Money

U.S. Banks Are Sitting On $650 Billion In Unrealized Losses, And That Means Disaster Is Just A Bank Run Away

November 8, 2023 by Michael

Our economy runs on credit, and our banks are the beating heart of that system. Without healthy banks, how would Americans buy homes, purchase vehicles or get credit cards? The way that our system is currently constructed, it is absolutely imperative for our banks to function properly. Unfortunately, the truth is that our banks have gotten into deep financial trouble. They are sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars in unrealized losses, and the primary reason why those losses have become so large is because we have witnessed a historic bond market crash over the past several years…

Treasury bonds — debt instruments the government issues to fund its spending — have been on a nightmarish run since the onset of the pandemic, with investors fretting about rising interest rates and the long-term viability of the US’s massive deficit.

BlackRock’s iShares 20+ Year Treasury fund, which tracks longer-duration debt prices, has plunged 48% since April 2020.

Thanks to that historic bond market crash, our financial institutions were sitting on 650 billion dollars in unrealized losses as of September 30th…

As a result of that sell-off, some of the US’s biggest banks are now sitting on unrealized, or “paper,” losses worth hundreds of billions of dollars. That means the value of their bond holdings has plunged, but they’ve chosen to hold on rather than offload their investments.

Moody’s estimated last month that US financial institutions had racked up $650 billion worth of paper losses on their portfolios by September 30 — up 15% from June 30. The ratings agency’s data still doesn’t account for a hellish October where the longer-term collapse in bond prices spiraled into one of the worst routs in market history.

Go back and read that last sentence again.

After what we witnessed during the month of October, what is the real number now?

Has it surpassed 700 billion dollars?

Has it surpassed 800 billion dollars?

Nobody really knows.

However, what we do know is that we have never seen anything like this before.

The good news is that there won’t be a major problem in the short-term unless there is a run on the banks.

But if there is a run on the banks, the banks that are affected will need to start selling off their bonds at a huge loss, and that would be a nightmare…

While they are generally purchased and intended to be held until they mature, if banks experience a surge of withdrawals – a run on the bank – they may need to sell them. That is what happened to Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year.

The bank was forced to sell those bonds as its depositors sought to withdraw funds.

So as long as everyone has faith in the banks, things won’t get too crazy.

Hopefully that will remain the case for quite a while, because right now our largest banks are a ticking time bomb…

Bank of America is the big lender worst affected by the crash in bond prices, having disclosed a potential $130 billion hole in its balance sheet last month.

The other “Big Four” banks — Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo — have also racked up unrealized losses in the tens of billions, according to their second- and third-quarter earnings reports.

Just a few days ago, we witnessed the sixth bank failure this year.

The combined assets of those six banks actually exceed the combined assets of the 25 banks that failed in 2oo8.

And as James Rickards has aptly noted, more bank failures are coming…

I warned in March that the failure of Silicon Valley Bank would be just the start. Now we’ve had five additional bank failures.

And this latest failure won’t be the last.

Veterans of such crises (and I include myself in that category) know that once the dominoes start falling, they keep falling until some government intervention of a particularly draconian kind is imposed.

Meanwhile, the overall economy continues to steadily deteriorate.

According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the number of retail layoffs has jumped 258 percent compared to the same time period last year…

Amid the early holiday shopping season, retailers have cut 72,182 jobs through October, a 258% increase from the 20,191 jobs eliminated in 2022, according to a new report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. This marks the most significant number of job cuts since retailers cut 179,520 jobs in October 2020.

Over the past few years, economic conditions have just gotten harsher and harsher.

It has been a slow, steady slide that now threatens to turn into an avalanche.

According to a new poll that was just conducted by Bankrate, the American people don’t feel too good about the economic changes that we have witnessed since Joe Biden entered the White House…

A new survey published by Bankrate on Wednesday shows that 50% of Americans say their financial situation has gotten worse since the 2020 presidential election. By comparison, just 21% think their financial situation has improved, while 26% believe it is unchanged.

“The plight of the economy over the next 12 months may help to dictate whether it was wise, or not, for President Biden to trumpet the branding of ‘Bidenomics,'” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.

Among Americans who are feeling pessimistic about their financial outlook, about half — 45% — blame Biden and his economic policies. Another 35% think that Congress is responsible, while 27% identified the Federal Reserve as the culprit.

But as bad as things are right now, the truth is that what we are experiencing at this moment will be considered rip-roaring prosperity compared to what is coming.

As I discuss in my brand new book entitled “Chaos”, we are on the brink of an economic shaking that will be unlike anything that our nation has ever seen before.

America is literally drowning in debt, the value of our currency is being destroyed, and now our financial system stands of the brink of an unprecedented crisis.

So I hope that you are prepared for what is coming next.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the population is not.

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.

