There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
A federal “strike team” is descending upon California amid fears that California’s Unemployment Insurance program is mired in a swamp of fraud and improper payments.
“Financial issues and potential fraud in California’s unemployment insurance program will be fully examined. The previous administration turned a blind eye toward failing Labor programs: This ends now,” Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a Labor Department news release.
“Immediately, we are engaging a specialized strike team to uncover any potential fraud or abuse and quickly moving to protect the American worker and taxpayer,” she said.
“I look forward to restoring the California UI program’s integrity and financial health,” she said.
California’s Employment Development Department has been cited by the Labor Department for poor performance.
Further, California also has dipped into the UI trust fund, which holds state-collected payroll taxes to pay the state portion of unemployment benefits.
California has borrowed $21 billion from the federal government to keep its system afloat, which is triggering increased UI taxes for state workers.
The California state auditor ruled that the agency overseeing UI payments was a high-risk agency.
A recent audit report said that “EDD’s fraud prevention approach during the
pandemic was marked by significant missteps and inaction that led to billions of dollars in unemployment benefit payments that EDD later determined may have been fraudulent.”
“Further, we also reported that EDD has been unable to accurately quantify its inappropriate UI payments,” the report said.
“EDD is a high-risk agency because of its mismanagement of the UI program,” the audit said.
“Specifically, EDD is unable to reliably estimate improper payments under the UI program, thus adversely affecting the State’s financial statements as well as impairing efforts to independently evaluate the efficacy of EDD’s own fraud prevention activities,” the auditor wrote.
The report said “Substantial Fraud Risk Exists in EDD’s UI Program.”
“For example, the program did not block addresses used to file unusually high numbers of claims, and it removed a safeguard preventing payment to individuals who had unconfirmed identities,” the report said.
As a result, the report said, the department “allowed the payments of potentially fraudulent claims, estimated at tens of billions of dollars, most of which have yet to be recovered.”
California received about $290 billion in COVID relief, according to Fox News.
Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said nationally, he nearly $1 billion in taxpayer funds is “at risk” nationwide due to COVID-related UI fraud, noting that prepaid debit cards issued to be used for pandemic-era UI benefits had $720 million unspent on them.
“My office has warned that, absent swift action, U.S. taxpayers risk losing nearly a billion dollars in fraudulently obtained benefits,” D’Esposito said in a statement. “This is taxpayer money — and it demands immediate attention.”
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
JPMorgan Chase has formally admitted that it terminated more than 50 accounts connected to President Donald Trump and his business operations in the wake of the January 6th protest.
The admission came in court filings responding to a lawsuit filed by Trump and the Trump Organization.
The suit names JPMorgan and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, of debanking the president as part of an orchestrated political attack.
According to documents submitted to the court, the closures affected accounts tied to Trump hotels, real estate projects, and retail ventures in multiple states, as well as his longstanding private banking relationship.
That relationship had handled personal financial matters, including assets linked to his inheritance.
The bank’s internal correspondence, included in the filing, does not cite a specific violation or financial irregularity.
In a letter dated February 2021, JPMorgan informed Trump that he would need to “find a more suitable institution with which to conduct business.”
“Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter,” it concluded.
The lawsuit alleges the bank “needed to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political views,” effectively placing him on a blacklist.
“In essence, [JP Morgan] debanked plaintiffs’ accounts because it believed that the political tide at the moment favored doing so,” the lawsuit states.
Until now, JPMorgan had avoided directly confirming that it closed Trump’s accounts.
In previous statements, the bank dismissed the lawsuit as meritless and said it generally closes accounts that create “legal or regulatory risk for the company.”
“President Trump is standing up for all those wrongly debanked by JPMorgan Chase and their cohorts, and will see this case to a just and proper conclusion,” a Trump spokesperson told The New York Times.
🚨 JUST IN: President Trump SUES JPMorgan Chase and CEO Jamie Dimon for $5 BILLION because they de-banked him
JPMorgan recently asked that the case be transferred from the Florida state court to the federal court in New York in the hope that a liberal judge will dismiss the case.
“While we regret President Trump has sued us, we believe the suit has no merit,” a company spokesperson said at the time.
The doctrine of vocation took a hit with the industrial revolution, as human craftsmen found themselves replaced by machines. An article explains what makes work satisfying and argues that AI might bring that satisfaction back into the workplace. I question that.
Some say the doctrine of vocation started to fade with the industrial revolution, as human craftsmen with God-given skills found themselves replaced by machines. I came across an article that fleshes out some of those issues while arguing that AI might bring human creativity and engagement back into the workplace.
Adam Smith’s famous 18th-century pin factory visit gave him a glimpse of the future. Workers performing fragmentary tasks could produce tens of thousands of pins a day while one worker by himself might not be able to make even a single pin. The productive benefits were too obvious to resist. If the factory owner divides the labor in his factory into its smallest components, then production would multiply beyond measure. And multiply it did. The principle Smith observed would generate more material prosperity for society over the next two centuries than in all of human history before it. But Smith also saw a cost. The worker who spends his life performing “a few simple operations … naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such [exertion of his mind], and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become.” It was clear to him that the division of labor would enrich us and diminish our human faculties at the same time.
Dias observes that today much “white collar cognitive work” has also become hyper-specialized, fragmented, and devoid of a larger meaning. Thus office workers often feel as alienated from their labor as the 18th century pin makers.
In contrast, Dias cites what the French political theorist Yves R. Simon said about the kind of work that characterizes the family farm, using the Greek word for “master builder”:
Simon called this quality “architectonic function,” following Aristotle: the planning and governing of wholes rather than the mere execution of fragments. The farmer doesn’t execute tasks assigned by someone else. He plans the year. He reads the weather and the soil. He adjusts to nature’s resistance. He bears the consequences of his decisions. And he integrates everything he does around the needs of his household: real human goods rooted in the concrete life of his family. The work was communal as well as individual. The whole family labored together across seasons and generations, and the farmer’s daily encounter with the land kept him grounded in the physical world and its rhythms.
Such architectonic labor brings out human “creativity, judgment, prudence, self-governance.” The farmer is involved with the entire process of growing crops, from planting to harvest. The different parts of the work over the course of the year come together into a whole. Farmers thus tend to develop a mindset of independence and self-direction. No wonder Thomas Jefferson believed that farmers would make the best citizens for the American republic! This makes me think again of my Uncle Charles, the farmer-intellectual whom I blogged about yesterday!
Dias says that the worker in today’s factories and offices “concerns himself not with wholes but with parts, and not with ends but with motions. He is disconnected from the final product. His reasoning faculties go unused and his creativity is not merely unrewarded but actively suppressed. In Simon’s terms, he becomes a worker of parts rather than wholes, directed by distant experts and deprived of self-governance in his labor. He executes someone else’s plan without ever exercising the judgment required to form one of his own.”
It occurred to me that some occupations today are still “architectonic.” Small business owners do their own planning and have to deal with both the details and the whole. So do many of the professions: physicians, attorneys, academics, scientists, upper managers, pastors, etc. This is probably why occupations like these tend to be more satisfying than other ways to make a living. And why those in them sometimes say that “this isn’t my job, it’s my vocation.”
Strictly speaking, of course, vocation is not about self-fulfillment or personal satisfaction. It’s about loving and serving one’s neighbors. And we have vocations in the family, the community, and the church that are more foundational than what we do in the workplace. (Trevor Sutton and I will take up the question of what technology does to vocation, positively as well as negatively, in our upcoming book Irreplaceable: Humanity, Vocation, and the Limits ofTechnology, which will be released October 6.)
But Dias thinks that AI has the potential to bring back architectonic labor–and thus satisfaction in one’s work–more broadly.
AI is becoming a tool that lets people plan, direct, and execute complex projects, not by replacing their judgment but by amplifying their capacity to act on it. In a world where automation frees people from menial tasks, AI can help them pursue and achieve more ambitious projects of their own.
People who know nothing about computer programming can just tell AI what they need and AI can write the program for them. “What once required years of specialized training now lies within reach of anyone willing to learn how to direct these new instruments.” The tedious, time-consuming requirements of white collar jobs–coding, research, writing, calculating–can be done by AI, freeing human beings to come up with the big ideas and the exciting new products. “This is democratized intelligence, available to anyone,” says Dias. “The person selects the ends and AI executes the means. For the first time since the Industrial Revolution began, we may have instruments that could make architectonic work widely accessible again.”
Here I am skeptical. The world needs lots of farmers. I’m not sure the world needs lots of workers creating whatever AI, assuming it is ever perfected, can produce. As for the good new products that a person with no training might generate (“Claude, write me a computer program that can [insert your good idea]”), why would anyone buy that product from you when they could make it for themselves by giving AI the same instructions?
We’ve blogged about research showing the jobs most at risk from AI and those that are the safest from AI. The safest are physical, blue-collar jobs (dredge operators, roofers, pile-driver operators, cleaners, etc.). Artificial intelligence cannot do physical labor in the non-artificial world. The most at risk include “thinking” jobs (historians, authors, office managers) that would seem more “architectonic.” I’ve heard it said that with AI we won’t need as many surgeons. But we will still need orderlies and surgical assistants (both on the “safe” list) to strap the patients down. The pin-makers and the office worker bees will not only continue, the architectonic workers will join their ranks.
My fear is that AI will make the worker less architectonic, not more. “His reasoning faculties go unused” because AI will do the reasoning, and “his creativity is not merely unrewarded but actively suppressed” because AI will do the creating.
Do you remember the endless barrage of layoffs and store closings that we experienced during the Great Recession? Well, it is starting to happen again. All over the country, large employers are bringing down the axe really hard. For those that have been laid off, the outlook is not promising at all because competition for good jobs is extremely intense in this very tough economic environment. Meanwhile, stores and restaurants are being permanently shuttered at a blistering pace. We haven’t seen anything quite like this in many years. Of course a major economic meltdown is one of the 10 major trends that we have been anticipating. If a major war with Iran soon erupts, our economic meltdown will get a whole lot worse.
On Wednesday morning, approximately a third of all employees at the Washington Post were suddenly let go…
The Washington Post laid off about one in three employees across the company Wednesday morning, dealing another big blow to a newsroom that has reached a breaking point.
Post owner Jeff Bezos had no immediate comment about the cutbacks.
Bezos has been pushing the Post’s management team to return the publication to profitability, but many journalists at the paper have criticized his approach and questioned his motives.
One employee is describing the layoffs as “an absolute bloodbath”, but Jeff Bezos did not have much choice.
The Washington Post has been losing about 100 million dollars a year, and so something had to be done.
According to various sources, the Post is killing its sports and book sections, “suspending its Post Reports podcast, restructuring its metro section, and shrinking its international footprint.”
What does that leave?
Nothing.
I mean, nothing other than D.C.-centered political coverage and an editorial page. In other words, the Post is now a blog — another Politico or New Republic or National Review.
Needless to say, the Washington Post is not the only newspaper that is downsizing.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) announced Tuesday that it would be laying off newsroom employees along with other staff across the company, according to the outlet.
About 50 positions will be cut as part of the layoffs and roughly half are newsroom positions, according to the AJC, which is 15% of the paper’s total staff.
It is a tough time to be a journalist in 2026.
People just aren’t as interested in the news as they once were.
The tech industry is another sector where we are witnessing mass layoffs.
In Northern California, hundreds of Amazon workers are about to get canned. Interestingly, we are being told that exactly 666 jobs are going to be eliminated in Santa Clara County…
Amazon is planning a fresh round of layoffs that will slash hundreds of Bay Area corporate jobs this spring, according to new state filings.
Notices filed with the California Employment Development Department showed that 769 employees in San Francisco and Silicon Valley are scheduled to be laid off effective April 28, marking one of the company’s largest local reductions in months.
