I am extremely concerned by what I am seeing in the housing market.  When the Federal Reserve decided that it was going to start aggressively hiking interest rates, it was obvious that there would be a housing crash.  I repeatedly warned my readers that prices would start declining and that home sales would fall precipitously.  Needless to say, that is precisely what has happened.  In fact, last week we learned that home sales have now dropped for nine months in a row…

Home sales declined for the ninth straight month in October, as higher interest rates and surging inflation kept buyers on the sidelines.

Sales of previously owned homes dropped 5.9% from September to October, according to the National Association of Realtors.

This is already the longest streak of declining sales ever recorded, and this new housing crash is just getting started.

But of course what we have already witnessed has been pretty breathtaking.

According to Zero Hedge, U.S. home sales in October 2022 were 28.4 percent lower than they were in October 2021…

This monthly decline pushed the year-over-year drop in existing home sales to -28.4% – its worst level since 2008!

Sadly, things are likely to get even worse in the months ahead.

The following are 3 major factors which will make 2023 a historically painful year for the housing market…

#1 The Federal Reserve 

Fed officials keep assuring us that interest rates are going to go even higher.

This is literally suicidal behavior, but they are going to do it anyway even though they fully understand what this will do to the housing market.

In fact, an economist at the Dallas Fed just published research which shows that U.S. home prices could soon fall by as much as 20 percent…

U.S. home prices could tumble as much as 20% as the highest mortgage rates in two decades threaten to trigger a “severe” price correction, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Fed policymakers need to strike a delicate balance as they try to deflate the housing bubble without bursting it, Dallas Fed economist Enrique Martínez-García wrote in the analysis published this week.

#2 The Employment Market

Officials at the Federal Reserve also know that hiking interest rates even higher will cause unemployment to go up.

We have already seen major layoff announcements at large corporations all over the nation, and now we can add Carvana to the list…

Carvana is laying off about 1,500 people, or 8% of its workforce, Friday following a free fall in the company’s stock this year, a weakening used vehicle market and concerns around the company’s long-term trajectory, according to an internal message first obtained by CNBC’s Scott Wapner.

The email from Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia, titled “Today is a hard day,” cites economic headwinds including higher financing costs and delayed car purchasing. He says the company “failed to accurately predict how this would all play out and the impact it would have on our business.”

If the Fed continues to raise rates, eventually millions of Americans could lose their jobs.

And because the vast majority of Americans are barely scraping by from month to month, all of a sudden we could have millions of homeowners that are unable to pay their mortgages.

Just like in 2008 and 2009, that would cause a catastrophic spike in foreclosures, and the ripple effects would be absolutely devastating for Wall Street.

#3 Underwater Mortgages

During the last housing crash, millions of homeowners found themselves deeply underwater on their mortgages as home prices fell rapidly.

If home prices end up plunging 20 percent or more in 2023, we will once again have vast numbers of Americans that owe far more on their homes than they are currently worth.

In 2008 and 2009, large numbers of people that found themselves in such a situation decided to simply walk away from their mortgages.

If the same thing were to happen again, it would cause an extraordinary amount of pain for lenders.

So let us hope that such a scenario does not materialize.

Unfortunately, we continue to get more numbers that indicate that we are heading into a very serious economic downturn.

For example, we just learned that the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators has now fallen for eight months in a row…

The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Indicators index showed that conditions further deteriorated in October, with the gauge down 0.8% from the previous month. That follows a 0.5% decline in September.

“The U.S. LEI fell for an eighth consecutive month, suggesting the economy is possibly in a recession,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director of economic research at The Conference Board.

Meanwhile, yet another survey has found that the vast majority of U.S. consumers are currently living paycheck to paycheck…

A new employee report said on Friday that as many as 60% of U.S. consumers are living paycheck to paycheck.

The report, a collaboration between data analysis PYMNTS and LendingClub, said 55% of nearly 3,500 people surveyed said they have limited spending capacity, and 49% are shifting their shopping preferences.

The report said that 66% of those living paycheck to paycheck have slashed spending.

Most Americans will not be dealing with the harsh economic environment that is ahead from a position of financial strength.

When things get really bad, millions of people will suddenly not be able to pay their bills.

