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3 Extremely Alarming Developments Which Could Have Enormous Global Implications

January 10, 2024January 10, 2024 by Michael

Global events are moving very rapidly now, and rumors are flying all over the place. I am going to share some very alarming developments with you in this article, but it is important for me to note that each of these stories is still developing. So as we get more information these stories may move in different directions. We have already seen so much happen during the initial days of 2024, and I am entirely convinced that things will get even more chaotic as this year rolls along.

Just within the past 24 hours, several more bombshell stories have appeared in the news cycle. The following are 3 extremely alarming developments which could have enormous global implications…

#1 Hospitals In Northern Israel Are Being Ordered To Prepare For “Thousands Of Casualties”

We have seen a series of escalations on the northern front in recent days, and that includes the assassination of the brother-in-law of the leader of Hezbollah. Now, Israeli media is telling us that hospitals in the north are being ordered to get ready to receive large numbers of war casualties…

Israeli media reports IDF ordered preparation for the expansion of the fighting in the north (Lebanon).

Israeli Ministry of Health ordered the hospitals to be prepared to receive “thousands of casualties” in a short time.

Why would such an alert get issued now?

Is something major about to happen?

According to a prominent Israeli news source, one hospital has actually been instructed to prepare for a “desert island” situation…

The Israeli Health Ministry ordered hospitals in the north to be ready to receive thousands of wounded, under extraneous conditions, as fighting intensifies on Israel’s border with Lebanon, according to a report by Kan.

The Ziv Hospital in Safed and the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya started preparing for what has been described as a “desert island” situation, meaning days without equipment, medicines or food in the event of a massive Hezbollah attack.

The hospitals in Safed and Nahariya have also been instructed to prepare for the transfer of patients to other medical centers. Furthermore, the Health Ministry advised an increased vigilance and preparedness in all hospital systems and health insurance funds across the country.

To me, it certainly sounds like Israeli authorities are anticipating that a full-blown regional war could soon break out, and that would have massive global ramifications.

Israeli media reports IDF ordered preparation for the expansion of the fighting in the north (Lebanon).

Israeli Ministry of Health ordered the hospitals to be prepared to receive “thousands of casualties” in a short time. pic.twitter.com/hlESK3ViZE

— Clash Report (@clashreport) January 9, 2024

#2 A Deadly New Variant That Is 100% Fatal In Mice “Due To Infection Of The Brain”

I don’t even know what to make of this story.

Apparently, a team of scientists has been messing around with a coronavirus variant that has killed all of the mice that have been exposed to it…

The research group of former PLA scientist Yigang Tong has published a new paper showing a “pangolin” coronavirus (GX_P2V) variant is 100% fatal to hACE2 mice likely due to infection of the brain.

You can see the research paper for yourself right here. Needless to say, any variant that can cause “100% mortality” in human ACE2-transgenic mice should deeply concern all of us…

SARS-CoV-2-related pangolin coronavirus GX_P2V(short_3UTR) can cause 100% mortality in human ACE2-transgenic mice, potentially attributable to late-stage brain infection. This underscores a spillover risk of GX_P2V into humans and provides a unique model for understanding the pathogenic mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2-related viruses.

Hopefully someone doesn’t make a “mistake” that results in this new variant getting “accidentally” released.

This is concerning https://t.co/3mvu3irsKR

— Robert W Malone, MD (@RWMaloneMD) January 8, 2024

Meanwhile, it is being reported that Dr. Peter Daszak has discovered “a never-before-seen virus with ‘almost’ as much potential to infect humans as Covid”…

A zoologist whose organisation funded controversial experiments in Wuhan which some fear started the pandemic has presented the discovery of a never-before-seen virus with ‘almost’ as much potential to infect humans as Covid.

Dr Peter Daszak, head of the New York based non-profit EcoHealth Alliance, detailed his finding in bats at an event held by the World Health Organization (WHO) on future pandemic research preparedness.

EcoHealth had its funding pulled and projects to find viruses in China cancelled due to concerns about its ties to the Covid lab leak theory — but it has continued to operate in Thailand and other parts of Asia with millions of dollars in US government grants.

As I have repeatedly warned my readers, we live in an era when great pestilences will erupt quite frequently all over the globe.

It is just a matter of time before the next global pandemic arrives, and so I hope that you have been getting ready.

#3 Civil War In Ecuador

Have you heard about what is happening in Ecuador?

We are being told that a “civil war” has erupted, and at this point the entire nation has descended into a state of complete and utter chaos…

Ecuador is descending into civil war after a bunch of masked thugs stormed a television station in the port city of Guayaquil yesterday while taking prison guards hostage and murdering civilians.

Viewers watched in horror last night as the men threatened presenters and workers with automatic weapons and explosives on live television, with the sound of gunshots and terrified hostages begging for mercy audible in the background.