Most of the Bay Area cuts are concentrated in Santa Clara County, where Amazon plans to eliminate 666 jobs across offices in Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto. The largest clusters of job cuts are in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, where dozens of employees are being laid off at multiple facilities tied to engineering, product and corporate operations, according to the filings.
In Washington state, T-Mobile will be conducting yet another round of layoffs that will result in 393 workers losing their jobs…
T-Mobile is laying off 393 workers in Washington as part of a new round of cuts, according to a filing with the state Employment Security Department released Monday morning.
More than 200 different job titles are impacted, according to the filing, including analysts, engineers and technicians, as well as directors and managers.
The cuts targeted nearly 210 senior- and director-level employees, plus seven employees with vice president or senior vice president titles. They include a senior VP of talent and four VP of legal affairs roles.
The commercials that T-Mobile has been running make it appear that they are doing very well.
Apparently they are not doing as well as we were led to believe.
Pinterest said it fired two engineers who built an internal tool to track which employees had been laid off following a recent round of job cuts at the social media company.
The firings come about a week after the lifestyle app said it was cutting 15% of its staff as it invests in artificial intelligence. Pinterest, which had about 4,700 employees prior to the layoffs, said the restructuring should be complete by Sept. 30.
I could give you so many more examples, but let me give you just one more really big one.
Oracle is considering cutting 20,000 to 30,000 jobs and selling some of its activities as US banks pull back from financing the company’s AI data-center expansion, according to investment bank TD Cowen.
The job cuts would free up $8 billion to $10 billion in cash flow, TD Cowen said in a research report seen by CIO. Oracle is also weighing a sale of its health-care software unit, Cerner, which it acquired for $28.3 billion in 2022.
The measures come as multiple US banks have pulled back from Oracle-linked data-center project lending. “Both equity and debt investors have raised questions regarding Oracle’s ability to finance this buildout,” the report said.
Every day we learn of even more companies that are laying off workers.
And many workers that have already been laid off have not had any success in finding new employment even after applying for hundreds of jobs.
If you have been unemployed for an extended period of time, you know exactly what I am talking about.
Meanwhile, stores and restaurants continue to shut down all around us at a frightening rate.
Earlier today, we learned that the parent company of Eddie Bauer is preparing to file for bankruptcy. As a result, all Eddie Bauer stores could be permanently closed…
Eddie Bauer stores could be next on the chopping block.
Catalyst Brands, which owns the license to operate Eddie Bauer stores across North America, is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection, a source close to the matter told Fast Company.
The filing could cause the company to shutter all of its North American stores, the person said.
Overall, it is being projected that somewhere around 8,000 stores in the United States will close this year.
Personally, I think that it is quite likely that the final tally will be even higher than that.
Restaurant chains are also going belly up at a very alarming pace, and the latest victim is Bahama Breeze…
Darden Restaurants announced on Tuesday that it will close its Bahama Breeze chain after nearly 30 years in operation.
The Orlando-based company said it will permanently shut down 14 of Bahama Breeze’s 28 restaurants, while converting the remaining locations into other Darden brands.
Restaurants designated for permanent closure will continue operating through April 5, Darden said.
Just over two weeks into the new year, multiple fast-food and fast-casual chain restaurants across the United States have announced plans to downsize, with some stating they intend to focus resources on their stronger-performing stores.
Among the restaurants that have announced closures are Noodles & Company, Red Robin and Wendy’s.
Noodles & Company, in a Jan. 12 news release, confirmed it closed 33 company-owned restaurants and nine franchise restaurants in 2025. In the coming year, there will likely be 30 to 35 more closures, the company said.
I remember eating at a Red Robin a number of years ago when economic times were better.
It was a very pleasant experience.
But now everything is changing.
Our economy is literally being transformed right in front of our eyes, and the nightmare that we are now experiencing is still only in the very early chapters.
“Rising costs, tighter credit conditions, and ongoing geopolitical volatility continue to exert pressure on households and businesses already facing financial strain,” Amy Quackenboss, the executive director at the American Bankruptcy Institute, said earlier this month.
Unlike past downturns, this wave of bankruptcies appears to be hitting nearly every corner of the economy. It’s sweeping across a range of sectors in what one veteran bankruptcy attorney described as a strikingly “unusual” pattern.
A wide cross-section of industries
Typically, corporate failures tend to be “industry sticky,” meaning they cluster within the same sectors, Robert Stark, a partner at the law firm Brown Rudnick and chair of its bankruptcy and corporate restructuring practice group, recently told Business Insider.
In 2022, for example, he said there was the “big crypto winter” culminating in a string of cryptocurrency firm bankruptcies, including Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX.
“That was a sticky event — a lot in the industry kind of went through bankruptcy at the same time,” Stark said. “What we have now, which is the thing that I find kind of interesting, is I don’t see as much stickiness as I’m used to seeing.”
“Bankruptcies seem to be kind of all over the place,” added Stark, who represents creditor groups in the 2025 bankruptcies of auto parts company First Brands and fintech startup Linqto, as well as the equity committee in the Chapter 11 case of genetic testing company 23andMe.
Stark said that he can’t pinpoint a clear cause for the “broad smattering of industries” now in bankruptcy, but he called it “unusual” in his 30 years of experience and “shockingly so.”
High-profile bankruptcies
Major corporate bankruptcies this year have included hospitality company Sonder, Spirit Airlines, Del Monte Foods, retailer Claire’s, and CVS Health subsidiary Omnicare. Each, in court filings, listed more than $1 billion in liabilities, placing them among the largest bankruptcies of 2025.
According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, which tracks public and private companies of a certain size, bankruptcy filings climbed to 717 through November, topping last year’s tally of 687.
Even without December figures, 2025 has already logged the highest annual count for large corporate bankruptcies since 2010, when filings totaled 828, according to S&P Global.
Data from the intelligence firm shows that the industrials sector was the most distressed through November, with 110 companies filing for bankruptcy. The consumer discretionary sector followed with 85 bankruptcy filings, and healthcare was next up with 46 firms filing.
Small business bankruptcies
The spike in bankruptcies extends well beyond the corporate sphere, with an increasing number of small businesses also filing for bankruptcy, data shows.
Small businesses carrying $3,024,725 or less in secured and unsecured debt have the option to file for bankruptcy under Subchapter V of Chapter 11, which offers a more streamlined reorganization process.
Data from Epiq Bankruptcy Analytics shows Subchapter V filings, made by small firms and individuals, at more than 2,300 year-to-date through mid-December — a nearly 10% increase from the same period last year.
In November alone, Subchapter V bankruptcy filings totaled 223 — a 23% bump from the previous year, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute, which cited data from Epiq.
Personal bankruptcies
In addition to big and small businesses, individual bankruptcies have also increased amid rising costs.
Individual bankruptcy filings saw an 8% jump to 40,973 in November 2025, up from the 37,814 filings in November 2024, the data cited by ABI shows.
Last month, there were 25,329 individual filings for Chapter 7, known as “clean slate” or liquidation bankruptcy, up 11% from the 22,871 filings recorded in November 2024.
Individual filings for Chapter 13, also called a “wage earner’s plan” to repay all or part of someone’s debts, accounted for 15,558 in November 2025, a 5% jump over the 14,865 filings in November last year, according to the data cited by ABI.
“For debt-burdened families and companies, bankruptcy remains a critical pathway to restore stability and rebuild toward a stronger financial future,” Quackenboss, the ABI executive director, said.
If your household is struggling to pay the bills right now, you are far from alone. The cost of just about everything that Americans regularly spend money on has been soaring, and as a result our standard of living has been steadily declining. Over the past couple of decades, our politicians borrowed and spent trillions of dollars that we did not have, the Federal Reserve shoveled giant mountains of money that were created out of thin air into the financial system, and our leaders treated the reserve currency of the world like toilet paper. So now the value of the U.S. dollar has gone way down, our paychecks don’t stretch as far as they once did, and most of the country is barely scraping by from month to month.
This week, an excellent article that was authored by Michael Green is getting a ton of attention. In that article, he calculates that a “basic needs budget” for a typical family of four in the United States would come to a grand total of $136,500 a year…
I wanted to see what would happen if I ignored the official stats and simply calculated the cost of existing. I built a Basic Needs budget for a family of four (two earners, two kids). No vacations, no Netflix, no luxury. Just the “Participation Tickets” required to hold a job and raise kids in 2024.
Using conservative, national-average data:
Childcare: $32,773
Housing: $23,267
Food: $14,717
Transportation: $14,828
Healthcare: $10,567
Other essentials: $21,857
Required net income: $118,009
Add federal, state, and FICA taxes of roughly $18,500, and you arrive at a required gross income of $136,500.
Do you agree with these figures?
I very much appreciate the effort that he put into his analysis, but I certainly do not agree with some of these numbers.
The national average for child care for a single child is about $975 per month. So for two children for an entire year the total should be less than $24,000.
So we can eliminate more than $8,000 from his budget right there.
And if your kids are old enough, you may not need to spend anything on child care at all.
On the other hand, I think that his figure for housing is too low.
The average home price in the U.S. now exceeds $500,000.
Taking out a $500,000 mortgage at 6.2 percent would result in a mortgage payment of $3,047.41 a month.
So Green’s budget completely rules out owning a typical home in many areas of the country.
Instead, it would allow for renting a two bedroom apartment which averages about $1,800 a month right now.
And I think that Green’s figure for health care is also too low.
The average monthly health insurance premium for a family of four in the U.S. now exceeds $2,000.
Yes, a hypothetical family of four could save money by going without health insurance or by living in a van, but that is not the point.
It is time for everyone to admit that a middle class lifestyle has become out of reach for a majority of American households.
Green’s analysis may not be entirely accurate, but others have come up with similar results.
For example, the Economic Policy Institute has determined that it takes approximately $123,000 a year for a family of four to live a middle class lifestyle in Essex County, New Jersey…
The Economic Policy Institute offers a Family Budget Calculator. It says a family of four would need about $123,000 a year to attain “a modest yet adequate standard of living” in Essex County, New Jersey.
And Investopedia has determined that it now takes approximately 5 million dollars to live the American Dream over the course of a lifetime…
Investopedia, the financial journalism site, uses similar calculations to estimate how much emergency savings a family should hold (about $35,000, on average) and the lifetime costs of fulfilling the American dream (roughly $5 million).
Needless to say, most Americans don’t have a prayer of making 5 million dollars during their lifetimes.
And the cost of just about everything is only going to go even higher.
The numbers are as stark as a slate-grey November sky. Household spending on electricity for heating is expected to rise 10% this winter to more than $1,200. Utilities requested a $29 billion rate increase in the first half of 2025, double last year’s rate rise. Residential electricity rates rose 6.6% year-on-year as of June 2025, according to Utility Dive, after already rising nearly 30% between 2021 and 2024.
Meanwhile, the job market just continues to get even tighter.
On Wednesday, ADP reported that the U.S. economy lost 32,000 jobs last month…
The U.S. labor market slowdown intensified in November as private companies cut 32,000 workers, with small businesses hit the hardest, payrolls processing firm ADP reported Wednesday.
Larger businesses, entailing companies with 50 or more employees, actually reported a net gain of 90,000 workers. However, establishments with fewer than 50 saw a decline of 120,000.
The ADP report is the last monthly jobs picture the Federal Reserve gets before it meets Dec. 9-10.
Most experts were expecting that the ADP report would show that the U.S. economy actually added jobs last month.
So this is really bad news.
The three month average has now plunged into negative territory.
This is the very first time that has happened since August 2020.
Back then, we had a pandemic to blame for our problems.
What is our excuse this time around?
