Consumers lose trust in Institutions, Middle Class Spiraling Lower, Folly of Gun Control

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Middle Class Death Spiral: Consumers Have Never Been In More Debt, And Bankruptcies Are Surging

During the relative economic stability of the past few years, the middle class was supposed to experience a resurgence,  but instead it has just continued to be hollowed out.  The cost of living has risen much faster than wages have, and as a result hard working families all over America are being stretched financially like never before.  Even though most of us are working, 59 percent of all Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck, and almost 50 million Americans are living in poverty.  In a desperate attempt to continue their middle class lifestyles, many Americans have been piling up mountains of debt, and it has gotten to the point where we have a major crisis on our hands.

According to the New York Post, the total amount of debt that U.S. households have accumulated is about to cross the 14 trillion dollar mark for the first time ever…

Meanwhile, record American household debt, near $14 trillion including mortgages and student loans, is some $1 trillion higher than during the Great Recession of 2008. Credit card debt of $1 trillion also exceeds the 2008 peak.

Americans are spending heavily, again — and often recklessly, say analysts.

This is the exact opposite of what U.S. consumers should be doing.  We can see signs of a fresh economic slowdown all around us, and consumers should be feverishly trying to get out of debt as fast as they can.

But instead, debt levels just keep setting record after record.  In fact, total student loan debt just hit a brand new record high of 1.605 trillion dollars, and auto loan debt just hit a brand new record high of 1.174 trillion dollars.

It would be one thing if we could handle all of this debt, but that isn’t the case.  Bankruptcies have been steadily rising, and according to the latest figures the number of bankruptcy filings shot up another 5 percent in the month of July…

Bankruptcy petitions for consumers and businesses are on the rise. There was a 5% increase in total bankruptcy filings in July 2019 from the previous month, the American Bankruptcy Institute said this week. There were 64,283 bankruptcy filings, up from 62,241 for the same period last year.

Unfortunately, this is probably just the beginning.

Right now, most of the country is living on the edge financially, and so a major economic slowdown would inevitably cause another enormous tsunami of consumer bankruptcies like we saw in 2008.

Even now, things are already so bad that many hard working “middle class” workers in high-cost cities such as New York are so financially stretched that they have to rely on free food from local food banks…

“In high-cost cities like New York, personal incomes are not often enough to pay the household bills,” Zac Hall, vice president of anti-poverty programs at the Food Bank For New York City, told The Post. “We are seeing people using consumer debt as a way to make ends meet when they come here,” he added, citing the pressures his nonprofit faces to keep up the distribution of food and meals at no cost to some 1.5 million New Yorkers.

If 1.5 million people in New York are being fed by food banks now while things are still relatively stable, how bad will things be when the economy really starts to tank?

For decades, the “almighty U.S. consumer” was one of the fundamental pillars of our economy, but now that is no longer true.

U.S. consumers simply do not have a lot of discretionary income to spend these days, and this is killing major retailers all over the nation.  We are on pace to absolutely shatter the all-time record for store closings in a single year, and within the past 7 days more big retailers have announced that they will be permanently shutting down stores.

For example, Walgreens just announced that they will be closing “approximately 200 U.S. stores”…

Walgreens plans to close approximately 200 U.S. stores, the company announced Tuesday in an SEC filing.

According to the document posted Tuesday on the Securities and Exchange Commission website, the move to close stores follows “a review of the real estate footprint in the United States.”

That wouldn’t be happening if the U.S. economy really was “booming”.

Here is another example that comes to us from Wolf Street…

A’Gaci, a young women’s fashion retailer based in Texas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday, for the second time, after having filed for the first time in January 2018. This time, it will liquidate. All its remaining 54 stores in seven states and Puerto Rico will be closed – the “bulk” of them by the end of this month.

In addition, we just learned that Party City is going to be closing more stores than expected in 2019…

Party City is increasing the number of stores expected to shutter this year.

The New Jersey-based party supplies company said it was looking to close 55 stores throughout the year, up 10 from the May estimate of 45 stores.

I honestly don’t know what malls and shopping centers all over the U.S. are going to do.  I once warned of a future in which America’s landscape would be littered with abandoned stores, and that future has now arrived.

For the moment, those at the very top of the economic pyramid are still doing okay, but the middle class is eroding a little bit more with each passing day.  For much more on this, I would encourage you to check out this Youtube video by Jeremiah Babe.

I have been writing about the evisceration of the U.S. middle class for a decade, and the condition of the middle class right now is as bad as I have ever seen it.

And as we plunge into this new economic downturn, things are only going to get worse.  The middle class is absolutely drowning in debt, and even a mild recession would be enough to financially wipe out millions of American families.

 Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.

The post Middle Class Death Spiral: Consumers Have Never Been In More Debt, And Bankruptcies Are Surging appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

 

SIDEBAR

Consumers Losing Trust in Institutions

   Consumers have been losing their trust in institutions for years including religious entities. [Some point to a growing anti-Christian movement by the Left in particular, as one cause, along with fatherless households, as some of the causes of mass shootings]…

Trust in Congress too is at an all-time low.  When they spend more time on so-called, repeated investigations of the POTUS rather than addressing our nation’s infrastructure or power grid, it truly makes one scratch their head.