In particular, I feel really bad for those that purchased homes at or near the peak of the market.  So many of them are going to end up losing those homes.

We may have been able to avoid another housing crash if our leaders had pursued much different policies.

But that didn’t happen, and now we are going to experience an immense amount of chaos in 2023 and beyond.

The Federal Reserve created the largest housing bubble in American history by flooding the system with money and pushing interest rates all the way to the floor.

Now they are violently bursting that bubble, and the months ahead are going to be extraordinarily painful for the housing market.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post 3 Major Factors Which Will Make 2023 A Historically Painful Year For The Housing Market appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Activated charcoal has kind of become the pumpkin spice of the preparedness world. But instead of only seeing it in the fall – it’s 365 topic. Activated charcoal is very useful for a variety of tasks, and what has recently caught my eye are the claims that it can be made at home. Being a…

The post How To Make Activated Charcoal And Does It Work? appeared first on Survival Cache.

A stray Ukrainian missile has hit Poland, killing two people. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is blaming Russia in an obvious attempt to provoke a more serious war.

“This is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels according to a report by Reuters. The missile fired was likely a Ukrainian air defense missile.

“From the information that we and our allies have, it was an S-300 rocket made in the Soviet Union, an old rocket and there is no evidence that it was launched by the Russian side,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said. “It is highly probable that it was fired by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense.”

Ukraine immediately called on NATO to “react” to “Russia’s” missile crossing the border, meaning it’s likely this was done on purpose to further ignite a global conflict.

NATO“needs to act,” Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed on Tuesday as he laid the blame for an explosion in Poland not far from the Ukrainian border with Russia. Earlier. “This is a Russian missile strike on collective security!” Zelensky said in a statement, calling it “a very serious escalation.” He also urged western nations to put Russia “in its place” and branded the country as a “terrorist,” according to a report by RT.

Ukraine is convinced it needs to start a global war and the West is convinced the public should blame Russia.

“The longer Russia feels impunity the higher is the threat for anyone within the reach of Russian missiles,” the Ukrainian president warned, though he did not provide evidence proving it was Russian missiles that struck Poland.

The Russian Defense Ministry denied any responsibility for the incident by saying that the nation’s military did not strike any targets near the Polish-Ukrainian border. It also branded the Polish media reports a “provocation.”

There was no immediate Ukrainian response on Wednesday to the suggestions that it was a Ukrainian stray and some in the West wanted an investigation done before accusations were made. However, they were always determined to blame Russia, even if it was a Ukrainian missile that struck Poland.

“[Some Western rulers] stressed that, whatever the outcome of that investigation, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is squarely to blame for the ongoing violence,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said after a meeting between Sunak and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the summit sidelines.

The global energy crisis has entered an alarming new stage.  In recent months, natural gas prices have risen to absurd heights and supplies have been getting tighter and tighter all over the planet.  But I did not expect that we would see any rationing yet.  It had been my opinion that we could possibly see some limited rationing once we reached the worst moments of the winter, but apparently things are worse than I thought.  In fact, when I heard about what is going on in Pakistan right now I was absolutely horrified…

Pakistan has no other option but to ration natural gas supply this winter, with gas provided three times a day for cooking to households, amid acute shortages and a forex crisis in the world’s fifth most populous country, an official from the petroleum ministry told a Parliament panel this week.

The energy crisis in Pakistan has deepened this year, and now, natural gas supplies will be very limited for households, according to officials.

How would you feel if your natural gas was turned off throughout the winter except for meal times?

It is being reported that Pakistani households will only have their natural gas turned on “for three hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon, and three hours in the evening”…

“There would be no gas supply (to household consumers) for 16 hours” a day, Muhammad Mahmood told the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Petroleum, as carried by the local outlet Dawn.

Pakistani households will have gas available for three hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon, and three hours in the evening, Mahmood added.

I had no idea that conditions were already so bad in Pakistan.

And there are some in the business community that would like to make natural gas rationing for Pakistani households “a permanent feature throughout the year”…

Appreciating the judicious decision of natural gas rationing for domestic consumers, the business community has urged the government to make this prudent decision a permanent feature throughout the year as 50 percent of total gas in Pakistan is consumed by households, which is one of major hindrances in economic growth of the country.