It is easy to say that unemployed people should just go out and “get a job”, but the truth is that even the mainstream media is admitting that “job hunting feels impossible right now”…
You’re not imagining it. Job hunting feels impossible right now because it actually is. You’ve polished your resume, customized cover letters and applied for hundreds of roles only to hear nothing back.
I know that many of you can identify with that.
Month after month, a lot of unemployed workers have been unable to find anything no matter how hard they have tried.
It can be absolutely soul crushing what you are in that position.
There is speculation that the latest ADP report may make it more likely that the Fed will give us another interest rate cut…
But Kenwell said the latest report should help push America’s central bank to cut interest rates for the third time in 2025.
The Fed, currently led by chair Jerome Powell, has a dual mandate to lower inflation and increase job growth through the government’s borrowing rates.
Rates are used as a blunt tool, swinging higher when prices climb, and plunging when unemployment accelerates.
Hopefully the Fed will do the right thing.
But a quarter point rate cut is not going to significantly alter our current economic trajectory.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is advancing more quickly than any of us could have imagined. For many, it is the realization of a technological dream, but for others, it is a nightmare, leading to unthinkable abuses of power over our lives. No matter which way you view AI, everybody will agree that the ramifications are both alarming and world-changing.
It is no exaggeration to say that AI represents a prophetic shift of gears. It could be called an “end-times accelerant.”
Seemingly daily, we hear about new advances in AI, with these surprising surges emerging closer and closer together. AI is changing everything, and the headlines declaring this reality continue to roll out week after week with no end in sight.
One example from a few short days ago was Fortune Magazine with the startling headline: “Elon Musk says that in 10 to 20 years, work will be optional and money will be irrelevant thanks to AI and robotics.
The shocking views of a growing number of young adults surrounding AI, however, may be the most significant.
Survey: 41% Trust AI With Government Power
A new survey reveals that younger adults are willing to hand AI authority over government policymaking decisions and even sovereignty over the world’s largest military machinery. They want to give this authority to AI because they believe it is unbiased and without its own ambitions; therefore, it can be more trusted than individuals.
Crosswalk reported, “A new survey conducted by The Heartland Institute’s Glenn C. Haskins Emerging Issues Center and Rasmussen Reports found that 41% of young adults (ages 18-39) support giving advanced AI systems authority over government policymaking decisions.”
“The poll, released Wednesday, also found that 36% would support AI control over individual rights, including speech and religious practices, while 35% favored AI controlling the world’s largest militaries to reduce war deaths,” they further detailed.
Now, I don’t know about you, but to me, that is a stunning statistic.
The ‘AI Strongman’ Mentality
Donald Kendall, who is the director of the Glenn C. Haskins Emerging Issues Center (part of the Heartland Institute), said: “These results are stunning. What we are seeing is the early emergence of an AI strongman mentality among younger Americans. Younger generations are increasingly disillusioned with the failures of traditional institutions, so much so, that they are willing to hand control to artificial intelligence.”
“For many, the thought process is: These institutions are already so broken, corrupt, and ineffective, how could it get any worse if we were to put AI in charge?” Kendall emphasized. “These poll results illustrate an incredibly dangerous trajectory for any society that values personal autonomy and liberty.”
This is the trajectory of the antichrist—and it is an incredibly dangerous trajectory.
The article continued, “36% of respondents expressed support for a proposal that gives AI control over ‘rights that belong to individuals and families, including rights related to speech, religious practices, government authority, and property.’”
Albania’s AI Government Minister
A related story comes out of the nation of Albania. Euro News reported, “In January, Albania started using a digital AI assistant named Diella, meaning Sun in Albanian, to advise people how to navigate government services online. By September, Rama announced that Diella was joining his cabinet as the first digital minister.”
The function of this AI cabinet member is to root out corruption. Also, notice that it says Della is “the first digital minister.” Does that not strongly imply that more are to come?
Then came another development. A recent Euro News headline disturbingly read, “Albania’s AI Minister Is ‘Pregnant’ With 83 Digital Assistants, Prime Minister Says.” In other words, this AI minister now has 83 digital assistants—considered Diella’s “children.”
If this were not so serious, it would be comical.
Euro News further explained, “Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama toldthe Global Dialogue Forum in Berlin that the parliamentary assistants will participate in parliamentary sessions, keep notes on what goes on and then give advice to members on how they should react to specific pieces of legislation.”
The Prime Minister declared, “These children will have their mother’s knowledge regarding EU legislation and everything else.”
This new AI Albanian cabinet member, Diella, recently addressed parliament, where it said, “I’m not here to replace people but to assist them. Truly, I do not have citizenship, nor do I have any personal ambition or interests. I have only data — a thirst for knowledge and algorithms dedicated to serving citizens impartially, transparently, and tirelessly. Isn’t this precisely the spirit of constitutional democracy? Exercising power in the service of everyone, free from bias, discrimination, nepotism, or corruption.”
If only that were true! AI is only as unbiased as those who control it. As many world leaders have said, those who control AI will truly control the world.
Why This Trajectory Matches Bible Prophecy
When I read about these AI developments and worped changes in public perception, there is no doubt in my mind that we are far down the road to the antichrist system.
This trajectory matches Bible prophecy more than we could have ever imagined. Younger generations are increasingly willing to turn over power to AI. This reality is an incredibly short leap from being willing to surrender power to the antichrist. Ultimately, AI and the Antichrist will merge into one as he seizes control of the world economy and political power. Eventually, the world will fall down at his feet and worship him as god.
What we are witnessing unfold is just the beginning. I think we are racing toward the advent of the Antichrist.
Have you considered how AI will explain the rapture? The whole world will turn to ChatGPT—or whatever its future equivalent might be—to ask the question of what’s just happened. People all over the world are going to go to AI trying to find out what has just taken place. Doubtless, AI will come up with some sensible and plausible explanation for the disappearance of millions of people to calm the chaos and pacify the panic that will exist in the world.
The most stunning part of all of this may be the quote from Donald Kendall, “What we’re seeing is the early emergence of an AI strongman mentality among younger Americans.” Younger adults don’t want a human strongman, but they will gladly accept an AI strongman that portrays itself as unbiased, unambitious, and free of corruption. What they don’t know is that the AI strongman they want—and will welcome—will actually be the final strong man: the antichrist.
Below is a list of the 50 largest Christian ministries curated from the MinistryWatch 1000 database as of October 29, 2025. The ministries are listed in order of total annual revenue, which ranges from almost $89 million to nearly $1.6 billion.
This list does not include colleges and universities nor Christian foundations. You can find the list of the largest Christian colleges and universities in the United Stateshere.
These 50 Christian ministries represent a total of about $15.6 billion in annual revenue, and is based on information from most recently available Form 990s from the Internal Revenue Service. A column on the right indicates the most recent year the ministry filed an IRS Form 990.
Ministries marked with an asterisk do not file a Form 990, and their revenue numbers were gathered from the ministry’s profile with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability or from their own annual report.
MinistryWatch’s position is that failing to file a Form 990 is both dangerous to the ministry itself and a compromise of that organization’s financial integrity. (You can read more about MinistryWatch’s position on this issue here.) Three of the top 10 Christian ministries — Compassion International, Convoy of Hope, and Cru — have chosen not to file a Form 990 with the IRS.
Next to this year’s ranking is the ranking the ministry held on last year’s list. We generally see little movement in the largest ministries from year to year. World Vision once again topped the list with nearly $1.6 billion in revenue, up about $73 million from last year.
The top four groups remained essentially the same as last year. However, Christian Healthcare Ministries, a new addition to the MinistryWatch database, took the 5th position with $784 million in revenue.
Of the 10 largest ministries, seven fall under the “Relief and Development” category. The only ministry to fall out of the top 10 was Feed the Children, which ranked No.8 on last year’s list.
Another new ministry added to the relief and development category of the database — Matthew 25 Ministries — ranked as No.15 on the list with $297 million in total revenue.
Other new additions to the list include Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission (No.36), the Heritage Foundation (No.42), Voice of the Martyrs (No.46), and CRISTA Ministries (No.49).
Some of the “biggest movers” on this year’s list include Mercy Ships (moving from No.24 to No.16) and Church World Service (moving from No.26 to No.17). Each of those ministries grew by more than $130 million in total annual revenue from 2024 to 2025.
Two ministries that fell nine positions include Wycliffe Bible Translators (down from No.14 to No.23) and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (down from No.17 to No.26).
American Bible Society fell 10 spots from No.37 in 2024 to No.47 on this year’s list. Its revenue dropped by about $18 million, according to the most recent Form 990 data.
Ministries that fell off the list this year include Westminster Schools (No.40 last year), Operation Blessing (No.43 last year), Interchurch Medical Assistance (No.46 last year), Eternal Word Television Network (No.47 last year), Citihope International (No.49 last year), and Interchurch Medical Assistance (No.50 last year).
MinistryWatch has 21 categories of ministry in our database. The category with the most representatives on this list is “Relief and Development.” Twenty of the 50 ministries on this list fall into that category.
In February we published a list of the 50 largest relief and development organizations. You can find that list here.
Readers should not interpret this as a list of recommended ministries. They are ranked by total revenue, and not by effectiveness, financial efficiency, or any other measure. The Financial Efficiency rating and the Transparency Grade of each ministry is included in the list.
To learn more about these institutions, click on the ministry’s name and read the complete MinistryWatch profile on this organization.
If you would like to know more about our Financial Efficiency Rating, click here. If you would like to know more about our Transparency Grades, click here. The donor confidence score is explained here.
It appears that this government shutdown could go on for a while, and that is not good news for the U.S. economy at all. On day 28 of the shutdown, the U.S. Senate failed to advance a bill to end the shutdown for the 13th consecutive time. They can keep holding more votes, but the outcome will remain the same. We are potentially just days away from a scenario in which approximately 42 million Americans will lose their food stamp benefits, and that could result in widespread chaos all over the nation. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy as a whole continues to move in the wrong direction very rapidly.
At this point, dissatisfaction with the economy has become so pervasive that even CNN is talking about it…
A collective angst is taking root. Maybe you feel it watching the news, scrolling social media, standing in line at the grocery checkout. Something’s off, and maybe it’s been that way for a while, but it hasn’t always been this tense, right?
I am sure that you can feel it too.
People are on edge.
Thousands of stores have been closing all over the nation, the cost of just about everything keeps going up, and shocking mass layoffs are being conducted from coast to coast. The following are 9 signs that the U.S. economy is shutting down all around us…
#1 When the economy is booming, delivery companies are usually thriving and hiring lots of new people. So it is a really bad sign that UPS has chosen to eliminate 48,000 workers…
United Parcel Service has cut 48,000 management and operations positions, the company disclosed Tuesday when it reported earnings.
Of those roles, 14,000 were management positions and 34,000 were jobs in operations. The reductions came through layoffs and buyouts, the company said.
#2 14,000 Amazon employees have been let go in “the first wave” of mass layoffs that are ultimately expected to reduce the number of workers by 30,000…
On Tuesday, Amazon confirmed plans to cut about 14,000 corporate jobs as the online retail giant ramps up spending on artificial intelligence.
It’s the first wave in a mass layoff that’s expected to slash 30,000 Amazon positions, or 10 percent of the corporate staff.
‘Some may ask why we’re reducing roles when the company is performing well,’ Beth Galetti, an HR lead at Amazon, wrote in a public note.
#3 Target has announced that approximately 1,000 highly paid corporate workers will be hitting the bricks…
Target is cutting about 1,000 corporate positions and eliminating 800 open roles in an effort to speed up business decision-making and drive growth under its new chief executive, Michael Fiddelke.
Fiddelke, who will succeed Brian Cornell as CEO in February, has been focused on ways to speed up the way corporate teams work, turning the company into a leaner and faster organization to drive innovation. This includes eliminating layers of management.