Americans Are Absolutely Drowning In Debt, And This Really Is The Worst Debt Crisis In All Of U.S. History

November 7, 2023 by Michael

I truly wish that headline was an exaggeration. Unfortunately, for decades Americans have been extremely irresponsible with their finances. As a result, credit card debt is at an all-time high, auto loan debt is at an all-time high, mortgage debt is at an all-time high, corporate debt is at an all-time high, state and local governments all over the nation continue to get into absurd amounts of debt, and the federal government has piled up the single largest mountain of debt in the history of the world. Our whole society is absolutely drowning in debt at this stage, and the only way out is for the entire system to collapse.

On Tuesday, we learned that the total amount of credit card debt in the U.S. has now reached a new record high of 1.08 trillion dollars…

Americans now owe $1.08 trillion on their credit cards, according to a new report on household debt from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Credit card balances spiked by $154 billion year over year, notching the largest increase since 1999, the New York Fed found.

“Credit card balances experienced a large jump in the third quarter, consistent with strong consumer spending and real GDP growth,” said Donghoon Lee, the New York Fed’s economic research advisor.

Credit card debt has always been one of the most insidious forms of debt, but now the banks are pushing credit card interest rates to unprecedented heights…

The rise in credit card usage and debt is particularly concerning because interest rates are astronomically high right now. The average credit card annual percentage rate, or APR, hit a new record of 20.72% last week, according to a Bankrate database that goes back to 1985. The previous record was 19% in July 1991.

If people are carrying debt to compensate for steeper prices, they could end up paying more for items in the long run. For instance, if you owe $5,000 in debt — which the average American does — current APR levels would mean it would take about 279 months and $8,124 in interest to pay off the debt making the minimum payments.

It should be illegal to issue a credit card that has an interest rate higher than 20 percent.

But banks are going to keep doing it because our politicians will not stop them.

So don’t fall into their trap.

Other forms of debt are rapidly growing as well…

Auto loan balances also contributed to the uptick, climbing by $13 billion over the course of the third quarter to $1.6 trillion. Student loan debt, meanwhile, increased by $30 billion while mortgage balances jumped by $126 billion to $12.14 trillion.

Overall, U.S. households are now more than 17 trillion dollars in debt.

I can’t even begin to describe how foolish we have been.

The only way to keep the party going is to borrow even more money, but thanks to higher interest rates we are not going to be able to purchase as much.

This is something that Kevin O’Leary pointed out in a recent interview…

“We’re looking at a downsized America. I tell it like it is,” O’Leary said on “The Big Money Show.” “Three years ago, even 24 months ago, you get a mortgage at 4.5%. You’re lucky to get one at eight today. So that means the size of the house you’re going to buy is 20 to 25% smaller. That’s a downsize.”

“You want to borrow for a car? Sorry, that’s 8 to 9%. Used to be five,” the O’Leary Ventures chairman added. “So, smaller, less expensive car. That’s happening at the same time.”

He is right.

But we just can’t help ourselves, and so we are going to continue to borrow more money.

The same thing is true for our corporations.

Today, corporate debt is at the highest level ever recorded.

And state and local governments continue to borrow money as if tomorrow will never come.

But the biggest offender of all is the federal government.

The national debt is currently sitting at 33.6 trillion dollars, and it is constantly going higher.

You can watch the national debt clock race upwards right here. To me, that debt clock is actually a countdown to the financial destruction of America.

Once upon a time, I warned that the U.S. would be paying a trillion dollars in interest on the national debt by the year 2030.

Well, guess what?

We got there early.

According to Bloomberg, we have already crossed that ominous threshold…

Estimated annualized interest payments on the US government debt pile climbed past $1 trillion at the end of last month, Bloomberg analysis shows. That projected amount has doubled in the past 19 months from the equivalent figure forecast around the time.

The estimated interest expense is calculated using US Treasury data which state the government’s monthly outstanding debt balances and the average interest it pays.

Wow.

As usual, things are even worse than many of us were originally projecting.

Before I end this article, there is one more thing that I wanted to mention.

The “glitch” that affected the direct deposit of so many paychecks all over the nation still has not been resolved five days later…

Federal Reserve officials are urging banks to work with customers hurt by ongoing deposit delays that have prevented some people from accessing their paychecks and other funds.

A number of customers still haven’t received their direct deposit paychecks following a “human error” that damaged the plumbing of America’s banking system. The deposit delays are linked to a problem that emerged on Friday with the Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments system, causing headaches for consumers and employers.

“The Federal Reserve encourages banks to work quickly to resolve issues for customers experiencing delays in receiving direct deposit payments as a result of operational issues at a private sector payments provider,” a Fed spokesman told CNN in a statement.

Was it really a “human error” that caused this?

If someone just hit a wrong button, you would think that would be relatively easy to fix.

Keep a close eye on the banks. As I discuss in my new book entitled “Chaos”, the banks are the beating heart of our economy and enormous trouble is brewing.

