Posted: 14 Apr 2016 Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG
Those that were hoping for an “economic renaissance” in the United States got some more bad news this week. It turns out that the U.S. economy is in significantly worse shape than the experts were projecting. Retail sales unexpectedly declined in March, total business sales have fallen again, and the inventory to sales ratio has hit the highest level since the last financial crisis. When you add these three classic recession signals to the 19 troubling numbers about the U.S. economy that I wrote about last week, it paints a very disturbing picture.
Virtually all of the signs that we would expect to pop up during the early chapters of a major economic crisis have now appeared, and yet most Americans still appear to be clueless about what is happening. Even I was surprised when the government reported that retail sales had actually fallen in March. Consumer spending is a very large part of our economy, and so if consumer spending is slowing down already that certainly does not bode well for the rest of 2016. The following comes from highly respected author Jim Quinn… The Ivy League educated “expert” economists expected March retail sales to increase by 0.1%. They only missed by $6 billion, as retail sales FELL by 0.3%. They have fallen for three straight months. At least gasoline sales were strong, as prices have risen 22% since mid-February. That should do wonders for the finances of American households. If you exclude gasoline sales, retail sales fell by 0.4%. As the chart below reveals, the year over year change in retail sales has been at or near recessionary levels for most of 2015, and into 2016.You can view the chart that he was referring to right here. In addition to a decline in retail sales, total business sales have also been falling, and this is another classic recession signal. The following comes from Wolf Richter… Total business sales fell again in February, the Commerce Department reported today. They include sales by manufacturers, retailers, and wholesalers of all sizes across the US economy. This measure is far broader than the aggregate sales by publicly traded companies, which too have been falling.Yes, the stock market has been on quite a run for the past several weeks, but that temporary rebound is not based on the economic fundamentals. The truth is that the real economy is definitely starting to slow down substantially. If you want to break it down very simply, less stuff is being bought and sold and shipped around the country, and that tells us far more about what is coming in the months ahead than the temporary ups and downs of stock prices. Another huge red flag is the fact that the inventory to sales ratio in the U.S. has hit the highest level that we have seen since the last financial crisis… The crucial inventory-to-sales ratio, which tracks how long unsold inventory sits around in relationship to sales, is now at a mind-bending 1.41. That’s the level the ratio spiked to in November 2008, after the Lehman bankruptcy in September had put the freeze on the economy.Because sales have slowed down, inventories are starting to pile up to alarmingly high levels. And when companies see that business is slowing down, they start to let people go. In a previous article, I told my readers that Challenger, Gray & Christmas is reporting that job cut announcements at major firms in the United States are up 32 percent during the first quarter of 2016 compared to the first quarter of 2015. Somehow, most of the talking heads on television don’t seem too alarmed by this. But ordinary Americans are beginning to become alarmed about what is happening. In fact, the percentage of Americans that believe that the U.S. economy is “getting worse” is now the highest it has been since last August… One of the more glaring examples of how strong pessimism has become is Gallup’s U.S. Economic Confidence Index. The measure gauges the difference between respondents who say the economy is improving or declining. The most recent results are not good.Personally, I thought that we would be a little further down the road by now, but without a doubt a new economic downturn has begun in America. So far, it is less severe than what most of the rest of the planet is experiencing. Japan’s GDP is officially shrinking, major banks are failing all over Europe, and even CNN admits that what is going on down in Brazil is an “economic collapse”. It’s funny – yesterday I took time out to write an article about the horrible suffering that ISIS sex slaves are enduring, and a few of my critics took that as a sign that there must not be enough bad economic news to write about. Well, the truth is that this isn’t the case at all. The global economic meltdown is steaming along, even if it is moving just a little bit slower than many of us had originally anticipated. We are moving in the exact direction that myself and many others had warned about, and the rest of 2016 is looking quite ominous for the global economy. So hopefully everyone (including the critics) is using whatever time we have left wisely. Because I definitely wish the very best for everyone during the exceedingly hard times that are coming. *About the author: Michael Snyder is the founder and publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog. Michael’s controversial new book about Bible prophecy entitled “The Rapture Verdict” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.* |
A very good question is why hasn't God already judged us as we deserve? Despite our massive moral failures over the decades, clearly God has not judged us according to our sins. There are several reasons for this, but this may be the biggest one:
Support for Israel from the day it was born. Harry S. Truman could not sleep on May 13, 1948. He kept seeing the face of the man who would be Israel's first President, Chaim Weisman. Weisman had begged for his support in a previous meeting. Truman shared his feelings on the morning of the 14th with his top aide, Clark Clifford. Clifford said, "Mr. President, if you are going to recognize the Jewish State, you must do it today." The president asked the Israeli consulate to send a request for formal recognition.
When Truman sent the letter to the diplomats, he didn't even know the name of the new state that would be declared at 4 p.m. that day. The letter simply said "the Jewish state."
At 9 a.m. (4 p.m. in the Middle East), it was announced in Tel Aviv that the new prime minister, David Ben Gurion, proclaimed that the Jewish state would be called the State of Israel. The president's envoy caught up with the courier on the steps of the White House and the words "Jewish state" were scratched out and the word "State of Israel" was handwritten in its place.
Meanwhile, the anti-Jewish State Department was arguing another plan for the area, when the U.S.'s U.N. ambassador was given a note that Truman had recognized Israel. He angrily got up and returned to his hotel. The State Department led by General George Marshall was 100 percent against the idea of a Jewish State and had made that abundantly clear to Truman. It took great courage, but Truman did what was right.
This support for Israel undoubtedly brought the blessing of God on the United States as Genesis 12:3 declares that God will bless those that bless Abraham and his descendants and curse those who curse them.
Before America, it was Great Britain's Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour who fought in England's parliament chambers for a Jewish state and God blessed Great Britain as the greatest power on earth. It was said that the sun never set on the British Empire, as she controlled lands from Africa to Hong Kong, from India to the Caribbean.
Yet the minute she turned on Israel in 1922, taking 80 percent of the lands she promised to Israel in the Balfour Declaration and instead created the Muslim state of Jordan, the sun began to set, and today Great Britain is a shell of her former self. In fact, how ironic is it—as Britain in 1922 chose oil over the Jews and the Muslim world over Israel that according to demographic experts, Britain is now in danger of being overrun with Islamic migrants.
So, while judgment on America has been held back, is there a limit? The question is, will we remember our calling as a world leader, protector and refuge for the persecuted, or will we reject that calling in favor of mediocrity, wickedness, socialism and protectionism?
It is time to repent.
It is time to rise up.
It is time to be who God called us to be.
"If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chron. 7:14).
Ron Cantor is the lead pastor of Tiferet Yeshua congregation in Tel Aviv, a Hebrew speaking outreach to Israelis. He is also the author of Identity Theft, Leave me Alone—I'm Jewish and his newest book coming out this spring, The Jerusalem Secret, a novel about the first Jewish believers. Ron blogs at messiahsmandate.org.
For the original article, visit maozisrael.org.
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