This article was originally published by G. Calder at The Exposé.

A senior Russian presidential advisor, Anton Kobyakov, has suggested that the USA is planning a quiet but catastrophic escape route from its debt crisis, leaning on crypto, stablecoins, and gold. Currently $37.5 trillion in debt and paying $882 billion per year in interest alone, the US relies on financial engineering to keep the machine running.

The reset suggested by Kobyakov would be the largest wealth transfer in history, with the asset-rich gaining extreme wealth while wage workers are plunged into poverty. Remember that this is not a US-specific problem. Stocks, bonds, commodities, and trade are still mostly tied to the US dollar, affecting most of the world’s economy.

This piece connects the dots between the debt mathematics, the crypto boom, and the proposed policy shift that could reshape generations to come.

The Staggering Reality: US Debt in Numbers

Let’s first take stock of the shocking scale of America’s debt crisis:

• $37.5 trillion in debt, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 119%
• That’s an average of $110,000 per person in the US, and $280,000 per household
• Every year, the debt grows by $2.09 trillion (2024-2025), rising much faster than the economy
• The interest bill is a staggering $882 billion per year, which is more than is spent on Medicare and Defense
• Daily, interest payments are more than $2 billion, and this interest is paid before anything else like schools, roads, services, and even NASA funding

These numbers are almost beyond comprehension, but the financial machine keeps running based on the simple fact that the US dollar remains the reserve currency of the world. But that, alone, is not going to stop the inevitable.

No Country or Empire Has Ever Recovered From Here (Without a Reset)

The debt-to-GDP measure matters because it tells you how much output supports each dollar of debt service. America’s ratio is currently 119% and is projected to hit 156% by 2055. For reference, here’s a list of other countries and empires that surpassed the critical 100% mark, and how every one of them failed:

• Looking all the way back to Ancient Rome, an empire that debased its currency, inflation rocketed, and the empire fractured
• Britain lost its reserve-currency status after World War II and the pound fell in value by 50% as the baton passed to the dollar
• Greece hit 146% in 2010 and needed bailouts
• Japan moved past 100% in the 1990s, leading to a stagnant period of zero growth known as the “lost decades”

Very few major powers have ever seen debt-to-GDP levels like this, and none of them survived without some kind of hard financial reset. Sustaining the current debt levels in the US would require decades of 6% real growth – which has never happened and never will – and even introducing a 100% tax rate would, amazingly, still not be enough to service the debt. And the ramifications of what’s to come will be felt worldwide.

The Great Reset Theory: What Are the Options?

In theory, there are five ways to solve a financial crisis as disastrous as this, but only one works.

• Debt jubilee or blanket forgiveness (deleting the debt) will never happen because it would blow up bond markets and pensions
• Returning to asset-backed currency like gold is now impossible in a modern, levered economy
• Modern Monetary Theory is largely dismissed as nonsense because markets eventually punish printing
• De-dollarise, surrendering reserve status, is considered too costly, and US power still rests on the currency

So, it seems there is only one viable option remaining:

• Increase demand for government bonds by holding crypto and stablecoins at scale in national reserves, while secretly managing a controlled reset

Maybe you’ve seen the patterns emerging already, or perhaps this is an entirely new concept to you. Either way, it’s happening, and we’ve even seen some of the same trends before.

The Precedent: Nixon’s 1971 Shock

On 15 August 1971, President Nixon suspended dollar-gold convertibility as US gold reserves fell and inflation rose. This stopped central banks from buying dollars, instead investing in gold, spiking the metal’s price by 25%. The dollar remained the reserve currency of the world, but inflation continued to grow. In 2025, we have already seen countries that were previously big buyers of dollars and debt – China, India, Japan, and others – reducing their purchases of US treasuries and instead turning to gold. The US dollar will retain its reserve currency status, but foreign bulk buys are slowing.

Much of this is because of how they viewed the US’s response to Russia. After Russia had been a big buyer of US treasuries, bonds, and dollars, the US isolated Russia economically, and other countries want to offload the risk of ending up in the same boat.

The Road to Financial Control: Digital Currencies Are Coming

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are governments’ next idea to monitor how you live. The ability of the government to seize or “switch off” personal funds and divert people from traditional banking or physical cash would cause an enormous revolt, except in a crisis. We’ve seen what happened during Covid-19, and the “emergency measures” most people blindly, immediately accepted – some of which were never rescinded.