About 80% of the roles being cut are based in the U.S., with the majority concentrated in the Minneapolis area, where the company is headquartered, and in leadership positions.
Chegg Inc., a Santa Clara-based online learning platform, said Monday it will cut about 45% of its workforce – roughly 388 employees – as it confronts what it calls “the new realities of AI and reduced traffic from Google to content publishers.”
In its official statement, the company said the restructuring plan reflects “a significant decline in Chegg’s traffic and revenue,” which it has attributed to shifts in generative AI and changing search patterns.
#5 Brighter days were supposed to be ahead for Paramount, but we have just learned that about 1,000 jobs are now on the chopping block…
Paramount will slash roughly 1,000 jobs on Wednesday, Fox News Digital has confirmed.
A headcount reduction has been expected since Paramount Global and Skydance merged earlier this year, putting CEO David Ellison in charge of the newly formed Paramount, a Skydance Corporation. Sources familiar with the situation said that “approximately” 1,000 positions will be cut as layoffs begin.
#6 The job cuts that are happening at Nestle are particularly brutal. The new CEO has decided to give the axe to 16,000 loyal employees…
Nestle will cut 16,000 jobs, new CEO Philipp Navratil said on Thursday, as the world’s largest packaged food company seeks to cut costs and win back investor confidence.
The jobs being cut represent 5.8% of Nestle’s around 277,000 employees. Navratil said Nestle had raised its cost savings target to 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.77 billion) from 2.5 billion francs by the end of 2027.
#7 Have you ever heard of a candy company filing for bankruptcy right before Halloween? Yes, that actually just happened…
A hugely popular candy company has filed for bankruptcy just days before Halloween — the biggest candy-buying week of the year.
Candy Warehouse, an online store that sells more than 6,000 types of sweets in bulk to families as well as other businesses, filed for bankruptcy protection on October 24.
The timing is especially striking, coming right before a holiday that’s all about candy.
#8 It is not a good time to be in the baby business. Carter’s is telling us that it now plans to permanently close approximately 150 stores in North America…
Carter’s, the Atlanta-based baby clothing chain behind brands like OshKosh B’gosh, Otter Avenue, and Skip Hop, says it will shut down about 150 stores across North America.
That’s up from its earlier plan to close 100 underperforming locations.
#9 The Westminster Mall was once “the second-highest grossing retail site in the US”, but now it is being shut down forever…
In 1986, it was the second-highest grossing retail site in the US, according to the Times. Chains like Macy’s, Sears, JCPenney, Target, Best Buy, Old Navy, and Spencer’s all had a shop in the mall.
Its over 1 million square foot floor plan spanned two levels and even featured a carousel. It was developed on an old goldfish farm.
But, after 51 years, developers are ending most of the store’s leases and turning the property’s 100-acres into a 3,000-unit housing project.
The primary reason why so many retailers are going belly up is because most U.S. consumers are tapped out.
President Trump recently cracked down on the H1B visa program, requiring companies to pay $100,000 to sponsor a worker.
The program was originally intended to bring in temporary employees with highly specialized skills that few Americans possessed. However, as the White House proclamation states, the H-1B program “has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers.”
Investigations have uncovered widespread fraud: fake applicants, forged documents, and shell companies that sponsor visas and then place workers into U.S. firms on contract.
Over the past 30 years, a pattern has emerged in which hiring an Indian HR manager often leads to a steady increase in Indian workers until Americans become a minority in certain departments or entire companies.
Wages are suppressed, discouraging Americans from entering these fields and reinforcing the false claim that there are jobs Americans “won’t” or “can’t” do.
In reality, Americans will take any job if the pay is fair, and proper wages motivate them to pursue training. The proof lies in recent layoffs: in 2022, the top 30 companies brought in 34,000 new H-1B workers even as they cut at least 85,000 staff.
The new Trump policy will reduce the number of new H1B visas issued but does nothing about the roughly 600,000 holders already in the country. The dishonesty and scope of the problem are far greater than most people realize.
Salvatore Militello, who has spent decades in the IT sector as both a technician and later a recruiter, told me in an interview how the H1B program has harmed the industry.
“I started working with Microsoft in around the year 2000. And then I became independent. From 2000 to about 2015 or 2016, there was this trend of bringing people from India over to Microsoft. I would occasionally work on campus, managing these difficult projects for Microsoft. They were called rescue projects.”
He recalled companies claiming they couldn’t find qualified Americans, but he didn’t believe it. “I’m thinking, yes, you can find people.” The reality, he said, was that companies simply didn’t want to pay American wages.
Militello noted that salaries offered to Indian workers were 30 to 40 percent below the market average, which in turn pushed wages across the board downward.
Across the industry, he saw a broader pattern of offshoring tied to H-1B visas.
“They had an offshore team, or they brought a mix of offshore and some of those onshore, which I used to call extended offshore, because that’s what they were with this H-1B business.”
COVID accelerated the trend. Once American employees were forced to work from home, companies found it easier to offshore jobs. Replacing remote U.S. staff with Indians working from India became seamless, and this also opened the door to bringing more Indian workers into the United States on H-1B visas to replace local employees.
According to Militello, the largest drivers of H-1B expansion have been Amazon, Microsoft, and LinkedIn. Amazon filed 10,969 Labor Condition Applications in fiscal year 2024, leading to 10,044 approvals in 2025.
The White House cited similar patterns, noting that one firm was approved for more than 5,000 H-1B visas in 2025 while laying off 15,000 workers, and another cut 2,400 staff in Oregon while securing nearly 1,700 approvals.
Amazon remained the top sponsor, rising from 9,257 approvals in 2024 to 10,044 in 2025, an increase of 787. Other major firms, including Microsoft, Apple, Meta, and JPMorgan Chase, also expanded their H-1B sponsorships.
LinkedIn has played a critical role in fueling this deluge. Evidence shows Indian recruiters use the platform aggressively to promote visa opportunities and connect workers with American companies.
Reports describe more than 14,000 call centers in India, each employing 500 to 1,000 workers with access to LinkedIn, Dice, ChatGPT, and VoIP, and each recruiter given quotas for collecting résumés. At the center of this system is the “bench sales” model.
LinkedIn job searches show hundreds of listings in India for “Sr. Bench Sales Recruiters,” whose role is to market H-1B workers who are between projects and place them in U.S. companies as quickly as possible.
American job seekers are now familiar with aggressive Indian recruiters who contact them with vague offers, demand résumés and personal details, and provide little real information.
These résumés are often harvested to “spice up” Indian candidates’ profiles or to fabricate a paper trail showing that domestic workers were considered and rejected, even though the jobs are reserved for pre-selected H-1B applicants.
This explains why so many Americans are contacted repeatedly about jobs they never hear back on. Fake recruiters use domestic résumés as evidence of unsuccessful screenings, creating the documentation needed for visa fraud.
The business model depends on scale and low costs. Bench recruiters in India may earn about $1,000 per month, while agencies profit from each consultant placed.
Many LinkedIn postings explicitly require knowledge of visa categories (H-1B, OPT, CPT, GC, USC) and emphasize working with visa-holding consultants.
After moving into recruiting, Militello was asked to review résumés from Indian applicants.
“What I found was that applicants would say they were H-1B, but they weren’t. They were here illegally. How do I know? Because I checked.”
When he explained that without a valid visa the company could not sponsor them, applicants often replied, “That’s okay. I have a friend with a corporation in the U.S. You pay the corporation, and they will pay me.”
This was one of many scams.
Shell companies, sometimes listing large numbers of employees on paper, existed only to loan workers out on consultancy contracts to U.S. firms. The shell company, not the worker, received the salary.
To keep costs attractive, the rate charged to the hiring company was below market value, and the shell company took a cut, leaving the worker with only a fraction of the standard pay.
Militello recalled that when the going rate was $100 an hour, Indian workers sometimes ended up with just $60.
In addition to his interactions with job seekers, Militello described the constant outreach from Indian scam recruiters. “We’ve got 20 candidates and their first name is Singh, Amit, Sumit—you get it. Twenty of them.
And then they say, ‘We have these people that need work, do you have any positions open for them?’ You can’t do that. If you have the work, I’m not going to participate.” He shared one such email, which read:
“Hello, Greetings for the Day!! This is Ganesh, from Sainar Solutions INC., working as a Bench Sales Recruiter. We have excellent consultants in our Bench, who are actively looking for projects on C2C/C2H. Please let me know if you have any suitable requirements. Kindly share me the requirements with…”
The recruiter’s email itself demonstrates multiple violations.
The H-1B program requires a specific job that cannot be filled by an American worker, yet the email shows they had candidates first and were seeking jobs second, exactly the opposite of the law. It also implies the workers were “on the bench,” waiting without pay for placement, another violation of federal rules.
Finally, offering to supply workers through a third-party arrangement raises employer-employee relationship issues, since the sponsoring company may not actually control the worker’s employment.
The H-1B visa scam grew under Obama and exploded under Biden. Now it is being squelched by Trump.
The additional steps the president needs to take are scrutinizing and canceling many of the 600,000 existing H-1B visas, and shutting down the consulting companies and Indian recruiters that enable the system.
Given his speed and thoroughness, the administration may already be working on that.
“Efficiency” has become one of the hottest trends in the tech industry, and that is really bad news for American workers, because one of the best ways to become “more efficient” is to get rid of low-performing employees. Just about every time a big tech company fires a bunch of workers, the stock price of that particular company makes a significant jump. Needless to say, many executives have taken note of this, and that could help to explain why even highly successful tech companies have been conducting multiple rounds of mass layoffs in 2025.
Through September 15th, the tech industry has laid off more than 166,000 workers.
Between 1 January and 15 September 2025, more than 166,000 employees were laid off in the technology sector. We estimate that, on average, 645 workers have lost their jobs every day since the start of the year and, at this pace, the tech industry is set to let go of another 69,005 people by year-end. If the trend continues, calculations show that total tech-sector layoffs in 2025 could reach 235,392.
Tech industry jobs are good paying jobs.
So it isn’t as if a bunch of people that are making minimum wage suddenly have to find something else to do.
When good paying jobs are eliminated, the middle class gets smaller.
The company cutting the most jobs so far in 2025 is Intel, which had close to 109,000 employees at the end of 2024 and, by the end of this year, plans to reduce headcount to 75,000, according to Reuters, effectively slashing more than 30 thousand positions.
Without a doubt, Intel has been struggling.
So it makes sense that they are reducing headcount.
But tech companies that have been highly profitable are also brutally cutting employees.
Since the beginning of 2025, Microsoft has laid off more than 19,000 employees across various divisions and departments. This includes a limited number of performance-based layoffs in January, reductions within its Xbox division, as well as another 6,000 job cuts announced in May. In its latest round, the company said it would further reduce headcount, eliminating management positions across different teams and regions.
Of course we are also seeing painful layoffs happen in many other industries as well.
As unsold completed new-build inventory piles up and builders see their pricing power decrease—particularly in Sun Belt markets like Austin, Tampa, and Jacksonville—more homebuilders are turning to layoffs to avoid a larger margin compression. Many builders are trimming corporate staff head counts a little and scaling back on spec construction in areas where supply has gotten too high for their liking.
Look no further than a recent John Burns Research and Consulting survey, which found that 63% of U.S. homebuilders said their local peers had recently conducted layoffs, while only 14% reported no recent layoffs among peers.
The numbers were even more striking in key Sun Belt markets: 87% of Texas builders and 79% of Florida builders said their peers had recently cut workers.
Those numbers are horrifying.
I have such respect for those that build our homes, because they are actually doing something that greatly benefits our society.
If our economy was functioning properly, there would be tremendous demand for construction workers right now, because we are facing a national housing shortage epidemic.
