Consequences often do not show up for an extended period of time, but when they finally arrive they can be exceedingly painful. For decades, our leaders have been making incredibly foolish decisions, and for decades people like me have been ranting about it. But most people thought that everything must be okay because the consequences of those incredibly foolish decisions did not hit us right away. Sadly, a time of reckoning is now upon us, and that is the primary reason why gold and silver are skyrocketing. The price of gold has hit $4,300 for the first time ever, and the price of silver has hit $53 for the first time ever. It is exciting to see gold and silver prices rapidly increase, but it is imperative to understand that what we are witnessing is a flight to safety. At this moment we are facing a government shutdown, an unprecedented global trade war, a liquidity crisis, a cryptocurrency catastrophe, a housing market implosion, a cost of living nightmare and mass layoffs all over the nation. Economic time bombs are starting to explode all around us, and the outlook for the months ahead is not promising at all.
When he was asked about China on Thursday, President Trump openly admitted that we are in a trade war with the Chinese right now…
Two weeks before he’s slated to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump told reporters his spat with China over trade has erupted into a full-blown trade war.
Asked by a reporter if the country would be in a “sustained trade war” with China if he couldn’t come to an agreement with Xi during their meeting in South Korea at the end of the month, the president said: “We’re in one now.”
After China decided to impose extremely alarming export restrictions on rare earth elements that we desperately need, President Trump threatened to impose an additional 100 percent tariff on all Chinese imports on top of any existing tariffs.
If that additional 100 percent tariff is actually implemented, most trade with China will come to an abrupt halt.
And if a bill that is currently going through Congress actually becomes law, China could soon be facing a 500 percent tariff on all exports to the U.S. if it chooses to continue to do business with Russia…
Through the Sanctioning Russia Act, bipartisan lawmakers are preparing to impose a 500% tariff — an all-out signal to the Kremlin and its partners: de-escalate the war in Ukraine or face steep economic consequences.
The measure, crafted by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), grants President Donald Trump broad authority to impose economic penalties on Russia.
Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal are not rational individuals.
I have no idea how either of them ever got elected to anything.
I can’t even imagine what the global economy would look like if the U.S. simply stopped all trade with China, India and Brazil, but that is what could happen if this bill passes…
The legislation permits 500% secondary tariffs on imports from countries that continue doing business with Russia — most notably China, Brazil and India.
Secondary tariffs are trade penalties aimed at third-party nations that maintain economic ties with a sanctioned country. In this case, they serve as an indirect means of pressuring Russia by punishing its trading partners.
35 percent of the coffee that we drink comes from Brazil.
Just think about that.
And our stores are absolutely teeming with products that come from China.
But if we hit them with 500 percent “secondary tariffs”, there will be no more exports coming from those countries.
If we suddenly cut off all trade with China, India and Brazil, we really will be facing a major economic nightmare.
Most Americans don’t realize this, but we now import a tremendous amount of the beef that we eat from Brazil.
In fact, we imported 197 million pounds of beef from Brazil during the month of January alone.
So what is going to happen to the price of beef if we no longer conduct any trade with Brazil?
Already, meat prices in the U.S. have risen to absolutely absurd levels…
During a recent trip to the supermarket, Kelvin Lin was surprised to see that the price of a rib-eye steak had jumped to $32.99 a pound.
It had been several dollars cheaper two weeks earlier, he said.
Lin, a 33-year-old software engineer who lives in New York City, complained to the butcher but ended up buying the steak anyway. “It feels terrible,” he said.
Of course just about everything else is becoming much more expensive too.
In fact, the average price of a new vehicle in the United States has topped $50,000 for the first time in history…
Five years ago, the average new vehicle cost roughly $40,000. The current average of over $50,000 illustrates the rapid escalation of prices and the transformation of what constitutes a “typical” new car purchase in the US. For many Americans, the new car market has shifted decisively toward affluent buyers and technologically advanced vehicles, with economic pressures and regulatory changes redefining both supply and demand.