With prices for imported natural gas being so high, it is probably inevitable that other poor countries will be forced to implement similar measures.

Needless to say, that is really, really bad news.

Thanks to relentless stockpiling ahead of time, things will not be quite as bad for Europe this winter as many had originally anticipated.

But Europeans could still be facing occasional blackouts, and they will definitely have to deal with “sky-high energy bills”…

In 1972, natural gas exports from the Soviet Union accounted for around 4% of European gas consumption. By 2021, Russia was providing almost 40% of Europe’s gas. As Moscow’s market share has gradually increased, so has its ability to manipulate prices and trigger crises. Most Europeans now acknowledge that this reliance on Russia represents a major strategic blunder. Too late. Europe’s “green energy transition” features one major flaw: it relies on Russian gas imports.

Back to the future. This will be an extremely difficult winter for all Europeans, whether they face blackouts or heating issues and sky-high energy bills.

The good news, if you want to call it that, is that European fertilizer production is starting to bounce back a bit.

At one point, European fertilizer output had been cut by nearly two-thirds, but now it is back up to 63 percent…

Norway’s Yara International one of the world’s largest fertilizer companies, said that it was now operating at 65% of its European ammonia capacity—having slashed output to just over a third of its total capacity for much of the second half of this year. Commodity research firm CRU International Ltd. said Yara’s moves are in line with other producers. Overall, European fertilizer output is now at about 63% of total capacity, having previously stood at around 37% at the start of October, CRU said.

Let us hope that number continues to rise, because fertilizer prices are already insanely high.

As those prices continue to rise, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization is warning that the global food crisis that we are now witnessing could get substantially worse…

“Higher costs for imported energy and fertilizer are behind the foreseen increase. Both are particularly relevant in import bills, posing strains for the current accounts of low-income and lower middle-income countries,” the report said, adding that “As a result, some countries may be forced to reduce input applications, almost inevitably resulting in lower agricultural productivity and lower domestic food availability.”

Here in the United States, those that rely on natural gas for heating are likely to see much higher bills this winter.

At this point, things are looking particularly grim in New England…

With the global natural gas supply stretching thin, Eversource and other utility companies have been sounding the alarm.

Bills have already been going up for some.

Eyewitness News ran into someone in Berlin who described how one of her bills increased to over $200.

Even though bills will be going up quite a bit, ISO New England is assuring everyone that there won’t be any shortages as long as winter conditions are “mild” or “moderate”…

While Eversource has sounded the alarm, ISO New England, the region’s electricity grid operator, is still saying we should be ok for the season.

ISO New England said there’s enough supply for mild and moderate winter conditions.

Unfortunately, Eversource is not as confident.

In fact, Eversource is actually asking Joe Biden to waive the Jones Act so that it can secure more natural gas supplies for the upcoming winter season…

The CEO for New England’s largest utility, Eversource Energy, called on President Biden in a letter last week to enact federal emergency orders to “swiftly address the growing concerns” of New England’s access, or lack thereof, to natural gas this winter heating season.

New England, which lacks the natural gas pipeline infrastructure to fill out its demand, relies on LNG shipments to its three liquefied natural gas import facilities on “foreign flagged vessels,” CEO Joseph Nolan said. “However, because of the war in Ukraine, LNG imports are not available…in the volumes necessary to meet this winter’s needs without causing further stress on European markets and the American economy.”

We are still over a month away from the official start of winter.

If authorities are scrambling this much already, what will things be like once we get to January and February?

Without a doubt, this will be a winter like no other.

But I actually expect the following winters to be even worse.

So enjoy this winter while you can, because the years ahead are going to be exceedingly challenging.

The global elite desperately want to move us away from traditional forms of energy, and they promised us that the “green revolution” would change everything.

Well, everything is definitely about to change, but not in a good way.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post Natural Gas Rationing Has Begun appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Another domino has fallen.  We are being told that the failure of FTX “would be kind of like a Lehman Brothers event”, and at this hour FTX is on the verge of collapse.  There was a chance that FTX could survive when Binance announced a shocking rescue plan, but after looking at the books Binance has reportedly backed out of the deal.  As a result, investors that have poured billions into FTX are likely to lose everything.  And many believe that FTX’s heavily promoted token, FTT, is going to zero.  If you have been waiting for a financial disaster to happen, this certainly qualifies.  A lot of people that were “crypto millionaires” not too long ago are going to be totally wiped out.