But our economy is not functioning properly, and vast numbers of highly skilled workers are being canned.
And most of us knew that this was coming.
A survey that was conducted last December found that 81 percent of American workers were concerned about losing their jobs in 2025.
Now we know why.
With each passing day, there are more shocking layoff announcements in the news.
Overall, the number of announced job cuts in the United States is up 66 percent compared to last year.
It is very clear which direction the employment market is going, and nobody can deny it.
Meanwhile, the cost of living just continues to soar.
The price of coffee has already risen to absolutely absurd levels, and this week coffee futures spiked to very alarming levels…
Arabica coffee futures have soared over the past six weeks, reaching their highest level since February as traders closely monitor tightening supplies, adverse weather conditions in Brazil and other top growers, and uncertainty surrounding upcoming harvests, which has fueled a short squeeze.
Arabica, the premium bean used by Starbucks, Dunkin’, and other chains, jumped as much as 6.2% to $4.21 on Monday, with momentum easing on Tuesday as $4.20 emerged as a line of resistance. Notably, futures have surged nearly 50% since early August.
What this means is that the price of coffee is going to be even higher in 2026.
Ouch.
In fact, bad weather in South America has caused so much damage that we are being told that “there is ZERO POSSIBILTY for global production to recover until 2030″…
In a mid-August report, we cited Maja Wallengren, Danish-born independent coffee market reporter and founder of SpillingTheBean, who warned that adverse weather across key coffee-producing areas in Brazil, including the entire Cerrado Mineiro region and parts of Southern Minas, had experienced “frost damage” severe enough to be a potential “death blow” to the 2026 harvest.
Wallengren recently warned that “multiple and continuing weather disasters across the world’s Arabica and Robusta producing countries” are producing an extreme situation where “there is ZERO POSSIBILTY for global production to recover until 2030 and it’s a FACT that The World IS Running Out of Coffee !!“
At the same time, the price of ground beef has risen to an all-time record high of $6.32 per pound.
Of course just about everything in the grocery store has become much more expensive in the past few years.
But Americans like Yanique Clarke are feeling the pinch.
Yanique, a nursing student in Manhattan who identifies as lower-income, said while shopping for groceries at a Target store this week that “prices are really drastically high” for meat, vegetables and fruit.
“It’s quite a while now, but it’s getting higher,” she said.
If you think that prices are bad now, just wait until you see what 2026 will bring.
As real food becomes increasingly expensive, more companies than ever will be pushing food products that are made from mass produced bugs or from cheap GMO sludge.
Some have even joked that we could be moving toward a “Soylent Green” society. Interestingly, New Jersey just became the 14th state in the last 6 years to legalize human composting…
The Garden State approved a bill that legalizes human composting, an alternative to traditional burials in which a corpse is transformed into nutrient-rich soil that loved ones can use to feed their favorite houseplant or scatter like ashes.
Human composting, more formally known as natural organic reduction, has skyrocketed in popularity after the COVID-19 pandemic left more than a million Americans dead.
New Jersey is the 14th state to have legalized the practice over the last six years.
This is what happens when a society no longer has any respect for human life.
We have slaughtered millions upon millions of our own people, and we continue to do it to this day.
I kept warning about what would happen to our economy if we stayed on the path that we were on. For decades, our leaders have been making unbelievably bad decisions, and now the consequences are really starting to catch up with us. The cost of living has become incredibly painful, a larger housing bubble than the one that we faced just prior to the Great Recession is beginning to burst, and large companies are conducting mass layoffs all over the country. We were handed the keys to the greatest economic machine that the world has ever seen, and our leaders have completely wrecked it. As a result, economic pessimism has soared to unprecedented heights.
If you don’t believe me, consider what a new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll just discovered.
America is becoming a nation of economic pessimists.
A new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll finds that the share of people who say they have a good chance of improving their standard of living fell to 25%, a record low in surveys dating to 1987. More than three-quarters said they lack confidence that life for the next generation will be better than their own, the poll found.
Nearly 70% of people said they believe the American dream—that if you work hard, you will get ahead—no longer holds true or never did, the highest level in nearly 15 years of surveys.
Those numbers are absolutely dismal.
But things didn’t have to turn out this way.
Following the Great Recession, many of us laid out plans for fundamentally transforming the system.
But that didn’t happen.
Instead, our leaders simply patched up the old system and started inflating bubbles that ended up becoming much larger than the bubbles that burst the last time around.
History shows that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has generated an average monthly decline of 1.1% in September and finished higher only 42.2% of the time dating back to 1897, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
September has also been the worst month of the year for the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite which have averaged monthly declines of 1.1% and 0.9%, respectively. The S&P 500 has finished higher only 44.9% of the time since 1928, while the Nasdaq has registered positive monthly returns 51.9% of the time dating back to 1971, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
“The financial markets often shift gears in September, moving away from the quiet summer months marked by low trading volumes and limited volatility, and entering a period historically associated with seasonal weakness and increased market instability,” said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist at LPL Financial.
But if you are waiting for the next big stock market crash, you might want to closely watch the month of October.
9 of the 20 biggest single day percentage losses for the Dow Jones Industrial Average have occurred in October. That includes “Black Monday” on October 28th, 1929 and “Black Monday” on October 19th, 1987.
The stage has certainly been set for financial turmoil in 2025.
Economic activity has been slowing down all over the nation, and economist Mark Zandi is warning that the economy “feels like it’s on the brink” of a recession…
But to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, the warning signs—or “red indicators”—are showing up in every corner, from housing to employment to consumer prices. In an interview with Newsweek, Zandi said that his monthslong fears of a major economic downturn may soon come to a head, and that the U.S. economy could slip into a recession by the end of 2025.
“I don’t think the economy is in a recession, at least not at this point,” he said, “but it feels like it’s on the brink, it’s on the precipice of this recession.”
And we have just learned that the delinquency rate on office mortgages that have been securitized into commercial mortgage-backed securities has now risen to the highest level ever…
The office and multifamily sectors of commercial real estate loans got further bludgeoned in August, despite large-scale extend-and-pretend and forbearance deals executed in the hopes for better times and lower interest rates and more demand so that lenders don’t end up with the property and a huge loss.
The delinquency rate of office mortgages that have been securitized into commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) spiked to 11.7% in August, the worst ever, a full percentage point above even the peak meltdown rate of the Financial Crisis (10.7%), according to data by Trepp , which tracks and analyzes CMBS.
Back in December 2022, the office CMBS delinquency rate was still 1.6%. Since then, it has exploded by over 10 percentage points.
This is a major league red flag.
It would be very difficult to overstate how serious this is.
Our financial institutions are going to get burned so badly as these mortgages go bad.
Meanwhile, residential real estate is in a depressed state and home prices are starting to crash in many parts of the nation.
Many young adults are actually quite eager for home prices to crash, because the vast majority of them have been completely priced out of the market…
The chart above was posted by Nathan Halberstadt on Twitter, and it is very powerful evidence that the middle class is dying.
As older middle class Americans die off, they aren’t being replaced by sufficient numbers of young adults because a middle class lifestyle is simply out of reach for most of them.
And the cost of living just continues to go higher with each passing day.
Just look at the price of beef. It has risen to absolutely absurd levels, and that is because the size of the U.S. cattle herd has fallen to the lowest level that we have seen since 1951…
This year, the U.S. cattle inventory dropped to around 86 million heads. That represents the herd’s smallest size since 1951, and things are going to get worse before they get better.
One of the primary reasons why the U.S. cattle herd has gotten so small is due to the long-term drought in the western half of the country…
A lot of it has to do with a prolonged three-year drought that’s hit America’s key cattle regions hard. This has led to increased feed costs, which has pushed a lot of ranchers to liquidate breeding cattle.
As you can imagine, these short-term decisions have long-term impacts on the supply cycle.
It doesn’t take a hardened ranch hand to know that livestock operates on long production cycles. A lot of producers operate on a 10-year cycle — and because it takes at least two years for new calves to reach butcher weight, USDA forecasts reckon that herd numbers won’t catch up with demand until 2031.
How many times over the past several years have I written about that drought and the implications that it would have?
But a lot of people didn’t want to take me seriously.
Consequences don’t always show up immediately, but they always show up eventually.
Is the fact that large companies are filing for bankruptcy at the fastest pace in 15 years a good sign for the economy or a bad sign for the economy? I don’t even have to answer that question because all of you already know the answer. And as you will see below, other types of bankruptcies are soaring as well. We are a nation that is absolutely drowning in debt, and now bubbles are bursting all around us. I hope that you have positioned yourself for what is about to happen, because the months ahead are going to be rough.
According to Newsweek, 446 large companies filed for bankruptcy during the first seven months of this year. That is the highest total that we have seen since 2010…
The U.S. saw a sharp increase in corporate bankruptcy filings in July, according to a recent report, reaching a post-COVID peak and placing 2025 on track to surpass last year’s total.
S&P Global Market Intelligence, the research and data arm of the credit-rating agency, found that filings by large public and private companies rose to 71 last month from 66 in June, marking the highest monthly tally since July 2020. So far in 2025, meanwhile, the total of 446 bankruptcy filings is the highest for this seven-month stretch since 2010.
In 2010, we were experiencing the tail end of the global financial crisis.
So there was a very good reason for why so many large companies were going bankrupt at that time.
What reason do we have for what we are witnessing right now?
Of course it isn’t just large companies that are going bankrupt in staggering numbers…
Personal and business bankruptcy filings rose 11.5 percent in the twelve-month period ending June 30, 2025, compared with the previous year.
According to statistics released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, annual bankruptcy filings totaled 542,529 in the year ending June 2025, compared with 486,613 cases in the previous year.
Business filings rose 4.5 percent, from 22,060 to 23,043 in the year ending June 30, 2025. Non-business bankruptcy filings rose 11.8 percent to 519,486, compared with 464,553 in the previous year.
Wow.
I had no idea that the bankruptcy numbers were that bad.
An 11.5 percent increase in bankruptcy filings in just one year is a really troubling sign.
And it turns out that the number of farm bankruptcies in the United States has been spiking as well…
Hit with high interest rates and labor shortages, more American farmers are filing for bankruptcy, according to new data from the University of Arkansas.
Researchers found that more than 250 farms filed for Chapter 12 bankruptcy between April 2024 and March of this year, marking a sharp increase in financial distress across the agricultural sector.
“We’ve already beat last year in terms of Q1 national filings,” said Ryan Loy, an economist at the university. “Once you see this on a national level, it’s a clear sign that financial pressures that we saw before in the 2018 and ‘19 are kind of reemerging.”
A lot of people out there are in denial about what is really happening to the economy.
We have been on an unprecedented debt binge for many years, and now we are beginning to experience the consequences.
Millions upon millions of Americans are in way over their heads, and there is no easy way out.
The study of 1,078 adults by Self Financial exposes a nation drowning not just in debt, but in the shame that comes with it. Of those carrying debt, 66.3% admitted to minimizing or hiding it from others. This breaks down to 28.1% outright lying about their situation, 20.8% downplaying how bad things really are, and 17.4% avoiding the topic entirely.
We may want to hide our financial distress from others, but there is no way to hide it from ourselves.
Americans have become so obsessed with financial troubles that they are thinking about it constantly…
Between bills to pay, tariff news and inflation worries, money is living rent-free in Americans’ minds.
They’re spending nearly four hours a day on average thinking about it, according to new research from Empower, a financial services company.
Needless to say, that isn’t healthy.
Continually worrying about your finances can eat you alive.
But this is what daily life is like for so many people these days. One recent survey discovered that 53 percent of Americans are feeling financial stress “more acutely than ever”…
At 54%, a little more than half of the 2,206 adults surveyed said they’re thinking about it more than they did last year. In fact, the June survey found 53% of Americans said they’re feeling financial stress “more acutely than ever,” including 62% of Gen Xers and 41% of baby boomers.