Without healthy banks, our entire system will go haywire very rapidly.

We need to borrow money for just about every major purchase that we make, and it is the banks that make the vast majority of those loans.

If the flow of credit starts to dry up, so will our standard of living.

Unfortunately, a credit crunch has now begun, and that is going to have very serious implications for all of us.

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.

Why Are Online Banking Services Suddenly Being Disrupted On A Massive Scale All Over The United States?

November 6, 2023November 6, 2023 by Michael

Should we be concerned about all of the problems that are suddenly erupting at our banks? U.S. banks have been shutting down hundreds of branches, they have been laying off thousands of workers, and as I discussed yesterday vast numbers of customer accounts are being unceremoniously shut down without any warning whatsoever. If all of that wasn’t bad enough, now endless “glitches” are plaguing our banking system. For example, the glitch that caused paychecks not to be deposited at many banks on Friday still has not been fully resolved…

Customers at major U.S. banks including Bank of America and Wells Fargo complained about delays with their direct deposits on Monday, following a glitch with processing payments that began Friday.

The Federal Reserve on Friday said the problem wasn’t related to a cybersecurity issue and that it had been resolved. But customers on Monday continued to report delays with direct deposits, reaching out to their banks on social media to report that their paychecks hadn’t landed in their accounts as expected.

Wells Fargo and Bank of America referred questions to The Clearing House, a payments company that operates the only private-sector automated clearing house (ACH) system in the U.S.

I have never seen a problem with direct deposits that is so widespread.

The Clearing House is promising to have things fixed “as quickly as possible”, but that could mean just about anything…

The Clearing House, the private operator of ACH, told CNN on Monday it is working with banks and the Federal Reserve to “resolve this issue as quickly as possible.”

“Many of the delayed payments have already posted, and we will continue working with financial institutions to ensure the remaining transactions are processed,” The Clearing House spokesperson Greg MacSweeney said in an email.

An industry source confirmed to CNN on Monday that it’s likely some customers haven’t received their deposits yet. The source stressed that banks are at the mercy of the originating bank to resend payment files.

Meanwhile, online banking services are suddenly being disrupted all over the country on a massive scale. Steve Quayle was reporting this on his website, and this prompted me to go to downdetector.com to check it out for myself.

And I discovered that all of the big banks were experiencing unusual outages on Monday.

The following is a screenshot of Chase outages…

Citibank suddenly started getting hit by a spike in outages during the early morning hours on Monday too…

Unfortunately, the same thing also happened to Bank of America…

And outages followed the same pattern at Wells Fargo…

So why was there such a dramatic spike in outages all of a sudden?

Is this evidence that our banks are being hit by cyberattacks?

I don’t know.

Hopefully things will settle down and these “glitches” and outages will start to subside.

But the credit crunch that has now begun is not going to go away any time soon.

According to the Federal Reserve, lending standards for business loans got even tighter during the third quarter…

Banks continued to tighten standards for business loans in the third quarter, according to a survey of loan officers conducted by the Federal Reserve.

In addition, a “significant” number of banks tightened lending standards for credit-card, automobile and other consumer loans.

Key details: Banks tightened standards on loans to firms of all sizes. Tightening was accomplished in premiums for riskier loans, spreads of loan rates over the cost of funds and costs of credit lines.

And a survey that was recently conducted by Goldman Sachs found that nearly 80 percent of small business owners in the U.S. “are concerned about their ability to access capital”…

A survey by Goldman Sachs quizzed small businesses owners, who reported serious concerns that the nationwide credit crunch is hindering their growth. Some expressed fear that they would have to close up shop.

According to the survey, 78% of small business owners are concerned about their ability to access capital, and 29% say they can’t afford to take out a loan given current interest rates. In addition, 85% say that if access to capital continues to tighten it will impact their growth forecast. Of those, 67% will halt expansion plans if credit continues to tighten, and 21% would close their business if the credit market continues on this trajectory.

Banks all over America have gotten very tight with their money.

And that is going to have enormous implications for the U.S. economy in 2024 and beyond.

The era of easy credit is over, and now our banks are drowning in mountains of bad debt. In a desperate attempt to save money, banks are shutting down branches and laying off workers.

In fact, at this moment workers at Citigroup are waiting to see who will survive and who will get the axe during the wave of layoffs that is rapidly approaching…

When Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser announced in September that her sweeping corporate overhaul would result in an undisclosed number of layoffs, a jolt of fear ran through many of the bank’s 240,000 souls.

“We’ll be saying goodbye to some very talented and hard-working colleagues,” she warned in a memo.

Employees’ concerns are justified. Managers and consultants working on Fraser’s reorganization — known internally by its code name, “Project Bora Bora” — have discussed job cuts of at least 10% in several major businesses, according to people with knowledge of the process. The talks are early and numbers may shift in coming weeks.