Of course the incident at that television station was only a small part of the widespread violence that we witnessed on Tuesday…

The terrorist actions committed by Ecuador’s criminal gangs on Tuesday — which included kidnappings, prison riots, and the use of explosive devices against civilian and police vehicles — left at least ten dead, including two policemen. On early Wednesday morning, police authorities found a burned vehicle with three burned people inside in a Guayaquil neighborhood.

The internal conflict decree designates over 20 of Ecuador’s most dangerous criminal gangs as military targets, allowing the nation’s armed forces to conduct operations to “neutralize” them. The decree goes hand in hand with a 60-day state of emergency declaration and curfew President Daniel Noboa approved this week.

Over the past few years, we have seen a series of pro-western governments fall around the globe.

Will Ecuador be the next domino to tumble?

Let us hope not, but at this point the tight grip that the U.S. and the EU once had on so much of the planet is starting to falter.

We really have entered a period of tremendous worldwide chaos, and I fully expect things to get even more wild during the months ahead.

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

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book I have written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “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 these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends. Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible. I have also started a brand new Substack newsletter, and I encourage you to subscribe so that you won’t miss any of my articles. I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others 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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

U.S. Consumers Are Engaging In A Historic Debt Binge, And Delinquencies Are Ominously Rising…

January 9, 2024 by Michael

Americans are going into debt as if tomorrow will never come, but of course tomorrow always arrives eventually. What we are witnessing right now is truly a historic debt binge, and to many of the experts it seems like there is no end in sight to the unrestrained spending that is going on. But are U.S. consumers going into record levels of debt because they are feeling good about things or because they are trying to survive in an increasingly harsh economic environment? In America today, the cost of living has become exceedingly oppressive, employers are laying off large numbers of workers, and poverty and homelessness have been absolutely exploding all over the country. Millions of U.S. households are just barely hanging on by their fingernails, and many desperate consumers have been piling up debt in a frantic attempt to stave off the inevitable.

According to new data that was just released by the Federal Reserve, consumer borrowing increased much faster than expected during the month of December…

US consumers did not rein in their spending this past holiday season, and now have near-record-breaking debt balances to show for it, according to new Federal Reserve data released Monday.

Consumer borrowing spiked by $23.75 billion in November, more than doubling economists’ expectations for a $9 billion increase and sending outstanding credit balances north of the $5 trillion mark for the first time on record, the Fed’s latest Consumer Credit report showed.

The monthly increase during the critical holiday shopping month was driven by higher rates of revolving credit (which includes mostly credit cards), which soared by nearly $19.5 billion — the third-highest monthly increase on records that go back to 1943.

For quite a while, U.S. consumers were able to handle rapidly rising debt levels, but now it appears that we are reaching a breaking point.

In fact, we are being told that “delinquencies are at their highest level since 2012”…

However, the sharp increase in credit balances is starting to be a cause for concern, Ted Rossman, Bankrate senior industry analyst, told CNN via email.

“Credit card usage and Buy Now, Pay Later usage seemingly surged during the holidays, on top of already hefty debt loads,” Rossman said. Now, delinquencies are at their highest level since 2012.

In 2012, we were just coming out of the Great Recession.

Those were very painful days.

And actually the average credit card interest rate is even higher than anything that we witnessed back then…

The average credit card rate is now more than 20%, on average — an all-time high — after rising at the steepest annual pace ever, in step with the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike cycle.

“Most cardholders’ rates have risen five-and-a-quarter percentage points during that span as a result of the Fed’s rate hikes meant to combat inflation,” Rossman said. “It’s no wonder, then, that we’re seeing more people carrying more debt for longer periods of time.”

Piling up credit card debt can be fun, but high interest rates will absolutely suffocate you financially for many years to come.

Unfortunately, one recent survey discovered that 56 million cardholders in the United States have been carrying balances “for at least a year”…

Nearly half, or 49%, of credit card holders carry debt from month to month on at least one card, up from 46% last year, the report found, and 56 million cardholders have been in debt for at least a year.

Avoid credit card debt if you can, because it is literally financial poison.

Of course many Americans have no choice. More than 60 percent of the nation is living paycheck to paycheck, and just trying to pay the bills from month to month is really a struggle for millions upon millions of Americans.

Our leaders insist that they have inflation under control, but we can all see that is not the case.

This week, a restaurant owner that charges 16 dollars for a BLT sandwich made headlines all over the nation, but because of rapidly rising costs he only makes 2 dollars on each sandwich…

A restaurant owner has explained how raging inflation means he has to charge $16 for a BLT sandwich – yet makes under $2 on each.

Brian Will, boss and founder of Central City Tavern sports bar chain, decided to speak out after a pal confronted him over his sandwich prices.

The ingredients – bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo and bread – cost $5, up more than a dollar since three years ago.

I still remember the days when a trip to the grocery store would cost me about 20 bucks.

Now 20 bucks will buy one sandwich.

Ouch.

Sadly, the economic outlook for the year ahead is not promising at all.

According to Business Insider, economist Cam Harvey is very confident that a recession is coming in 2024…

Cam Harvey, the economist who discovered the Treasury yield curve’s ability to forecast recessions, is reiterating his call that a downturn is likely ahead in 2024.