A major hack story by a foreign country, or bank outages, or ATM networks going “offline” for a few days, would be the shoe-in for governments to require an “emergency” roll-out of a digital wallet. Within days, people would have to accept it to pay for food and fuel, with many even appreciating its convenience. Suddenly, your cash is tracked and control increases. But it may be the only way out of the debt crisis.

How Would It Work?

Stablecoins and CBDCs could be the bridge from today’s paper dollar to a programmable financial system that plugs directly into US debt – a win-win for the US government. Here’s how it works:

• A stablecoin issuer sells a token for $1. But holding idle cash earns nothing, so the issuer buys US Treasury bills (US debt) as the safest form of investment.
• The issuer earns, for example, 4% interest on someone else’s money, and the US sells some of its debt.
• At scale, these stablecoins become an automatic, non-stop demand for Treasuries, which helps fund Washington while foreign demand fades.

Some people do actually support CBDCs, citing faster and smoother payments and a reduction in fraud. But the overarching risks of seizure, spending controls and geofenced payments may well become reality if the US goes ahead with its alleged plan.

Inflation: The Secret Weapon for the Wealthy

As we learned in the 1970s, inflation erodes the real value of debt. With a pile of $37.5 trillion, inflation diminishes the true cost in real terms. So, while you hear about an increase in milk and egg prices, the real goal is the growing cost of stocks and real estate for the rich who hold them. It’s a double-edged sword of wages being worth less in real terms, while financial assets become more valuable. As governments continue to print more money and cut interest rates – which results in inflation every time they do it – wealth inequality worsens.

The Biggest Ever Wealth Transfer

If you own assets, inflation and financial repression boost your balance sheet. But if you live on a paycheck, you lose purchasing power and fall further behind on a ladder you’re told to climb. So, with the execution of this plan, the largest ever transfer in wealth (from the lower earners and middle class to asset holders) will take place. Elections will not change the outcome here. Governments will continue to focus on self-preservation at whatever cost, and everyone else will foot the bill for the already-rich. Citizens will absorb the cost through inflation, taxation, and tighter monetary control, while the asset-rich (who also happen to sit in governments) escalate their net worth.

What Can You Do About It?

Now, more than ever, asset accumulation is the only way to escape the inevitable decline in living standards. Of course, the below is not financial advice, but it’s worth understanding the logic if you still live between paychecks or keep cash in the bank.

• Own productive or scarce assets like broad-market ETFs, high-quality equities, real estate, or gold to diversify exposure to a rising-price world
• Automate contributions to stock exposure, with even small, regular deposits adding up to significant gains when prices rise
• Understand crypto and its split personalities; Bitcoin behaves like a speculative, digital-scarcity asse,t whereas stablecoins are more like Treasury conduits that end up serving the very system they claim to disrupt
• Keep an eye on your privacy by spreading risk across providers and keeping non-digital currency handy

Everybody is at Risk: The Global Spillover

Because the US dollar is the reserve currency, and likely to continue so for decades to come, any reset ripples into European stocks, Asian export cycles, emerging-market funding and commodity prices. If CBDCs pull trillions into Treasuries, the US could stabilise its funding problem while influencing volatility and inflation worldwide.

Kobyakov’s suggestion is not that the US is trying to help Americans. Instead, it implies that it’s about fixing an impossible problem at the cost of lower-earning citizens worldwide.

Final Thought

Part accusation, part taunt, and part blueprint, the Russian advisor’s financial reset predictions do in fact overlap with reality. Foreign buyers are less eager to buy America’s debt, gold purchases by central banks are higher than at any point in the last 50 years, and CBDCs would certainly be an effective fix. They would also steer the system toward programmable, controllable money and another way to monitor its people. Overall, the above combinations weaponise inflation to eat away at the true cost of the debt and further widen the wealth inequality gap.

There will be no peace with Russia, and we all know what that means. When I initially learned what President Trump had said about the war in Ukraine, I had a very difficult time believing it. When he was running against Kamala Harris, Trump reaffirmed his commitment to end the war in Ukraine over and over again. That was an extremely popular position, because the vast majority of Americans do not want to end up in an apocalyptic conflict with Russia. But now everything has changed. Trump has been receiving really bad advice from his national security team, and based on that advice he has fully embraced the war in Ukraine. In fact, he now appears to believe that Ukraine can actually win the war and take back all of the territory that Russia has conquered.