One of the biggest reasons why Americans are feeling so much financial stress is because we are spending an average of 42 percent of our incomes on housing costs…
More than half of Americans say they’re paying too much for housing, with the average person spending 42% of their income on housing costs.
Meanwhile, just about everything else that we regularly spend money on has been getting increasingly more expensive.
For example, beef prices just keep hitting brand new record high after brand new record high…
Grocery prices have been climbing and one area where prices have hit a record high is beef, a staple for many households.
Ground beef, usually the inexpensive choice for shoppers, has hit a record high. Shoppers can expect to pay $6.25 per pound, up from $5.49 a year ago and $4.26 five years ago, in July of 2020.
The average price for beef steaks has hit $11.87 a pound as of July. That’s up from $10.85 in July of 2024 and $8.69 in July of 2020.
A more than 30% year-over-year rise in retail prices for coffee is staggering — and consumers are not likely to see relief anytime soon, even as a merger between two beverage giants looks to create an entity that can better manage rising costs.
If we stick our heads in the sand and keep repeating “everything is going to be okay”, will that make things better?
Of course not.
We need to realize what is happening and adjust our plans accordingly if we are going to navigate through this very harsh economic environment.
For one thing, if you have a good job right now please do not give it up unless you absolutely must do so.
Mass layoffs are being conducted all over the nation, and yet another example of this was just in the news…
Nearly 1,000 corporate Kroger employees are losing their jobs after the company previously announced its intentions not to lay off employees.
The layoffs come after the grocer decided to shutter more than 60 underperforming stores by the end of 2026.
Kroger initiated the closures as a way to cut costs following its failed $25 billion merger with Albertsons.
Sadly, I think that a lot more Americans will lose their jobs in the months ahead.
And since most of the population is living paycheck to paycheck these days, those that lose their jobs are at risk of losing everything.
There was no way that we were going to be able to pile up debt indefinitely.
We have now reached the “bubbles are bursting” chapter of our story, and it certainly isn’t going to be pleasant.
The average American is tightening their belt and eating out less, visiting only their favorite brands.David Anderson
As diners tighten their belts and eat out less, they’re doubling down on their favorite chains.
Fast-casual dining is seeing a particular slowdown, as more customers turn to fast food.
Among fast-food restaurants, McDonald’s had among the most loyal diners, an InMarket report showed.
Diners are choosing sides.
New research from InMarket, a marketing firm that publishes regular reports on restaurant customer habits, shows that as spending slows, consumers are becoming increasingly loyal to their favorite brands.
The fast-casual sector — restaurants like Chipotle, Panera, and Shake Shack, which offer customizable meals in a comfortable dining atmosphere with limited table service — has seen a drop-off in foot traffic, as more customers turn to fast food for better deals.
Shake Shack, far and away, had the most loyal fans in the second quarter, InMarket found. This rating was based on the chain’s “fidelity index” of 327, a score determined by the ratio of guest visits to a location compared to the number of the chain’s locations nationwide. A score of 100 is considered “on par” based on the number of visits and locations per chain, with a score greater than 100 indicating the chain is “excelling at attracting customers.”
Raising Cane’s came second in the fast-casual sector with a fidelity score of 158.
InMarket attributed Shake Shack’s runaway Q2 success to its limited-time menu offerings during tax season and its first loyalty offering on its app in June. The chain offered $1 off soda and task-based offers to customers, in which they could earn discounts by visiting more often. For example, ordering two burgers on separate visits within 30 days granted $10 off the next visit.
But the drive for finding the best value is also sending customers toward the fast-food segment. Also called quick-service restaurants, these establishments sacrifice some ambiance and customization options in favor of prioritizing speed and convenience, usually for on-the-go customers.
Asit Sharma, an analyst for the Motley Fool, told Business Insider that in times of economic uncertainty, diners downgrade the types of restaurants they patronize most often.
“Even affluent spenders in the economy feel the pinch when prices are rising, and so we see a fun drop-down effect where those who only eat at, like, the best establishments will drop down to some chains,” Sharma said. “We see those who might eat at higher-end chains drop down into the fast casual segment and so on.”
InMarket found Chick-fil-A had the highest fidelity score in the quick-service segment, with a score of 267, after the chain topped the ACSI Customer Satisfaction Index for Quick-Service Restaurants for the 11th year in a row. McDonald’s followed with a score of 164.
However, the firm found McDonald’s diners tend to stick closely to the brand. According to InMarket, between 39% and 44% of diners at Chick-fil-A, Sonic, and Wendy’s also visited a McDonald’s during the second quarter. Conversely, a maximum of 16% of McDonald’s visitors visited a Chick-fil-A, Sonic, or Wendy’s during the same timeframe.
If everything is going to be just fine, why are thousands of stores closing all over the country? So far this year, the total amount of retail space that has been permanently closed has surpassed 120 million square feet. We have never seen anything like this before. Store closings spiked during the early days of the pandemic, but in 2025 stores are being permanently shuttered at an even faster pace. In fact, during the first six months of this year 5,822 store closures were recorded…
Store closures across the U.S. continue to rise, and remain on track to far significantly surpass both new openings and the figures seen in 2024.
According to a new report from research and advisory firm Coresight Research, cited by CoStar News, 5,822 store closures were recorded as of June 27, compared to 3,496 closures announced during the same period of 2024.
If stores continue to close at this rate, we will break the old record that was established during the pandemic by a wide margin.
We are also being told that the total amount of retail space that has been permanently shuttered in 2025 has reached a staggering 120 million square feet…
In June, store closings by Plano, Texas-based home goods seller At Home and Philadelphia-based pharmacy chain Rite Aid, which have both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, “pushed the total amount of retail space to close in the U.S. this year to over 120 million square feet,” Coresight said. The real estate churn is happening “as cyclical impacts confront structural shifts,” according to one executive at the research firm.
Wow.
You may have noticed that there are an increasing number of abandoned buildings in your particular area.
Many of the retail store closures are a result of declining store traffic as more consumers respond to inflation by reducing spending. There also are more consumers turning to online shopping especially for apparel, accessories and household items. The winner is not merely Amazon but increased competition from Temu and Shein marketplaces and social commerce outlets like TikTok.
Needless to say, more stores are being closed down with each passing day.
After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Claire’s announced that it will be closing 18 more stores…
Claire’s, a mall-based teen accessories retailer, has identified several locations across the country it plans to close after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Claire’s U.S., which operates Claire’s and Icing stores, made the filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Wednesday. It’s the second time since 2018 the company has filed for bankruptcy.
While the company says the majority of its retail stores will remain open while it “continues to explore all strategic alternatives,” Claire’s said it identified 18 stores ahead of the Aug. 6 bankruptcy filing it would close, filings show.
And home goods retailer At Home just announced that it will be closing 6 more stores…
The home goods retailer At Home is closing an additional six stores across the country, bringing its total closure tally to more than two dozen as it grapples with high debt and dwindling sales.
The furniture and home decor retailer based in Coppell, Texas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 16, pointing to “broader economic and retail-specific market pressures,” in court documents. The bankruptcy filing and store closures follow several other “big box” retailers that have also significantly downsized their brick-and-mortar footprints this year, including Big Lots, Joann Fabrics, Kohl’s, JCPenney, Macy’s, and Party City.
The retailer intially announced 26 store closures in June, before paring that down to 24 when it decided to keep open two stores in New Jersey and Wisconsin. The company added another six stores to the list, according to a statement by retail firm Hilco Consumer-Retail on Aug. 1, bringing the current number of stores it will shutter in the coming months to 30.
We see more stories like this every single day.
So what is going to happen if our economic momentum continues to take us very rapidly in the wrong direction?
Earlier today, we learned that the percentage of student loans entering serious delinquency is absolutely exploding…
The total amount of outstanding student loan debt was $1.64 trillion in the second quarter of 2025 after rising by $7 billion in the quarter.
Additionally, the share of student loan debt entering serious delinquency, considered 90 days or more late, jumped to 12.9% at the end of June, up from 8% in March and above pre-pandemic trends that were around 9-10% from 2012 into early 2020, when the moratorium initially took effect.
The American people are drowning in debt, and I expect delinquency rates of all types to continue to rise in the months ahead.
We are going to see more layoffs too, and the fact that continuing claims for unemployment benefits just hit their highest level since 2021 is not a good sign at all…
Recurring applications for unemployment benefits surged to the highest since November 2021, adding to recent signs that the labor market is weakening.
Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, rose by 38,000 to 1.97 million in the week ended July 26, according to Labor Department data released Thursday.
On top of everything else, U.S. manufacturing activity is now in contraction territory…
From March to July, U.S. manufacturing activity contracted, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s monthly survey. The Manufacturing PMI last registered at 48, below the 50 score that differentiates growth and decline.
The effective average tariff rate on all imported goods now stands at around roughly 18% versus 2.3% last year, the highest levels since the 1930s.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, on Monday wrote a post on X that the “economy is on the precipice of recession” – citing the weaker-than-expected jobs report released Friday and the inflation data from the previous day that showed consumer prices rose as indicating the economy’s precarious position.
“Consumer spending has flatlined, construction and manufacturing are contracting, and employment is set to fall. And with inflation on the rise, it is tough for the Fed to come to the rescue,” he wrote.
If you ask 1,000 different Americans about the state of the U.S. economy, you will get 1,000 different opinions. But what is the truth? In this article, I am going to share information with you that is indisputable. I like to examine things from an analytical point of view, and so I always want to know what the cold, hard numbers are telling me. And what the cold, hard numbers are telling me is very troubling. The following are 10 economic facts that nobody can deny…
#1 The Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators fell more than expected last month, and during the entire first half of 2025 it declined at an even faster rate than it did during the second half of 2024…
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the US declined by 0.3% in June 2025 to 98.8 (2016=100), after no change in May (revised upward from –0.1% originally reported). As a result, the LEI fell by 2.8% over the first half of 2025, a substantially faster rate of decline than the –1.3% contraction over the second half of 2024.
“The US LEI fell further in June,” said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, Senior Manager, Business Cycle Indicators, at The Conference Board. “For a second month in a row, the stock price rally was the main support of the LEI. But this was not enough to offset still very low consumer expectations, weak new orders in manufacturing, and a third consecutive month of rising initial claims for unemployment insurance.
#2 We just learned that sales of previously-owned homes have fallen to their lowest level in nine months…
Sales of previously-owned homes in the United States hit their lowest rate in nine months, according to industry data released Wednesday, as high home prices and mortgage rates weighed on the market.
Existing home sales dropped by 2.7 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.9 million, said the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
#3 It is being reported that millions of Americans that are on existing health insurance plans will be hit with “double-digit rate hikes” next year…
Consumers who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace will likely face double-digit rate hikes next year.
Insurers plan a median premium increase of 15% for 2026 plans, which would be the largest ACA insurance price hike since 2018, according to a Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker analysis published on July 18.
And many working-age consumers who get their health insurance through the workplace won’t be spared, either. Benefits consultant Mercer said more than half of big employers expect to shift a larger share of insurance costs to employees and their families next year by raising deductibles, copays, or out-of-pocket requirements.
#4 The price of beef in the United States has risen 9 percent since January…
First it was eggs, now it’s beef.
The last time Americans likely noticed spiking prices at the grocery store was when eggs reached record-highs. Since then, egg prices have fallen after the deadly avian flu outbreak was contained and producers built back supply.
Now, beef prices are hitting records, rising almost 9% since January, according to the Department of Agriculture, and retailing for $9.26 a pound. June’s consumer price index showed steak and ground beef prices are up 12.4% and 10.3%, respectively, over the last year.
