Posted on 10/25/2022 1:33:20 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Things haven’t looked this bad for the U.S. economy since 2008. We are in the midst of the worst inflation crisis in decades, the housing market has started to collapse, some of the largest companies in America have begun laying off workers, and economic activity is slowing down all around us. Of course Joe Biden is telling us that our economy is “strong as hell”, but that is just because he wants his party to do well in the upcoming elections. Ultimately, anyone that takes a truly objective view of things is forced to admit that the outlook for the months ahead is incredibly bleak.
The following are 12 reasons why it is impossible for any rational person to be optimistic about the U.S. economy at this point…
#1 According to a recent Gallup survey, two-thirds of Americans believe that economic conditions are getting worse. When such a large proportion of the population starts behaving as though an economic downturn is coming, that actually makes an economic downturn even more likely. So many Americans are starting to hold on to their money more tightly, and that is having lots of ripple effects.
#2 The second largest auto lender in the United States just announced that it “saw charge-offs for retail auto loans quadruple in the third quarter”. We are also seeing credit card delinquencies start to rise. We certainly aren’t at 2008 levels yet, but we are moving in that direction.
#3 Cargo traffic at the Port of Los Angeles just declined to the lowest level that we have seen since the early days of the pandemic. As I noted earlier, economic activity is beginning to slow down all over the nation. One recent survey discovered that 98 percent of corporate CEOs believe that a recession is coming, and those CEOs are behaving accordingly.
#4 Major retailers such as Walmart and Target have been canceling billions of dollars in orders as they seek to cut back inventory levels. In all my years, I have never seen our largest retailers cancel so many orders just prior to the holiday season. Are they expecting the next couple of months to be a total bust?
#5 Existing home sales just fell to a 10 year low. We all knew that the housing market was going to implode once the Federal Reserve started to aggressively raise interest rates, but at this point that implosion is happening faster than most of the experts had anticipated.
#6 U.S. homebuilder sentiment has declined for 10 months in a row. That is a brand new record. I really feel sorry for you if you are a homebuilder or if you work for one. The months ahead are not going to be pleasant for you.
#7 60,000 real estate deals were called off in the month of September alone. I was stunned when I first saw that number. All over the country buyers are realizing that they agreed to pay too much and are feverishly trying to back out of deals while they still can.
#8 Mortgage demand has plunged to the lowest level in 25 years. Things never even got this bad during the downturn of 2008 and 2009. To me, this is a really troubling sign.
#9 Ian Sheperdson, the chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, is projecting that home prices could fall 20 percent over the next year. Hopefully that will not happen, but there is also a possibility that they could fall even further than that. We will just have to wait and see how rapidly this new crisis plays out.
#10 U.S. diesel inventories have fallen to the lowest level since 2008. This is something that we will want to watch very carefully, because the U.S. economy runs on diesel.
#11 The core consumer price index has just surged to “the highest level since 1982”. Even though the Federal Reserve has been on an insane rate hiking spree, our inflation crisis continues to rage out of control. And as prices continue to soar, our standard of living is being absolutely eviscerated.
#12 A model created by Bloomberg economists Anna Wong and Eliza Winger indicates that there is a 100 percent chance of a recession within the next 12 months. Of course it is entirely possible that their model could be wrong. But without a doubt this is not a good sign.
Right now, even some of our society’s most relentless optimists are warning that tough economic times are ahead.
For instance, in a post on Twitter Elon Musk just suggested that we could be suffering through a recession until the spring of 2024…
If Elon Musk is any type of financial prognosticator, the market and economy could be in trouble for more than a year to come.
When prompted in a Twitter thread early on Friday morning, the Tesla CEO said that he thought the current recession would last “probably until spring of ’24”.
Because he is such an optimist, Musk believes that economic conditions will turn around eventually.
But what if they don’t?
What if the “perfect storm” that we are currently enduring ultimately results in the collapse of everything?
Are you prepared for such a scenario?
Previous generations of Americans handed us the keys to the most prosperous economy that the world has ever seen.
But instead of managing it carefully, we have piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the planet, we have transformed Wall Street into the globe’s largest casino, and we have systematically destroyed the reserve currency of the world.
Thanks to a very long series of incredibly foolish decisions by our leaders, we are now facing a war with Russia, a collapse of the housing market, a global food crisis, a global inflation crisis and a worldwide financial meltdown simultaneously.
The entire system is starting to crumble all around us, but most people still believe that things will “return to normal” at some point.
Personally, I would love to see things “return to normal”, but unfortunately it appears that is not likely to happen any time soon.
* * *
Dave Ramsey says that the housing market as a whole is not collapsing, but it is in Socialist-run parts of America. His advice is to buy now if you need/want to, then re-fi when rates go down again in a few years. In the meantime, throw extra at your mortgage as much as you can.
Secondly, I am down $10K in my IRA as I type. Ugh!