I had to verify exactly what Trump said about the war for myself, and so I went directly to his Truth Social account.  When I got there, I read the most ominous thing that a president of the United States has said in my entire lifetime…

Ever since I first read this, I have experienced such a mix of emotions.

But at this particular moment, I just feel sad.

I feel like I am watching a great tragedy play out in slow-motion that I am unable to stop.

I have issued very explicit warnings about what will happen if this path is chosen.

Unfortunately, global leaders don’t really listen to people like us.

After Trump posted this extremely alarming message on his Truth Social account, he doubled down on his position during a press appearance…

Speaking next to French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, Trump said: “Russia should have stopped the war.”

He added that his once-close rapport with Putin “didn’t mean anything unfortunately.”

Speaking about his Truth Social post, Trump went on: “Most of you have seen the recent statement I put out.

“I’m glad you got it, but I feel that way.

“Let him get that land back, so we’ll see how it works out.”

A lot of people out there have been waiting to see which way things would go with Russia.

Now we know.

When Trump arrived at the United Nations headquarters on Tuesday, the escalator stopped working as soon as he got on it…

President Donald Trump turned an awkward arrival at the United Nations headquarters in New York City into a political jab Tuesday during his address to the General Assembly moments after the building’s escalator stopped dead just as he and First Lady Melania Trump stepped on it.

The pair posed briefly for cameras as they arrived before stepping onto the escalator that, to the bemusement of onlookers, ground immediately to a halt as they boarded.

After a moment of confusion, Melania quickly strode up the stalled steps, while Trump followed behind, leaving aides and staffers to take the stairs.

Subsequently, when he delivered his speech to the UN General Assembly the teleprompter did not work properly.  This is something that he commented on during his speech…

Trump said elsewhere in his speech that, “All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that on the way up stopped right in the middle,” he alleged, later adding, “These are the two things that I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. Thank you very much.”

On the exact day when the peace process with Russia was broken, Trump had to deal with a broken escalator and a broken teleprompter at the United Nations.

Is it possible that this was more than just a coincidence?

There was so much hope when President Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

But now it is clear that there will be no peace, and the Russians are not pleased about Trump’s shift in tone at all…

The few early reactions trickling out of Moscow on Wednesday demonstrated how deeply Trump’s unexpectedly friendly appearance in New York alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly vexed the Kremlin, which just weeks ago was gloating over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warm reception in Alaska.

“Russia is in no way a tiger. Still, Russia is more compared with a bear. There are no paper bears,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said to local radio on Wednesday.

In Alaska, the Russians presented their proposal for ending the war.

You could argue that their proposal was not acceptable, but at least they were willing to talk.

The right thing to do would have been to continue negotiations.

Unfortunately, as Scott Ritter has pointed out, Trump has been getting advice from some very questionable people…

Trump has, from the very onset of his presidency, been ill advised by a coterie of foreign and national security officials who, with very few exceptions, are dyed in the wool Russophobes. From his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to his National Security Advisor (initially Mike Waltz and, after his firing in May, Marco Rubio, wearing to hats ala Henry Kissinger), to his Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, to his CIA Director, John Ratcliffe, and on to his Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessant, Trump has surrounded himself with people who have spent their adult lives loathing Russia and its leadership.

To the extent that Trump has access to advisors who might advocate good relations with Russia, he either dismisses their advice (as is the case with Tulsi Gabbard, his Director of National Intelligence), or nullifies their advice by having a Russophobic counter (as is the case with his Russia Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, whose insights are offset by the anti-Russian positions held by Keith Kellogg.)

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has also been working very hard to sell Trump on the benefits of the war in Ukraine, and he is absolutely thrilled that Trump’s announcement means that we will “continue to sell high end American weapons to NATO for the benefit of Ukraine”…

I would love to know how much money defense contractors have poured into Graham’s campaigns over the years.

There is no possible universe in which Lindsey Graham should have ever been elected to anything.

If Trump keeps listening to warmongers like him, we are all going to be in very deep trouble.

Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to take actions that are intended to provoke such an overwhelming response from Russia that NATO will feel compelled to directly intervene in the war.

For example, the Ukrainians just conducted a large scale drone attack on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk…

On Wednesday a major daytime drone attack from Ukraine rocked the Russian Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk, which reportedly involved both aerial and sea drones.

