AMERICA IN CRISIS: 4.22.23 - 5 Economic Disasters That Are Happening Right Now

5 Economic Disasters We Were Warned About In Advance That Are Happening Right Now - by Michael Snyder - http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/5-economic-disasters-we-were-warned-about-in-advance-that-are-happening-right-now/ Our leaders were able to successfully kick the can down the road for a long time, but now many of our long-term problems are becoming short-term problems, and the economicoutlook for the remainder of 2023 is extremely bleak. But none of the economic hardships that we are experiencing at this moment should shock any of us. The truth is that we were warned about all of these things well ahead of time. Many independent voiceshave been warning us that there would be severe consequences for the exceedingly foolish economic decisions that our leaders were making, and now those severe consequences are starting to play out right in front of our eyes. The following are 5 economic disasterswe were warned about in advance that are happening right now� #1 We were warned that a great commercial real estate crisis wouldbe coming, and now it is here. In fact, we just witnessed another massive default� With recent stress in the regional banking sector, sentiment in US commercial real estate (CRE) � and especially the office sector � has turned negative as investors preparefor potential spillover effects (with JPM, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs all joining the gloom parade), especially as high-profile defaults continue to make headlines as borrowers face higher debt service costs and refinancing becomes much harder aheadof a $400 billion CRE debt maturities this year alone. The latest headline fueling concerns about a potential CRE crisis involves a fund belonging to CRE giant Brookfield defaulting on a $161.4 million mortgage for twelve officebuildings in Washington, DC. According to Bloomberg, the loan was transferred to a special servicer working with �the borrower to execute a pre-negotiation agreement and to determine the path forward.� #2 We were warned that there would be widespread layoffs as economicconditions in the United States deteriorated. Sadly, that is now happening all around us. For example, on Monday accounting firm Ernst & Young announced that they will be laying off thousands of highly paid workers� Ernst & Young said Monday that it would eliminate roughly 3,000 jobs from its US workforce as it pivots to address shifts in demand and �overcapacity� in sections of its business. The cuts represent less than 5% of the US firm�s total workforce. EY described the workforce reduction as �part of the ongoing management of our business� and said it didn�tstem from the firm�s recent failure to implement a global breakup. #3 We were warned that the largest corporate debt bubble in thehistory of the world would eventually burst, and now corporations are beginning to default on their debts at a rate that should deeply alarm all of us� More companies around the world defaulted on their debts in the first three months of this year than in any quarter since late 2020, when businesses were still hamstrung byrestrictions to stop the spread of Covid. In a report Tuesday, credit rating agency Moody�s said 33 of the corporations it rates defaulted on their debts in the first quarter, the highest level since the last quarterof 2020 when 47 companies defaulted. Almost half, or 15 companies, defaulted last month � the highest monthly count since December 2020. Defaulting firms included Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed in March, its holding company SVB Financial Group and Signature Bank. #4 We were warned that we would witness a dramatic surge in bankruptciesin 2023, and that is precisely what is happening� Bankruptcy filings across the United States rose for the third straight month in March in all major industries. A total of 42,368 new bankruptcies were filed last month, accordingto data from Epiq Bankruptcy, a provider of U.S. bankruptcy court data, technology, and services. This is 17 percent up from the 36,068 filings in March 2022 and is the highest number of monthly bankruptcy filings since April 2021. Data from S&P Global Market Intelligence showed 71 corporate bankruptcy petitions in March, a jump from 58 in the previous month. This is the highest monthly total since July2020 and the fourth straight month of increases. #5 We were warned that the rest of the world would eventuallystart rejecting the U.S. dollar, and now �de-dollarization� is happening at a �stunning� pace� The dollar is losing its reserve status at a faster pace than generally accepted as many analysts have failed to account for last year�s wild exchange rate moves, accordingto Stephen Jen. The greenback�s share in global reserves slid last year at 10 times the average speed of the past two decades as a number of countries looked for alternatives after Russia�sinvasion of Ukraine triggered sanctions, Jen and his