Lastly, I cannot get our grocery bill under $200/week for just the two of us, and we raise our own beef and I have an extensive garden. And we don’t eat ‘fancy’ by any stretch.
It’s SO frustrating, because I’m buying ALL the SAME BASIC STUFF and it’s twice the price!
And now that I’m done b*tchin’, I’ll go back and read the article. ;)
S.E. PA, diesel is around $6 per/gal.
“The more things change the more they remain the same. Not like we haven’t been through this before, and it will happen again.”
Well said, but it’s STILL frustrating. And there are so many DOPES out there that don’t see these things as Democrat-caused and they KEEP voting for this cr@p!
And that just creates MORE dependence on Mother Government and more people on the dole while the REST of us eek out a living trying to support them all, as well as our OWN families!
THAT, to me, is the worst part of it all. Mother Government is Winning! She’s in it for the long game. :(
Not sure what’s she’s going to do when ALL of the PRODUCERS in America are dead and gone. Well, more than likely, she’ll just sell off any remaining assets to China. *SPIT*
We’ve got some major pain ahead it looks like.
Acts 14:22 wasn’t kidding...
Acts 14:22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “It is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God.”
You post is spot on. Sad to say. Don’t give up hope. Sometimes it’s all we have. Be well. I’ve always liked you posts. Mostly The Garden Threads! 👍
“Wash, Rinse, Repeat”
That’s it.
I’ll never give up! I’ll complain, but I’ll NEVER give up! :)
“Never let a crisis go to waste. “. Rahm Emmanuel.
Works as long as they keep convincing the Dumb Masses believe it.
“Works as long as they keep convincing the Dumb Masses believe it”.
‘Dumb masses’ I love it!
Please see my tagline.
Well said, Diana. It’s a sad thing it needs to be said.
...”when ALL of the PRODUCERS in America are dead and gone.”
Ala Atlas Shrugged. But our producers can’t run and hibernate in the Rocky Mountains shielded by some atmospheric trick of light. Even if they could, our producers have family & employees depending on them.
All the slugs living off the taxpayers should have to scratch out an existence for themselves. A permanent EBT card *spit*
Just remember that most of these economic issues are man-made; expect more issues, especially by the 'Great Global Reset" (GGR) which is a bunch of unelected 'elites' who expect to come in on a white horse as our social and financial saviors (for example: Remember the recent Russia invasion of Ukraine).
We can still remain optimistic, while still being a realist as to current problems and situations, especially when you add in the character of human endurance
As the olde adage goes :" Don't let the Bass-turds get you down !"
Our nation is known for at least several characteristics, one of which is resilience, another is fortitude, another is optimism of the human spirit to overcome adversity.
Continue to be aware, use the OODA LOOP in your decision making process ! Be aware of your weaknesses, and make positive changes.
Strengthen yourselves, or as the Bible says:" Grid up your loins" against the adversary.
Pffft... We may be entering a Mad Max era, but we don’t have to worry about mean tweets, so it will all be worth it!
When Democrats offer up obviously known cognitively defective candidates such as Joe Biden and Fetterman, and the corrupt MSM completely support them and cover for them, and people still willingly vote for them, well, we get exactly what we deserve.
As metmom says, we are under the judgement of God.
Major Fuel Supplier On "Code Red" As Diesel Crisis Hits Southeast
One broke ground near my folks' place. It was delayed or hindered by several months earlier this year due to a raid construction project. They were in the process of putting up houses, the smallest of which was 1,239 sq feet and starting at $312,990 (over $250/sq ft, not really realistic in our area) and it all came to a halt about 2 months ago. They're still building, but unless they were all pre-sold, its going to remain undeveloped for quite a while.
Normal is not coming back
Jesus is coming back
"Historically low diesel inventories have put a fuel trucking company on high alert for possible disruptions in the Southeast."
(My comment): The Biden "war against petroleum" is single-handedly responsible for the lack of investment problem, while exporting fuel and LNG out of the country.
This administration is intentionally depleting our National Strategic Petroleum Resources to keep prices low before our mid-term elections, . and then what ?
The sky is the limit for the price of gasoline and diesel ?
You can't operate an 18 wheeler on a 'hope and wish', nor drive the delivery trucks that supply the grocery store.
Even the railroads use diesel fuel to operate.
What about the farmer who can't afford to plow, or harvest his crops, much less make deliveries to the local stores .
What about national defense ? Armored tanks and transport supplies for troops depends on fuel.
This is blatant stupidity with no thought as to consequence to the American population,..in addition to the purposeful and intentional sabotage of the American economy.
If Biden, was a CEO, and he and his advisors were in a corporate business, they'd have found themselves kicked to the street in the first four months of office,
where shareholders have insight, a voice, and a vote.
Of course they will. Things will get worse before they get better, but the dems count on low information voters to believe that just voting for a republican makes the economy worse.
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