Of course the collapse of FTX is going to be felt very widely, because a lot of really big “heavy hitters” were very heavily invested in FTX…

Some of the prominent investors in the crypto exchange include – BlackRock, Ontario Pension Fund, Sequoia, Paradigm, SoftBank, Circle, Ribbit, Alan Howard, Multicoin, VanEck, and Temasek.

Sequoia invested in a $420 million round in the company at a $25 billion valuation in October 2021. Additionally, some of the heavy hitters in the capital market, namely Temasek, Paradigm, NEA, SoftBank, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Tiger Global, Insight Partners, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, and others, poured in capital worth $400 million at $32 billion in January 2022.

Even celebrities such as Tom Brady and Steph Curry had poured enormous sums of money into FTX.

Now all of that money could be gone.

One anonymous industry executive actually told CNN that the collapse of FTX “would be kind of like a Lehman Brothers event for the space”…

“I’m actually shocked by this,” an industry executive told CNN Business. “FTX failing … would be kind of like a Lehman Brothers event for the space. But if they have been successfully bailed out, then that would probably head things off at the pass.”

Sadly, that industry executive is quite right.

This is a major catastrophe.

When the deal between Binance and FTX was originally announced, FTT immediately lost over 2 billion dollars in value…

FTT, the token native to crypto exchange FTX, lost most of its value after rival Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency firm, announced plans to acquire the company.

The coin traded at around $22 on Monday and sank below $5 Tuesday afternoon in New York. The sell-off wiped out more than $2 billion in value in the space of 24 hours.

But now Binance has completely pulled out of the deal.

After looking at the books, Binance decided that the problems at FTX are “beyond our control or ability to help”…

A day after announcing a plan to buy its embattled rival, cryptocurrency exchange Binance pulled out of the deal, saying FTX’s problems were “beyond our control or ability to help.”

“As a result of corporate due diligence, as well as the latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations, we have decided that we will not pursue the potential acquisition of http://FTX.com,” Binance said in a statement.

So now there is no hope for FTX.

And there is no hope for FTT.

These developments definitely played a major role in the tremendous turmoil that we witnessed on Wall Street on Wednesday…

Stocks were lower on Wednesday — following recent market gains — as results of the midterm elections provided no clear answers about who would control Congress yet. A crypto selloff also weighed on markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 646.89 points, or about 1.95%, to 32,513.94. The decline was led by Disney, which fell 13.2% after the entertainment giant missed analysts’ estimates on the top and bottom lines. The S&P 500 shed 2.08% to 3,748.57, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 2.48% to 10,353.17.

Meanwhile, the rapidly growing tech industry crisis that has recently erupted just continues to get even worse.

We just learned that Facebook will be laying off more than 11,000 workers.  This is the very first time the company has done anything like this…

Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said the company will cut more than 11,000 jobs, calling himself responsible for the first major round of layoffs in the social media giant’s history.

In a letter to his employees, Mark Zuckerberg took full accountability for the decisions to let people go…

Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history. I’ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go. We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1.

I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted.

Of course it is easy for him to say such things because he still has a job and he is still one of the wealthiest individuals on the entire planet.

In recent weeks, other major tech companies have been conducting large scale layoffs as well…

1. Twitter: 50%

2. Cameo: 25%

3. Robinhood: 23%

4. Intel: 20%

5. Snapchat: 20%

6. Coinbase: 18%

7. Opendoor: 18%

8. Stripe: 14%

9. Lyft: 13%

10. Shopify: 10%

We have never seen layoffs of this magnitude in the entire history of the tech industry.

Even in 2008 and 2009 we didn’t see anything like this.

At this same time, we are seeing some very alarming real estate layoffs as that industry also plunges into a crisis.

For example, Redfin just announced that they will be letting 13 percent of their employees go…

Redfin is set to shutter its home-flipping business and reduce its workforce by 13%, laying off 862 employees.