Harvey’s model says that when yields on 3-month Treasury bills stay higher than those on 10-year notes for at least three months — triggering an official inversion — a recession will follow. The indicator has preceded each of the last eight recessions and has not produced any false positives.

Yields on the two government bond durations have been officially inverted for 12 months now.

I can’t argue with his analysis.

But what we are facing in the long-term is not just another economic downturn.

Ultimately, what we are facing in the long-term is a “perfect storm” that will result in a complete meltdown of our entire system.

The tremendous economic turmoil that we have been experiencing during the Biden administration is just the beginning.

All of the long-term trends are pointing in one direction, and the consequences of decades of very foolish decisions are starting to catch up with us very rapidly.

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

Will The Assassination Of The Brother-In-Law Of The Leader Of Hezbollah Take Us Into The Next Chapter Of World War 3?

January 8, 2024 by Michael

How is this cycle of escalation going to end? Each day, either Hezbollah or Israel is escalating matters to a dangerous new level. A war between the two parties has already begun, and at this point I don’t see any way to avoid a full-blown regional war that will result in tremendous death and destruction. Many had been hoping that cooler heads would prevail in 2024, but instead this new year has started with a series of very alarming escalations…

In the last week alone, an Israeli airstrike has killed a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon, Hezbollah struck a sensitive Israeli base with rockets and Israel killed a senior Hamas militant with an airstrike in Beirut.

Each strike and counterstrike increases the risk of the catastrophic war in Gaza spilling across the region.

In the decades-old standoff pitting the U.S. and Israel against Iran and allied militant groups, there are fears that any party could trigger a wider war if only to avoid appearing weak. A U.S. airstrike killed an Iran-backed militia leader in Baghdad last week, and the U.S. Navy recently traded fire with Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.

We are so close to the edge now.

Is there still any hope that we could avoid the unthinkable?

It is being reported that the Biden administration is working very hard to prevent “a full-blown war from erupting”…

President Biden has dispatched his top aides to the Middle East with a critical objective: Prevent a full-blown war from erupting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Israel has made clear it views as untenable the regular exchange of fire between its forces and Hezbollah along the border and may soon launch a major military operation in Lebanon.

“We prefer the path of an agreed-upon diplomatic settlement,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Friday, “but we are getting close to the point where the hourglass will turn over.”

After everything that has happened, the Israeli government will not be satisfied until all Hezbollah forces are north of the Litani River.

And Hezbollah will never withdraw north of the Litani River willingly, and so the IDF will be used to drive them back.

Needless to say, once the IDF moves into southern Lebanon events will start to move very, very quickly.

On Monday, a senior Hezbollah commander that was reportedly the mastermind behind the missile attack on Meron Air Force Base in northern Israel was killed by an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon…

An Israeli strike on south Lebanon today killed a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, escalating fears that the conflict between Israel and Hamas could spiral into a wider Middle East war.

Wissam Hassan Tawil, the deputy head of a unit within the Radwan force, died alongside another Hezbollah fighter when their car, a Honda SUV, was targeted in a strike on the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm.

He was the highest-ranking Hezbollah member to be killed since Israel and the Lebanese group began exchanging cross-border fire following Hamas’ October 7 attacks.

But this wasn’t just some random Hezbollah military leader.

It is being widely reported that he was actually the brother-in-law of Hassan Nasrallah…

The top Hezbollah commander Wissam Hassan Tawil was killed in a roadside bomb attack targeting his car in southern Lebanon today.

Tawil was the brother-in-law of the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.

Up to this point, Nasrallah has been hesitant to pull the trigger on a full-blown war with Israel.

But now a member of his own family has been assassinated.

So what will he do now?

More Hezbollah fighters are dying with each passing day. In fact, we are being told that a total of 130 Hezbollah fighters have died so far…

Since Hamas launched its unprecedented terror attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, there have been almost daily exchanges of fire along the Israel-Lebanon border between Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces.

At least 175 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 130 Hezbollah fighters, according to the AFP news agency. At least nine soldiers and four civilians have been killed in northern Israel, according to officials in the country, and thousands have been evacuated from their homes in border communities due to the ongoing fighting.

Sadly, this is just the very beginning.

The war in the Middle East is still only in the very early chapters, and so much death and destruction are ahead.

Meanwhile, the situation on the border between North Korea and South Korea has gotten so tense that the South Koreans have actually ordered the evacuation of Yeonpyeong Island…

South Korea has ordered civilians on the western border island of Yeonpyeong Island to evacuate to shelters, officials said Friday, amid apparent signs of a military provocation by North Korea.

The emergency evacuation order was given at 12:02 p.m. and again at 12:30 p.m. on Friday at the request of the South Korean military, according to the local county office.

I don’t think that North Korea is on the verge of invading just yet, but if the U.S. is distracted by multiple conflicts elsewhere in the world the North Koreans may see an opportunity to make a move.