The city center was hit, and explosions were also witnessed in the water very near the city. The Novorossiysk Hotel, located about 2 kilometers from the port, was also struck along with several buildings and cars. At least 20 cars were on fire, either from a direct hit or falling debris.

It appears that docked vessels of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet may have been among intended targets, given that earlier in the war Russia had transferred much of its fleet from Sevastopol in Crimea to Novorossiysk.

And we also just witnessed a “massive aerial bombardment on Russia’s Belgorod border region”…

Ukraine has launched a massive aerial bombardment on Russia’s Belgorod border region, with initial reports suggesting major damage and many casualties. The attack comes following Volodymyr Zelensky’s meeting with Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations on Tuesday.

The US President praised Ukraine’s army for its courageous resistance and said it was doing a “very effective job”. A rocket attack is reported to have hit the Frez plant in Belgorod, which produces milling cutters and special tools. The Telegram channel “Pepel” is reporting that eyewitnesses are saying there were many casualties following the missile strike.

The purpose of such attacks is to get the Russians to do something really stupid.

Because if the Russians do something really stupid, NATO may feel forced to directly enter the war, and that is what the Ukrainians have wanted all along.

The longer this war goes on, the more likely it becomes that this is how things will play out.

The Russians are losing patience, and one prominent voice is even suggesting that it would be a “terrible sin” not to use nuclear weapons…

Vladimir Putin has been warned that he would be committing a “terrible sin” by NOT using nuclear weapons in Europe. The astonishing claims were made by Sergei Karaganov, 73, aka Professor Doomsday, honorary chairman of the Russian Council for Foreign and Defence Policy, who claimed that unleashing tactical atomic weapons is the only way to prevent a larger war between the US and Russia.

He becomes the latest Putin acolyte and Kremlin commentator to advocate for a nuclear escalation to the conflict in Ukraine and the stand-off with Nato. The comments come after an apparent change of stance from US President Donald Trump who has indicated that Ukraine could feasibly retake all of its territory lost to Putin’s forces. Karaganov said: “The use of nuclear weapons, in extreme cases, in the most dreadful case, is a terrible sin.

“But not using them and condemning your people and the world to a major war is an even greater sin.

“That is an even more terrible sin.”

There are many thinkers inside Russia that are convinced that NATO will back down once the Russians show that they are willing to use a nuclear weapon.

I very much disagree with that assessment, because I believe that it would just cause NATO to respond in kind.

If even a single nuclear weapon is used in this conflict or in the Middle East, peace will be taken from the Earth.

I hope that you understand what I am saying.

We are so close to the unthinkable, and the vast majority of the population still has no idea where events are taking us.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post The Most Ominous Thing That A President Of The United States Has Said In My Entire Lifetime appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

“Efficiency” has become one of the hottest trends in the tech industry, and that is really bad news for American workers, because one of the best ways to become “more efficient” is to get rid of low-performing employees.  Just about every time a big tech company fires a bunch of workers, the stock price of that particular company makes a significant jump.  Needless to say, many executives have taken note of this, and that could help to explain why even highly successful tech companies have been conducting multiple rounds of mass layoffs in 2025.

Through September 15th, the tech industry has laid off more than 166,000 workers.

And by the end of this year, it is being projected that the grand total could reach nearly a quarter of a million…

Between 1 January and 15 September 2025, more than 166,000 employees were laid off in the technology sector. We estimate that, on average, 645 workers have lost their jobs every day since the start of the year and, at this pace, the tech industry is set to let go of another 69,005 people by year-end. If the trend continues, calculations show that total tech-sector layoffs in 2025 could reach 235,392.

Tech industry jobs are good paying jobs.

So it isn’t as if a bunch of people that are making minimum wage suddenly have to find something else to do.

When good paying jobs are eliminated, the middle class gets smaller.

And as I have extensively documented, middle class workers that have lost their jobs are having an exceedingly difficult time finding new employment in this very harsh environment.

The tech company that is slashing jobs the hardest is Intel.

By the end of this year, more than 30,000 Intel employees will have been forced to hit the bricks…

The company cutting the most jobs so far in 2025 is Intel, which had close to 109,000 employees at the end of 2024 and, by the end of this year, plans to reduce headcount to 75,000, according to Reuters, effectively slashing more than 30 thousand positions.

Without a doubt, Intel has been struggling.

So it makes sense that they are reducing headcount.