About 264 of the job cuts will be directly related to the shutdown of RedfinNow, the company’s instant buying, or iBuying, business in which it purchases a home as-is, completes minor improvements and resells the home on the open market.

This is exactly what we would expect to see during the early stages of a major economic slowdown.

Unfortunately, much worse is ahead.  In fact, the times that we are moving into will greatly challenge all of us.

During the “Great Recession”, the Federal Reserve pushed interest rates to the floor, and that really helped stabilize the economy.

But the Federal Reserve can’t do that this time around because inflation is totally out of control.

So instead of reducing rates, the Fed is just going to keep raising them.

The economic outlook for 2023 is so bleak, and at this point almost everyone can see that really tough times are ahead.

Up until just recently, however, the financial markets were still doing relatively well.

But now a new “Lehman Brothers moment” has arrived, and it is likely that we will see quite a bit of panic on Wall Street as the implications of the collapse of FTX reverberate throughout the financial community.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post We Just Witnessed A New “Lehman Brothers Moment”, And It Threatens To Unleash A Frenzy Of Panic On Wall Street appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Protecting yourself from the elements and keeping warm (maintaining core body temperature) is extremely important in the outdoors. Exposure has taken the lives of many people lost in the wilderness, or even in close proximity to town or a house. It only takes a few hours – or even less – for the body to…

The post How To Build A Lean To Shelter appeared first on Survival Cache.

Sometimes I think that we truly are living in Bizarro World.  We just witnessed one of the most horrible financial disasters in years, and economic activity is dramatically slowing down all around us, but Wall Street is celebrating.  In fact, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 1,200 points on Thursday.  Despite everything else that is going wrong, investors were absolutely giddy because the inflation number that was just released was slightly lower than what most experts were anticipating.  A lot of people seem to think that this could mean that the Federal Reserve will soon stop hiking interest rates, but that isn’t going to happen.  Jerome Powell continues to insist that rates will keep going higher until the official inflation rate is back down to about 2 percent, and we are a long, long way from there.

So I really don’t understand why there was such a buying frenzy on Wall Street on Thursday.

It just doesn’t make any sense.

Just 24 hours earlier, the collapse of FTX was freaking everyone out.  Right now, Zero Hedge has an article up that does a really good job of breaking down exactly what precipitated this crisis…

Alameda Research – Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) FTX-affiliated crypto hedge fund – “owed” FTX $10 billion after the exchange “lent” billions of dollars of sacrosanct customer assets to fund risky bets, just as we suspected… only even more!

That, as The Wall Street Journal reports, citing a person familiar with the matter, is what set the stage for the carnage and chaos across the crypto space that has happened in the past few days as the reality of FTX’s alleged commingling of funds and massive shortfall became public thanks to Binance’s CZ’s due diligence and CoinDesk’s reporting.

FTX extended loans to Alameda using money that customers had deposited on the exchange for trading purposes, a decision that Bankman-Fried described as a “poor judgment call.”

All in all, FTX had $16 billion in customer assets, according to the person, so FTX lent more than half of its customer funds to its sister company Alameda.

As long as the crypto bubble was expanding, nobody got hurt.

But once crypto values crashed, it was inevitable that the whole scam would come crashing down really hard.

Yesterday, I stated that FTX would be going to zero.  Well, less than 24 hours later Sequoia actually “marked its own investment down to $0”…

FTX now faces bankruptcy and one of its early backers, Sequoia, has essentially declared the firm worthless after it marked its own investment down to $0.

Heavy hitters all over Wall Street are facing billions upon billions of dollars in losses.

You would think that would be enough to set off a wave of panic on Wall Street, but what we got was a mindless buying frenzy instead.

Meanwhile, we continue to get more numbers about our new housing crash that are absolutely jaw-dropping.

For example, we just learned that U.S. homeowners lost a whopping 1.3 trillion dollars in home equity last quarter…

U.S. homeowners lost $1.3 trillion, or 7.6 percent, in home equity in the third quarter, the largest quarterly decline on record, according to the mortgage software and analytics company Black Knight.

Following the unprecedented real estate boom of the past two years, signs of a slowing housing market are beginning to emerge.

We haven’t seen anything like this since 2008, and it is because the Federal Reserve has been dramatically raising interest rates.

