is growing steadily and everything is just great.

You believe them, don’t you?

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.

Most Americans Are Literally Living On The Edge Of Disaster

January 24, 2024January 24, 2024 by Michael

There is a tremendous disconnect between the economic numbers that the government is giving us and what most Americans are personally experiencing on a daily basis. The government says that inflation is low, but the cost of living just continues to spiral out of control. The government says that unemployment is low, but Challenger, Gray & Christmas says that the number of layoffs in the U.S. was up 98 percent last year. The government says that the economic outlook for 2024 is positive, but companies all over America are acting as if extremely hard times are ahead. So who are we supposed to believe?

Personally, I trust numbers that come from private sources far more than numbers that come from government sources.

For example, a survey that was just conducted by Bankrate discovered that 56 percent of all U.S. adults do not have enough money to handle an unexpected expense of $1,000…

A majority of Americans say a $1,000 emergency expense would be too great of a hit to their savings and that they could not afford it, according to new data released Wednesday.

Bankrate’s latest survey results found 56% of U.S. adults lack the emergency funds to handle a $1,000 unexpected expense and one-third (35%) said they would have to borrow the money somehow to pay for it.

More than half the country is literally living on the edge of financial disaster.

That is crazy.

Another survey has found that much of the nation barely keeps any money in their bank accounts…

Nearly half of Americans have $500 or less in their savings accounts, an amount that leaves them vulnerable to unexpected expenses, according to a GOBankingRates survey of 1,063 U.S. adults conducted in November 2023.

About 29% of respondents have between $501 and $5,000 in their savings accounts, while the remaining 21% of Americans have $5,001 or more.

Few hold much cash in their checking accounts as well. Of those surveyed, 60% report having $500 or less in their checking accounts, while only about 12% have $2,001 or more.

Most Americans would be financially wiped out by just one major accident or emergency.

The vast majority of us are just barely scraping by from month to month, and the rapidly rising cost of living is making that increasingly difficult to do.

One woman recently found a Taco Bell receipt from 12 years ago, and she discovered that prices are now approximately three times higher than they were back then…

A TikTok video by a user who found an old Taco Bell receipt has gone viral – as Americans realize prices are now almost three times higher.

The old receipt showed that – 12 years ago – Americans could buy TWO of the chain’s beefy five-layer burritos for $2.59 including taxes.

Today, those same burritos cost about $3.69 for just ONE. That doesn’t include tax, which can vary across the US. So too can the base price.

The government continues to insist that inflation is “low”, but everyone knows that is a big fat lie.

Insurance rates have been spiking at a particularly alarming rate. One man in Las Vegas was horrified when his auto insurance bill shot up by 72 percent in just eight months even though he had no accidents and no tickets…

They say ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’ – but the eye-watering auto insurance bill city resident Simon Edwards recently received is just one example of the staggering rises in premiums consumers are facing all across the US.

The 2012 Mazda 5 owner was shocked to find his monthly bill from Geico had rocketed up from $130 last April to $223 now – a rise of 72 percent in just eight months.

‘I’ve been in no accidents, no tickets, been with Geico for many years,’ a perplexed Edwards told the Wall Street Journal.

Another man recently posted a video on TikTok in which he ranted about how the cost of literally everything is absolutely soaring…

Four years ago my rent was $1,200 a month at a luxury apartment complex”

“It is NOW $2,100, not even including utilities”

“3 years ago my electric bill was averaging $45 now it’s averaging $125…”

“I went to the grocery store yesterday and got 3 bags of chips, some ground turkey and some vegetables and it was $67 DOLLARS?!”

U.S. consumers are being squeezed like never before, and as a result debt levels have been rising to unprecedented levels.

For example, unpaid residential utility debt in the U.S. rose to a new all-time record of 20.3 billion dollars last year…

Bloomberg cites a new report from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association that reveals US household utility debt hit a record as an alarming number of Americans can no longer afford heating and cooling their homes.

NEADA said one out of every six ratepayers is behind on energy bills, adding residential utility debt hit a new record last year of $20.3 billion.

Please don’t let anyone tell you that the U.S. economy is in good shape.

Most Americans are really hurting in this economic environment, and conditions continue to get even worse.

As I discussed yesterday, large companies all over America are feverishly laying off workers. In fact, earlier today we learned that even eBay is now laying people off…

Online retailer eBay Inc. will cut about 1,000 jobs, or an estimated 9% of its full-time workforce, saying its number of employees and costs have exceeded how much the business is growing in a slowing economy. It marks the latest layoffs in the tech industry.