The war in Ukraine is also heating up, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly identified the U.S. and other western powers as the real enemy of Russia…

Russian president Vladimir Putin has claimed the West is the real “enemy” as his invasion of Ukraine approaches its second anniversary.

The former KGB operative, who is seeking re-election in March, claimed forces in western countries including the US and Britain were working to destroy “Russian statehood” – and providing weapons to Ukraine to ensure the world’s largest country suffered a “strategic defeat” on the battlefield.

While speaking to a wounded soldier at a military hospital, Putin claimed that “Ukraine itself is not our enemy”.

He added: “The point is not that they (the West) are helping our enemy. They are our enemy.

We are living in a time of wars and rumors of wars, and the U.S. military may be required to fight more than one major war simultaneously.

Is our military prepared for that?

Of course not.

In fact, the size of the U.S. Army has fallen to the lowest level since 1940…

By the end of 2023, there will be only 452,000 active-duty soldiers in the US Army, the smallest force since 1940, Defense News recently reported.

In this vein, the international military news outlet pointed to recruiting shortfalls in the U.S. Army that could result in 3,000 Army Special Operations troops being cut before the end of this year.

Once upon a time we had the greatest military machine on the entire planet.

But at this stage the U.S. military has been transformed into a politically-correct joke that is really good at conducting diversity seminars and pride marches.

Now World War 3 has begun, and I have a feeling that we are going to pay a very great price for allowing our military to decline so precipitously.

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

What Is Going To Happen To Our Society As AI And Robots Take Most Of Our Jobs?

January 7, 2024January 7, 2024 by Michael

If you haven’t lost your job yet, you should be very thankful. Artificial intelligence and robots are taking more of our jobs with each passing day, and there will be no end to this high tech invasion. Eventually we could get to a point where AI and robots can do virtually everything far more efficiently and far more inexpensively than humans can. So what will happen to the vast majority of the human population when their labor is no longer needed? Will a way be found to quietly deal with “useless eaters” that are considered to be “just taking up space”? For years we have been warned that AI and robots would revolutionize the workforce, and now that day has officially arrived.

For example, Amazon has been using various types of simple robots to perform certain tasks for years, and now highly sophisticated humanoid robots are being deployed right alongside normal human workers…

Amazon recently began testing a new robot in its warehouse operations — meet Digit, a humanoid bipedal robot with a turquoise torso and smiley eyes.

Designed by Agility Robotics, which Amazon has invested in as part of its Industrial Innovation Fund, Digit is only the latest of a string of warehouse robots the company has introduced over the last several years. However, most of the other warehouse robots have been cart-shaped or robotic arms, not humanoid like Digit.

Digit costs about $10 to $12 an hour to operate right now, based on its price and lifespan, but the company predicts that cost to drop to $2 to $3 an hour plus overhead software costs as production ramps up, Agility Robotics CEO Damion Shelton told Bloomberg.

How are we supposed to compete with that?

No human worker is going to work for “$2 to $3 an hour”.

Plus, robots don’t need breaks, they don’t get sick, they don’t complain and they don’t steal from the company.

So this trend is only going to accelerate during the years ahead.

Even now, there is a McDonald’s restaurant that is almost entirely run by robots…

You may be thinking that robots won’t be taking your job any time soon because you have a white collar job that requires a high level of intelligence.

Well, if you are a white collar worker there is a good chance that your current job will one day be made “obsolete” by artificial intelligence.

In fact, Goldman Sachs is projecting that AI could take as many as 300 million full-time jobs during the years ahead, and most of them will be white collar jobs…

As many as 300 million full-time jobs around the world could be automated in some way by the newest wave of artificial intelligence that has spawned platforms like ChatGPT, according to Goldman Sachs economists.

They predicted in a report Sunday that 18% of work globally could be computerized, with the effects felt more deeply in advanced economies than emerging markets.

That’s partly because white-collar workers are seen to be more at risk than manual laborers. Administrative workers and lawyers are expected to be most affected, the economists said, compared to the “little effect” seen on physically demanding or outdoor occupations, such as construction and repair work.

So how are you going to make a living when AI and robots do almost everything better and cheaper than you can?

Vast number of jobs will be lost during the years ahead.

Sadly, the truth is that the U.S. economy is already bleeding jobs.

On Friday, the BLS told us that the Establishment Survey indicated that the U.S. economy added 216,000 jobs last month, but historically the Household Survey has been much more accurate, and it showed that the U.S. economy actually lost 683,000 jobs last month…

But that’s just the start. Next we turn to the numbers behind the headline job prints which were rather terrible: the monthly nonfarm payrolls (from the Establishment Survey) may have been weak at 216K but the far more accurate Household Survey showed that the number of Employed workers actually collapsed by an unprecedented 683K, the biggest drop since the US economy was shutdown by covid!