Our national debt, which now exceeds more than Japan and the Eurozone combined,  is nothing to be sneezed at knowing full well it is now impossible to pay off…individual borrowing levels have sailed past pre-recession levels of more than $1 trillion! 

Considering political troubles on the world stage [Brexit, Yellow Vest Protests, Venezuala], the dollar should be doing even better.  The dollar is rated highly, but is not responding to global issues and Iran, China and Russia are trying to replace the dollar is the world trading currency of choice.

Consumers fear recession but as I’ve pointed out, it is almost inevitable as all things in life and in economics is cyclical.  If our economy tanks before the next presidential election, Trump may face a tough time getting reelected since that is his big success.  Our economy has been artificially propped up for decades, like a house of cards, which has led many to believe our currency can no longer be relied upon as a safe haven.

A major increase in revenue will be required by the government to sustain itself and our massive social welfare spending [yet Democratic candidates are pushing to increase that spending by trillions].

Build a Buffer for Your Family

Recessions are scary as they are unpredictable. Although few Americans seem to ever prepare for anything…while things are stable take steps to protect yourself.  Get out of debt is number one.  Stash extra cash and food stocks; use extra cash to buy gold and silver.

The longer the current expansion continues, the worse the investible recession becomes [another reason why I have urged readers to get out of debt, accumulate gold and silver along with a savings cushion and goods which can be bartered].

Sales of American Silver Eagles up 46% in 2019American Eagle Silver Bullion Coin Sales are Up 46% in 2019American Eagle Silver Bullion Coin Sales are Up 46% in 2019

Through July 31, the U.S. Mint has reported selling 11,262,000 one-ounce American Eagle Silver Bullion coins vs. just 7,705,500 ounces through July 31 last year, a gain of 46.2%. Silver’s recent surge to a 13-month high has increased interest in the popular bullion product, and we know from experience that a first-time investment in a bullion coin like the American Eagle Silver coin leads about one in six bullion investors to convert into a rare coin buyer within one or two years, especially if bullion prices keep rising.

Silver traded as low as $14.37 as of May 29, rising over $2 per ounce (+15%) to $16.50 on August 5, just 10 weeks later, thereby drawing many first-time investors into “poor man’s gold.”

Personally, I have found the opportunity to add these to my stash at a reasonable price.  I continue to grab “junk silver’ whenever possible via flea markets, local auctions, etc.

Yours in Freedom,

Bruce ‘the PoorMan’

Additional News of Note…

Now Democrats Running for President Want to Silence You

When gun control was brought up at the second Democratic presidential debate this week, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg rattled off the usual list of gun-control restrictions... Read More

In the wake of three mass shootings over the course of a few days recently, all the political and anti-gun media class began their predictable calls for more gun laws and equally predictable blame-ascribing tactics.

As usual, 2020 Democrat presidential hopefuls called for the passage of more laws like universal background checks, a ban on so-called assault weapons (a meaningless and amorphous code word term), so-called red flag laws and outright confiscation. Even Republican politicians advocated for more gun laws, as did President Donald Trump — who while campaigning in 2016 called himself the biggest friend to gun owners in history; a hollow promise, at best.

Never mind that none of the laws proposed — save outright confiscation — would have had any influence whatever on the most recent shootings. The shooters all obtained their legal weapons legally from licensed gun dealers after undergoing the standard background check.

Besides, if gun grabbers were really interested in stopping murder or saving lives they’d go after handguns, which are used in the overwhelming majority of shootings and mass murders.

Political blame for mass shootings is not a solution 

We in the media have a role to play in all of this. News organizations would best serve the public by sticking to the facts and the news. Speculation should be minimized. This can be tough in the 24/7 breaking-news environment, with so many wanting to be the first to report significant details and with so many hours to fill while we await the facts. But the truth is, in the early moments and hours after a shooting — or any tragedy — the rumors and initial reports almost always turn out to be replete with errors. Information that is presented confidently as fact often turns out to be incorrect

 

Here’s an example: My twitter account was suspended due to Wayne Dupree; someone I don’t know, who told Twitter honchos my post was somehow hateful!  Read below & see if you agree…

Your account, @poormansurvivor has been locked for violating the Twitter Rules.

Specifically for:

Violating our rules against hateful conduct.

You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.

Bruce David @poormansurvivor @WayneDupreeShow Lawbreaking unvetted illegals present a challenge that many on the Left completely ignore: more crime, more disease, more welfare fraud, more ID Theft, more human smuggling, more drugs, etc.

Please note that repeated violations may lead to a permanent suspension of your account. Proceed to Twitter now to fix the issue with your account.

More Free Resources:

 

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Making Bread Without An Oven - The Pioneer Way

Baking bread usually requires an oven. But what do you do when you’re a pioneer living in the 1800s - and you don’t have an oven?   

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What Is The Best Caliber For Self Defense Shooting?

Few topics can light up a range-side or gun store discussion like handgun caliber. Most every long-time handgun owner feels strongly about one caliber or another being the best...   

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