This report was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse
America’s long-term “balance sheet numbers” just continue to get progressively worse. Unfortunately, since the stock market has been soaring and the GDP numbers look okay, most Americans assume that the U.S. economy is doing just fine. But the stock market was soaring and the GDP numbers looked okay just prior to the great financial crisis of 2008 as well, and we saw how that turned out. The truth is that GDP is not the best measure for the health of the economy. Judging the U.S. economy by GDP is basically like measuring the financial health of an individual by how much money he or she spends, and I will attempt to illustrate that in this article.
If I went out right now and got a whole bunch of new credit cards and started spending money like there was no tomorrow, would that mean that my financial condition had improved?
No, in fact it would mean that my long-term financial condition just got a whole lot worse.
GDP is a measurement of how much economic activity is happening in our society, and it is basically an indication of how much money is changing hands.
But just because more money is changing hands does not mean that things are going well. What really matters is what is happening to assets and liabilities. In other words, is wealth being built or is more debt just being accumulated?
Sadly, there are only a handful of bright spots in our economy. A couple of very large tech companies such as Apple are accumulating wealth, but just about everywhere else you look debt is growing at an unprecedented pace. Household debt has never been higher, corporate debt has doubled since the last financial crisis, state and local government debt is at record highs, and the U.S. national debt is wildly out of control.
If I went out tomorrow and spent $20,000 with a bunch of new credit cards, I could claim that my “personal GDP” was soaring because I was spending a lot more money then before. But my boasting would be pointless because in reality I would just be putting my family in an extremely precarious financial position.
Economic growth that is produced by continually increasing amounts of debt is not a positive thing. I wish that more people understood this very basic concept. The following are 10 numbers that prove that America’s current financial condition is a horror show…
#1 U.S. consumer credit just hit another all-time record high. In the second quarter of 2008, total consumer credit reached a grand total of 2.63 trillion dollars, and now ten years later that number has soared to 3.87 trillion dollars. That is an increase of 48 percent in just one decade.
#2 Student loan debt has surpassed 1.5 trillion dollars for the first time ever. Over the last 8 years, the total amount of student loan debt has shot up 79 percent in the United States.
#3 According to the Federal Reserve, the credit card default rate in the U.S. has risen for 7 quarters in a row.
#4 One recent survey found that 42 percent of American consumers paid their credit card bill late “at least once in the last year”, and 24 percent of Americans consumers paid their credit card bills late “more than once in the last year”.
#5 Real wage growth in the United States just declined by the most that we have seen in 6 years.
#6 According to one recent study, the “rate of people 65 and older filing for bankruptcy is three times what it was in 1991”.
#7 We are in the midst of the greatest “retail apocalypse” in American history. At this point, 57 major retailers have announced store closings so far in 2018.
#8 The size of the official U.S. budget deficit is up 21 percent under President Trump.
#9 It is being projected that interest on the national debt will surpass half a trillion dollars for the first time ever this year.
#10 Goldman Sachs is projecting that the yearly U.S. budget deficit will surpass 2 trillion dollars by 2028.
And I haven’t even talked about unfunded liabilities. Those are essentially future commitments that we have made that we don’t have the money for at the moment.
According to Professor Larry Kotlikoff, our unfunded liabilities are well in excess of 200 trillion dollars right now.
If individuals, corporations, state and local governments and the federal government all stopped going into more debt, we would plunge into the greatest economic depression in U.S. history immediately.
The system is deeply, deeply broken, and the only way that we can keep this debt bubble going is go keep accumulating even more debt.
Anyone out there that believes that the U.S. economy has been “fixed” is completely deceived. NOTHING has been fixed. Instead, our long-term financial imbalances are getting worse at an escalating pace.
Unfortunately, the attitude of the general public is so similar to what it was just prior to the great financial crisis of 2008. Most people seem to assume that just because we have not experienced great consequences for our very foolish decisions up to this point that no great consequences are coming.
And many also assume that since control of the White House has switched parties that somehow things must magically be better as well.
Of course the truth is that the only way that our long-term problems are ever going to be fixed is if we start addressing the issues that caused those long-term problems in the first place, and that simply is not happening.