And as I shared with my paid subscribers a few days ago, the BLS report also showed that the number of full-time jobs in the U.S. dropped by 1.531 million during the month of December…

Here, one look at this month’s adjustment and it’s literally a shocker: you will not hear anyone from the Biden admin, the mainstream media, or associated economist cheerleaders mention this, but the BLS reported that in December the number of full-time jobs plunged by 1.531 million to 133.2 million, the biggest monthly drop since the record covid crash of 14.7 million jobs!

If that number is even close to accurate, we are in really big trouble.

For some time I have been writing about the tsunami of layoffs that has been happening in corporate America, and at this point things have gotten so bad that even BlackRock is getting ready to lay off workers…

BlackRock, the world’s largest money management firm, plans to announce layoffs in the coming days of about 3 percent of its global workforce, Fox Business has learned.

The job cuts of around 600 employees, which have yet to be reported, are being described internally as routine, according to a source familiar.

Meanwhile, bankruptcies are surging all over the country.

In fact, the number of bankruptcy filings in the United States in 2023 was 18 percent higher than it was in 2022…

U.S. bankruptcy filings surged by 18% in 2023 on the back of higher interest rates, tougher lending standards and the continued runoff of pandemic-era backstops, data published Wednesday showed, although insolvency case volumes remain well below the level seen before the outbreak of COVID-19.

Total bankruptcy filings – encompassing commercial and personal insolvencies – rose to 445,186 last year from 378,390 in 2022, according to data from bankruptcy data provider Epiq AACER.

Joe Biden will deny it for as long as he possibly can, but the truth is that we are in an economic crisis right now.

But what we are experiencing at this moment is not even worth comparing to what is coming.

So enjoy the last fumes of prosperity while you still can, because this ride only goes downhill from here.

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

Shock Number: 38 Percent Of U.S. Companies Anticipate That They Will Conduct Layoffs In 2024

January 8, 2024January 4, 2024 by Michael

We experienced a tremendous amount of economic turbulence in 2023, but at least the employment market was relatively stable. Unfortunately, that period of relative stability appears to be ending. The pace of layoffs really seemed to pick up steam at the end of 2023, and the outlook for the coming year is not promising at all. In fact, a survey that was just conducted by Resume Builder discovered that a whopping 38 percent of U.S. companies anticipate that they will conduct layoffs in 2024…

38% of companies say they are likely to have layoffs in 2024
52% are likely to implement a hiring freeze in 2024
Half say anticipation of a recession is a reason for potential layoffs
4 in 10 say layoffs are due to replacing workers with artificial intelligence (AI)
3 in 10 companies reducing or eliminating holiday bonuses this year

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

Because the employment market is starting to shift in a major way.

In recent weeks, so many large U.S. companies have been announcing layoffs…

Nike has announced a $2 billion cutback over the next three years, with an uncertain number of job cuts included. Toy giant Hasbro will cut nearly 20% of its workforce in 2024, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal. Music service Spotify announced a third round of layoffs. A recent email from CEO Daniel Ek says the company plans to cut its workforce by nearly 20%. Roku is going to be limiting new hires, and laying off about 10% of its workforce, while Amazon layoffs are effecting its new gaming division (all 180 jobs there are being eliminated). Citi CEO Jane Fraser announced layoffs in September, and sources have told CNBC that the bank could let go of at least 10% of its workforce, across several business lines. Flexport Logistics plans to cut up to 30% of its employees, and financial services company Charles Schwab is cutting back by 5-6% of its workforce, according to reports from Business Insider.

Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Many more layoffs are on the way.

Meanwhile, retailers continue to close stores at an astounding pace…

With the continued rise of online shopping, along with record inflation, it’s no wonder that retailers are suffering steep financial losses. Unfortunately, this means that companies all across the U.S. are downsizing brick-and-mortar storefronts to make ends meet. In 2023, we’ve seen closures from big-name retailers and local shops alike—and the shutdowns don’t appear to be easing up anytime soon.

More than 3,000 retail locations were shut down in 2023, but that is nothing compared to what is coming…

According to UBS equity analyst Michael Lasser, the U.S. remains over-retailed. Lasser estimated that the U.S. will shed almost 50,000 retail stores by 2028. He cites rising operating costs and a higher proportion of e-commerce sales, causing retailers to look closely at store locations and performance.

Can you imagine what our communities will look like if that projection is even close to accurate?

As economic conditions deteriorate, people are going to get more desperate and the conditions in our streets will become even more chaotic.

You may not have heard about this yet, but earlier this week a giant mob of more than 100 young people savagely looted a bakery in Compton, California…

A mob of over 100 looters purposefully crashed a Kia into a small bakery in Compton, Calif., before they flooded in and ransacked the store during a night of rampage on the streets earlier this week.

The thieves had gathered in the area for an illegal street takeover around 3 a.m. Tuesday before making the mile-long trek to Ruben’s Bakery & Mexican Food.

When they got to the locked store, a white Kia backed into the front doors, clearing an entryway for the crowd of pillagers to get to their loot.

We aren’t talking about a handful of lawless individuals.

Literally dozens and dozens of lawless young people looted this small store, and they did not hesitate to take whatever they wanted.