CEO Jamie Iannone said in a message to employees on Tuesday that the company also will reduce how many “contracts we have within our alternate workforce over the coming months.”

The worse economic conditions become, the more crime we are going to see.

At this point, looting has already become a way of life in some areas of the country.

In Washington D.C., a CVS store is permanently shutting down because dozens of teens would literally loot the store multiple times per day…

A Washington D.C. CVS store is shutting its doors after being repeatedly ransacked by thieves, the chain has confirmed.

The pharmacy, located in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, went viral last October when videos emerged of it totally stripped of all its products after being targeted by a teen gang.

Staff claim more than 45 schoolkids would go into the store and steal chips and drinks in the morning, after their classes and late at night. It will close on February 29, according to WTTG-TV.

If this is what is happening now, what will we see once economic conditions get extremely bad in this country?

I would encourage you to get prepared while you still can, because so much chaos is ahead of us.

We are living at a time when most Americans are literally living on the edge of disaster, and disaster is coming.

Millions will be wiped out by the economic tsunami that is approaching, and you do not want to be among the victims.

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.

It Is A Bloodbath For The Mainstream Media

January 23, 2024January 23, 2024 by Michael

Should any of us be surprised that the news industry is being hit by a massive wave of layoffs? Survey after survey has shown that the American people have lost faith in the mainstream media, and millions of us have decided to turn to other sources for news and information. Mainstream news outlets have been bleeding viewers and readers for years, and now many of the biggest names in the news industry are losing staggering amounts of money. It was only a matter of time before we witnessed large scale layoffs, and now they are here.

Of course it isn’t just the mainstream media that is laying off workers. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the number of layoffs in the United States in 2023 was 98 percent higher than it was in 2022…

The pace of job cuts by U.S. employers accelerated in 2023, with the number of layoffs surging 98% compared with the previous year.

That is according to a new report published by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which found that companies planned 721,677 job cuts last year, a substantial increase from the 363,832 layoffs reported in 2022.

The problem could get worse in 2024 as the labor market continues to soften in the face of high interest rates and stubborn inflation.

But it is true that the news industry is being hit particularly hard. For example, Time Magazine just announced that it will be laying off workers “across several departments including editorial, tech, sales, and TIME Studios”…

Time Magazine laid off an uncertain number of staffers across departments on Tuesday, a move CEO Jessica Sibley called “The necessary step we must take in order to drive our business forward and improve our financial position.”

In an internal memo to staff, obtained by Semafor’s Max Tani, Sibley announced the cuts.

“We have made the difficult decision to eliminate roles today across several departments including editorial, tech, sales, and TIME Studios,” Sibley wrote to staff. “We are immensely grateful for the contributions of these talented team members during their tenure at TIME.”

When I was a kid, Time Magazine was very highly respected and my parents would often have a copy of it on the coffee table.

But now it is dying just like the rest of the mainstream media.

Just look at what is happening to the largest newspaper in California. The Los Angeles Times has decided to eliminate “slightly more than 20% of the newsroom”…

The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, facing what senior leadership described this week as a “financial crisis,” commenced a round of painful layoffs across the newsroom, a workforce reduction that is set to be one of the most severe in the newspaper’s 142-year history.

The cuts will impact at least 115 journalists, a person familiar with the matter told CNN, or slightly more than 20% of the newsroom. Some 94 of those cuts will be among unionized employees, union chief Matt Pearce said, meaning a quarter of the union will be laid off.

Should we be sad that the Los Angeles Times is imploding?

I don’t think so.

Elsewhere, Paramount plans to give the axe to hundreds of workers…

Amid speculation about its future, Paramount Global is proceeding with a new wave of staff reductions in February, sources tell Deadline. I hear the cuts will impact hundreds of employees across the entire company.

For the past several days, there has been chatter that Paramount layoffs of about 800 are imminent. It followed a WSJ report in December that the company was mulling the potential elimination of more than 1,000 jobs in early 2024 to rein in costs.

Paramount is the parent company of CBS, and so it is likely that the news division at CBS is about to get even smaller.

Of course the news division at NBC is shrinking as well…

NBC News has laid off several dozen staffers, the latest of dozens of companies to start off the new year with bad news for its employees, USA TODAY confirmed Friday.

A source familiar with the plans said that employees were given a 60-day notice and will get severance packages and outplacement.

Sports journalism has also fallen on hard times.

At this point, it appears that the future of Sports Illustrated is very much in doubt and many of the magazine’s employees will now be searching for new employment…

The future of iconic magazine Sports Illustrated looked dire Friday after the publisher announced mass layoffs.