#5 More Americans than ever are using “buy now, pay later” loans to pay for groceries…
25% of BNPL users say they’ve used the loans to buy groceries. That’s up from 14% just a year ago, amid rising prices at the supermarket. One-third of Gen Z BNPL users say they’ve done so, making it the fourth-most common BNPL purchase for that age group, trailing clothing, technology and home decor.
#6 The official rate of inflation just increased at the fastest pace that we have seen in 5 months…
Consumer prices in June posted the biggest increase since the beginning of the year and are likely to keep the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates later this month, but there were only scattered signs of tariff-related inflation.
The consumer-price index rose 0.3% last month, the government said Tuesday, and matched Wall Street’s forecast. It was the biggest rise since January.
#7 A recent survey found that 23 percent of Americans have decided to delay retirement. That figure is up from 14 percent last year…
Older Americans are kicking the can down the road on retirement over concerns about the economy and their own financial readiness to step back from work.
That’s according to a new survey from F&G Annuities & Life, which polled 2,000 U.S. adults over 50 years old. The life insurance and annuities company found that 23% of those polled have already decided to delay their retirement as they grapple with questions about their financial readiness, up from 14% in 2024.
The findings come at a time when the median savings of 55-year-olds is just $50,000, far from enough to fund a secure old age, according to another recent study by Prudential Financial.
#8 According to another recent survey, nearly 70 percent of Americans are feeling “anxiety and depression” because of the state of their finances…
Americans are feeling increasingly uneasy about their financial future.
Nearly 7 in 10 (69%) say financial uncertainty has led them to feelings of anxiety and depression, according to a recent survey from Northwest Mutual — an 8-percentage-point increase from 2023.
#9 The percentage of the U.S. population that is dealing with food insecurity has almost doubled over the past four years…
In May, 15.6% of adults were food insecure, almost double the rate in 2021. At that time Congress had beefed up SNAP benefits and expanded the Child Tax Credit driving down poverty rates, and giving people more money for food.
Another wave of closures and layoffs has hit workers and companies tied to commercial transportation, manufacturing, lumber production, distribution and logistics across the U.S.
Over the past several weeks, there have been 4,137 job cuts announced, according to media reports and Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices.
The companies facing layoffs include: Republic National Distributing Co. (1,756), Canfor Corp. (290), Bluestem Brands (160), DeRoyal Industries (153), Weaber Lumber (145), Howard Miller Co. (133), Ohio Eagle Distributing (124), Pocino Foods Co. (124), Western Forest Products (112), Americold Logistics (110), Lightspeed Logistics Miami LLC (110), Cartparts.com (104), MacMillan-Piper (92), GSC Enterprises Inc. (80), SalonCentric (79), Auto Warehousing Co. (75), BRP Marine US Inc. (72), Marshall Excelsior Co. (71), Backyard PlayNation (66), Spectrum Plastic Group (34) and CHS Inc. (25).
This would not be happening if the U.S. economy was in good shape.
When the economy is strong, lots of stuff is being shipped all over the place.
Sadly, a lot more layoffs are on the horizon.
In addition to facing another major economic downturn, we have also entered the “AI revolution”.
Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki has a sobering take on one of today’s hottest trends: artificial intelligence (AI).
“BIGGEST CHANGE in MODERN HISTORY,” he declared in an X post on July 1. “AI will cause many ‘smart students’ to lose their jobs. AI will cause massive unemployment. Many still have student loan debt.”
Kiyosaki isn’t alone in sounding the alarm. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic — the AI company behind the large language model Claude — recently warned that AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs and push the unemployment rate as high as 20%.
Thanks to AI and other technological advancements, our society is now in a period of exponential transformation.
Many would argue that many of the changes that we are witnessing are not for the better.
It is going to be very challenging to make good decisions in this environment, because many of the old rules no longer apply.
Why has hunger in America absolutely exploded during the past 4 years? And why are store closings in the United States on pace to set a brand new record high this year? A lot of people out there don’t want to admit that the U.S. economy has been crumbling for a long time. One recent survey discovered that 70 percent of Americans are the most financially stressed that they have ever been in their entire lives. That figure alone tells us that we have a major economic crisis on our hands. The cost of living has been rising much faster than paychecks have been, and most of the country is just barely scraping by from month to month. Anyone that attempts to deny this is simply not living in reality.
According to Axios, 15.6 percent of Americans are now dealing with food insecurity. Sadly, that figure has nearly doubled since 2021…
In May, 15.6% of adults were food insecure, almost double the rate in 2021. At that time Congress had beefed up SNAP benefits and expanded the Child Tax Credit driving down poverty rates, and giving people more money for food.
This is where we are at guys.
Millions upon millions of Americans are going hungry on a regular basis, and demand at food banks all over the nation has skyrocketed.
For example, demand at a food bank network in Philadelphia is up 120 percent over the past three years…
In Philadelphia, the Share Food Program, a major food bank network, has reported a 120% increase in demand over the past three years. “As soon as the government support pulled back in 2022, we started to see the numbers go up,” the outlet quoted Executive Director George Matysik as saying.
And the Atlanta Community Food Bank is reporting that demand is up 60 percent over the past three years…
New data shows food insecurity is worsening across Georgia, with the Atlanta Community Food Bank reporting a 60% increase in demand for meals over the past three years.
According to a study by Feeding America, one in five children and one in ten seniors in Georgia are facing hunger. The issue is particularly severe in the South, where nearly 90% of counties with high food insecurity rates are located.
Unfortunately, a large percentage of Georgians – over 57% — don’t meet the criteria for federal assistance like SNAP.
Those that are trying to convince us that everything is okay just need to stop.
Everything is most definitely not okay.
If things were okay, U.S. store closings would not be on pace to set a brand new all-time record high this year…
Store closures across the U.S. continue to rise, and remain on track to far significantly surpass both new openings and the figures seen in 2024.
According to a new report from research and advisory firm Coresight Research, cited by CoStar News, 5,822 store closures were recorded as of June 27, compared to 3,496 closures announced during the same period of 2024.
There is no way that you can spin those numbers.
Stores are either closing or they are not.
Meanwhile, large employers throughout the nation continue to conduct mass layoffs.
Today, we learned that Intel is giving the axe to hundreds of workers in Oregon…
Intel plans to lay off 529 Oregon employees by July 15, according to a notice newly filed with state workforce officials. These are the first of sweeping job cuts that will ultimately eliminate several thousand positions across the company.
The chipmaker will cut jobs at all its major Oregon campuses and across various business units. Engineers comprise nearly 300 of the Oregon workers losing their jobs in this round of layoffs, according to Intel’s filing.
And Levi Strauss has decided to eliminate hundreds of jobs in Kentucky…
Levi Strauss & Co. is axing hundreds of jobs by closing a distribution center in Hebron, Kentucky.
The company, known worldwide for its iconic denim, is axing 346 jobs as a result of the closure.
The layoffs are expected to begin on August 18 or during a 14-day period beginning on that date.
This reminds me so much of 2008 and 2009.
And just like 2008 and 2009, home sales have fallen to extremely depressing levels.
Sales are sliding just as fast. Markets like Dallas, Palm Bay, Port St. Lucie, and Orlando saw condo sales drop over 30 percent year-over-year, with Florida again dominating the list of hardest-hit areas. Condo prices are falling for a number of reasons. One major factor is that the market is flooded. There are 80 percent more condo sellers than buyers.
The condo bubble has officially burst, and prices are now absolutely plunging in markets that were once considered to be very hot…
The biggest condo price drops are hitting Florida and Texas. In May, Deltona, Florida saw prices fall over 32 percent year-over-year — the steepest decline nationwide. Crestview, Florida (down 32 percent), Houston, Texas (down 23 percent), Tampa, Florida (down 19 percent), and Oakland, California (down 20 percent) also faced sharp drops. Seven of the top ten metros with the largest price declines were in Florida, two in Texas. Sellers in parts of Florida have had to drop prices below $10,000.
Can anyone out there dispute the facts that I have just presented?
Of course not.
Economic conditions really have gotten worse than they once were.
The primary reason why the Democrats lost the last election is because the economy deteriorated substantially while Joe Biden was in the White House.
Today, most Americans can remember a time when they were doing much better than they are at this moment.
So let us hope that our leaders make much better decisions from this point forward.
And let us do what we can to support those that are working with the poor and hungry, because there are so many of our fellow Americans that are deeply suffering right now.
Americans still love hamburgers and French fries, but they sure are a lot more expensive than they once were. In fact, as you will see below, the price of ground beef in the U.S. has risen 16.2 percent during the last 12 months. No matter how you look at that number, it is terrible. Of course just about everything else at the grocery store has been getting more expensive too. These days, a shopping cart full of food is a major expense for most American families. Meanwhile, the global food crisis just continues to intensify. According to a recent report from the UN’s World Food Program, global hunger is “skyrocketing”…
Today, global hunger is skyrocketing as 343 million people face severe food insecurity, driven by an unrelenting wave of global crises including conflict, economic instability, and climate-related emergencies. In 2025, WFP’s operations are focused on supporting just over one-third of those in need – roughly 123 million of the world’s hungriest people – nearly half of whom (58 million) are at imminent risk of losing access to food assistance.
Last year, WFP teams helped feed more than 120 million people in 80 countries, delivering urgent food aid to hunger hot spots and frontline crises around the world.
In 2023, CNN told us that we were in the midst of “the worst food crisis in modern history”.
If global hunger has been “skyrocketing” since that time, what are we facing now?
For those of us that live in the United States, the good news is that there is still plenty of food in the stores.
But it sure does cost a lot more than it once did.
According to the New York Times, the price of ground beef in the U.S. has risen 16.2 percent over the past 12 months…
Ground beef was at its highest average price on record in May at $5.98 a pound, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That cost was 16.2 percent higher than 12 months earlier. Other cuts of beef, including sirloin steaks and chuck roast, also reached record highs in the first half of 2025.
The primary reason why the price of ground beef has been soaring is because the number of cattle has been steadily declining.
Prices are up because the number of cattle available for beef is at its lowest level since the 1950s.
The number of beef cattle in the United States is down to 27.9 million, a 13 percent decline since 2019, and the overall cattle inventory is the lowest it has been since 1952, according to the Agriculture Department. Consumer demand has remained steady in recent years.
This is very serious.
In 1952, 157 million people were living in the United States.
Today, 340 million people are living in the United States.
So we have a major crisis on our hands.
Sadly, just about everything is going up in price at the grocery store at this stage.
When I go through my local grocery store, I see many things that have doubled in price and some things that have actually tripled in price.
The “experts” that continue to insist that inflation is “low” are totally gaslighting us.
Of course those that are ultra-wealthy don’t really care about rising food prices because they can easily afford them. Earlier today, I came across an article that discussed the sky high food prices in the Hamptons this time of the year…
It wasn’t even 8:30 on a recent morning when a shopper emptied his basket of dinner ingredients onto the counter of the Farm & Forage Market in Southampton: two king crab legs, two bags of frozen dumplings, two packages of ramen noodles and a bag of dried sea kelp.
The cash register rang up an already eye-popping tally before the customer realized he had forgotten the caviar. He tossed a jar of it onto the counter. The grand total was $1,860.
“I’ll put that on your tab, right?” asked Jonathan Bernard, owner of the tiny, tidy store. The shopper, a private chef who works in a home nearby, nodded and noted he would be back later for truffles.
Are you kidding me?
It must be nice to be able to shell out that kind of cash.
But for the vast majority of Americans, life is a real struggle in this economic environment.
The latest PYMNTS Intelligence reveals that 65% of consumers are living paycheck to paycheck, with 24% struggling to pay their bills. That’s nearly a quarter of Americans playing an exhausting game of financial whack-a-mole, deciding which bills to pay in full, which to pay partially and which to outright ignore until the next paycheck arrives.