As I have traveled extensively over the course of the past year, I discovered that most Americans do not want to make fundamental changes to the system, because they are under the illusion that the current system is working just fine. So it will probably take another major crisis before most people are ready to consider fundamental changes, and when it finally arrives we will need to be ready to educate the public.
The system that we have today is not fundamentally sound at all. We desperately need to return to the values and principles that this nation was founded upon, but until things start getting really, really bad it is highly unlikely that the American people will be ready to embrace those changes.
***
Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.
Michael T. Snyder is a graduate of the University of Florida law school and he worked as an attorney in the heart of Washington D.C. for a number of years.Today, Michael is best known for his work as the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and The American Dream.
If you want to know what is coming and what you can do to prepare, read his latest book [amazon text=Get Prepared Now!: Why A Great Crisis Is Coming & How You Can Survive It&asin=150522599X].
hard to argue with FACTS. we do appreciate your always linking to facts you talk about in your articles, michael!
BTW, today is last day of sale at vallarta markets in so cal. to get 5 cans of tomato sauce free for every can of spam, which costs 1.99, which is a good price, all on it’s own. spam is a good shtf food, but don’t stack it too high, i hear those pop-top cans won’t survive stacking very high. tomato sauce is also a great shtf food. that is like getting that spam for a dollar!
Alen Greenspan, Former Fed Chairman: “We can pay any debt or bill, No Problem, Just Print More Money.”
Ron Paul, “Mr Green Span, is Gold Money?”
Greenspan, “NO,” Gold has been horded for intrinsic value only, because its pretty and shiny, you now like a trinket. We like trinkets, lots of shiny trinkets.. Most Nations like trinkets, and will trade anything for these shiney trinket like Oil.. Certainly Gold is not Money, unlike our valuable debt reserve notes. That’s real money you can buy what ever you want with it. Because we are the money changers and God’s chosen people to print money. You can’t print money just ask JFK, especially based and backed on shiny trinkets like Silver. God likes out money because it says right on the note, In God we trust. So that’s your proof its real money.
Just kidding. You get the point. BWT/ 4 out 5 Gods choose Jif Peanut Butter over other leading brands. That’s real peanut butter too, just like our money.
Butt:
Thanks for reminding me. Sauce with tomato will rot thru the can or cover. But a years worth is a good idea.
It’s easy to grow tomato and make your own sauce.
Blanch (drop tomato in boiling water for 3 seconds) cool, peel off skin. Cut tomato into small pieces and cook for several hours. Add spices (dried or fresh onion, garlic, parsley, oragano, fennel seed, rosemary, basil, or Italian blend spice) cook additional half hour, if desired add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to carmelize tomato, add salt and pepper to taste and also both salt and sugar are natural antibacterial food preservers.
Eat fresh and bottle can left overs.
Add vegetables such as sweet peppers, mushrooms, etc. to make variety choices. Add Italian sausage (pork ?) to some. Beef neck bones to some. Meatballs to some. Combination of all.
You cook sausage and meatballs separately before adding to sauce. Neck bones can be cooked entirely in the sauce for non-vegetarian meat sauce.
Cooked tomato has more of the vitamin which protects eyes against degeneration than raw tomato. Both cooked and raw, tomato is a superfood.
Grow zucchini. It is easy. Has lots of water content and goes well with sauce, either added to the sauce itself; or as a side dish (dip in egg, breadcrumbs, Olive Oil & bake); or as part of a salad. Just diced or sliced tomato and/or zucchini with a drizzle of olive oil and salt & pepper can substitute for a complete salad.
If SHTF or not, we still need to eat.
Nice to see you are still around, Butt. Don’t be such a stranger.
_ the recipe for sauce is in honor of your Italian wife.
I’m out-a-here.
_
“”” Sauce with tomato will rot thru the can or cover”””
You’re so funny…or I have magic tomato sauce.
The best by date on the oldest is June, 2014. It’s fine.
No metallic taste at all when used.
Jay-jay:
That’s great. But, seriously. Look it up for yourself. You must be cautious because the high acidity can cause rapid corrosion. I’ve also kept cans for a long time after the expiration date. I check for swelling of the lid and anything that looks like rust.
