This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog.
We haven’t seen survey results like this since just before the last recession. Right now, 60 percent of Americans believe that a recession is “very or somewhat likely in the next year”, and the reason why that figure is so high is because there is already a tremendous amount of evidence that the economy is slowing down all around us.
As I have been documenting repeatedly, U.S. economic performance has not been this dismal since 2008 and 2009, and the slowdown seems to be gaining pace as we move toward the end of 2019. So it really shouldn’t be a surprise that a solid majority of the country thinks that the next recession will officially begin very soon. The following comes from ABC News…
Ratings of the U.S. economy overall, 56% positive, are down from 65% last fall in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates. Most ominously, 60% see a recession as very or somewhat likely in the next year. That’s within sight of the 69% who said so in November 2007, in advance of the Great Recession.
But at the same time, U.S. consumers continue to pile up more debt at a frightening pace.
According to NBC News, total revolving credit shot up at an 11.25 annual pace during the month of July…
According to the Federal Reserve’s consumer credit tracker, revolving credit — a category in which credit card debt predominates — increased at an annualized rate of 11.25 percent in July, the most recent month for which data is available.
“In terms of revolving debt, we see spikes like this every so often, but they don’t jump by double digits all that much,” said Matt Schulz, chief industry analyst at CompareCards. Typically, big jumps occur around the holidays, though — not in July.
If a severe economic downturn really is coming, the smart thing to do would be to get out of credit card debt.
But these days Americans have been trained to be very short-term thinkers. And when things start to get tight, it is really easy to put expenses on a credit card and worry about them later. This is something that I did when I was a much younger man, and it is something that millions of American families all over the nation are doing right now.
When the money simply isn’t there, it is just so tempting to whip out a credit card. But credit card debt is one of the most insidious forms of debt because of the high interest rates most credit card companies charge. And at this moment credit card companies are jacking up rates to a degree that we haven’t seen in many years…
WalletHub says average credit card APRs for people with good credit and business credit cardholders — at 20.9 percent and 18.5 percent, respectively — are the highest they’ve been since it began tracking rates in 2010.
For people with less than stellar credit, even those rates might be out of reach, McClary said. For example, a new applicant with a credit score in the low 600s might be offered an APR of about 22 percent, he said.
Unfortunately, the more debt that you accumulate, the less likely it becomes that you will ever start building up a substantial wealth of your own.
Today, tens of millions of Americans are deep in debt and are working exceedingly hard to make other people rich. And this is one of the biggest reasons why well over half the nation is currently living in “asset poverty”…
Many Americans claim they simply don’t earn enough money to build any type of savings account or amass any meaningful financial assets. Now, a troubling study out of Oregon State University finds some definite statistical truth to these sentiments, concluding that over 63% of American children and 55% of Americans live in “asset poverty.”
In other words, most Americans are living right on the edge financially, and that is a very dangerous place to be. If you are not familiar with the term “asset poverty”, the following is a pretty good definition…
Asset poverty means having few or no financial assets to fall back on in the event of a financial calamity, such as losing one’s job or encountering a medical crisis. Some examples of common financial assets are vehicles, houses, savings accounts, and investments. Without these assets, weathering a financial crisis is extremely difficult.
When you really don’t have any real wealth of your own, you are essentially living paycheck to paycheck, and a single major setback can be absolutely disastrous.
In America today, financial difficulties are one of the biggest reasons why so many of us are completely stressed out, and the next recession hasn’t even officially begun yet.
But with each day we continue to get more numbers that tell us that big trouble is on the way. For example, we just learned that the U.S. lost 4,500 trucking jobs last month…
The trucking industry has been battling challenging circumstances so far in 2019 – which includes the loss of thousands of positions last month.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the industry lost 4,500 jobs between July and August.
And of course, trucking companies continue to go bankrupt at a staggering pace. According to Business Insider, more than 600 trucking companies have already gone bankrupt so far this year…
Indicators from the trucking industry have been sour in 2019. In the first half of the year, around 640 trucking companies went bankrupt, according to industry data from Broughton Capital LLC. That’s more than triple the number of bankruptcies from the same period last year — about 175.
Sometimes people think that I exaggerate when I warn people about what is coming. But the truth is that I am not exaggerating at all. If anything, I feel frustrated that I am not able to effectively communicate how bad it will actually be when things start to get really crazy.
As a nation, we have been making incredibly bad decisions for decades, and we have been running in the exact opposite direction of where we should be headed as fast as we can.
In life, all decisions have consequences, and we are going to pay an extraordinarily high price for our exceedingly foolish decisions.
For the moment, things are relatively quiet. But that quietness will not last for much longer.
Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News.
Credit card debt is the worst.