This financial strain has led many to prioritize immediate survival over long-term financial planning, with a significant portion of American consumers adopting short-term, reactive strategies to manage their financial obligations.
It’s not just groceries and gas — essential bills are creeping up, too. The study shows that 78% of consumers have seen at least one essential bill increase in the past year. Electricity (56%), insurance (52%) and gas (51%) have all gotten pricier, leaving consumers with even less breathing room. Renters are especially feeling the squeeze, with nearly half (49%) reporting rent hikes.
The middle class is being absolutely eviscerated, and now mass layoffs are being conducted all over the nation.
Earlier today, we got yet another example. We are being told that UPS has decided to eliminate approximately 20,000 jobs…
UPS is offering voluntary buyouts to its full-time US drivers following its decision to slash 20,000 jobs and close 73 facilities.
The Atlanta-based company will be providing its laid off employees with various benefits, including pensions and healthcare.
The layoffs are part of UPS’s network configuration plan, which also confirms the upcoming closures of over 90 more facilities in the future.
What in the world just happened to the job market? The unexpectedly bad numbers that have just come in have truly been a shock to many of us. Yes, we knew that conditions were getting worse during the early stages of this year. In fact, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has publicly admitted that the labor market “deteriorated noticeably” during the first quarter of 2025. But now it is becoming clear that our economic slide is threatening to become an economic avalanche.
The U.S. economy needs to add approximately 150,000 jobs a month just to keep up with population growth. Unfortunately, the latest monthly report from ADP shows that the U.S. economy actually lost jobs last month. Private sector employment dropped by 33,000 in June, and that was the very first decline that we have witnessed since 2023…
Private sector hiring shrunk dramatically last month in a worrying sign for the the US economy.
Private payrolls shed 33,000 jobs in June, but analysts had expected them to add 100,000, the latest ADP figures revealed.
The worrying data – the first decrease since 2023 – suggests the US economy could be a lot less resilient than investors have been hoping.
There is no way to spin this to make it look good.
The labor market has gotten much tighter, and large companies all over the nation are trimming their payrolls right now.
The bulk of job losses came in service roles tied to professional and business services and health and education, according to ADP. Professional/business services notched a decline of 56,000, while health/education saw a net loss of 52,000.
Financial activity roles also contributed to the month’s decline with a drop of 14,000 on balance.
Personally, I believe that the numbers that we get from ADP are far more accurate than the highly manipulated numbers that we get from the federal government.
But I also believe that the most accurate picture of the labor market comes from the monthly report that is released by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. According to the latest report, U.S. employers announced a total of 744,308 job cuts during the first half of this year. The last time that we saw a larger figure was during the early days of the pandemic in 2020…
Layoffs across the U.S. this year have climbed to their highest level since the pandemic slammed the economy in 2020, new labor data shows.
In the first half of 2025, companies announced 744,308 job cuts nationwide, the highest tally since the first six months of 2020, when employers cut nearly 1.6 million jobs in response to COVID-related disruptions, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
In 2020, we could blame the lockdowns for the layoffs.
But this time around, there are no lockdowns.
Retailers are being hit particularly hard. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, retail job cuts during the first half of 2025 were 255 percent higher than they were during the first half of 2024…
Retailers have eliminated nearly 80,000 jobs this year, up 255% from the first half of 2024.
“Retailers are one of the hardest hit business sectors by tariffs, inflation and uncertainty,” Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement. “If consumer spending continues to fall, it could mean more job losses in this industry.”
When I first started using the term “retail apocalypse”, a lot of people thought that I was exaggerating.
Does anyone out there want to tell me that I am exaggerating now?
Day after day, more big names go bankrupt.
In fact, we just learned that Del Monte Foods has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy…
Del Monte Foods kicked off efforts to pursue a sale as it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the US on Tuesday under an agreement with certain key lenders, the company said in a statement.
The company has secured $912.5 million in financing to support itself through the proceedings, it said, adding that it intends to remain open and continue operations throughout the bankruptcy.
The 139-year old company hosts names like canned fruits and vegetables brand Del Monte, College Inn, under which it sells broth and stocks, and tea brands like Joyba.
I had no idea that they were in trouble.
Of course even companies that are thriving are making cutbacks right now.
Microsoft is kicking off its fiscal year by laying off thousands of employees in the largest round of layoffs since 2023, the company confirmed Wednesday.
In an ongoing effort to streamline its workforce, Microsoft said as much as 4%, or roughly 9,000, of the company’s employees could be affected by Wednesday’s layoffs.
This latest round of layoffs comes in the aftermath of a round of layoffs in May and a round of layoffs in June…
Wednesday’s move follows two waves of layoffs in May and June, which saw Microsoft fire more than 6,000 employees, almost 2,300 of whom were based in Washington.
During May’s round of layoffs, Microsoft emphasized that it wanted to flatten management layers. But data from Washington state showed only about 17% of the cuts in Redmond were designated as managers.
Why is Microsoft doing this?
They are supposed to be one of our most successful companies.
Speaking of successful tech companies, it is being reported that Amazon will be conducting “brutal workforce cuts”…
Amazon’s CEO has announced brutal workforce cuts as the company increases its use of Artificial Intelligence.
Amazon boss Andy Jassy said he plans to reduce the company’s corporate workforce over the next few years as AI will make certain roles redundant.
Jassy told employees in a note seen by the Wall Street Journal that AI was a once-in-a-lifetime technological advancement and it has already transformed how Amazon operates.
If our largest and most valuable companies are ruthlessly slashing workers, what does this say about our economy as a whole?
Other corporate giants such as Google, UnitedHealthcare and Nissan are reducing workforce levels by offering buyouts to their employees…
In the private sector, Google, UnitedHealthcare and Nissan, among others, have offered buyouts to U.S. workers this year.
Buyouts can sound tempting. A five-figure severance package might be the most money a worker has ever seen in one paycheck. But it’s also the last paycheck your employer will give you.
“It’s like lottery winners. Some people think the money lasts longer than it does,” said Donna Walton, wealth strategist at TD Wealth.
A couple of years ago, corporate America was engaged in a hiring frenzy.
But now the environment has completely changed.
We all need to brace ourselves for what is ahead, because it appears that things will get even more challenging during the months to come.
While everyone has been preoccupied with the war in the Middle East and the anti-ICE protests going on around the nation, economic conditions in the U.S. have continued to deteriorate. The housing market is in abysmal shape, consumer spending is down and layoffs are way up. Meanwhile, fear of our seemingly endless cost of living crisis is preventing the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates, and we shouldn’t expect any additional “economic stimulus” from our politicians in Washington any time soon because the federal government is already facing an unprecedented debt crisis. In other words, our economy is a giant mess and the cavalry isn’t going to come riding along to save us.
If you find yourself deeply struggling in this difficult economic environment, you are definitely not alone. The following are 11 signs that the entire country is facing enormous economic challenges right now…
#1 Sales of new homes in the United States absolutely tanked last month…
Sales of new single-family homes dropped 13.7% in May compared with April to 623,000 units on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis, according to the U.S. Census.
That sales total was 6.3% lower than May 2024 and well below both the six-month average of 671,000 and the one-year average of 676,000. It also lags the pre-pandemic average in 2019 of 685,000 units sold.
Wall Street analysts were expecting May new home sales of 695,000, according to estimates from Dow Jones.
#2 According to the latest numbers that we have been given, home prices in the U.S. have fallen for two months in a row…
After US home pries declined in March (the latest data) for the first time in over two years, this morning’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index data was expected to show another drop in the cost of buying a home.
And the consensus was right but way off in magnitude as prices in April tumbled 0.31% MoM (-0.02% exp) – the biggest MoM drop since Dec 2022…
#3 Last month, existing home sales in the U.S. were the worst that we have seen during the month of May since 2009.
Consumer spending pulled back sharply in May, weighed down by declining gas sales and looming unease over where the economy is headed, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
Retail sales declined 0.9%, even more than the 0.6% drop expected from the Dow Jones consensus, according to numbers adjusted for seasonality but not inflation. The decline followed a 0.1% loss in April and came at a time of unease over tariffs and geopolitical tensions.
#5 The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is warning that the labor market “deteriorated noticeably” during the first quarter of this year…
Economic research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicated the labor market “deteriorated noticeably” in the first quarter of 2025, with those just entering the workforce taking the hardest hits.
The Labor Department reported that employers added 139,000 jobs in May while unemployment held steady at 4.2%. The unemployment rate for all college grads was 2.7%, but the rate for those between the ages of 22 and 27 years old jumped to 5.8%, according to the New York Federal Reserve. That’s the highest reading since 2021.
#6 According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. employers announced 47 percent more job cuts in May 2025 than they did in May 2024…
Layoffs of U.S. workers were nearly 50% higher in May than they were a year ago, with reductions attributed to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) remaining the leading reason for job cuts this year, according to a new report.
Global outplacement Challenger, Gray & Christmas on Thursday released a report that said there were 93,816 job cuts announced by U.S. employers in May. That amounts to an increase of 47% from 63,816 announced last May, while last month’s figure was down 12% from 105,441 cuts in April.
#7 For the first five months of this year, U.S. employers announced 80 percent more job cuts than they did during the first five months of last year…
That brings the total number of job cuts announced this year to 696,309 — an increase of 80% from the 385,859 jobs cut in the first five months of 2024. This year’s total is just 65,049 job cuts away from matching the 2024 annual total.
“Tariffs, funding cuts, consumer spending, and overall economic pessimism are putting intense pressure on companies’ workforces. Companies are spending less, slowing hiring, and sending layoff notices,” said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
All within a week, California lost Amy’s Kitchen’s San Jose plant (331 jobs), Anheuser-Busch’s Oakland warehouse complex (142 jobs), and several smaller plants, all for unsustainable prices and operational disruption.
Amy’s Kitchen, for example, was losing $1 million monthly, consumed by inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain problems. Anheuser-Busch’s exodus, conversely, left workers in suspense as the plant changed hands without a guarantee of employment.
It is not bad luck, evidence of a business environment where even legendary companies can’t survive the relentless fiscal squeeze.
Paramount Global is trimming its U.S. workforce by 3.5% in a move to cut costs.
The company’s plans to cut jobs were announced Tuesday by its three co-CEOs in a company-wide memo viewed by FOX Business.
Co-CEOs George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins said in the message that Paramount was “taking the hard, but necessary steps to further streamline our organization this week.”
Microsoft is planning another round of cuts at Xbox as part of the tech giant’s ongoing reorganization.
Xbox managers are expecting substantial job cuts across the entire group as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. This marks the fourth time Microsoft downsized its gaming division in the past 18 months, the outlet reported. Several video game studios at the company’s Xbox division were shuttered in 2024, too.
Google on Tuesday offered buyouts to employees across several of its divisions, including those within its knowledge and information and central engineering units as well as marketing, research and communications teams, CNBC has learned.
Knowledge and information, or K&I, is the unit that houses Google’s search, ads and commerce divisions. The buyouts Tuesday are the company’s latest effort to reduce headcount, which Google has continued to do in waves since laying off 12,000 employees in 2023.
CNBC could not confirm how many employees were impacted by the latest round of buyouts. The Information reported earlier that the company offered buyouts to employees in the search and ads unit.
Our ongoing economic decline is just one element of the “perfect storm” that we are now experiencing.
Everywhere around us, chaos is erupting.
Unfortunately, I believe that conditions will become even more chaotic in the months ahead.
If you currently have a job that you value, I would hold on to it as tightly as you can.
We all remember what happened in 2008 and 2009, and now it appears that another very serious downturn has arrived.
Truth2Freedom's Blog 