_
Jay, like B said, tomatoes in cans don’t store well. I’ve thrown many out for corrosion and bulged lids. The acid does eat metal.
thank you for the kind words, B….i DO try to keep my mouth shut unless i can contribute to shtfplan in a positive way. while it’s true that i threw away 2 cans of tomato sauce that were over 6 years old(as i recall), because they were swelled to the point the tops “popped”up, i just a month ago made spaghetti sauce from that same case that didn’t pop up yet.that was a teaching moment for my 2 teenage sons, BTW… i often use canned food that’s over 5 years old. the only other cans i’ve ever lost was fruit cocktail, and it was over 5 years old too. MY hamburger tomato sauce has italian seasoning, garlic salt, chili powder, and onions in it, and yes, some italian sausage is a great addition…add some toast(home-made bread, hopefully) with butter and garlic salt, and you got a great EYEtalian meal! great stuff right there. and i am happy to hear YOU are still here, B! you are one of the group that makes shtfplan STILL worth reading…..oh, and the italiono wife was kicked to the curb YEARS ago….just another closet liberal.
here’s a recipe for some good bread by another great contributor.
Nailbanger says:
I put eggs in the dough if i want it fluffy,, made a pizza last night and baked the remainder of dough into a couple baguettes and flat bread,,, made basic recipe
6-7 cups flour
3 cups warm water
2 TBS yeast
1.5 TBS salt
1/2cup olive oil
1/2 cup italian seasoning
Mixed it in my mixer,
Let it set,
30 minutes
Rolled out pizza crust
After dinner just covered it and left it over night
This morning made rest of bread,,
I add eggs and sugar and butter and leave out the seasonings and olive oil and make cinnamon rolls with same dough, or add 1 cup butter and 8 eggs and make a nice brioche
and why not put up my food list while i’m at it..like a hundred vetrinarians chained to eachother at the bottom of the ocean, it’s a place to START…. a few things I THINK are important to surviving when the time comes, and the premise will be that you will stay in place, fighting off a few desperadoes occasionally….but no serious “army” rolling over your place(it’s a real leap, i know)…so here’s what i want, to be able to survive…keep in mind SOME items have MANY uses, and you might not realize how important some of them are.
remember, it will be SO DANGEROUS to drink water when there’s no clean water from the tap left, so concentrate on canned food with water/moisture in it, so you don’t have to drink as much.
macaroni
rice
pinto beans
canned fruit like peaches, fruit cocktail, pears, apricots
peanut butter
tomatoes and tomatoe sauce
cornmeal
flour
sugar, brown sugar
tabasco sauce
oats
BBQ sauce
popcorn and seasoning
olives, black
canned chilli
canned soups…my favorite, cream of mushroom
milk, dried, evaporated, and condensed
cake mix, 7up or sprite, and canned fruit…to make cobbler, apple or cherry is MY faves(google that)
canned veggies
honey
syrup
vinegar
shortening/corn oil
soy sauce…teriyake
beef/chicken bullion
baking soda, baking powder, yeast
salt
pepper, garlic salt, chilli powder, italian seasoning, cinnamon, ketchup, mustard mayo.
instant coffee, tea..creamer
hard candy, chocolate
tuna, spam(don’t stack it very high)
powdered eggs
well, that’s enough for now….u guys add to it and i will see if i want to add anything to MY stores…
Very similar to what I have for a list. I don’t care for Tabasco sauce but do like Worcestershire sauce for adding a bit of zip to a dish. My bean supply is quite varied as well. For canned meat, there is also chicken, etc.; just check that aisle in the grocery. Costco is a good place to stock up on canned items; not everything they sell comes in a 5 gal can or 50 gal barrel. 😀
long as you get the idea…..it will bore you to death, after a few months of eating bland food…..while the world starves,…..so put a lil SPICE in yer lives! oh, and MOST of MY prep foods come from the sale ads every week. when i see sumthin’ cheapest in years,…..i buy a hundred or two of ’em.
“The system that we have today is not fundamentally sound at all. We desperately need to return to the values and principles that this nation was founded upon …. ”
Agreed, but everyone fails to acknowledge one important FACT. Nibiru is passing, will pass in a few years. The proverbial CAN, can be kicked down the road until it does, at which time reality will reset the system.
We are talking about : a “new heaven” and a “new earth”.
The PTB know this, are preparing for this, HAVE been preparing for this for decades with taxpayer money, and will emerge from their bunkers and secure underground cities with what technology and armaments they have squirreled away and impose a new feudal system upon the survivors.