But tech companies that have been highly profitable are also brutally cutting employees.

For example, Microsoft has already conducted multiple rounds of mass layoffs in 2025…

Since the beginning of 2025, Microsoft has laid off more than 19,000 employees across various divisions and departments. This includes a limited number of performance-based layoffs in January, reductions within its Xbox division, as well as another 6,000 job cuts announced in May. In its latest round, the company said it would further reduce headcount, eliminating management positions across different teams and regions.

Of course we are also seeing painful layoffs happen in many other industries as well.

In fact, we haven’t seen widespread layoffs of this magnitude in the construction industry since the days of the Great Recession…

As unsold completed new-build inventory piles up and builders see their pricing power decrease—particularly in Sun Belt markets like Austin, Tampa, and Jacksonville—more homebuilders are turning to layoffs to avoid a larger margin compression. Many builders are trimming corporate staff head counts a little and scaling back on spec construction in areas where supply has gotten too high for their liking.

Look no further than a recent John Burns Research and Consulting survey, which found that 63% of U.S. homebuilders said their local peers had recently conducted layoffs, while only 14% reported no recent layoffs among peers.

The numbers were even more striking in key Sun Belt markets: 87% of Texas builders and 79% of Florida builders said their peers had recently cut workers.

Those numbers are horrifying.

I have such respect for those that build our homes, because they are actually doing something that greatly benefits our society.

If our economy was functioning properly, there would be tremendous demand for construction workers right now, because we are facing a national housing shortage epidemic.

But our economy is not functioning properly, and vast numbers of highly skilled workers are being canned.

And most of us knew that this was coming.

A survey that was conducted last December found that 81 percent of American workers were concerned about losing their jobs in 2025.

Now we know why.

With each passing day, there are more shocking layoff announcements in the news.

Overall, the number of announced job cuts in the United States is up 66 percent compared to last year.

It is very clear which direction the employment market is going, and nobody can deny it.

Meanwhile, the cost of living just continues to soar.

The price of coffee has already risen to absolutely absurd levels, and this week coffee futures spiked to very alarming levels…

Arabica coffee futures have soared over the past six weeks, reaching their highest level since February as traders closely monitor tightening supplies, adverse weather conditions in Brazil and other top growers, and uncertainty surrounding upcoming harvests, which has fueled a short squeeze.

Arabica, the premium bean used by Starbucks, Dunkin’, and other chains, jumped as much as 6.2% to $4.21 on Monday, with momentum easing on Tuesday as $4.20 emerged as a line of resistance. Notably, futures have surged nearly 50% since early August.

What this means is that the price of coffee is going to be even higher in 2026.

Ouch.

In fact, bad weather in South America has caused so much damage that we are being told that “there is ZERO POSSIBILTY for global production to recover until 2030″…

In a mid-August report, we cited Maja Wallengren, Danish-born independent coffee market reporter and founder of SpillingTheBean, who warned that adverse weather across key coffee-producing areas in Brazil, including the entire Cerrado Mineiro region and parts of Southern Minas, had experienced “frost damage” severe enough to be a potential “death blow” to the 2026 harvest.

Wallengren recently warned that “multiple and continuing weather disasters across the world’s Arabica and Robusta producing countries” are producing an extreme situation where “there is ZERO POSSIBILTY for global production to recover until 2030 and it’s a FACT that The World IS Running Out of Coffee !!“

At the same time, the price of ground beef has risen to an all-time record high of $6.32 per pound.

Of course just about everything in the grocery store has become much more expensive in the past few years.

One young nursing student that was just interviewed by the BBC admitted that “prices are really drastically high”…

But Americans like Yanique Clarke are feeling the pinch.

Yanique, a nursing student in Manhattan who identifies as lower-income, said while shopping for groceries at a Target store this week that “prices are really drastically high” for meat, vegetables and fruit.

“It’s quite a while now, but it’s getting higher,” she said.

If you think that prices are bad now, just wait until you see what 2026 will bring.

As real food becomes increasingly expensive, more companies than ever will be pushing food products that are made from mass produced bugs or from cheap GMO sludge.

Some have even joked that we could be moving toward a “Soylent Green” society.  Interestingly, New Jersey just became the 14th state in the last 6 years to legalize human composting…

The Garden State approved a bill that legalizes human composting, an alternative to traditional burials in which a corpse is transformed into nutrient-rich soil that loved ones can use to feed their favorite houseplant or scatter like ashes.