In my new book entitled “Chaos”, I warn about the extreme financial instability that is dead ahead.

The flow of credit is going to get even tighter, more bank branches are going to be shut down, and more prominent banks are going to fail.

And that is really bad news for all of us, because the banks are the beating heart of our economic system.

We desperately need healthy banks, but now we stand on the verge of a banking crisis that will be unlike anything we have ever seen before.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is now available 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 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.

It Appears That We Have A Major Problem With The Banks

November 5, 2023 by Michael

In recent weeks there have been numerous high profile bank “glitches”, accounts are being shut down without warning at a staggering rate all over the nation, and more institutions continue to get into very serious financial trouble. For a while, I was ignoring some of these reports because I thought they were isolated issues. But when you step back and take a bigger picture view of things, it really does appear that we have a major problem with the banks.

According to CNN, on Friday many of our largest banks “were hit by deposit delays”…

Multiple US banks were hit by deposit delays on Friday caused by an error at a payment processing network, according to the Federal Reserve.

The Clearing House, which operates the Automated Clearing House system, which allows banks to send electronic payments to each other, experienced a processing error with a batch of bank transactions. Banks send everything from direct deposit paychecks to customer bill payments for mortgages and utility bills through the ACH system.

This caused a tremendous amount of distress, because paychecks were not showing up in the accounts of a lot of people.

And considering the fact that more than 60 percent of the country is currently living paycheck to paycheck, that is a big deal.

Incredibly, some banks are still trying to fix the problem. The following is a message that PNC Bank posted on Twitter on Sunday…

Good morning, Amy. Due to an industry-wide delay with Federal ACH transactions, some ACH credits and debits, including some Direct Deposits, haven’t been processed. We recommend that you contact your employer or ACH originator for more information. Thank you.

There have been so many bank “glitches” this year.

So why is this happening?

Could this latest incident have been caused by a cyberattack?

I wish that I had answers to those questions.

Meanwhile, banks all over the U.S. are suddenly shutting down thousands of accounts without any warning whatsoever…

The reasons vary, but the scene that plays out is almost always the same.

Bank customers get a letter in the mail saying their institution is closing all of their checking and savings accounts. Their debit and credit cards are shuttered, too. The explanation, if there is one, usually lacks any useful detail.

Can you imagine how you would feel if your cards suddenly did not work and you did not have access to your money?

Right now, we are seeing a tsunami of “de-risking” by banks that is unlike anything we have ever seen before…

Or maybe the customers don’t see the letter, or never get one at all. Instead, they discover that their accounts no longer work while they’re at the grocery store, rental car counter or A.T.M. When they call their bank, frantic, representatives show concern at first. “Oh, no, so sorry,” they say. “We’ll do whatever we can to fix this.”

But then comes the telltale pause and shift in tone. “Per your account agreement, we can close your account for any reason at any time,” the script often goes.

These situations are what banks refer to as “exiting” or “de-risking.”

To me, this is one of the most alarming financial trends that I have seen in a long time.

On top of everything else, Citizens Bank in Iowa has become the sixth U.S. bank this year to go belly up. The following comes from a press release issued by the FDIC…

Citizens Bank, Sac City, Iowa, was closed today by the Iowa Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect depositors, the FDIC entered into a Purchase and Assumption Agreement with Iowa Trust & Savings Bank, Emmetsburg, Iowa, to assume all of the deposits of Citizens Bank.

The two branches of Citizens Bank will reopen as branches of Iowa Trust & Savings Bank on Monday during normal business hours. This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Citizens Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

Depositors of Citizens Bank will become depositors of Iowa Trust & Savings Bank, so customers do not need to change their banking relationship in order to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers of Citizens Bank should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Iowa Trust & Savings Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow its branch offices to process their accounts as well.

As of September 30, 2023, Citizens Bank had approximately $66 million in total assets and $59 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, Iowa Trust & Savings Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank’s assets.

U.S. banks are sitting on an absolutely colossal mountain of unrealized losses.

So it is just a matter of time before more fail.

And other types of financial institutions are also on shaky ground.

In fact, the biggest publicly traded brokerage firm in the country has started giving large numbers of workers the axe…

Charles Schwab on Monday began laying off employees across the company.

Schwab, the largest publicly traded US brokerage, didn’t disclose how many employees were affected in an internal message seen by The Wall Street Journal. Some remaining employees will have new jobs or managers, according to the message.

Of course layoffs are starting to pick up speed from coast to coast.

According to Zero Hedge, the number of employed Americans went down by 348,000 last month…

Yes, payrolls may still be positive but the actual change in monthly employment isn’t. In fact, in October the number of employer Americans collapsed by 348K (per the Household Survey). This was the second negative print this year, and the 7th negative employment month since the covid crash. Ironically, since then, we have seen just one negative payrolls months which makes sense, since the nonfarm payrolls number is far less accurate and much more gamed due to its market-moving abilities. The plunge in employment coupled with the jump in unemployed workers (by 146K) is also the reason why the unemployment rate unexpectedly went up.