If you can believe it, mortgage rates have now been above 7 percent for three weeks in a row…

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) increased to 7.14% from 7.06%, with points increasing to 0.77 from 0.73 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment.

“Mortgage rates edged higher last week following news that the Federal Reserve will continue raising short-term rates to combat high inflation. The 30-year fixed rate remained above 7 percent for the third consecutive week, with increases for most loan types,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s deputy chief economist.

The auto industry is also being hit really hard.

At this point, auto loan delinquencies are already the highest that they have been “in more than a decade”, and it is probably inevitable that they will continue to go much higher…

Auto loan delinquencies have risen to the highest level in over 10 years, according to TransUnion.

TransUnion tracks more than 81 million auto loans in the United States. According to the consumer credit reporting agency, 1.65% of auto loans were at least 60 days delinquent in the third quarter. That is the highest rate for 60-day-plus delinquencies in more than a decade.

For even more numbers that show that the U.S. economy is rapidly heading in the wrong direction, please see my previous article entitled “11 Signs That Economic Activity Is Plunging Off A Cliff”.

But all of the troubling figures that I just shared with you didn’t really matter on Thursday.

Instead, what mattered was the fact that the new inflation number was just slightly lower than anticipated…

The consumer price index rose less than expected in October, an indication that while inflation is still a threat to the U.S. economy, pressures could be starting to cool.

The index, a broad-based measure of goods and services costs, increased 0.4% for the month and 7.7% from a year ago, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics release Thursday. Respective estimates from Dow Jones were for rises of 0.6% and 7.9%.

Ironically, nothing has really changed.

Inflation is still wildly out of control, and the overall economy is still plunging into a major downturn.

We are potentially facing a “stagflation” crisis that will be far worse than anything that we experienced back in the 1970s, but Wall Street doesn’t seem to care.

On Thursday, everyone was buying, and stock prices shot through the roof…

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1,201.43 points, or 3.7%, to 33,715.37 for its biggest one-day gain since stocks were emerging from the depths of the pandemic bear market. The S&P 500 jumped 5.54% to 3,956.37 in its biggest rally since April 2020. The Nasdaq Composite surged 7.35%, its best since March 2020, closing at 11,114.15.

So what is it going to take to finally end this absolutely absurd bubble?

A major war in the Middle East?

A war with China?

Sadly, both of those wars are definitely coming.

But when more war does break out, investors may interpret it as really good news since it might mean that the Fed will soon start reducing interest rates.

That is how crazy things have become.

Apparently, nothing really matters except for the Fed, and every piece of bad news is going to be interpreted as a sign that the Fed may change course on raising rates.

So for now we are stuck in Bizarro World, and for the moment ignorance is bliss.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post Bad News Is Good News – Wall Street Greatly Celebrates The Latest Economic And Financial Disasters appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Missouri preppers face many of the same threats as anyone else in America: civil collapse, EMP, natural disasters, etc. However,…

This article %Missouri Preppers – What You Need to Know% appeared first on %SHTF Blog – Modern Survival%.

There was most definitely a “red wave” on Tuesday.  But it was not the sort of “red wave” that most Republicans were expecting.  Instead of a national “bloodbath”, the Republican Party greatly exceeded expectations in just one state.  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis beat Charlie Crist by a whopping 19 points, and several other Republican candidates won by double digit margins as well.  Florida is now being called a “red state”, but just four years ago it was considered to be a purple state.  In fact, in 2018 DeSantis defeated Andrew Gillum by just 0.4 percentage points.  So what has changed?  And why was there a “red wave” in Florida but not in other states?

I’ll definitely answer those questions.

But first, let’s take a moment to appreciate the magnitude of the victory that we just witnessed in Florida.  One Florida news source actually used the term “red tsunami” to describe what just happened…

Landslide. Red tsunami. Bloodbath.

Call it what you will, Republicans overwhelmed Democrats in Tuesday’s elections in Florida.

It wasn’t just DeSantis that absolutely pulverized his opponent.  In race after race, we witnessed blowouts on a scale that we usually never see in Florida…

On Tuesday evening, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis handily beat former Governor Charlie Crist, Attorney General incumbent Ashley Moody beat former State Attorney Aramis, Florida’s CFO winner was incumbent Jimmy Patronis, and the state’s new Agriculture Commissioner will be Wilton Simpson.

