Posted on 12/27/2022 8:29:31 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Economic conditions just keep getting worse. As we prepare to enter 2023, we find ourselves in a high inflation environment at the same time that economic activity is really slowing down. And just like we witnessed in 2008, employers are conducting mass layoffs as a horrifying housing crash sweeps across the nation. Those that have been waiting for the U.S. economy to implode can stop waiting, because an economic implosion has officially arrived.
The following are 15 facts that prove that a massive economic meltdown is already happening right now…
#1 Existing home sales have now fallen for 10 consecutive months.
#2 Existing home sales are down 35.4 percent over the last 12 months. That is the largest year over year decline in existing home sales since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
#3 Homebuilder sentiment has now dropped for 12 consecutive months.
#4 Home construction costs have risen more than 30 percent since the beginning of 2022.
#5 The number of single-family housing unit permits has fallen for nine months in a row.
#6 The Empire State Manufacturing Index has plunged “to a reading of negative 11.2 in December”. That figure was way, way below expectations.
#7 In November, we witnessed the largest decline in retail sales that we have seen all year long.
#8 Even the biggest names on Wall Street are starting to let workers go. In fact, it is being reported that Goldman Sachs will soon lay off approximately 4,000 employees.
#9 The Federal Reserve is admitting that the number of actual jobs in the United States has been overstated by over a million.
#10 U.S. job cuts were 417 percent higher in November than they were during the same month a year ago.
#11 A recent Wall Street Journal survey found that approximately two-thirds of all Americans expect the economy to get even worse next year.
#12 A newly released Bloomberg survey has discovered that 70 percent of U.S. economists believe that a recession is coming in 2023.
#13 Inflation continues to spiral wildly out of control. At this point, a head of lettuce now costs 11 dollars at one grocery store in California.
#14 Overall, vegetable prices in the United States are more than 80 percent higher than they were at this same time last year.
#15 Thanks to the rapidly rising cost of living, 63 percent of the U.S. population is now living paycheck to paycheck.
In a desperate attempt to get inflation under control, the Federal Reserve has been dramatically increasing interest rates.
Those interest rate hikes are what has caused the housing market to crash, but Fed officials insist that such short-term pain is necessary in order to tame inflation.
But meanwhile our politicians in Washington are busy creating more inflation by borrowing and spending money at a rate that is absolutely unprecedented in our entire history.
This week, an abominable 1.7 trillion dollar omnibus spending bill is being rammed through Congress, but not a single member of Congress has read it.
The bill is 4,155 pages long, and U.S. Senator Rand Paul just held a press briefing during which he wheeled it out on a trolley…
After the grossly bloated $1.7 trillion Omnibus spending bill advanced in the Senate by a vote of 70-25, GOP Senator Rand Paul held a press briefing during which he wheeled in the “abomination” on a trolley and demanded to know how anyone would be able to read it before the end of the week.
Paul, along with the only other dissenting Senate Republicans Mike Braun, Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, and Rick Scott highlighted how ludicrous the fast tracking of the bill has been.
Unfortunately, this absurd spending bill has broad support on both sides of the aisle, and that just shows how broken Washington has become.
Our system of government has failed time after time, and our politicians continue to spend money on some of the most ridiculous things imaginable.
The following examples that were pulled out of the 1.7 trillion dollar omnibus spending bill were discovered by the Heritage Foundation…
$1.2 million for “LGBTQIA+ Pride Centers”
$1.2 million for “services for DACA recipients” (aka helping illegal aliens with taxpayer funds) at San Diego Community College.
$477k for the Equity Institute in RI to indoctrinate teachers with “antiracism virtual labs.”
$1 million for Zora’s House in Ohio, a “coworking and community space” for “women and gender-expansive people of color.”
$3 million for the American LGBTQ+ Museum in New York City.
$3.6 million for a Michelle Obama Trail in Georgia.
$750k for the for “LGBT and Gender Non-Conforming housing” in Albany, New York.
$856k for the “LGBT Center” in New York.
And have you noticed that our politicians often prefer to push these types of bills through just before major holidays when hardly anyone is paying attention?
No matter who we send to Washington, the story remains the same.
As long as our politicians are borrowing and spending trillions of dollars that we do not have, Fed officials won’t be able to win their war against inflation.
The Fed can send interest rates into the stratosphere, but inflation will continue to remain high because our politicians insist on showering the nation with giant mountains of cash.
We should all be deeply, deeply offended by what is happening, but most Americans simply do not know enough to care.
But once economic conditions get even worse than they were in 2008 and 2009, the majority of the U.S. population will become extremely angry.
Of course things could have turned out much differently if we had made better decisions during the years leading up to this crisis.