Economic turmoil is erupting all around us, and much more chaos is on the way.

So I hope that you have prepared for very harsh economic times, because the pace of change is only going to get quicker from here.

Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” 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 “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book I have written six 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.

This Is Now A Two Front War

November 2, 2023 by Michael

Over the past few days, there has been a tremendous amount of speculation about whether or not the conflict in the Middle East will soon become a two front war. But the truth is that there shouldn’t be any speculation at all. As you will see below, the conflict in the Middle East has already become a two front war. The IDF and Hezbollah have already been exchanging fire day after day, and Hezbollah just conducted “19 simultaneous strikes on Israeli army positions on Thursday”…

A formidable military force backed by Iran, Hezbollah has been engaging Israeli forces along the border, where 50 of its fighters have been killed in the deadliest escalation since it fought a war with Israel in 2006.

The group said it had mounted 19 simultaneous strikes on Israeli army positions on Thursday using guided missiles, artillery and other weapons, coinciding with what it called strikes using two explosive drones.

Hezbollah may not have officially “declared war” on Israel yet, but nobody can argue that conducting “19 simultaneous strikes on Israeli army positions” is not an act of war.

In response, the IDF hit a wide range of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon by air…

The Israel Defense Forces says it is carrying out wide-scale airstrikes on Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon in response to rocket attacks on northern Israel earlier.

The IDF says that among the targets hit so far by fighter jets, tanks, and artillery are military headquarters, rocket launching positions, weapons storage sites, military complexes, and other infrastructure belonging to the terror group.

Israel has not officially “declared war” on Hezbollah yet either, but this is what war looks like.

A two front war has already begun, and that is really bad news for all of humanity.

On Friday, the leader of Hezbollah is scheduled to deliver his very first public remarks about the war…

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will on Friday make his first public comments since the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel went to war, a speech that will be scrutinised for clues on how the group’s role in the conflict might evolve.

This speech is being hyped up like crazy.

In fact, I have never seen this much hype for a speech by Nasrallah.

Is he going to announce that Hezbollah is formally entering the war?

We shall see.

But whatever he plans to say, there is sure a huge effort to get people to tune in and watch…

It would appear Hezbollah was going out of its way to ramp up expectations ahead of Nasrallah’s speech, presumably as his behest. A promotional video shows Nasrallah walking down a hallway with his back to the camera, with the Hezbollah symbol parading in the background. It announced Nasrallah will speak in a ceremony celebrating “Martyrs who died on route to Jerusalem”.

Other unaffiliated sources have since flooded social media with videos and pictures associated with Hezbollah, conveying vague messages designed to raise tensions and to get people to endlessly speculate on what he’ll say, a tactic likely designed to beef up ratings for the actual speech.

As a descendant of Mohammad, he will be wearing his customary black turban during the speech, and everyone agrees that he is “a skilled orator”…

Wearing the black turban of a sayyed, or a descendent of the Prophet Mohammad, and Shi’ite clerical robes, Nasrallah is one of the most prominent figures in the Arab world.

Recognised even by critics as a skilled orator, his speeches have long been followed closely by friend and foe alike. He is deemed a terrorist by adversaries including the United States.

If Hezbollah officially enters the war, things are going to get really crazy.

The U.S. has already warned Hezbollah that if it launches large numbers of missiles at Israel there will be a military response.

Do most Americans even realize that we are literally on the verge of war with the largest terrorist organization on the entire planet?

And the Israelis have warned that they will respond with overwhelming force if Hezbollah decides to officially join the conflict…

Israel has warned any conflict with Lebanon would be much more destructive than the 2006 Lebanon war, which killed at least 1,200 Lebanese.

“Hezbollah may decide to act, and we will have to respond,” Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer told reporters earlier this week.

“The response now will make what happened in 2006 look like child’s play.”

Recently, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly stated that there will be “unimaginable” devastation in southern Lebanon if Hezbollah starts launching large numbers of missiles at Israel.

Needless to say, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what he is talking about.

Israel possesses nuclear weapons and Hezbollah does not.

And one member of the Knesset has already called for a “Jericho missile” to be used against Hamas…

Revital “Tally” Gotliv, an Israeli lawyer and member of the Knesset representing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, made several posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating that Israel must consider nuclear warfare as an alternative to deploying large ground forces.

“Jericho Missile! Jericho Missile! Strategic alert. before considering the introduction of forces. Doomsday weapon! This is my opinion. May God preserve all our strength,” Gotliv wrote on X.