Eurizon SLJ Capital Ltd. colleague Joana Freire wrote in a note. Adjusting for exchange rate movements, the dollar has lost about 11% of its market share since 2016 and double that amount since 2008, theysaid. �The dollar suffered a stunning collapse in 2022 in its market share as a reserve currency, presumably due to its muscular use of sanctions,� Jen and Freire wrote. �Exceptionalactions taken by the US and its allies against Russia have startled large reserve-holding countries,� most of which are emerging economies from the so-called Global South, they said. Unfortunately, we are still only in the very early stages of this economic meltdown. The general population is starting to understand that things have gone horribly wrong, and a CNBC survey that was just released discovered that Americans �have never beenmore negative about the economy� than they are at this moment� Amid persistent inflation, higher interest rates and recession worries, Americans have never been more negative about the economy, according to the latest CNBC All-AmericaEconomic Survey. A record 69% of the public holds negative views about the economy both now and in the future, the highest percentage in the survey�s 17-year history. Even during the darkest days of 2008 and 2009 Americans were more optimistic about the future of the economy than they are right now. Just think about that. We are in really deep trouble. Of course this new economic crisis will take some time to fully play out. But it has officially arrived. The months ahead are going to be filled with economic pain, and that is going to cause a tremendous amount of turmoil throughout our entire society. ----------------------- The hostile environment toward religion in America - Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com Religious freedom is a cornerstone to both physical and spiritual liberty as spiritual bondage leads to physical bondage. The current administration’s disposition toward religiousfreedom is creating an atmosphere of antagonism and persecution against people of the Jewish and Christian faith. From locking down churches during the COVID government mandates to demonizing Christians over Biblical instruction against sexual deviancy andabortion, the Biden Administration is continuing the animosity against faith that was accelerated during the Obama White House. The federal government, extreme leftist organizations, and the news media is fanning the flames of hostility. The House Judiciary Committee is investigating the FBI for infiltrating churches, Catholic churches in particular, with an eye toward identifying violent extremism and domesticterrorists. In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) demanded “information from the FBI relating to a January 23, 2023 document generated by the Richmond Field Office entitled “Interest of Racially or Ethnically MotivatedViolent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities” (“FBI’s Richmond document”).’ In this document, the FBI purported to categorize Catholic Americans based on theological distinctions andrelied on the Southern Poverty Law Center to suggest that certain kinds of Catholic Americans may be domestic terrorists.” At the same time, Family Research Council reported that “criminal acts against churches have been steadily on the rise for the past several years, and the first quarter of2023 has continued the upward trend. The first three months of 2023 saw approximately three times the number of acts of hostility perpetrated against churches in the same timeframe last year… January of 2023 was a particularly intense month for acts of hostilityagainst churches. Although the number of actions dropped in February and March. The first quarter of 2023 overall saw an unusually high number of acts of hostility, with 69 such incidents being documented. Our research indicates that number is more than theentirety of 2018, in which we identified only 50 incidents, or 2020, in which we identified 54. This steep increase is a cause for concern.” Former Focus on the Family employee Carl Chinn began researching church violence in 1996. In 2015, Chinn’s statistics indicated deadly church violence since 2009 (when Obamatook office) increased 422% over the previous 11 years. At the time, Obama arguably presided over the most violent time against churches in recent American history. His portrayal of conservative Christians (pro-gun, pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-male/femalegender) as racists, radicals and extremists likely contributed to inciting such violence. And it is continuing under the Biden Administration. Jesus said in Matthew 24:9 that “ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” Sadly, in America this hateintensifies under Democratic presidents and leftist influencers like the Southern Poverty Law Center, promoters of hate while pointing its fingers at others. Sources: https://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF23D04.pdf