Most of you are probably not even aware that this happened, and that is because this story barely made a blip in the news cycle.

And the reason why it barely made a blip in the news cycle is because this sort of thing has become quite common in our country.

The thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted on a daily basis is rapidly disappearing.

Let me give you another example.

One couple in California that thought it would be a good idea to use an online marketplace to sell an iPad ended up deeply regretting that decision…

This is the moment a California couple was robbed of their iPad at gunpoint in broad daylight by two teenagers.

Eduardo Reyes and his wife had listed the device on OfferUp on December 23.

The teens contacted them and asked to meet in a residential neighborhood in Pomona.

‘They wanted to meet in a public street which I usually don’t do, but he sounded like he was a kid and he’s like, “Oh, I’m going to have my mom come out with me”,’ Reyes told KTLA.

These days it is so hard to know who you can trust, and that is because a very large portion of the population is no longer trustworthy.

If things are this bad now, what do you think is going to happen once economic conditions become extremely harsh in the United States?

The chaos that we are currently seeing in the streets is nothing compared to the chaos that is coming.

Our society really is coming apart at the seams right in front of our eyes.

And now we are headed toward the most hotly contested presidential election in our history, and that will bring societal tensions to a boiling point.

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

America’s Empire Of Money Has Reached The Endgame

January 3, 2024January 3, 2024 by Michael

We did it Joe! It took a tremendous push down the stretch, but the U.S. national debt was able to hit the 34 trillion dollar mark before the end of 2023. At this moment I am just so overwhelmed that I don’t know who to thank first. Over the past few years, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Chucky Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Kevin McCarthy and so many other hard working spenders have been instrumental in helping us reach this remarkable achievement. And we never would have gotten here without the relentless help of CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, the New York Times, the Washington Post and all of the other mainstream news outlets that kept assuring the American people that it was okay to steal trillions of dollars from our children and our grandchildren.

Of course I am being quite facetious. The truth is that what we are doing to future generations of Americans is beyond criminal. We are literally committing national suicide, but each election cycle most of the same big spending politicians just keep winning over and over again.

Those on the other side would argue that it has been absolutely necessary to borrow and spend so much money.

If we had not propped up the U.S. economy with giant mountains of borrowed money, it would have collapsed long ago.

In addition, spending so much money allows us to project military and economic power all over the planet. If we only spent what we brought in, America’s standing in the world would be greatly reduced.

Having the primary reserve currency of the world is an enormous source of power, but now that power is fading.

Nations all over the globe are starting to move away from using the U.S. dollar in international trade, and they are becoming a lot more hesitant to buy our debt.

You can only borrow and spend so much before the entire Ponzi scheme collapses, and at this moment we are more than 34 trillion dollars in debt…

US national debt has reached a record high – hitting $34 trillion for the first time in history.

Data published by the Treasury Department Tuesday showed that outstanding federal borrowing soared to $34.001 trillion on December 29, just weeks ahead of Congress deadlines for new federal funding plans.

The staggering figure, which is a major point of contention between Republicans and Democrats, is equal to $101,233 in federal debt for every person in America, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

So if there are four people living in your household, your share of the national debt is more than $400,000.

And every day the debt gets even larger. As Wolf Richter has pointed out, the size of the national debt has increased by 2.5 trillion dollars in just the last seven months…

The total US national debt spiked by $1.0 trillion in 15 weeks since September 15, to $34.0 trillion, according to the Treasury Department’s figures this afternoon. In the seven months since the debt ceiling was lifted, the national debt spiked by $2.5 trillion.

These are huge gigantic numbers that are piling up as a result of the incredible hard-to-fathom daredevil reckless shake-your-head deficit spending by Congress.

Overall, the U.S. national debt has grown by $6.25 trillion since Joe Biden entered the White House.

It took the first 225 years of U.S. history for the U.S. national debt to reach the 6 trillion dollar mark, and now we have added more than 6 trillion dollars to the debt in less than 3 years.

This is what the endgame looks like.

We are in a debt spiral that is totally out of control, and there is no way that this story is going to end well.

And despite the fact that we are endlessly pumping colossal piles of cash into the economy, our economic conditions continue to deteriorate.

On Wednesday, we learned that U.S. job openings have fallen “to the lowest level in more than two years”…

U.S. job openings dropped in November to the lowest level in more than two years, the latest evidence that the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hike campaign is continuing to cool the labor market.

That is a sign that the economy is getting worse.

And more large companies continue to lay off workers. For example, Xerox just announced that it will be laying off 15 percent of its workforce…

Xerox on Wednesday announced it will cut 15% of its workforce as part of a plan to implement a new organizational structure and operating model.

Xerox, which offers digital printing and document management technologies, had about 20,500 employees as of Dec. 31, 2022, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Based on this figure, Wednesday’s layoffs will affect about 3,075 employees.

Shares of Xerox closed down more than 12% following the announcement Wednesday.

So what can we do to “get the economy going again”?

Well, we can follow the example of the federal government and borrow and spend even more money.