The Jericho-2 and the Jericho-3 are both very sophisticated, and they both have enough range to hit any of Israel’s enemies in the region…

Israel later developed the Jericho-2, a longer-range missile in the late 1980s, with a length of 15 metres and a diameter of 1.35 metres, while maintaining the same payload capacity. It had a range between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres (about 932 to 2,175 miles).

The Jericho-3, an intermediate-range system, was introduced years later and was reportedly tested in 2008, entering service in 2011. It featured improvements over the previous models, with a longer length than Jericho-2 and a larger diameter of 1.56 metres.

If Hezbollah missiles start raining down on Israeli cities, this is an option that will be very strongly considered.

And it is important to keep in mind that the Israelis will hold Iran directly responsible for anything that Hezbollah does.

We are so close to the unthinkable, and so let us hope that Hezbollah pulls back from the brink while they still can.

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

The Global Explosion Of Hate Is Yet Another Sign That We Really Are Living In The End Times

November 1, 2023November 1, 2023 by Michael

What we are witnessing is truly frightening. In my entire lifetime, I have never seen as much hate as I have over the past few weeks. It is almost as if a very large chunk of the global population has suddenly gone mad. But of course all of this hate did not come out of a vacuum. It has been simmering for many years, and now the war in the Middle East has brought it to the surface. Humans were created to love and to be loved, and so if you find yourself consumed with hatred you are part of the problem. Of course we knew that this global explosion of hate would be coming. The Bible warns us repeatedly about what the condition of humanity will be like in the end times. One example of this can be found in Matthew chapter 24…

⁸All these are the beginning of sorrows.

⁹Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

¹⁰And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

When Jesus spoke these words, He was speaking to Jewish believers.

And right now we are seeing a tremendous outpouring of hatred toward Jews and Bible-believing Christians all over the planet.

October 7th was not a one time thing.

Ultimately, radical Muslims will never be satisfied until they have annihilated every single person that is not willing to submit to Islam.

Even though their focus is on wiping out Jewish people living in the land of Israel right now, it will definitely not end there.

So the things that Hamas official Ghazi Hamad recently said on LBC TV should chill all of us to the core…

Ghazi Hamad of the Hamas political bureau said in an October 24, 2023 show on LBC TV (Lebanon) that Hamas is prepared to repeat the October 7 “Al-Aqsa Flood” Operation time and again until Israel is annihilated. He added that Palestinians are willing to pay the price and that they are “proud to sacrifice martyrs.” Hamad said that Palestinians are the victims of the occupation, therefore no one should blame them for the events of October 7 or anything else, adding: “Everything we do is justified.”

This is a man that has been totally consumed by hatred.

And there are millions upon millions of others just like him all over the world.

Since October 7th, we have seen an explosion of anti-Jewish acts that is truly unprecedented…

In Los Angeles, a man screaming “kill Jews” attempts to break into a family’s home. In London, girls in a playground are told they are “stinking Jews” and should stay off the slide. In China, posts likening Jews to parasites, vampires or snakes proliferate on social media, attracting thousands of “likes”.

These are examples of incidents of antisemitism, which have surged globally since the attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel on Oct. 7 and subsequent war on the Islamist group launched by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Thanks to very foolish immigration policies, major cities all over the western world are now absolutely teeming with radical Muslims.

We have been warned for a long time that this would cause massive problems, and now Jewish communities everywhere are living in fear.

In France, large numbers of homes and businesses that are owned by Jewish people are being marked with paint…

France already documented 819 ‘latent’ antisemitic attacks since the war between Hamas and Israel began on October 7, according to Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin.

In Jewish homes on the outskirts of Paris, multiple blue Stars of David have been painted on homes and stone fences.

Swastikas have also been sprayed next to Jewish institutions, and students have been publicly harassed outside of Jewish schools.

Sadly, this isn’t just happening in France.

Similar things are taking place in Germany…

Recent weeks have seen Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, vow to take a “zero tolerance” approach to antisemitism, citing the responsibility towards Israel given Germany’s role as the perpetrator of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered.

Other national leaders have echoed those concerns.

In recent days Scholz has doubled down on the pledge, after assailants hurled two molotov cocktails at a synagogue in central Berlin and the Star of David was found daubed on the facades of several buildings where Jews live in Berlin.

There is no rational way to explain the intensity of this hatred.

And that is because it is spiritually inspired.

If you find yourself hating Jews or Christians, it is probably because you have opened up a door to very dark spiritual forces.

Unfortunately, what we have witnessed so far is just the beginning.

As the war in the Middle East really ramps up, I believe that we will see some truly dramatic terror attacks all over the world.

On Tuesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned members of Congress that the threat of terrorism inside the United States has reached “a whole other level”…

Terrorist threats against the U.S. reached “a whole other level” after the Hamas attack on Israel, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray told Congress on Tuesday, saying the big players in terrorism have all renewed calls to attack America and its interests.