On the national front, Sen. Marco Rubio beat hometown favorite Rep. Val Demings.

All of these winners are Republicans, and all won by about a 17-20% margin.

As a result of this election, Democrats will not have a single statewide officeholder for the very first time in modern history.

In addition, Republicans were able to pick up three seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

And voters also gave Republicans a supermajority in the Florida House of Representatives and a supermajority in the Florida Senate.

Now that is what I call a “red wave”.

But it is so important to remember that it wasn’t always this way in Florida.

In fact, Democrats came agonizingly close to winning the race for governor each of the last three times…

Democrats had come close in 2010, 2014 and 2018, losing by narrower margins each time. DeSantis defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum by just 0.4 points after having trailed in most polls.

Obviously, something changed dramatically between 2018 and 2022 in Florida.

If there had been a national “red wave”, it would have been really easy to dismiss what just took place in Florida because similar election results would have been coming in from all over the country.

Needless to say, that isn’t what happened, and the media really took note of the fact that we were “only seeing this red wave in Florida”…

“This time, the pollsters underestimated,” News 6 Political Analyst Dr. Jim Clark said. “What’s striking to me is that it looks like we’re only seeing this red wave in Florida. It doesn’t seem to be as big a sweep across the country.”

So what made Florida so different from other key battlegrounds?

It is actually very simple.

This year, Florida greatly strengthened their election laws.  The following comes from an official announcement about the election integrity bill that Governor DeSantis signed back in April…

Today, Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill (SB) 524, Election Administration, to ensure that Florida continues to have secure and accurate elections. This legislation will strengthen election security measures by requiring voter rolls to be annually reviewed and updated, strengthening ID requirements, establishing the Office of Election Crimes and Security to investigate election law violations, and increasing penalties for violations of election laws. To read more about the bill, click here.

“Twenty years ago, nobody thought Florida was a prime example of how to conduct elections, but we have become a national leader by running the most secure elections in the country,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “We need to do more to ensure our elections remain secure. We have ended ballot harvesting, stopped drop boxes and the mass mailing of ballots, and banned Zuckerbucks, and this bill will give us more resources to make sure bad actors are held accountable.”

Officials in Florida are showing the rest of the nation how elections should be run.

The most important thing that they did was to end ballot harvesting.  In many states, it is literally legal for anyone to collect and return a voter’s mail ballot.  There are some areas where this is practiced on an industrial scale, and that is a massive problem.

In the past, those that have engaged in ballot harvesting have often preferred to dump collected ballots into unguarded drop boxes.  Officials in Florida have now severely restricted the use of drop boxes, and that was the second most important change that they made.

Now that Florida elections have been cleaned up, the results in 2022 looked completely different than they did in 2018.

But in other states where election laws were not changed, the results in 2022 looked very much like they have in past elections.

In the aftermath of his blowout victory, the New York Post is suggesting that Ron DeSantis is “DeFuture” of the Republican Party…

The New York Post didn’t waste any time. The cover of the tabloid Wednesday blared “DeFuture,” with a picture of DeSantis and his family. DeSantis’ rout Tuesday of Crist will only add fuel to the speculation about whether he will run for the White House in 2024 — and take on former President Donald Trump in the GOP primary. Trump could announce his candidacy as early as next week.

It will be very interesting to see if DeSantis decides to run against Trump.

But as we have just seen, Republicans should be far more concerned about the rules of the game than they are about specific candidates.

The integrity of our elections is of paramount importance, and my hope is that more Americans will start to realize this.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post There Was A “Red Wave” In One State appeared first on End Of The American Dream.

Why is the number of preppers growing so rapidly?  Prior to the pandemic, somewhere around 2 or 3 percent of all Americans were preppers, but now that figure has shot up to about 10 percent.  Needless to say, the pandemic certainly put a good scare into a lot of people, but now it has largely passed and so you would think that interest in prepping would subside.  But instead, the prepping community just continues to grow.  On a very basic level, most of us understand that the party is ending and most of us can feel that something really big is coming.  In 2023 and beyond, there will be more war, more economic turmoil, more famines, more pestilences and more historic natural disasters.  In such an environment, it will pay to be prepared.