https://twitter.com/Weaponization/status/1645478587741372431/photo/1 ---------------------------------- Inflation is under control - Bill Wilson � www.dailyjot.com If you have bought fuel or groceries lately, you probably have noticed that the Biden Administration propaganda about reducing inflation is nothing more than a shell gametrying to get you to believe that inflation is not as bad as your wallet says it is. The Biden Administration, and the lapdog news media for that matter, focuses on the core inflation rates that remove energy and food prices from the calculation. It�s a majorfudge factor justified by government economists because they say food and fuel prices are too volatile to be included. The �renaming� of the Consumer Price Indexes occurred in 1978, when the Lord of Inflation, Jimmy Carter, blew up the economy like Biden isdoing today. Energy and food costs are calculated in the Consumer Price Index-Urban, or CPI-U, not the �Core CPI� that removes energy and food and is used by inflation-generating Administrationsand the news media to make it seem like socialist economic policies are not as bad as they seem. On April 13, White House National Economic Council Deputy Director Bharat Ramamurti told CNBC that the March CPI report is �a very, very positive report, as youhighlighted just now, inflation at the headline level continues to come down, nine straight months now of declining inflation. One of the most salient prices for families, for consumers�grocery prices�actually went down over the last month.� I guess Ramamurtidoesn�t do his own grocery shopping because the rest of us haven�t seen this relief. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Wednesday that the CPI-U �rose 0.1 percent in March on a seasonally adjusted basis, after increasing 0.4 percent in February.Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 5.0 percent before seasonal adjustment. The index for shelter was by far the largest contributor to the monthly all items increase. This more than offset a decline in the energy index, which decreased3.5 percent over the month as all major energy component indexes declined. The food index was unchanged in March with the food at home index falling 0.3 percent. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.4 percent in March, after rising 0.5 percentin February. Indexes which increased in March include shelter, motor vehicle insurance, airline fares, household furnishings and operations, and new vehicles.� BLS said, �The all items index increased 5.0 percent for the 12 months ending March; this was the smallest 12-month increase since the period ending May 2021. The all itemsless food and energy index rose 5.6 percent over the last 12 months. The energy index decreased 6.4 percent for the 12 months ending March, and the food index increased 8.5 percent over the last year.� So don�t get the impression that inflation is going down,it�s only the rate of the increase that is slowing. Figures lie and liars figure. It�s like Jeremiah 8:11, �For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.� They are trying to make it hurtless in our minds saying things are headed in the right direction, when they are close to running off a cliff. Believing them is, say it with me�Stupidocrisy. ---------------------------- America, We Have a Problem: Apathetic Abandonment Of The True And Living God � By Tim Moore - https://harbingersdaily.com/we-tolerated-it-all-americas-apathetic-abandonment-of-the-true-and-living-god/ In part one of this expose on America�s fall from grace, we looked at America�s founding on Judeo-Christians morals and how much God blessed the nation for it. Now we willanswer the question as to how the nation got to such a sad state. There Rose Up Another Generation Scripture plainly describes what happened in ancient Israel. �All that generation [those who had personally witnessed God�s faithfulness through the 40 years of wanderingand the initial conquest of Canaan] also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, not yet the work which He had done for Israel� (Judges 2:10). What a tragic indictment. Whose fault was it that the next generation did not know the LORD or what He had done for His people? It is easy to blame �the next generation,� because they will always appear to be softer and less motivated than the ones who came before. But the next generation is raisedby the previous generation. God was adamant in commanding His people to pass down their faith; pouring knowledge about the Holy One of Israel into that next generation. Regarding His revealed words, the LORD commanded, ��you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall ask of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by theway and when you lie down and when you rise up� (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Writing those words on doorposts and gates and binding them to arms and foreheads was an outward indication of the call to imprint them on their hearts. The point is that when Joshua uttered his challenge