Let me give you an example that will illustrate what I am talking about. A reader that lives near Seattle recently wrote me about the horrible downturn that she is witnessing in the tech industry, and she said that I could share this information with all of you...
That email resonated with me so strongly, because she is right.I live in the tech corridor outside of Seattle and practically no one can find a job in tech. Apparently the costs of AI processors and servers are so expensive that large tech companies are laying off workers to accommodate for the increased infrastructure costs. I would estimate that 50 percent of the people I know in tech are unemployed including myself and my spouse. In addition they are laying off both FTEs and contractors and not backfilling the positions. The problem is exacerbated if you're over 40 because they don't want to compensate for experience. In fact experience seems to be working against people. Not to mention AI taking over roles like technical writing and marketing communications. It's getting really bad out there and the large companies play along with the media. I've met with several ex colleagues who have had their entire teams laid off and former FTEs who have had to take major pay cuts as contractors. I've also heard of more rounds of layoffs coming up. I went over to Microsoft the other morning to have coffee with an ex colleague and it's a ghost town. No one in conference rooms or offices. Maybe people are working from home but it sure felt very different.
Vast hordes of tech workers have already been laid off, and more will be hitting the bricks soon.
But the tech industry is supposed to be one of our economic bright spots.
If things are this bad for the tech industry, what does this say about the economy as a whole?
Most of the jobs that are still available at this point pay very little. Jobs that actually pay enough to support a middle class lifestyle have been disappearing, and millions of white collar workers find themselves on the outside looking in. The following comes from a Business Insider article entitled "Welcome to the white-collar recession"...
Yes.Over the past year or so, pretty much everyone who's looked for a job has told me the same thing: The job market is brutal right now. They've applied to dozens if not hundreds of openings, only to get one or two callbacks. No one's hiring, they tell me. I've never seen it this bad.
I have heard the same things over and over again too.
And it is getting worse with each passing day.
On Wednesday, we learned about even more layoffs at Google...
Large companies all over America are looking to "trim the fat", and that often means giving the axe to expensive older workers.Google fired approximately 200 employees and relocated some of the jobs overseas - the latest sign of a long-running effort by the Big Tech firm to cut costs and restructure itself.
The job cuts โ announced internally on the eve of Google's blowout first-quarter earnings report โ targeted members of Google's "core" team, which works on the "technical foundation behind the company's flagship products" as well as the online safety of users and its global IT infrastructure, according to its website.
At least 50 of the roles were based at Google's headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. Google is expected to hire replacement workers for the roles in Mexico and India, CNBC reported, citing a review of internal documents.
There is very little loyalty in the corporate world today. You may have given 20 years of your life to a company, but the moment you become expendable they will dump you like a hot potato.
Millions of small businesses are really struggling right now too.
During the month of April, 43 percent of all small business renters in the United States were not able to pay their rent in full. The last time we witnessed anything like this was during the lockdowns that were instituted during the early stages of the pandemic...
We don't have a disease to blame this time around.A significant number of small businesses across the nation are struggling to pay rent due to skyrocketing costs, a recent study by business networking platform Alignable found.
The company's latest Small Business Rent report, published on Friday, found that 43 percent of small business renters in the U.S. were unable to pay their rent in full and on time in the month of April. Such a high delinquency rate hasn't been reported in the U.S. since March 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it reached 49 percent.
The delinquency rate was also four percentage points higher than in March, making it the largest month-over-month surge in over a year, according to data analyzed by Alignable.
Sadly, conditions are only going to get tougher for small businesses in the months ahead as sales dry up.
Meanwhile, the total number of retail stores in the U.S. closed so far in 2024 is up to nearly 2,600...
We are in the midst of another retail apocalypse.US retailers confirmed another 169 closures last week - bringing the total so far this year up to almost 2,600.
Stores that announced the shuttering of locations included Express, Outfox Hospitality, Shop 'n Save, Urban Outfitters and Walmart.
Why aren't we hearing more about this?
On top of everything else, Chicago PMI is dropping at the fastest pace that we have seen since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008....
With everything that is going on, how in the world can anyone possibly claim that the economy "is in good shape"?After miraculously surging to two years highs in Nov 2023, Chicago PMI has plunged for five straight months, with the last four months seeing the MoM declines accelerating. Against expectations of a rise to 45.0 (from March's 41.4), April's PMI data printed 37.9
That is the worst five-month collapse since Lehman...
Economic activity is slowing down, mass layoffs are happening all over the country, and the cost of living is absolutely crushing the middle class.
More people are falling out of the middle class every day, and at this point there are tens of millions of Americans that are either considered to be either living in poverty or among the ranks of the "working poor"....
Collectively, the two categories discussed above now comprise more than 40 percent of the total population.Over time, higher costs and sluggish wage growth have left more Americans financially vulnerable, with many known as "ALICEs."
Nearly 40 million families, or 29% of the population, fall in the category of ALICE โ Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed โ according to United Way's United for ALICE program, which first coined the term to refer to households earning above the poverty line but less than what's needed to get by.