There will be two new species of humans then: Predator and Prey. 🙁
“but everyone fails to acknowledge one important FACT. Nibiru is passing, will pass in a few years.”
Will pass in a few years? But, wasn’t it suppose to show up last year, and the year before that? Talk about “kicking the can” down the road on the Nibiru subject. Why would it pass us in a few years, when these dopes who say they can see it, and claim it is hiding behind the sun, as if it was playing a cat and mouse game with us.
You sir, like the rest of these nibiru fanatics are delusional.
No I am not delusional. Like 1999, 2012 was suppose to be TEOTWAWKI. They weren’t. Now there are many Blood Moon Fanatics predicting the end of the world with every blood moon. Yes, there ARE many Nibiru fanatics. I am not one of them. Most of them are trying to get eyeballs to their youtube videos. I ain’t selling nothing.
Nibiru has always been an interesting idea since I read the 12th Planet decades ago. It makes a good “synthesis” to explain many of the mysteries and inconsistencies in earth’s physical and social history that are continuing to be exposed.
Photographic and video evidence is now available on the internet for those interested in the truth who are willing to keep an open mind and make their own, independent investigation. One should always be discerning about that “evidence”.
For me, it has been a recent conclusion and certainty after viewing photos and videos from FAA weather cams; including Australian weather cams. In particular I have watched a video of a large, striped planet grow ever larger over time, and even witnesed it rotate in a time lapse video that I found personally astounding. The difference in “size” of this visible planet from 2013 until now has been extraordinary in my view; meaning that it is coming closer.
Other planets, red, blue and green have also become visible too and they are also “growing” in size. Sundogs are a phenomena that can explain TWO SUNS in the sky, but Sun Dogs cannot mimic a large striped planet, looking like a video of Jupiter.
What the timeline might be exactly I don’t know, but given the visible “increase” in size since 2013, I give it three to five years before there is unmistakable physical evidence to convince the most ardent sceptic and terrify the most timid snowflake.
My advice to you, anonymous, is to take your head out of your ass and keep looking up !!! 🙂
Twenty-one years left on my mortgage. I hope I live long enough to pay off Bilk of America so I can die debt-free.
If you can’t afford a 15 year mortgage, you can’t afford the house. Why would anyone get a longer term mortgage than that?
Lots of reasons..don’t stretch yourself thin.
Many with those 30 year mortgages add an amount every month to the monthly and results same as 15 year.
BUT, if there is an unexpected or unbudgeted expense, no problem, just pay the set monthly.
By making a 13th house payment against the principal, on a standard 30year monthly mortgage, it is paid for in 22 years. If you have cash but worry about paying off your mortgage, get a 30 year and pay lots against the principal early on. Because in the first five years on amortization, you are mostly paying interest only with a tiny sliver on the principal.
Likewise if you save early and invest, that compounding early is what makes your pile grown. Very significant assets can be created by saving when you are twenty for a decade and then stopping versus starting at thirty and saving for thirty years.
Most young married people really are clueless about being frugal and saving money for retirement because it’s not a priority. And yet that is exactly when it is most beneficial.
“Real wage growth has declined”
The media,government reports say otherwise. Who is right?
If you have college age kids or grandkids, in two years of disciplined study in nursing, they can get an Associate’s degree. They also can get a three year degree with experience working for a medical center. Or they get a standard four years Bachelor’s degree in nursing and be set for future consideration in managment.
In all honesty, after five years on the job and cross training in two areas, even those with Associate degrees will most likely be offered supervisor positions.
Volunteer for infection control and working in mental wards as both have high demands.
No other occupation is so desperately needed. Why? Women often quit after seven years as they cannot handle the stress. Women get pregnant and need up to a year off or even elect to stay at home for five years. So a smart young mentally tough man can work literally as much overtime as he wants. He can work weekend option, which is Saturday and Sunday for a total of 24 hours and get paid for 40. Where else can a young person do that?
Like to travel? There are visiting RN positions where you go to big cities and work for a set time, but typically they try to recruit you to stay.
A large portion in five years end up becoming hired away in medical informatics which is nursing coupled with medical data. Others end up working as managers and others end up supervising nurses aids in home healthcare or nursing homes.
