(The Economic Collapse Blog)—A recent survey discovered that 79 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. is on the wrong track right now. As a nation, we may not agree on much, but this is one thing that almost all of us can agree on. Needless to say, the economy is the number one reason why so many people are dissatisfied with the direction that the country is heading. Over the past four years the cost of living has risen much faster than paychecks have, and as a result our standard of living has been going down. Now we have reached a point where tens of millions of U.S. consumers have been squeezed bone dry, and as a result businesses are failing all over the nation.
Traditionally, the performance of the home improvement industry has been a very important economic harbinger.
And at this moment the home improvement industry is really struggling.
For example, True Value has been doing so poorly that it was finally forced to file for bankruptcy…
True Value, a 75-year old hardware store brand, has filed for bankruptcy and is selling substantially all of its operations to a rival, the company announced Monday.
In a press release, True Value said it will continue day-to-day operations of selling hardware and other homeware tools to its 4,500 independently operated locations during the Chapter 11 process, which includes a $153 million stalking horse bid from rival company Do it Best.
Meanwhile, Home Depot says that sales in 2024 will be down quite a bit from 2023…
The home improvement retailer said it now expects full-year comparable sales to decline by 3% to 4% compared with the prior fiscal year. It had previously expected comparable sales, a metric that takes out the impact of store openings and closures and other one-time factors, to decline about 1%.
In an article that I posted last week, I mentioned that Home Depot has been dumping millions of square feet of warehouse space.
They wouldn’t be doing this if they thought that the economy would be turning around any time soon.
Another giant in the home improvement industry, PPG, has decided the time has come for mass layoffs…
PPG — a global manufacturer of paints, coatings, and specialty materials — is laying off nearly 2,000 workers as it trims operation costs and sells off a chunk of its architectural business.
The cuts will impact about 1,800 positions, primarily in the U.S. and Europe. PPG didn’t disclose when the layoffs would occur.
The Biden administration continues to insist that all is well, but the home improvement industry is telling us a completely different story.
Meanwhile, drug stores continue to shut down all over the nation at a staggering pace.
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In fact, Walgreens just announced that it will be permanently shutting down 1,200 stores…
Walgreens said on Tuesday it would shut 1,200 stores over the next three years as new CEO Tim Wentworth plots a turnaround at the struggling pharmacy chain operator hit by sluggish consumer spending and low drug reimbursement rates.
You don’t shut down more than a thousand stores if you believe that good times are ahead.
Let’s be real.
The restaurant industry is also being hit extremely hard in this difficult economic environment.
Last week, I was saddened to learn that TGI Fridays has been closing locations all over the country…
Your ability to enjoy a plate of loaded potato skins and $5 happy hour drinks is slowly dwindling, as TGI Fridays has closed 12 U.S. locations in the past month and shuttered 35 restaurants across the pond.
According to the company’s location section on its website, multiple TGI Fridays locations in the Northeast closed last week, including in Clifton Park, Middletown and Poughkeepsie, New York; Allentown, Pennsylvania; Enfield, Connecticut; and Leesburg, Virginia.
Additional closures from earlier this month took place in the Southeast and Midwest regions, in states like North Carolina, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana, as well as two locations in Minnesota.
If TGI Fridays anticipated that economic conditions would soon turn around, they would try to keep these restaurants open. But the truth is that the writing is on the wall.
Even churches are feeling the pain. According to a recent study that was conducted by Lifeway Research, giving has been falling from coast to coast…
A majority of Protestant pastors are blaming a poor economy for their struggling bottom lines after experiencing double-digit declines to zero improvement in financial offerings from churchgoers over the last year, data from a new study released by Lifeway Research show — but the sentiment is divided along political lines.
“National trends of a favorable stock market along with unfavorable inflation and interest can influence a local congregation’s finances, but so do more local factors that contribute to economic problems or prosperity in the church’s community,” Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, said in a statement on the study. “In general, pastors have turned a little more negative in describing economic forces impacting their church this year.”
What do all the examples that I just shared with you have in common?
They all show that most consumers don’t have a lot of discretionary income to spend right now.
Or as Gerald Storch put it during a recent interview with Maria Bartiromo, “consumers are running out of money”…
US corporate media outlets continue to push propaganda that the economy thrives ahead of the presidential elections, cheerleading the most recent retail sales print. However, most Americans know MSM is full of ‘malarkey’ because inflation and interest rates force many to spend more but receive less. Many folks have depleted their personal savings and racked up insurmountable credit card debt just to keep up with rising food, energy, insurance, and shelter costs. This toxic mix of inflation, sparked by failed Bidenomics, has hit low- and middle-income families the hardest, potentially leading to a breaking point this upcoming holiday shopping season.
“It’s very clear that consumers are running out of money. They’re increasingly stressed by inflation and the exhaustion of their pandemic-era savings. When you take a look over the last several years, what you see month after month, everyone talks about, the consumer’s still spending. They might be, but they’re spending less than the growth of inflation,” Storch Advisors CEO Gerald Storch told Fox Bussiness’ Maria Bartiromo on Thursday during an interview.
That is the bottom line.
Millions of U.S. consumers have been squeezed and squeezed and squeezed and now they are bone dry.
Last year I warned my readers that we had reached an “economic tipping point”, and now things are starting to roll downhill very rapidly.
There is a tremendous amount of frustration that has built up over the past four years, and I think that all of that frustration will play a major role in determining which party wins the White House in November.
Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
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The Best Thing for America Would Be a Donald Trump Blowout
by The Federalist
If Democrats had their way, Donald Trump wouldn’t be anywhere near the presidency again. So wrote MSNBC’s Hayes Brown on the eve of the 2024 election’s final day. But Trump is near the presidency — perhaps by decisive margins — and Democrats are apoplectic. The “biggest contributor to the unease…
If These Two States Go to Trump Early, We Can Have Results on Election Night [VIDEO]
by Rumble Video
Two blue states, Virginia and New Hampshire, are in play during the presidential election based on the most recent polling data. If Donald Trump can achieve victory in both of these states early, it’s possible that we can get election results on Election Day. Otherwise, it could be weeks…
Most Accurate Pollster From 2020 Drops Final Numbers
by JD Rucker
Atlas Intel, which was hands down the most accurate public poll during the 2020 election, just dropped its final poll of the season. It points to landslide victory for Donald Trump. If Kamala Harris is able to win Minnesota and Virginia, two blue states that are in jeopardy of being…
Vivek Ramaswamy’s ‘Anti-Woke’ Financial Firm Moving To Dallas
by Dallas Express
Strive Enterprises, co-founded by former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, is slated to move its headquarters to Dallas. The wealth management firm, launched in 2022, is known for its “non-woke” and anti-ESG exchange-traded funds (EFTs). ESG, which refers to environmental, social, and governance policies, is incorporated into the investment mandates…
Regardless of who wins the election, economists are pointing to physical gold and silver as hedges against economic turbulence ahead. Reach out to our sponsors at Genesis Gold Group, a faith-driven precious metals company, to learn how you can rollover or transfer your retirement accounts into a Genesis Gold IRA.
Fed Set to Shift to Moderate Interest Rate Cuts, but the Path to Lower Rates Remains Uncertain
by The Epoch Times
The Federal Reserve’s policy-making arm, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), will likely shift from the aggressive interest rate cut during its September meeting to a moderate cut in its November meeting, to be held on Nov. 6 and Nov. 7. However, the path to lower interest rates remains to…
10 Times as Many Illegal Immigrants Came to US as Jobs Were Created Under Biden-Harris Admin in October
by The Post Millennial
The Biden-Harris administration allowed for 10 times the number of illegal immigrants into the US in October as jobs created by the private sector during the same time. This comes as border and economy have two of the top main issues for voters in the election. While businesses only created…
It Was the Night Before the Election, and Everyone Was Freaking Out
by Michael Snyder
(End of the American Dream)—I have never seen so much doubt, worry, anxiety, fear and panic as we approach a presidential election. All over the country, people are freaking out right now. Democrats are freaking out because the early voting numbers are so dramatically different from 2020. Republicans are freaking…
Losing Power? The Elites and the Leftist Mob Would Rather Burn It All to the Ground
by Brandon Smith
(Alt-Market)—It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a significant positive evolution within American society. In the early days of the Ron Paul movement I remember the hopeful groundswell of support for a new conservative epoch that adopted a little Libertarianism and a recognition that most “conspiracy theories” are actually…
“Not Patterns That You’ve Seen”: CNBC Guest Says Many Trump Voters Were Democrats “20 Years Ago”
by Harold Hutchison, Daily Caller News Foundation
(DCNF)—A former Trump administration official told CNBC host Joe Kernen Monday that a lot of voters who backed former President Donald Trump were Democrats during the 2004 election. Trump has gained support among both black and Hispanic voters, largely due to the economy and immigration, before President Joe Biden announced…
The New Kennedy-Nixon Moment: Why Politicians Must Master Podcasts to Win
by Daily Signal
(The Daily Signal)—Jeff Bezos is right. Americans do not trust the news media, but he misunderstands why. Americans are tired of talking heads and the opinions of editorialists masquerading as journalists. But this should not be confused with declining interest in news or politics; viewers are simply moving to channels…
‘All Government’: JD Vance Spotlights the ‘Kamala Harris Economy in a Nutshell’
by Daily Wire
Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), a venture capitalist-turned-politician who is now the running mate of former President Donald Trump, argued this weekend that the U.S. economy under their rival in the 2024 White House race, Vice President Kamala Harris, is defined by a growing number of government jobs while the private…
Final Reminder of the Three Issues Driving This Election
by JD Rucker
(Substack)—In case you hadn’t noticed, tensions are high. Americans are at each other’s throats — sometimes literally — as we approach the finale of the most insane election cycle in history. The sitting President ended his bid for a second term. His opponent was charged with dozens of made up…
If Kamala Wins, Prepare for Climate Change Authoritarianism and the Destruction of America’s Economy
by Ethan Huff, Natural News
(Natural News)—When it comes to “green” energy policies, California is often looked at as the model and example for other states. Did you know, though, that California ranks barely above the world average for so-called “fossil fuel” usage, even as it sits on large reserves full of crude oil and natural…
Trickle down isn’t trickling down anymore.
The democrats have been doing such a good job destroying the economy, there’s nothing left. We get taxed into the dark ages, so they can fund wars and line their pockets and the pockets of illegal border crossers. Yet, they gave so much away, victims of the hurricanes got $750 dollars IF THEY WERE APPROVED.
Many were not approved. I’ve seen some of the devastation. It is beyond my comprehension. There is no money for the victims because it was given to illegal border crossers.
Yes you can get “blood out of a stone.” Read 1 Peter 2:4-8.