That figure doesn't include the 37.9 million Americans who live in poverty, comprising 11.5% of the total population, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
And if you think that things are bad now, just wait until you see the suffering that will happen during the tremendous chaos that is dead ahead of us.
It took decades of very foolish decisions to get us here, and now we are at a historic tipping point.
Our economy is literally breaking down right in front of our eyes, and the path before us is going to be filled with so much pain.
Michael's new book entitled "Chaos" is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.
Reader Comments
I was seeing rapid decline and businesses dying all around me in Nov 2023.
I'm talking real day to day observations no amount of gaslighting by the gov't coulwhat d possibly hide.
What do you expect when a "president" is installed, like a toilet, with barb wire fence around the white house?
Prepare for the future this one represents....
"Interview - Meet Biden's Top Economic Advisor - This is Not Satire!"
[Link]
US citizens should wake up to the reality of what their government, deep state and industrialists are doing to their country - all for power, more power, and profit!
This is not the result of "poor" decisions. The plandemic set this in motion with only "essential" businesses, like Walmart, being permitted to be open, all the small businesses were shut down. Think about it. These business owners have rent to pay and no means to pay.
What does this mean? The economic collapse is being engineered. If there is chaos and people starving, will the people agree to the "government" stepping in with digital ID, UBI and martial law?
He's just pedaling his book and doom and gloom.
And so WHAT IS the great economic shift....by-the-way?
If anyone doesn't know, I'm from Poland, I've lived here since I was born. I will try to explain the above statement from my own point of view and my own observations. Without supporting arguments from written sources.
So what does it look like in Poland today?
In Poland it is completely opposite to the USA. Poland has the lowest unemployment since the collapse of the USSR. And it's not a bluff. In fact, in Poland, it seems that everyone works like ants.
It's quite easy to explain. The Polish currency ZLOTY is constantly kept at a low level in relation to the EURO or DOLLAR.This is a 1:4 ratio and does not seem to change significantly.
Paradoxically, in Poland, it improved even more after the Nord Stream was blown up. Of course, Poland gained nothing directly. But you can find out that many companies are moving their production from Germany to Poland. Currently, it is done by such large companies as Bosch and Miele.
In my opinion, since Nord Stream, someone has been trying to "finish off" the German economy.
Coming back to the key question.
This "economic shift" is, in my opinion, a complete overhaul of the current economic and wealth state of the world.
It seems that the powers of that time, such as Germany in Europe or the USA, are now having their veins cut. Slowly and step by step. They are not meant to die, they are meant to bleed to bring about death at the right time...perhaps synchronously?
Therefore, it is a complete change of the world's PARADIGMS. Some empires end... but others must be born.
Many are prophesying who it might be, many are betting on China.
I don't know, but the movements that can be observed are so slow that they cannot be associated with the volcanic eruption. These are movements of gigantic masses, these are tectonic movements! These are orogenic movements... the landscape is changing, everything is changing.
Personally, I doubt whether it is controlled. I believe there is no way to control these movements. At least when it comes to people.
Perhaps there is a race that has made its home on the moon and is overseeing these events. It is possible... But it seems impossible to control it from the Earth's surface.
I will not write further about this because I do not want to fall into speculations that are not related to the topic.
To summarize, this is the definition of "economic shift"
In South America, there exists the saying: "Those who don't work whilst young, don't eat when old." Most people still work hard, but a general laziness is growing amongst the Middle Class (the class that the PTB are looking to eliminate.)
Out of curiousity, does Poland have more of a racial and cultural affinity with Russia or Western Europe? To the Western mind, Poland is just shoved into "the Eastern Block", and any peoples that are willing to work hard (the Poles, the Chinese perhaps... perhaps the Russians?) are a people on the rise, and not likely to be thrown into the abyss of economic uncertainty.
In addition, Russia is not uniform at all, there are three main cultures, although people have been living together for centuries.
Taking into account history, Poland was usually robbed, either by those from the east or by those from the west. Except when she was strong. Poland is the only country that once subjugated Moscow and placed its own king on the throne of Russia. At that time, the official language in Moscow was Polish, although it did not last long, the king was quickly murdered :-)
My own studies have led me to the conclusion that the Slavs are not from this place at all, although they arrived here a very long time ago. I'm betting on the Kyurdistan area.
So what can you say with 100% certainty?
Poles understand Russians much better than the West. Poles understand better with Russians because the Russians never wanted to conquer Poland. Except for the period of communism, which began with Lenin and Stalin, but that was rather an exception. A Pole who does not know Russian will get along perfectly with a Russian and vice versa. But he won't get along with the German :-)
However, we have had constant wars with the West for a thousand years. If the Teutonic Knights weren't attacking us or the Germans were. If not them, then the Swedes attacked us... and so on :-)
MY personal opinion is that Poles have much more in common with Russians than Poles have in common with the West.
The "West" came and will go... and Russia will stay.
If they were to conquer it, they would have done it centuries ago.