And there has been a desperate shortage since 1980, so much so that a steady stream of Filipino and Irish nurses have come to America to work. And they are not even making a dent in the dearth of nurses.
If they can get past the idea of men being nurses, then they could work in emergency nursing, surgical nursing, workin obstetrics or premies, etc. There are lots of different options besides working the floor and dispensing pills pre and post surgery.
Stop them from foolishly wasting their time in countless stupid occupations where the pay is low and not in demand.
Look it up. I can think of no easier path to success as long as you are mentally tough. It is not a job for weaklings as you may see huge amounts of dying patients in burn units, in cancer wards, malformed babies, shattered veterans with missing limbs and PTSD, etc.
However, if you genuinely are a compassionate but strong person, especially spiritually devout, there are few occupations where you can immediately see the fruits of your labor as well as being handsomely rewarded.
A smart young soldier should seriously consider a career in nursing. Having both skills is ideal for a prepper. And if you did work weekend option, that is a lot of free time for farming. You could really do well using this strategy and dovetail this with welding or electronics study or carpentry.
And since half the doctors are women, this might give you a chance to find a wife quite easily as lady doctors have a terrible time finding a husband. And they are often Christians in my region.
Just raise interests a reasonable amount, say 15 or 20 percent, and the problem is solved.
Like Rodney might say Americans get no respect, even Goodwill keeps raising the price of their donations. I cringe when every time they ask you to round up your purchase to the next dollar, Then I read the overwhelming amount of what most charities take in goes to upper management. The American way.
Most charities are designed to enrich the management just like other corporations in America. The American Cancer Society has been around for DECADES. No cure has every been sourced from their funding.
The CEO makes more than $1.2 million a year. 🙁
And the Red Cross ??? An even bigger scam. During the Northridge earthquake in SoCal, decades ago, it was revealed that the Cal Director made $400 thousand a year, and at that time the Nat’l Director made $800,000 a year !!!
Decades ago !!! 🙂
As you know, we are on FIAT PAPER money and Stocks. They took the Gold in 1933, signed us over to the Crowne Trust / British Crown (Queen Elizabeth II, Rothschild, etc.) and made us slaves. This is what your Birth Certificate is about. They took Title to your Body and Soul and there’s a Bond attached to it that is traded on the Bond Market. See Revelation 18:13 where it says they trade in bodies and souls of men! WOW!
God is going to remove their dominion over us. But, in these “End Times” the situation with the NWO/5th Beast Kingdom gets SO BAD that no flesh shall be saved (See Matthew 24:20-22) UNLESS the Lord comes and intervenes for us.
NOTICE:
But, we have to ASK Him to intervene for us as is told to us in Joel 2:12-20. See my video about this here and notice the part where I explain Joel chapter 2 verses 12-20 >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYIUA1qsATQ
https://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2018/08/13/normalizing-satanism-in-america-demon-statue-in-arkansas-state-capitol-satanic-highway-cleanup-in-indiana/
I read your link and it gave me the shivers.
I think money is the ‘Image of the Beast’ described in the Revelation.
And he does great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,(nukes)
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak,(money talks)
and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. (USD)
And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And that no man might buy or sell, (money is the medium) save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Revelation 13
Same author spewing same doom, gloom and woe; which by his own words should have happened years ago.
Dude, not you or anyone else knows what the future holds-give it up.
We r prepared. It might happen tonight or in 20 years. Who knows. In the meantime we r enjoying ourselves. Sitting on top of a mountain in our camper. Will head to the beach in the fall. We just don’t get more than full of gas away from home just in case. But we meet campers from all over the country. They are very brave. A lot of people are living in their campers. Have sold their homes and travel from campground to campground sometimes hosting to get free lodging. I have no idea what those people will do when SHTF.
Here’s my gauge. Back in 2005, Burger King used to have 2 for $4 whopper specials.
Now I see marquees that say 2 whoppers for $6 dollars. Inflation, yes. Strong dollar, no.
just last week i went by and saw the signs(of inflation), and thought the same dam thing!
The US government isn’t really going to “pay” half a trillion dollars in interest. They never pay any interest. They just add it to the loan. Before you could say they were paying interest you’d have to see the deficit be less than the interest.