Human composting, more formally known as natural organic reduction, has skyrocketed in popularity after the COVID-19 pandemic left more than a million Americans dead.

New Jersey is the 14th state to have legalized the practice over the last six years.

This is what happens when a society no longer has any respect for human life.

We have slaughtered millions upon millions of our own people, and we continue to do it to this day.

If we keep traveling down this road, we will get exactly what we deserve.

Just look at what we have become.

It is so sick.

We must wake up and reverse course.

If we do not wake up and reverse course, the layoffs that we are witnessing now will be the least of our problems.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post Mass Carnage: The Tech Industry Has Laid Off More Than 166,000 Workers So Far In 2025 appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

The Winchester Wildcat is one of those rifles that makes you remember why the .22 LR is so much fun. Light and simple to run, it is excellent for plinking and small-game work. It is also great for teaching new shooters. Winchester created the Wildcat with a modern design and practical features. The result is a rimfire that punches well above its price tag.

A Modern 22 Solution – The Winchester Wildcat

The Wildcat is light and easy to maneuver. The stock features good texturing, and its overall shape is neutral enough to accommodate a wide range of shooters. The balance sits just forward of the receiver, which helps the gun settle on target without feeling nose-heavy.

The cross-bolt safety is familiar, the charging handle is easy to grab, and the magazine release is intuitive. The ten-round rotary magazine feeds smoothly, and the rifle accepts many Ruger 10/22-pattern mags, which is a big win if you already have a drawer full of them. The bolt locks open on an empty magazine, which is a small detail that makes reloads and general manipulations easier.

Tool-less Takedown

Where the Wildcat sets itself apart is in its tool-less takedown. Press a button at the rear of the receiver, and the lower assembly drops free, bringing the trigger group and bolt out with it. Cleaning a rimfire can be a chore, but this design makes it quick to wipe carbon off the bolt, clean the chamber, and get back to shooting. You also avoid chasing tiny screws and pins across the workbench. Some models incorporate a small multi-tool into the stock, which is handy for sight adjustments and general maintenance.

Several Wildcat models ship with a ghost ring rear and a bright front bead that picks up well in daylight. If your eyes prefer glass, there is a top rail ready for a red dot or compact scope. A simple 2-7x rimfire optic transforms the rifle into a highly capable small-game rig, while a dot reticle keeps things fast for steel plates and reactive targets.

Reliability

Reliability with .22 LR can be a moving target, but the Wildcat runs well with standard high-velocity loads and stays happy as long as you keep the chamber reasonably clean. The easy takedown is handy in this regard. A quick wipe of the bolt face and extractor after a couple of bricks of ammo keeps the show rolling. If you want to dip into quiet territory, there are threaded versions that host a rimfire suppressor nicely. Paired with subsonic ammunition, it becomes backyard-friendly where legal and is an excellent tool for pest control.

The Winchester Wildcat

Winchester is offering 31 different models to choose from. They offer everything from basic black polymer for durability, camo for the woods, and sporter-style models with a classic look. The Winchester Wildcat nails the core of what makes a .22 worth owning. It is light, easy to run, and set up to shoot more and fuss less. If your gun safe needs a do-everything rimfire that keeps things simple, the Wildcat belongs on your short list.

For more information, visit Winchester.

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The post Winchester Wildcat – Modern 22 Autoloader appeared first on Athlon Outdoors Exclusive Firearm Updates, Reviews & News.

When two-thirds of all the workers in your entire country are just barely scraping by from month to month, you have got a major crisis on your hands. For a long time, our standard of living has been going down and the middle class has been shrinking. But in recent years, those two trends have accelerated. We have now reached a point where it takes 5 million dollars to live the American Dream for a lifetime. Needless to say, the vast majority of the population will never come close to making that sort of money. But most Americans continue to strive to live a middle class lifestyle, and as a result most people are teetering on the brink of financial disaster in this day and age.

According to a survey that was recently conducted by PNC Bank, 67 percent of U.S. workers are now living paycheck to paycheck…

A growing share of U.S. workers are struggling to cover expenses as everyday costs continue to weigh heavily on household budgets, according to new survey findings.

PNC Bank’s annual Financial Wellness in the Workplace Report shows that 67 percent of workers now say they are living paycheck to paycheck, up from 63 percent in 2024.

