For Millions Of Americans, This Holiday Season Will Be A Season Of Very Deep Suffering

If you live in a warm home and you have plenty of food to eat, you should consider yourself to be extremely blessed, because millions of others are deeply suffering right now. Most of the country is living paycheck to paycheck, the number of homeless Americans is higher than ever, demand at food banks is back to pandemic levels, and many victims of Hurricane Helene are living in very thin tents and are not getting the help that they need from the government. Children in the mountains of western North Carolina are literally shivering in the freezing cold all night long because their parents have nowhere else to go…

Nearly two months since Helene hit, hundreds of local families are left with nowhere to go.

Now some of these children are living in tents and cars as their parents try desperately to find a new home.

One of those parents is Dana Wunsch.

She showed News 13 the camper where she and her partner, along with her two daughters, are now staying.

We are taxed extremely hard, and one of the things that our tax dollars are supposed to pay for is disaster relief.

But while FEMA personnel in North Carolina are sleeping in heated trailers, many victims of Hurricane Helene are sleeping in extremely flimsy tents that look like they could literally be blown away at any moment.

Could you imagine having your kids sleep in a flimsy tent night after night?

And now snow has arrived in the mountains of western North Carolina…

Some survivors in western North Carolina have had to navigate their recovery efforts around potentially hazardous conditions as snowfall ranging from a light dusting up to about 2 feet has blanketed the area.

In addition to snow, those living in tents have also been facing very high winds…

Additionally, Helene survivors in western North Carolina will also have to manage with powerful winds. Wind gusts are expected to reach 30-40 mph in Asheville, while other areas may feel gusts of 50 mph or greater.

Of course Hurricane Helene is just one of the historic natural disasters that have hit our country here in 2024.

Overall, there have been 24 “billion dollar disasters” in the U.S. so far this year…

During the first 10 months of this year alone, 24 disasters have occurred in the U.S. with losses exceeding $1 billion, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.

That’s roughly three times the average annual number since 1980.

Our nation just keeps getting pummeled over and over again.

Is there anyone out there that still believes that this is just a coincidence?

Meanwhile, the homelessness crisis in the U.S. just keeps getting worse, and there are millions more Americans that could soon be joining the ranks of the homeless.

If you can believe it, one recent survey discovered that 22 percent of all U.S. renters say that “all their regular income goes toward rent payments”…

22% of U.S. renters say all their regular income goes toward rent payments, according to a recent Redfin-commissioned survey. 19% of renters report they have worked a job they hated to afford rent.

Just over one in five (22%) U.S. renters say all of their regular income goes directly to paying their rent, according to a recent Redfin-commissioned survey.

Working a second job is also a fairly common way for renters to pay housing costs, with 20% of renters citing that method. Nearly the same share (19%) say they have worked a job they hated to afford rent.

If all of your income is going to paying rent, you are just one step away from being homeless.

Sadly, most of the country is just barely scraping by from month to month at this point.

According to Bank of America, from 2019 to 2024 there was a 10 percent jump in those that are living paycheck to paycheck…

The share of U.S. households living paycheck to paycheck has grown across all income brackets over the past five years, according to a new study from the Bank of America Institute.

A new analysis released by the think tank on Tuesday found that more than a quarter of Americans, 26%, have necessary expenses that chew up more than 95% of their takehome pay, and nearly a third, 30%, of households spend upwards of 90% of their income on critical bills like groceries, housing, utilities, gas, insurance and child care.

The data showed a 10% increase in those living paycheck to paycheck in 2024 compared to 2019.

Economic pain is all around us, and the cost of living just continues to go even higher.

Once upon a time, if you were making $50,000 a year you were doing well.

But now the average American believes that it takes an income of $270,000 a year in order to be “financially successful”…

The average American thinks a salary of just over $270,000 a year qualifies them as “financially successful,” but there are huge disparities between generations, according to a new study.

Needless to say, the vast majority of the population does not make that sort of money.

Instead, the vast majority of us are just trying to survive.

Unfortunately, the outlook for the year ahead is not good because our economic momentum is heading in the wrong direction very rapidly.

In fact, it is being reported that the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators has fallen for eight months in a row…

Weakness in the housing market and manufacturing, as well as higher jobless claims, pulled the leading indicators for the U.S. economy down for the eighth consecutive month in October.

The Conference Board said its index of leading indicators dropped 0.3 percent last month. The Conference Board pointed out that over the six-month period between April and October 2024, the index declined by 2.2 percent, slightly more than its two percent decline over the previous six-month period, suggesting that drags on the U.S. economy picked up.

If we are seeing such tremendous economic suffering now, what will conditions be like if the U.S. economy continues to deteriorate?

For decades, we have been living a debt-fueled standard of living that is way beyond what we have actually earned.

Now that bubble is starting to burst, and our society is not going to be able to handle it.

We are in far more trouble than most people realize, and an immense amount of pain is ahead of us.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing. You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter. Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.