Not too long ago, the mainstream media openly mocked those that were preparing for the meltdown of society.

They were labeled “doomsday preppers” or “survivalists”, and entire television shows were created to make fun of them.

But now everything has changed.  In fact, 60 Minutes just did a story in which they portrayed preppers as just ordinary people from all walks of life…

If you hear the term “survivalist” and it conjures images of militants and conspiracy theorists— residing on the fringes and on compounds, armed to the teeth—well, it’s time to reset your doomsday clock. A worldwide community of preppers – those who stockpile goods and skill-up for extreme catastrophes – is girding less for the end of days, than for a disaster that calls for taking cover. A climate emergency, civil unrest, the possibility of a dirty bomb, to say nothing of a global pandemic that suddenly shuts down the world. It was COVID that turned abstract apocalyptic scenarios into a reality. Modern preppers come at it from all angles and for all kinds of reasons. We went high and low, talking to a few of the millions of Americans who have joined the movement.

To me, the most interesting part of the story was when they talked to a man that worked for the Obama administration named John Ramey.  Since that time, Ramey has become quite a prepper himself, and he told 60 Minutes that at this stage approximately 10 percent of all Americans are now preppers…

We think about 15 million Americans are actively prepping right now. In terms of percentage of households, we are at or about to cross 10% of all households. And just a few years ago, that was 2% or 3%.

In the old days, the vast majority of preppers were conservatives.

But these days a lot of liberals are now prepping.

And even a lot of those liberals do not believe that the government will be able to handle the sort of apocalyptic scenarios that are rapidly approaching.  The following is one exchange from the 60 Minutes story that illustrates this point…

Jon Wertheim: If there’s some kind of catastrophe, to what extent do you trust the government?

Heidi Keller: I’m not gonna down the government. I mean, they do the best that they can. But pretty much the government’s not gonna take care of you, not because they may not want to, but because there’s too much going on. That’s common sense.

What Heidi Keller said is quite true.

The government is not some all-powerful entity that can shield us from all harm.

When things start getting really bad out there, a lot of people are only going to be able to turn to themselves for assistance.

Recently, one mainstream publication called “Big Think” put out an article that contained eight statements that are meant to help you determine if you are a prepper or not…

1. I have stockpiled food and water to survive a potential major disaster.

2. I have stockpiled weapons to survive a potential major disaster.

3. I have stockpiled equipment and materials to survive a potential major disaster.

4. I regularly think through in my mind ways to survive a potential major disaster.

5. I have thought through who would be in my survival group.

6. I know where I could get more supplies to survive a potential major disaster.

7. I have a plan I could put into operation to survive a potential major disaster.

8. I have attended survival courses to help me get through a potential major disaster.

For each statement, you are supposed to give yourself a score from one to five.

According to the article, the average score is 19.  So if you gave yourself a score that is well above 19 that strongly indicates that you are probably a prepper.

Earlier today, I came across a news story which explained that the total number of people in the world is about to hit eight billion…

The world’s population is set to hit eight billion next week in a key milestone for humanity, according to the United Nations.

The UN Population Division said that the population will continue to grow in the decades to come, with life expectancy set to increase to an average of 77.2 years by 2050.

By November 15, the number of humans on Earth will grow to eight billion, more than three times higher than the 2.5 billion global headcount in 1950.

Not all of those eight billion people will make it through what is ahead.

In fact, there are some people that believe that most of them will die by the time this decade is over.

Could you imagine what our world would look like if that actually happened?

The truth is that we got really lucky with the pandemic that we just went through, because the death toll was relatively low.

In the future, we could easily see pestilences that kill hundreds of millions of people.

And we are also now closer to nuclear war than we have ever been before.

In addition, the United Nations is publicly warning that “multiple famines” are likely in the coming year.

We live in such troubled times, and more people than ever are getting prepared for apocalyptic scenarios.

If you are not a prepper yet, I would very much encourage you to start doing the same.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post As Doomsday Approaches, It Is Being Estimated That Approximately 10 Percent Of All Americans Are Now “Preppers” appeared first on End Of The American Dream.