The Arena Group — which had been roiled by reports that the fabled magazine published AI-generated content — admitted to failing to make a $3.75 million quarterly licensing payment to Authentic Brands Group due this week.

As a result, the publicly-traded Arena announced Thursday it would make a “significant reduction” in its workforce of more than 100 journalists.

All of the stories that I just shared with you have happened within the last seven days.

It is crazy how rapidly things are moving now.

Of course many other industries are shedding workers too. Earlier today, we learned that SolarEdge will be laying off approximately 16 percent of its workforce…

SolarEdge, a company that makes inverters for solar panels, will shed about 16% of its workers.

The company said Sunday roughly 900 people will lose their jobs in a restructuring plan “designed to reduce operating expenses and align its cost structure to current market dynamics.” It called industry conditions “challenging” in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

And Vroom Automotive will be laying off “most of its employees” as it permanently shuts down its used vehicle operations…

In an SEC filing and an announcement on its website Monday evening, Vroom Automotive said that it shut down as used vehicle dealer after Ally suspended its credit line. Vroom will no longer retail any of its vehicles. It will sell its inventory on the wholesale market. It will lay off most of its employees. It will only keep its subprime auto-lending platform United Auto Credit (UACC), and its used-vehicle listing platform CarStory, both of whose clients are other used-vehicle dealers.

For many more layoff announcements, please see my previous article entitled “Alert! Here Is A List Of 20 Large Companies That Have Just Decided To Conduct Mass Layoffs”.

It appears that the U.S. economy has reached a critical tipping point. The economic outlook for 2024 is not good at all, and employers are racing to cut payrolls in anticipation of what is coming.

If you currently have a good job that you value, hold on to it as tightly as you can.

Because a lot more layoffs are on the way, and you don’t want to be without a chair when the music stops playing.

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.

The Crisis In The Red Sea Threatens To Disrupt Global Supply Chains Even More Than The Pandemic Did

January 22, 2024January 22, 2024 by Michael

Do you remember the supply chain problems that we experienced during the darkest days of the COVID pandemic? Well, now we are being warned that the crisis in the Red Sea could actually disrupt global supply chains to an even greater degree. Needless to say, this comes at a really bad time because the U.S. economy has really been struggling lately. The U.S. and the U.K. are desperate to resolve this crisis, and so they have been bombing the living daylights out of the Houthis in Yemen. We haven’t seen anything quite like this from the U.S. military since the early days of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. On Monday, there was yet another round of air and missile strikes…

The U.S. and U.K. conducted large-scale air and missile strikes on Houthi rebel facilities across Yemen on Monday, according to a joint statement, stepping up operations against the militant group as it vows to continue attacking ships in the Red Sea.

The U.S. and U.K. militaries, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, hit eight Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the Houthis’ continued attacks, according to a joint statement from the countries involved. The precision strikes were “intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners,” the statement said.

Unfortunately, so far the strikes don’t seem to be doing much good.

The Houthis continue to attack commercial vessels in the Red Sea, and this is greatly frustrating U.S. officials.

When asked about the air and missile strikes, Joe Biden admitted that they are not working but he says that they will continue anyway…

President Joe Biden and his top aides have repeatedly said strikes on Houthi targets alone won’t stop the Iran-backed militants from threatening commercial ships in the Middle East.

When asked by a reporter last week if the airstrikes were working, Biden responded “Well, when you say ‘working,’ are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes.”

In addition to air and missile strikes, will we soon see additional measures?

It is being reported that the Biden administration is now planning a “sustained military campaign” against the Houthis…

Over the weekend US officials told The Washington Post that the Biden administration is planning for a “sustained military campaign” against the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels, even after some seven rounds of major strikes have done nothing to deter or degrade their drone and missile attacks. Notably, US leaders have still refused at this point refused to use the word “war” in relation to the large-scale US coalition attacks on Houthis as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian.

That definitely sounds like a war to me, and Congress has not approved it.

But of course our federal government has not been following the Constitution for a very long time.

So what all of this means is that the crisis in the Red Sea is going to persist for the foreseeable future. At this point, shipping giant Maersk is warning their customers that there will be “significant disruption to the global network”…

The situation around the Red Sea / Gulf of Aden continues to be closely monitored by our teams. In the interest of safety for our vessels, crew and customers’ cargo, all vessels previously due to transit the area have been diverted south around the Cape of Good Hope for the foreseeable future.

While we hope for a sustainable resolution in the near-future and do all we can to contribute towards it, we do encourage customers to prepare for complications in the area to persist and for there to be significant disruption to the global network. Our teams are on hand to support with your planning, should you need any assistance.