Paying interest is immoral. It’s a sin. It goes against nature. It goes against the natural flow. When you get something and pay for it then and there, that’s the end of it. You walk away with peace of mind. But when you put it on a credit card you give away a piece of yourself. Your mind is subconsciously attached to that transaction until it is paid in full. It ages you prematurely. It saps your energy. It shortens your life.
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Honeypot, I totally agree. I’ve never made enough money to even worry about credit so I don’t use it for anything. Most of my personal transactions are cash and at local sources. I do as little online shopping as possible and even that is with a debit card. I’ve been debt-free my whole life. Even my vehicles are bought with cash only. I’ve got enough food, water, and other supplies to last me for the next 5 years. I’ve got plenty of peace of mind.
Speaking of cash and vehicles, I sold my polaris 4 wheeler and got me a Yamaha rhino. After researching problems with different brands I decided that yamaha was the best. Got a good deal (2000 under average retail) for 4K it came with full roll cage. back seat, full windshield, roof, full steel skidplates, cv boot protectors, 8 ply tires, performance ignition, new belt, new clutch, brush guard, to name a few. The only thing is it’s carborated but it has an electric fuel pump which cures any fuel feed issues. Much better than paying 14K for a new one with all those features. Patience and cash pays well!
bought my 2019 tacoma paid cash. pay myself a payment with interest every month. $589 a month in my pocket not the finance companys works for me.
Can’t you turds see that this site is a Russian/ant-iAmerica front?
SHTF=Soros Hires, totally f*cked up!
SW, uh, did you get up on the wrong side of bed this morning?
PUTIN FOR PRESIDENT! 😀
Bartender, bring me a White Russian, and make sure this one is ticklish…….
Hillary complaining about Putin is kind of like Hitler complaining about Stalin.
Remember: In the investing world, the majority is always wrong.
Groupthink….. it’s a no brainer.
It’s not if, but WHEN a recession is coming. Boom and bust cycles are as far back as recorded human history.
I pay off my cards at the end of the month…I use the bank’s money……
Thats a dumb reply. If you pay it back it’s your money right? Why would anyone who has the cash to pay off a card every month even use a card? Maybe they like the idea of everything they buy tracked and everywhere they shop tracked, and having card info hacked, having a profile made of their habits and travels. Sounds like a brilliant idea HUH?
Genius
“Why would anyone who has the cash to pay off a card every month even use a card?”
1. A Credit Card is necessary to buy on line. Using a debit is dangerous as if you get ripped off your out your money. I have had the Credit Card company intercede on several occasion.
2. Travel, booking rooms and the like.
3. Sometimes you want an immediate record of payment.
4. Some recurring charges. Using your checking account routing number is potentially dangerous. Hack the credit card and it’s the banks problem.
Exploit credit card companies all you can.
AAA offers a card that gives me a 2% discount on gasoline. I shop for the cheapest in town, I use the card companies money while the money makes 1.5% in a bank. So by using that card I’m getting a 2.5 % discount.
Discover is an easy one that gives you 1.5% back on all purchases. They also rotate special extra discounts quarterly, including an extra percent off on groceries, Amazon, and restaurants. Sign up for them.
I have another card that gives 2% off all purchases.
And yes, I pay all credit card bills on time. I paid interest just once in the last 20 years, I was out of the country on vacation for three weeks and was four days overdue with one card. It cost me $30, a bargain. Last year I put three new HVA systems in the house using the 2% back card and got back hundreds, on top of the cash back rebate from the state because I put in the most efficient units that passed my analysis.
Never pass up a rebate, always clip coupons, and always pay off your debt. Secured loans, people need to just stop buying oversized cars and houses they can’t afford. Be practical and pay it off as fast as you can.
Still have some cash on hand for the day the US ATM system goes down for a couple weeks. If the ATM system ever does go down, use that cash to stock up on canned food immediately. It may be a false alarm, if so you may need to eat a lot of canned food either way, oh the agony.
I see what your saying K2 and ptpo, If you value cheap over privacy then that’s your deal. I don’t fly or rent hotels etc. I do use a motel sometimes when working which I pay cash for and every other motel I have ever used took debit card for holding a room and when I check in I pay cash. I have had my debit card hijacked 2 times and the bank ate the transactions. I refuse to shop walmart, amazon, and others because I value my privacy and do not fund my enemies whenever possible. Cheap shit and special deals are for cattle with no care about their privacy or the funding of their enemies. Voting with your wallet is a lot more powerful than the phony rigged ballot box. I don’t have a smart phone and refuse to have any “smart” appliance in my home. Ya they have data on me but I keep it to a minimum. If people would vote with their wallets, these credens would be out of business. If people refused to use fed reserve notes as money, 90% of our problems would disappear….