The report surveyed 1,000 U.S. workers aged 21 to 69 who work full time at companies with more than 100 workers.

There are two very important points that I want to make about this survey.

First of all, it only covers people that actually have a job.

There are vast numbers of other Americans that are not employed and that are deeply struggling right now.

So when you take that into account, this survey is even more shocking.

Secondly, it is clear that we are rapidly moving in the wrong direction.

It was bad enough that 63 percent of U.S. workers were living paycheck to paycheck last year, but now we are at 67 percent.

A four percent jump in a single year is a very troubling sign.

The primary reason why so many employed Americans are struggling financially is due to the rapidly rising cost of living.

For example, the price of coffee has risen by almost 21 percent over the past 12 months…

Coffee drinkers are in for a jolt long before their first sip.

Retail coffee prices in the United States in August jumped nearly 21% compared to the same month last year — the largest annual jump since October 1997, according to the latest Consumer Price Index, released Thursday. On a monthly basis, coffee prices rose 4%, the most in 14 years.

The vast majority of the coffee that we drink is imported, and Brazil is the number one source…

Coffee, for instance, is largely imported because there are only a handful of places in the U.S. where the beans can be grown, such as Hawaii and Puerto Rico. About 80% of unroasted coffee imports are sourced from Latin America, primarily from Brazil, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Products from Brazil that are shipped to the U.S. now face a 50% tariff, according to the White House.

If you drink coffee, you will want to brace yourself, because prices are only going to go higher in the months ahead.

Of course just about everything has become significantly more expensive, and this is pushing many consumers over the edge.

I recently wrote about how subprime auto loan delinquencies in the U.S. have risen to an all-time high, and now we have learned that one of the largest subprime auto loan lenders in the U.S. has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy…

A company that provides auto loans to families with poor or no credit has filed for bankruptcy.

Tricolor Holdings, a Dallas-based car fixing and credit company, has filed for Chapter 7 — or liquidation — bankruptcy. The filing typically means the company will quickly go out of business.

The company’s demise is a warning sign for the US economy: Americans are racking up a huge amount of debt to keep their cars, while a record amount can’t keep up with the payments.

This is just the beginning.

There will be more failures.

At this stage, most of us can feel the change that is in the air.  In fact, it is being reported that consumer confidence “dropped sharply in September”…

Consumer confidence dropped sharply in September to its lowest level in four months, according to preliminary data released Friday, as Americans expressed growing anxiety about job security and the persistence of high prices.

The University of Michigan’s closely watched index of consumer sentiment fell to 55.4 in September from 58.2 in August, missing economists’ expectations and reflecting what survey director Joanne Hsu described as “multiple vulnerabilities in the economy.”

And the confidence that Americans have in being able to find a new job has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded…

In the latest sign of trouble for the U.S. labor market, confidence in the ability to move from one job to another has hit a record low, according to a New York Federal Reserve survey released Monday.

Respondents to the central bank’s monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations for August indicated a 44.9% probability of finding another job after losing their current one. The reading tumbled 5.8 percentage points from the prior month and is the lowest in the survey’s history dating back to June 2013.

If you are thriving in this extremely difficult economic environment, good for you.

For most of the population, things are very painful at this moment.

The ranks of the middle class are steadily thinning out, poverty is growing all around us, and more Americans are homeless than ever before in our entire history.

In Los Angeles, one homeless encampment has become so enormous that it is now being described as a full-blown “city”…

A sprawling homeless encampment in Los Angeles is drawing ire from neighbors who say the makeshift shelter has grown into a full “city” of its own, complete with working electricity and a recreational area featuring a tennis court, garden and barbecue pit.

The encampment sits on a vacant Koreatown lot surrounded by apartment buildings and other structures, according to ABC 7.

“The reason why people are sleeping here is because you leaders are sleeping on not taking initiative and action to clean this place up,” neighborhood resident Daniel King told the station.

Most Americans are just a few bad breaks from losing everything.

In fact, there are already millions of Americans that have lost everything, and those that are on the bottom levels of the economic pyramid are becoming increasingly desperate.

When things really start hitting the fan in this country, vast numbers of extremely desperate people will cause tremendous chaos throughout our society.

Things didn’t have to turn out this way.

If we would have made much different decisions over the past 50 or 60 years, we would have gotten much different results.

But we just kept doing things the wrong way, and now we shall reap what we have sown.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

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