He said the level of threats has heightened since President Biden took office, though U.S. law enforcement is “better prepared to deal with them.”

“The reality is that the terrorism threat has been elevated throughout 2023, but the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of attack on Americans to a whole other level,” Mr. Wray said.

From this point forward, things are going to start getting really crazy.

We really are living in the end times.

But that is not bad news.

God warned us about all of these things in advance, He has a plan, and He is in control.

So even though darkness is rapidly growing all over the world, we should never give in to fear.

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

Living Paycheck To Paycheck Has Become “The Main Financial Lifestyle” For U.S. Consumers

October 31, 2023October 31, 2023 by Michael

Despite the fact that our politicians in Washington have been borrowing and spending trillions of dollars that we do not have in a desperate attempt to prop up the economy, living paycheck to paycheck has become a permanent lifestyle for most Americans. In other words, well over half of the country is literally living on the brink of financial disaster. When you are living paycheck to paycheck, there is no room for error. A job loss, a business failure or a medical emergency can mean complete and utter financial ruin if you don’t have a cushion to fall back on. That is why the results of a brand new survey are so alarming. According to a report that was just released by LendingClub, 62 percent of all U.S. adults were living paycheck to paycheck last month…

High inflation and higher interest rates continue to weigh on American households.

As of September, 62% of adults said they are living paycheck to paycheck, according to a new LendingClub report.

For years, people like me have been warning Americans not to live like this.

Living paycheck to paycheck only works if the paychecks keep coming in every month.

Once they stop, you are at risk of losing everything.

Unfortunately, living paycheck to paycheck is “the main financial lifestyle among U.S. consumers” at this point…

“Living paycheck to paycheck remains the main financial lifestyle among U.S. consumers,” the report said.

When you live on the edge, even a relatively minor event like an unexpected vehicle repair can become a major crisis.

That probably helps to explain why a different survey found that a whopping 74 percent of all Americans are “stressed about finances”…

Some 74% of Americans say they are stressed about finances, according to a separate CNBC Your Money Financial Confidence Survey conducted in August. Inflation, rising interest rates and a lack of savings contribute to those feelings.

When millions of workers lost their jobs in 2008 and 2009, vast numbers of Americans that were living paycheck to paycheck lost their homes because they could no longer pay their mortgages.

Unfortunately, another wave of massive layoffs has begun.

In fact, this month it appears that tech layoffs have started to surge once again…

In October, Nokia announced it was laying off 14,000 employees following a quarter that saw profits drop by 69%, and other major tech companies like Qualcomm, Qualtrics, and LinkedIn also announced significant layoffs.

Unfortunately, much greater economic troubles are on the way, and most Americans are deeply concerned about what the months ahead will bring.

According to a survey that was just released by Chapman University, 55 percent of Americans are either “afraid” or “very afraid” that we are heading into an economic or financial collapse…

Meanwhile, economic concerns in America are increasing, the survey showed. Since the first such survey by Chapman University in 2013, at least one fear related to the economy has appeared in the top 10.

This year, fear of economic or financial collapse was second on the list, increasing from last year when it ranked number 8. This year, nearly 55 percent of respondents said they were very afraid or afraid of the matter.

“Considering this year’s high interest rates, high inflation, and unexpected banking crisis; economic recession was something a lot of Americans were afraid of, helping to explain why fear of economic/financial collapse ranked so high,” Mr. Andrus said.

We have already been through some intense economic turbulence over the past few years.

But greater pain is on the way.

At this point that is so obvious that even the normally rabidly optimistic National Association of Business Economists is warning of “a more challenging business environment as the economy slows”…

The nation’s leading economists stopped short of forecasting a full-blown recession, but they do see headwinds for the U.S. economy.

“The October 2023 Business Conditions Survey results suggest a more challenging business environment as the economy slows,” said National Association of Business Economists (NABE) president Ellen Zentner, chief U.S. economist, Morgan Stanley.

For once, they are right on target.

The U.S. economy really is slowing down.

And the European economy is slowing down too…

The euro area economy risks falling into recession later this year after official data Tuesday showed that output shrank slightly in the third quarter.

Gross domestic product across the 20 countries that use the euro fell 0.1% in the July-to-September quarter compared with the previous three months, according to an initial estimate published by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics office.

The dip follows a rise of only 0.2% in the April-to-June quarter and highlights the fine line between contraction and growth in the eurozone. GDP was stagnant in the final three months of 2022 and the first quarter of this year.

Even in a best case scenario, the path ahead is going to be very rocky for the global economy.

But what is going to happen if the flow of oil from the Middle East is restricted or cut off for an extended period of time?

As I discussed yesterday, that really would be an economic nightmare for the whole world, because 31 percent of the world’s oil comes from the Middle East.

A global oil crisis would deeply affect all of us, because our entire way of life is predicated on cheap energy.