And at the World Economic Forum’s yearly gathering the CEO of Maersk actually admitted that we could see “disruptions of the supply chain for a few months at least”…

Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday that global shipping networks will be disrupted for at least a few months:

“So for us this will mean longer transit times and probably disruptions of the supply chain for a few months at least, hopefully shorter, but it could also be longer because it’s so unpredictable how this situation is actually developing.”

This is very serious.

There will be delays and there will be shortages.

Many commercial ships are now being routed all the way around the continent of Africa, and that can add approximately 3,500 nautical miles to each journey…

Steering clear of the Red Sea and taking the lengthy detour around the Cape of Good Hope, however, adds around 3,500 nautical miles (6,500km) and 10-12 days sailing time to each trip. This requires extra fuel (an additional $1m/£790,000’s worth according to some estimates), possibly finding alternative ports of call, adjustments to delivery timetables, and rising costs. But many companies are making that choice rather than risk attack by missiles and hijackers.

Container lines have been left scrambling to rent enough ships for the lengthened journeys their vessels must now take to avoid the Red Sea, and there are fears that the crisis could have widespread economic impacts, pushing up prices of goods and delaying deliveries of high-value products by weeks or perhaps even longer.

What a mess.

And it isn’t going away any time soon.

One firm that has analyzed the crisis in the Red Sea is claiming that it is already damaging global supply chains more than the COVID pandemic did…

A leading ocean supply chain advisory firm is warning that the disruptions to shipping from the Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea are already more damaging to the supply chain impact than the early Covid-19 pandemic.

Sea-Intelligence analyzed current vessel delays compared to delays over the last several years in a report for clients. The data shows that the longer transit around the Cape of Good Hope as ships divert from the Red Sea is already having a more significant impact on vessels available to pick up containers at ports than during the pandemic. This supply chain measure is known in the industry as “vessel capacity.”

The vessel capacity drop is the second largest in recent years, according to Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence. The only single event with a bigger impact than the Red Sea crisis was the “Ever Given,” the giant cargo ship which got stuck in the Suez Canal for six days during March 2021.

Supply chains in Europe and Asia are being hit harder than supply chains in North America.

In fact, some automakers in Europe have already announced that they are “temporarily halting production”…

Due to the ongoing attacks on Red Sea shipping, major automakers such as Tesla and Volvo Car have announced that they are temporarily halting production in Europe due to component shortages. This development underscores the direct impact of the Red Sea shipping disruptions on regional industrial operations.

Tesla officials said production of most vehicles at its Berlin plant will be suspended from January 29 to February 11. Tesla cited parts shortages resulting from ships being diverted through Africa’s southernmost point as the main reason.

The increased travel time has caused disruptions in the supply chain, and component delays have affected the production of electric cars assembled for the European market. This is just one case that was reported.

But even though Europe and Asia will experience more disruptions than we will, the truth is that the entire globe will eventually feel the pain.

And if the war in the Middle East goes to an entirely new level later this year, that will make things many times worse.

So I hope that you have been getting prepared for the shortages that are coming.

Even now, “tightening supplies” of pork have pushed prices up to extremely alarming levels…

Since mid-December, wholesale spot prices for boxed pork belly 200 pounds jumped from $80 to more than $133, or about a 66% increase on tightening supplies.

The environment for pork producers was challenging in 2023, with many losing, on average, $32 per head. This trend is expected to continue this year.

Last month, Smithfield Foods, the world’s pork processor, revealed it would shutter 26 of its contracted hog operations across Utah.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Supplies of so many things are going to be getting tight in the months ahead.

Needless to say, our society is not going to handle any major economic disruptions very well.

Poverty, homelessness and hunger are all rapidly growing, and our cities are absolutely packed with vast hordes of extremely desperate people.

We now live in an environment where many of these extremely desperate people will get violent at the slightest provocation…

A man urinating on a parked car in Manhattan slashed the throat of a passerby who told him to stop, leaving the victim clinging to life, police said Monday.

The 66-year-old victim and two other passersby complained when they saw the stranger urinating on a car parked on E. 14th St. near First Ave. in the East Village about 5:05 p.m. Sunday, cops said.

That sparked an argument, during which the victim was slashed in the neck, causing what police described as a “severe laceration.”

If things are this bad now, what will conditions be like during the tremendous chaos that is ahead of us?

Everything that we have been through since the early portion of 2020 has just been a preview of coming attractions.

We are still only in the very early chapters of this “perfect storm”, but most people out there still believe that things will “return to normal” eventually.

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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