Of course much of the nation is already drowning in debt. According to one recent survey, only about half the country will be able to pay off their December credit card balances in full…

Only half of America’s credit card customers believe they can pay off their December balance in full, according to an industry index, signaling a low ebb in “credit card confidence” as the nation emerges from the holidays.

The LendingTree Credit Card Confidence Index, a monthly survey published since 2018 by the personal finance site, dipped to 51% in December, an all-time low.

In a nationally representative survey of 1,514 cardholders, only 51% voiced confidence that they could pay off their card balance this month. In November, the Confidence Index stood at 58%.

Our forefathers handed us the keys to the greatest economic machine in world history.

But that was never enough for us.

We always had to have more, and so we just kept borrowing and spending.

Now the endgame has arrived, and it is going to be excruciatingly painful.

U.S. consumers are drowning in record levels of debt, U.S. corporations are drowning in record levels of debt, state and local governments are drowning in record levels of debt, and the federal government is drowning in record levels of debt.

America’s empire of money was nice while it lasted, but now the jig is up and the collapse that is looming is truly going to be one for the history books.

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

14 Things That Everyone Needs To Know About The Great American Eclipse Of 2024

January 2, 2024January 2, 2024 by Michael

We are just a little bit more than three months away from what many believe will be the most dramatic total solar eclipse in U.S. history. It is being called “the Great American Eclipse of 2024”, and millions of Americans will take time off in order to travel so that they can personally see it. Between now and April, the mainstream news will be filled with stories about this eclipse, and so it is going to be difficult for anyone to ignore what is going on. In this article, I am going to share 14 things that everyone needs to know about the Great American Eclipse of 2024…

#1 It is a total solar eclipse that will occur on April 8th, 2024.

#2 The path of the eclipse will travel through portions of the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

#3 The path of the eclipse will also travel through parts of Mexico and Canada.

#4 It is being projected that this eclipse will be the most viewed astronomical event in the entire history of our country.

#5 According to the Washington Post, more than 30 million Americans will simply be able to walk outside of their homes and experience this eclipse…

“This is going to be the most populated eclipse in the U.S. with 31.5 million people able to just walk outside of their homes and experience this event,” Kelly Korreck, NASA program manager for the 2024 total solar eclipse, said in a news conference at the American Geophysical Union conference.

#6 We are being told that this eclipse may be “the single-biggest mass travel event” of 2024…

The event may also be the single-biggest mass travel event in the United States, according to the Great American Eclipse website. Several large cities very close to the path of totality are St. Louis, Cincinnati, Detroit, Toronto and Quebec. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., are also within 200 miles of the direct path.

#7 Those that are in the direct path of the eclipse will discover that the air temperature suddenly becomes approximately 10 degrees cooler once the moon is fully blocking the sun.

#8 The path of the Great American Eclipse of 2024 will cross the United States on the very first day of the year on the Hebrew calendar.

#9 If you put the path of the Great American Eclipse of 2024, the path of the “Ring of Fire” solar eclipse of October 14th, 2023 and the path of the Great American Eclipse of 2017 all on a map, they combine to form a giant paleo-Hebrew “Aleph” over America…

#10 If you just put the path of the Great American Eclipse of 2024 and the path of the Great American Eclipse of 2017 on a map, they combine to form a giant paleo-Hebrew “Tav” over America…

#11 The heart of the paleo-Hebrew “Tav” forms a giant “X” that falls directly over the New Madrid fault zone.

#12 One of my readers pointed out to me that we have seen a giant “X” like this before. The path of a solar eclipse that occurred on June 16th, 1806 combined with the path of a solar eclipse that occurred on September 17th, 1811 to also form a giant “X” over the New Madrid fault zone.

#13 Three months after the solar eclipse that happened on September 17th, 1811, a series of absolutely enormous earthquakes began to happen on the New Madrid fault…

The New Madrid earthquakes were the biggest earthquakes in American history. They occurred in the central Mississippi Valley, but were felt as far away as New York City, Boston, Montreal, and Washington D.C. President James Madison and his wife Dolly felt them in the White House. Church bells rang in Boston. From December 16, 1811 through March of 1812 there were over 2,000 earthquakes in the central Midwest, and between 6,000-10,000 earthquakes in the Bootheel of Missouri where New Madrid is located near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

In the known history of the world, no other earthquakes have lasted so long or produced so much evidence of damage as the New Madrid earthquakes. Three of the earthquakes are on the list of America’s top earthquakes: the first one on December 16, 1811, a magnitude of 8.1 on the Richter scale; the second on January 23, 1812, at 7.8; and the third on February 7, 1812, at as much as 8.8 magnitude.

#14 The next total solar eclipse visible from the United States will not happen until 2044, and the path of that total solar eclipse will only touch three states.

I believe that the Great American Eclipse of 2024 is a really big deal, and so I put it on the cover of my new book.

Others may disagree with me, and that is okay.

I don’t know anyone that agrees with me 100 percent of the time.

