by Michael

It’s taking place.  All through 2021 and 2022, a complete host of consultants had been warning that we had been going to see one other financial disaster like we witnessed in 2008 and 2009, and now it’s right here.  Actually, it’s unfolding at a tempo that’s much more speedy than many of the consultants had anticipated.  The housing market is crashing, hordes of retail shops are closing, the business actual property market is headed for a colossal catastrophe, meals costs proceed to surge, and the worst wave of layoffs in additional than a decade simply continues to get even worse.  So most of the financial developments that I’ve been monitoring on The Financial Collapse Weblog are actually reaching a crescendo, however most Individuals nonetheless don’t perceive how unhealthy issues will ultimately grow to be.

On Tuesday, we discovered that current dwelling gross sales in the US have now fallen for 12 months in a row…

U.S. current dwelling gross sales slowed for the twelfth consecutive month in January as excessive mortgage charges, surging inflation and steep dwelling costs sapped client demand from the housing market.

Gross sales of beforehand owned houses tumbled 0.7% in January from the prior month to an annual fee of 4 million models, in keeping with new knowledge launched Tuesday by the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors (NAR). On an annual foundation, current dwelling gross sales are down 36.9% in comparison with January 2021.

It’s the slowest tempo since November 2010, when the U.S. was nonetheless within the throes of the housing disaster triggered by subprime mortgage defaults.

Simply take into consideration these numbers for a second.

Current dwelling gross sales have dropped each single month for a complete yr.

That’s catastrophic.

Total, current dwelling gross sales are a whopping 36.9 p.c decrease than they had been presently final yr.

We haven’t seen something like this because the final housing crash.

In the meantime, quickly rising rates of interest and the work from home pattern that started throughout the pandemic have mixed to create a large mess for the business actual property business.

At this level, initiatives are beginning to fail at a livid tempo…

The large funding supervisor Brookfield Asset Administration just lately defaulted on a complete of over $750 million in debt for a pair of 52-story towers in Los Angeles, in keeping with a February securities submitting. Actual-estate agency RXR is in talks with collectors to restructure debt on 61 Broadway, a 34-story tower in Manhattan’s monetary district, in keeping with individuals acquainted with the matter. Handing over the constructing to the lender is among the many choices into account, these individuals mentioned.

In one other signal of misery, a enterprise of an funding supervisor affiliated with Associated Cos. and BentallGreenOak is in comparable debt-restructuring talks over a $150 million warehouse-to-office conversion undertaking in Lengthy Island Metropolis, N.Y., that hasn’t stuffed up as a lot area as anticipated, in keeping with individuals acquainted with the matter.

Sadly, that is simply the tip of the iceberg.

As I mentioned the opposite day, I imagine that we’ll ultimately see the worst business actual property disaster in the complete historical past of our nation.

After all the entire economic system is shifting into very troubled instances.  The Convention Board’s index of main financial indicators has now dropped decrease in every of the previous ten months.

The final time we witnessed a streak of this magnitude was in 2008.

Even Walmart and Dwelling Depot are acknowledging {that a} very difficult financial setting is in entrance of us, and bleak forecasts from each firms helped to spark one other spherical of panic promoting on Wall Road…

US shares plunged on Tuesday after fourth-quarter earnings and forecasts from mega-retailers like Walmart and Dwelling Depot raised issues in regards to the energy of the US client.

The Dow and S&P 500 every closed with their worst day since December 15 – the Dow fell about 696 factors, or 2.1%, whereas the S&P dropped by 2%. The Nasdaq Composite closed 2.5% decrease.

Shopper spending accounts for about 70% of America’s gross home product, the broadest measure of the US economic system, so a slowdown may weigh on progress and even ship the US right into a recession.

As financial exercise slows down, main retailers are closing a whole lot of places all around the nation…

America is bracing for a mass exodus of retail shops throughout the nation this yr, with greater than 800 huge field places set to shut from California to New York.

Among the many iconic names to announce they’re downsizing consists of Mattress Tub & Past, Walmart, Hole and Get together Metropolis.

A minimum of 803 shops are set to be shuttered over the remainder of 2023, with many pressured into determined value reducing measures amid rampant inflation and declining backside traces.

Sadly, there will likely be extra.

Much more.

Evidently, much more layoffs are coming too.  Actually, we simply discovered that McKinsey & Co “plans to remove about 2,000 jobs”…

McKinsey & Co. plans to remove about 2,000 jobs, one of many consulting large’s largest rounds of cuts ever.

The agency identified for devising staff-reduction plans for its shoppers is taking the ax to a few of its personal, with the transfer anticipated to deal with assist workers in roles that don’t have direct contact with shoppers, in keeping with individuals with data of the matter.

So many individuals are going to lose their jobs within the months forward.

The tech business is meant to be one of many backbones of our economic system, however they’ve been shedding employees quicker than nearly every other sector.  And the numbers inform us that the tempo of tech layoffs in 2023 is already method forward of final yr.

If you happen to don’t have a job proper now, I’d advocate grabbing one whilst you nonetheless can.

And for those who do have a job that you just worth, I’d attempt to maintain on to it as laborious as you possibly can.

These are the instances that we have now been warned about, and ultimately financial circumstances will likely be even worse than they had been in 2008 and 2009.

These working our economic system had been capable of hold issues propped up for fairly some time by pushing rates of interest all the best way to the ground and by flooding our system with mountains of contemporary cash.

However within the course of they created an amazing quantity of inflation, and in the meantime our long-term financial issues simply continued to get even worse.

Now a day of reckoning has arrived, and our leaders are all out of options.