Unfortunately, we have run out of time to change course, and that means that a tremendous amount of pain is ahead for all of us.
* * *
I’ve been saying for years there’s no way we can spend a trillion dollars of imaginary money every year without the bottom falling out eventually. And the crash is going to eliminate the middle class. It’s coming - and hell is following in its path.
I actively look at sheriff sales in my county. The number of sales due to foreclosure is incredibly small to almost non-existent where as about a year ago there were many more and the year prior much more. Why aren't banks moving on foreclosures before home prices really tank? I find it hard to believe that people are easily paying their mortgages with inflation raging.
You can’t play Economy with Monopoly money for very long until the real bills come due.
Many of the newer mortgages are very low rates. My daughter bought their home in 2020 with a mortgage under 3%. Their mortgage is less than what their rent was.
Banks aren’t foreclosing because the market is stagnant. Dumping homes with little equity will drive down the prices. And… the delinquency rate is just getting going. Foreclosure sales are usually at least 180 days into the process. Look for it to ramp up next summer.
Conveniently, Republicans just gained the majority in the House, so the Dems will have someone to blame for what’s coming, and their lobotomized drone base will believe them.
I'm signed up for my local grocer's "rewards program." I have noticed that the reward offers are basically going away, or are greatly reduced. I'm now told to be happy that I'm getting a deal on avocados at 2 for $5.00. And that's the "sale" price. ($1.99 max a few months ago.)
What I am saying is that there were many foreclosures 2 years ago and I know there were moratoriums passed by our demented woodchuck of a governor but I would have expected that when this was lifted in Jan 2021 I would have seen the sheriff sales spike to at least previous levels. I'm not seeing that because these properties were already in foreclosure for sometime.
I think there is still fed money being pumped in to keep the damage down.
It’s not melting down. It’s been hollowed-out.
In my neck of the Upstate NY woods, it’s not banks foreclosing.
It’s local governments.
Foreclosures for back taxes are way up.
In NYS, you don’t own a home.
You rent it from state and local government.
Same here in Texas.
Grocery prices are higher in PA too.
I don’t think any of those things matter. We are not in a market economy anymore. We are in a Fed economy. You can debate when the Fed took over the market forces. Clearly they have had a large affect for decades. But now the market is the minor force.
Most of your housing data is problematic. Housing is expensive because building a house is very expensive. Also taxes on the property are expensive and mortgages are more expensive than the last decade. Since the cost of ownership has gone up, the prices have come down. This has nothing to do with overall economic forces. Just house ownership. People still have a lot of money. But the prices of things has shifted.
Government has become the largest employer by far. And I am including those companies that service only governments. Defense contractors, consultants, etc. These people have no problem keeping their jobs and getting raises. They will be the upper middle class of the foreseeable future. If Californians and Wall Street get rid of their workers, government will hire them.
Inflation is done on purpose. Its what governments do to handle large pension requirements. They inflate everything. Because governments tax on percentages. If prices go up, taxes go up. Pensions never go up as much. The boomers will be getting pensions for the next 30 years. But the next fifteen years will be the worst before the millennials take over and the first boomers like George Busch and Bill Clinton die off. They are in their late seventies now.
The Fed can send interest rates into the stratosphere, but inflation will continue to remain high because our politicians insist on showering the nation with giant mountains of cash.<<<
and the private Fed banks will continue to print money out of thin air at a high interest thus adding to our National deficit ...
this is worth a look ... someone on FR posted it a few days ago...
Homes, jobs, prices, manufacturing, retail all down.
But other than that....
There’s the cost of actually foreclosing to consider as well. The banks may also be banking on interest rates rising enough to the point where a potential home buyer’s payments on interest alone would recoup their costs, even if prices fall.
“Our system of government has failed time after time, and our politicians continue to spend money on some of the most ridiculous things imaginable.”
Our system of government is a Government Class Oligarchy with strong fascist tendencies. This is not failure to them, quite the opposite. Destruction is their forte and they will give the people Bread and Circuses (at very high prices) until that destruction is complete. Once completed, their position amongst the world’s elite - separate and above the masses of peasants - will be secure and unassailable.
You first need to understand what your system of government actually is before you can see where it is taking us and why.
With Biden and his stooge chaos crew economic conditions will keep keep getting worse like you have never seen before.
7 million illegals are salt on the wound the tax payer has to foot the bill of welfare for them for the next 20 to 30 years.
NEVER TRUST A DEMOCRAT you have seen the results.
Is there ANY state where one does not somehow pay “rent” to gov to live?
This one fact is why I’ve not upgraded much on our home’s EXTERIOR at all. Local tax folks had to resort to inflating the heck out of the less than 2 acres we own and live on out here.
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