But what everyone should be able to agree on is that 2024 is going to be quite a crazy year.

So far this year, we have already seen a historic earthquake in Japan, a major escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and an assassination which could take the war in the Middle East to an entirely new level.

Each day is going to bring more new surprises, and I expect things to get really wild as we get closer to the election in November.

So buckle up and hold on tight, because chaos is here and it isn’t going away any time soon.

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

2024 Will Be A Year Of Historic Natural Disasters

January 1, 2024January 1, 2024 by Michael

We didn’t even make it through an entire day in 2024 before our planet sent us some enormous reminders that it is becoming increasingly unstable. Unfortunately, the earthquakes that we just witnessed in California and Japan are just the beginning. 2024 will be a year of historic natural disasters, and in many cases there won’t be any warning at all. In Japan, people were preparing for an ordinary New Year’s Day when all of a sudden the shaking began. So far, Japan has been hit by more than 100 significant earthquakes, and that includes one that measured magnitude 7.6 on the Richter scale…

Four people are confirmed dead while there are fears further victims could have been buried alive under rubble after more than 100 tremors rippled through Japan, including one 7.6 magnitude quake, sparking a major search and rescue operation.

Japan’s Prime Minister said rescue efforts have been made ‘extremely difficult due to damage to roads’ in the Ishikawa prefecture, near the epicentre of the quake. The main highway through the district has been completely closed, according to reports.

The magnitude 7.6 earthquake “was felt as far away as Tokyo”, and the U.S. Geological Survey is telling us that it the largest earthquake to strike that particular region in more than four decades.

Needless to say, all of this shaking created quite a bit of panic, and footage that is coming out of Japan looks like it has been pulled directly out of a Hollywood disaster movie…

Japanese media footage showed people running through the streets, and red smoke spewing from a fire in a residential neighborhood. Photos showed a crowd of people, including a woman with a baby on her back, standing by huge cracks that had ripped through the pavement.

For the first time since the Fukushima disaster in 2011, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a “special warning” for the possibility of a tsunami, but fortunately the tsunami that hit the Japanese coast was not as large as originally anticipated…

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a special warning for a potential tsunami measuring 3 meters or higher in Ishikawa’s Noto Peninsula, and downgraded it hours later. A tsunami measuring 1.2 meters or higher reached Wajima Port in the prefecture, it said.

It was the first time such a special warning had been issued since the 2011 magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami that devastated areas of northeastern Japan and triggered the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

We haven’t seen shaking of this nature in that part of the world for a long time.

As we get deeper into 2024, I will be watching Mt. Fuji very carefully.

Once a full-blown catastrophic eruption of that volcano happens, millions of Japanese could die.

Meanwhile, the state of California is being shaken as well.

Just hours after 2024 began, a magnitude 4.1 earthquake shook the city of Los Angeles…

A 4.1-magnitude earthquake struck Los Angeles on New Year’s Day.

In a rude awakening for revelers nursing hangovers, the quake struck 12 miles off the coast from the city of Rancho Palos Verdes in Los Angeles County at 8.27am.

That quake was not large enough to cause significant damage, but that is not the real issue.

The real issue is that southern California has been shaken repeatedly by earthquakes over the last ten days…

In the last ten days, there has been at least one earthquake of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.

Scientists keep telling us that the west coast is way overdue for “the Big One”, and that day could arrive without any warning at all.

When “the Big One” finally strikes, large portions of southern California could potentially drop several feet in a matter of moments, and that would allow water from the Pacific Ocean to come pouring in.

This is something that I have talked about extensively in my books, and scientists have warned that someday it will happen.

But most of those that live along the coast in southern California are not interested in such warnings.

Of course it isn’t just natural disasters that we need to be concerned about. Right now, war is raging all over the globe, famine is spreading, economic problems have started to spiral out of control and several major pestilences continue to spread.

Most people in the general population don’t seem too alarmed by any of this, but many among the elite are feverishly preparing for what is ahead.

For example, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is spending a colossal amount of money to construct a gigantic survivalist compound in Hawaii…

MARK Zuckerberg has been building an underground bunker and it’s led to panic and wild conspiracies on social media.

The Facebook founder’s underground bunker, estimated to be worth around $270 million, is being built on the northeast side of Hawaii’s Kauai island.

Will he actually need to use that compound soon?

So much is going to happen this year. The most heated presidential election in U.S. history will take place in November, the border crisis has already reached a level that is beyond anything we have ever seen before, and on April 8th the second Great American Eclipse will make headlines all over the world…

There is a reason why the path of this upcoming eclipse is featured on the cover of “Chaos”. I am entirely convinced that this eclipse is very important, and it just happens to fall on the very first day of the Biblical year that begins in the spring.

Do you think that is just a coincidence?

We have finally reached the year that so many of us have been pointing to for such a long time.

As our society is greatly shaken by one crisis after another, the ground beneath our feet will continue to be greatly shaken.

So brace yourselves for what is ahead, because things are about to get really crazy.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is now 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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