The average price paid for a new car in the United States surpassed $50,000 for the first time in September, marking a pivotal moment for the automotive market as buyers increasingly opt for luxury vehicles and electric models. Industry analysis points to multiple trends converging to drive prices higher, signaling deeper shifts in buyer behavior and unprecedented challenges for cost-conscious consumers.
The only people that can afford to purchase new vehicles these days are those that are very wealthy or those that are willing to go very deep into debt.
And if you do go very deep into debt in order to purchase a new vehicle, it can have enormous consequences.
At this stage, millions upon millions of Americans are underwater on their vehicle loans…
More than one in four trade-ins had negative equity in the third quarter of 2025, Edmunds reports. In auto industry parlance, the loans were underwater.
Of all used vehicles traded in toward a new car purchase between July and September, 28.1% had negative equity. That means the vehicles were worth less than the owner owed on a car loan.
The figure marks a four-year high.
An increasing number of Americans are also underwater on their home mortgages, and now we are being told that the housing market in the U.S. is experiencing “a meltdown”…
The housing market across the US is seeing a meltdown.
Would-be buyers are pulling out of sale contracts in shocking numbers as their demands for expensive repairs and huge price chops are not being met.
And sellers are mad they are even making these demands.
The number of sellers now greatly outnumbers the number of buyers.
Home prices are starting to plunge as a result, and this is one of the reasons why the cancellation rate is soaring…
In August, an estimated 56,000 purchase agreements were abruptly cancelled, representing 15.1 percent of homes that went under contract that month, said the report.
That equals a staggering one in seven home deals in which a buyer pulled out. That’s the highest cancellation rate ever recorded in August since Redfin began tracking the metric in 2017.
On top of everything else, we are facing a growing employment crisis in this country.
According to a brand new study that was just released, 60 percent of U.S. workers do not have a “quality job”…
A majority, 60%, of U.S. workers don’t have a “quality job” that provides basic financial well-being, safety and other factors, according to new Gallup research that covers more than 18,000 workers across industries, occupations and types of employment.
“The top line results are definitely sobering,” says Maria Flynn, president and CEO of Jobs for the Future, which helped lead the research. “While the labor market is creating jobs, not enough of those jobs are really allowing workers to thrive.”
Unfortunately, more quality jobs are being eliminated with each passing day.
For example, NBC News plans to give the axe to approximately 150 highly paid employees…
NBC News is preparing for its largest round of layoffs in years, with about 150 employees expected to lose their jobs this week as the network adjusts to life without its cable siblings MSNBC and CNBC, according to a report.
The job cuts, expected to begin Wednesday and continue through Thursday, will hit roughly 7% of the 2,000-person news division, Status reported.
Staffers at NBC News headquarters are “dreading what’s to come,” a 30 Rock insider told Status.
And Nestle just announced that they will be throwing approximately 16,000 highly paid employees into the streets…
Nestlé will cut around 16,000 jobs worldwide over the next two years as it works to slash costs, including through automation, the world’s largest food company said Thursday.
Most of the layoffs – about 12,000 – will affect white-collar professionals as Nestlé targets “operational efficiency,” including by automating processes and using shared services, the company behind such brands as KitKat and Nesquik said in a statement.
It is being projected that AI, robots and other forms of technology will replace millions upon millions of human workers in the years ahead.
So this is just the beginning.
I fully understand that the information that I have shared in this article is quite sobering.
But we were warned in advance that these things were coming.
Why do you think that so many of us have been ranting for so many years about the value of the dollar, trade policy, reckless government spending, fundamental flaws in the financial system and the absolutely insane things the Federal Reserve has been doing?
We have been ranting about these things because they really matter.
And now the general population is starting to see why they matter.
The U.S. economy really is starting to come apart at the seams, and the worst is still yet to come.
Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” 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 “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine 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.