The Economic Collapse Blog: 11 signs that the U.S. economy is in far worse shape than most people think

Just this week we have received quite a bit of very troubling news, and the outlook for the months ahead is very bleak. The following are 11 signs that the U.S. economy is in far worse shape than most people think, writes Michael Snyder, a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist, at ‘The Economic Collapse Blog’.

#1 Just like in 2008, delinquencies are on the rise. In fact, credit card delinquencies have now reached the highest level that we have seen in more than 10 years… This could prove to be yet another tripwire for the stock market, as consumer spending accounts for about 70% of U.S. economic activity.

#2 The commercial real estate crisis just continues to escalate. An article that originally appeared in the New York Times claims that major Wall Street banks have “begun offloading their portfolios of commercial real estate loans hoping to cut their losses”…

#3 When banks get into trouble, they start shutting down branches. So far this year, U.S. banks have closed more than 400 branches all over the country… US banks closed 51 branches across the country in the first three weeks of June. More than 400 bank branches have closed so far in 2024.

#4 Big companies are laying off workers from coast to coast. For example, approximately 500 Texas truckers just lost their jobs when a large logistics company abruptly shut their doors for good…

#5 The Dallas Fed Services Index has now been in negative territory for 25 months in a row…

#6 The “restaurant apocalypse” just continues to intensify. This week, we learned that Hooters has suddenly decided to permanently shut down close to 40 “underperforming” locations… Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN) reported that word began to spread on Sunday evening that Hooters locations in places like Bryan, Texas; Lakeland, Florida; and Louisville, Kentucky were closing abruptly, with nearly 40 restaurants in the U.S. shutting their doors.

#7 Retail chains continue to go belly up at a staggering rate. Today, it was being reported that two large retailers in the Northeast have made a decision to file for bankruptcy… Two sister chains that sell sporting goods have filed for bankruptcy as retailers continue to struggle. Bob’s Stores, which sells athletic and casual clothing, and outdoor gear retailer Eastern Mountain Sports together have 50 stores across the northeast of America.

#8 We just learned that consumer confidence in the U.S. dropped lower this month… US consumer confidence teetered slightly in June as Americans grew a little warier about the future, new data released Tuesday showed. The Conference Board’s latest consumer confidence index dipped to 100.4 in June from a downwardly revised level of 101.3 in May.

#9 The initial consumer confidence reading has been revised down in 7 of the last 8 months.

#10 Housing in the U.S. is now more unaffordable than it has ever been before… The housing cost burden has hit a record, according to a new report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Home prices are now 47% higher than they were in early 2020, with the median sale price now five times the median household income, according to the study.

#11 The homeless population in the city of Chicago tripled from January 2023 to January 2024. The number of Chicagoans living in city shelters or on city streets tripled between January 2023 and January 2024, according to the annual survey used by federal officials to track homelessness, city officials announced Friday.

Sadly, I am entirely convinced that this is just the beginning. I believe that conditions will eventually become much harsher as the economy continues to deteriorate during the months ahead, Michael Snyder concludes.

This is SALE. An American style, already now