So it will be important to watch events in the Middle East very closely.

If Hezbollah and Iran join the war, things are going to start getting really crazy very rapidly.

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

This War Will Push Rapidly Escalating Global Food Prices Into Overdrive

October 30, 2023October 30, 2023 by Michael

The only way that we can continue to have cheap food is if we have cheap energy. We use energy to grow our food, to harvest our food, to produce our food and to package our food. And transporting all of that food from the farm to the factory and then to the stores takes lots of energy. Of course it isn’t just our food supply that depends upon cheap energy. Ultimately, our entire way of life is predicated on a cheap energy paradigm. If you take cheap energy away, everything changes.

That is why this war in the Middle East could represent such a critical economic tipping point.

31 percent of the world’s oil comes from the Middle East.

If that supply is restricted or completely cut off for an extended period of time, we will be in for a world of hurt.

But don’t just take my word for it. At this point, even the World Bank is sounding the alarm…

Oil prices could be pushed into ‘uncharted waters’, which could lead to higher food prices worldwide if the violence between Israel and Hamas intensifies, the World Bank has said.

The bank’s Commodity Markets Outlook found that while the effects on oil prices should be limited if the conflict does not widen, the outlook ‘would darken quickly if the conflict were to escalate’.

In a worst case scenario, the World Bank says that the price of oil could go as high as 157 dollars a barrel…

In a ‘large disruption’ scenario – comparable to the Arab oil embargo of 1973 – the global oil supply would shrink by six million to eight million barrels per day and prices could go up by 56 per cent to 75 per cent, or $140 (£115.51) to $157 (£129.53) a barrel, according to the report.

Other experts are projecting that the price of a barrel of oil could eventually go as high as 300 dollars a barrel.

If energy prices start to scream higher as more parties join the war in the Middle East, global food prices will go far higher than they are right now.

Of course they have already reached absurd levels.

This month, a lot of Americans are complaining about ridiculously high candy prices. Over the past year, they have risen by 13 percent in the United States…

Halloween candy inflation is up by double digits for the second year in a row, with prices 13% higher this October compared to the same time last year, according to new data.

Prices of candy and gum in October 2022 had already increased by 14% from the previous year, The Associated Press reported over the weekend, citing data from retail price tracker Datasembly.

“The price of candy has gotten to be outrageous,” small business owner Jessica Weathers, who lives in the 14,400-resident village of Shiloh, Illinois. “It doesn’t make sense to me to spend $100 on candy.”

But that is nothing compared to what is happening to orange juice.

Since March 2020, the price of frozen orange juice concentrate is up 388 percent…

Orange juice futures hit a record high of $4.1195 per pound, up 10% on Monday morning. The frozen orange juice concentrate has soared 388% since March 2020 as weather and disease crush citrus supply in Florida, the biggest producer of oranges in the US.

David Branch of Wells Fargo recently told Yahoo Finance that Florida’s orange crop is expected to come in around 713,000 tons, the smallest since the 1936-37 season.

Ouch.

Do you remember the days when we could all afford to drink orange juice on a regular basis?

Sadly, those days are long gone.

At this stage, even a meal at McDonald’s has become painfully expensive.

If you can believe it, a Big Mac combo meal at one location in Connecticut now costs 18 dollars…

However, McDonald’s — which has 13,513 restaurants in the US and over 38,000 abroad — did not disclose how much the franchiser has increased its prices, which generally vary between locations.

One branch in Darien, Conn., charged as much as $18 for a Big Mac combo meal, which includes medium fries and a medium soft drink.

Meanwhile, that same Big Mac combo will run hungry patrons $13.69 at a McDonald’s in Times Square.

Thanks to these skyrocketing food prices, more Americans are going hungry than ever before.

This week, we learned that the number of Americans “suffering from hunger and food insecurity” increased by more than 10 million from 2021 to 2022…

The number of Americans suffering from hunger and food insecurity exploded by more than 10 million under President Joe Biden, according to a U.S. Agriculture Department report this week that provided fresh evidence of inflation‘s impact of a basic staple of life.

The report found 44.2 million Americans were living in food-insecure households in 2022, compared to 33.8 million the year before.

“From 2021 to 2022, there were statistically significant increases in food insecurity and very low food security for nearly all subgroups of households described in this report,” USDA reported Wednesday.

So if things were that bad in 2022, how high is that number today?

My guess is that we are well beyond 50 million at this point.

And what we have experienced so far is just the beginning.

Unfortunately, most Americans simply cannot comprehend what is happening.

Our stores have always been packed to the gills with mountains of cheap food, and so for many people it is really hard to understand that era is ending.

If you have not already done so, I would very much encourage you to stockpile supplies of food while you still can.

Because this war in the Middle East is just getting started, and food prices will soon be shooting up to levels that would have once been considered unimaginable.

Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” 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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