The Economic Collapse

If you could go back and live in 1973, would you do it?  To me, that is not an easy question to answer.  I think that for many of us it would be a real challenge to adjust to a world without the Internet and so many of the other technologies that we enjoy today.  But I also think that if we were suddenly transported back to that time we would be absolutely shocked by how freely people lived.  In 2023, there are literally millions of different laws, rules, regulations and ordinances that constrain how we behave down to the smallest detail.  A lot of us still think that we are “free”, but that hasn’t actually been true for a very long time.  In addition, the values of our society are completely different from what they were in 1973.  Over the past 50 years our culture has been completely turned upside down, and we can see the nightmarish consequences of this cultural revolution all around us. (Read More...)

Those that are wrecking our economy don’t seem to have much empathy for the millions upon millions of people that they are hurting.  As you will see below, one Fed official is actually suggesting that interest rates may need to go even higher even though the interest rate hikes that we have already seen are turning lives upside down all over the country.  Everywhere you look people are in severe pain, but this is only just the beginning.  And I would encourage you not to ever look down on those that have had a run of bad fortune, because it could happen to you too. (Read More...)

This new economic downturn is starting to bite, and we are starting to see signs of severe pain all over the nation.  In fact, unless you are independently wealthy, you are likely feeling pain too.  The cost of living has risen to extreme oppressive levels, and this has happened at a time when close to two-thirds of the country was already living paycheck to paycheck.  As a result, many Americans are having their finances stretched to the breaking point, and millions of them are reaching out for help.  For example, on Saturday morning the line of people waiting for assistance at one of Boston’s largest food pantries “stretched the length of two football fields”… (Read More...)

Communities all over the United States are being taken over by giant homeless encampments, but we are supposed to believe that this is perfectly normal.  The Biden administration is trying very hard to convince all of us that the economy is in fine shape even though many of our most prominent corporations are currently conducting mass layoffs and even though Challenger, Gray & Christmas is telling us that the number of jobs cuts during the first three months of this year was up 396 percent compared to the same period last year.  Just like in 2008 and 2009, large numbers of people that have lost their jobs or their businesses are ending up living in the streets, and as a result homeless encampments are absolutely exploding in size from coast to coast. (Read More...)

Every time that they tell us that everything is fine, things just seem to get even worse.  This banking crisis was supposed to be “over” after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed.  It wasn’t.  Then it was supposed to be “over” after First Republic collapsed.  It wasn’t.  By now, most of you already know about what has been happening to PacWest, Western Alliance, First Horizon and countless other regional bank stocks.  In all my years, I have never seen banking stocks fall so quickly.  If this avalanche continues to pick up momentum, pretty soon we will have to stop talking about a “banking industry crisis” and start talking about a “banking industry apocalypse”. (Read More...)

They actually did it.  Even though banks are collapsing, the commercial real estate market is imploding, home sales are plunging, and large companies are laying off workers all over America, the Federal Reserve just decided to raise interest rates even higher.  This is nothing less than economic malpractice.  They know that higher rates are crushing the economy, but they apparently believe that more pain is needed.  Officials at the Fed just hiked rates another 25 basis points, and they are now the highest that they have been since August 2007… (Read More...)

Things weren’t supposed to move this quickly.  Just hours after First Republic was dissected, two more major banks are in very serious trouble.  Are the dominoes going to start to fall more quickly than we were anticipating?  After his bank gobbled up First Republic, Jamie Dimon told the world that “this part of the crisis is over”, and many in the corporate media believed him.  Unfortunately, Wall Street is not buying it.  On Tuesday, “fears around contagion in the regional banking sector” pushed stock prices significantly lower… (Read More...)

Yes, you read the headline correctly.  Collectively, the three big banks that have collapsed in 2023 had more assets than all 25 banks that collapsed in 2008 did.  Unfortunately, the banking collapse of 2023 is far from over.  We still have eight more months to go before this year is done, and many more banks are currently teetering on the brink of disaster.  Executives at those banks are telling us not to worry, but of course executives at First Republic were issuing similar assurances just last week.  Personally, I had heard that First Republic supposedly had enough reserves to keep going for months.  But that was a lie, and now First Republic is toast.  The following comes from the official statement that the FDIC issued when it took over the bank… (Read More...)