to the people of Israel, they wholeheartedly responded, �We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God� (Joshua 24:18).Yet only a few generations later, that fervent faith gave way to apathetic abandonment of the true and living God. By the time Elijah was proclaiming the Word of the Lord, God testified that only 7,000 remained who had not bowed to Baal and kissed that detestable idol (1 Kings 19:18).Tellingly, when Elijah called on the sons of Israel to choose who they would serve, the LORD God or Baal (in a prophetic repetition of the choice Joshua posed just a few generations earlier), �the people did not answer him a word� (1 Kings 18:21). The pitifulatrophying of faith in the land was demonstrated by a deafening sound of silence. Songwriter Neil Peart captured the implications of such apparent indecision: �If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.� The people of ancient Israel, liketoday�s so-called �nones,� have indeed made a choice. Perhaps the only thing worse than silence in the face of such a dramatic option is to falsely claim something that contradicts a person�s living testimony. Jesus called outthe hypocrisy of the Pharisees and scribes when He said, ��rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: �This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrine the precepts of men�� (Matthew15:7-9). Caught In a Raging Storm Where are we today? Our society is caught in a raging storm of violence, chaos, and wickedness. Each month, I choose �signs of the times� to highlight in Christ In Prophecy�sbimonthly Lamplighter magazine, realizing that more outrageous examples will manifest themselves before we can even go to print. The storm analogy offers insight. Mighty and destructive thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes begin as small atmospheric disturbances. What starts as a low-pressure weatherevent eventually morphs into a monster that cannot be controlled or avoided. The only thing people can do is hunker down and pray or flee to another location. Over the course of the past century, disdain for moral norms was manifested in seeds of depravity being sown in the 1960s. And we tolerated it all. America�s moral compasswas shattered by elected leaders who practiced deception to pursue selfish ambition and bankrupt policies. The spiritual foundations of our nation were undermined by Supreme Court decisions eliminating prayer and relegating Christian faith to the outskirtsof society. The fabric of the family was irreparably torn by laws endorsing no-fault divorce and policies encouraging infidelity and single-parent child-raising. In a headlong rush to push the boundaries of liberation, radicals are now proclaiming all Judeo-Christian values to be patriarchal and oppressive � plainly stating their rejectionof the God of Scripture and His laws. In practical fulfillment of Psalm 2:2-3, our own elected leaders attempt to appease the restless masses by rejecting the LORD and His Anointed as they gleefully attempt to �tear their fetters apart and cast away theircords from us!� Like a fool who sails out of a safe harbor or casts himself adrift from a secure mooring, our nation is now being tossed about on a sea of moral relativity and swamped bywaves of crime, anxiety, and despair. A Light in The Darkness The only way to escape the self-destructive path we are on is first to recognize our plight. Like the Apollo 13 astronauts, we must grasp the bleak reality that �we have aproblem.� Counselors will tell you that is the hardest part of changing the trajectory of someone addicted to alcohol or drugs. In their self-delusion, self-destructive people refuse to accept that they have a problem. If our society � from our national leaders to everyday citizens � will first recognize our spiritual problem, the next challenge is to understand that self-sufficiency isnot an absolute virtue. Our political leaders are quick to tout our ability to overcome any challenge, reaching within and pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. But such an attitude is pointedly unbiblical. We need God. Even if our nation turned from denial, accepted a biblical self-awareness, and recognized its own need, would the overwhelming majority turn back to Christ? The rebellionhas become so widespread and the prioritization of ecumenicalism so entrenched that our cultural drivers will embrace any spiritual fad before they revere the true and living God and the revealed Word. Though I am convinced that America�s self-inflicted wound is incurable (Jeremiah 30:12-13), we faithful Christians strive to act as salt and light � working for the welfareof this pagan land. As Jeremiah told the exiles living in Babylon, �in its welfare [we] will have welfare� (Jeremiah 29:7). We seek the welfare of our nation, and the state and city and neighborhood in which we live, in order to support conduits of blessingto people near and far. As we do that, we must contend with another problem. ---------------------------