This article has been generously contributed by The Organic Prepper Daisy Luther. Check out her highly rated books The Pantry Primer: How To Build a One Year Food Supply in Three Months and The Organic Canner.
Shopping malls across America are going to look a whole lot emptier soon. An exodus of giant retailers is beginning with the announcement of hundreds of store closures and thousands of people newly unemployed.
The first of January, I broke with my usual tradition and wrote not about positive resolutions, but about the impending rockslide of the US economy. And “rockslide” is an apt word: as one thing starts rolling down the mountain, it will pick up other things until a veritable avalanche of other businesses and people are affected and rolling pell-mell right alongside.
Last year, we saw announcements of the expected closure of some retail giants. In February of 2013, Michael Snyder wrote on The Economic Collapse Blog that we would see the following:
Best Buy
Forecast store closings: 200 to 250
Sears Holding Corp.
Forecast store closings: Kmart 175 to 225, Sears 100 to 125
J.C. Penney
Forecast store closings: 300 to 350
Office Depot
Forecast store closings: 125 to 150
Barnes & Noble
Forecast store closings: 190 to 240, per company comments
Gamestop
Forecast store closings: 500 to 600
OfficeMax
Forecast store closings: 150 to 175
RadioShack
Forecast store closings: 450 to 550
Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there. This morning, a World News Daily report announced:
Macy’s is closing 14 of its 790 stores across the country.
JCPenney is closing 39 of its stores and laying off 2,250 workers.
Sears has been around for 122 years, but it, too, is closing 235 under-performing stores.
C. Wonder, the preppy retailer, is going out of business, closing all 11 of its U.S. stores in the next few weeks.
Wet Seal is closing 338 retail stores while dealing with bankruptcy proceedings. Nearly 3,700 full- and part-time workers will be unemployed.
Aeropostale, suffering from declining sales, closed 75 stores during the holiday season, which runs from November through January. And in 2015, they expect to close an additional 50 to 75 stores.
RadioShack, which is negotiating with lenders to gain approval to shutter 1,100 stores, said last month that it closed 175 locations in 2014. (source)
Even holiday sales, normally high, plummeted this Christmas.
You may not work in retail yourself, but never doubt that the mass closure of these businesses will directly affect you..
Maybe you are wondering how. You aren’t much of a shopper. You aren’t a retail worker. Perhaps you believe you can compartmentalize this information, pack it away, and go on with your life as you always have.
The thing is, it’s not just the patrons and employees of these stores who are affected. This is going to be catastrophic on a variety of levels.
Let’s go a little bit deeper.
Think about the people who worked in these stores. Now, they’re without jobs. There will be more competition for the smaller number of jobs in America, and many people will not be able to find work. They’ll survive by going on assistance, draining the US coffers even more. As formerly employed people search for work that just isn’t there, we’ll see an increase in foreclosures, repossessions, and welfare.
Think about those who provided the inventory for these stores. Yes, I know a lot of it was made in other countries. But, it was imported here and distributed here. Most businesses work on a “Net-30″ basis, meaning the inventory is delivered, and the payment for that inventory is due in 30 days. And guess what? The companies that imported the merchandise aren’t going to get paid. This will ripple through and cause other businesses to go under, which means still more people are unemployed.
Think about those who transport the inventory. Trucking companies and the independent operators who drive the trucks won’t get money owed to them either. As companies struggle to keep trucks on the road, transport costs will go up, which will cause future inventory in stores to be priced higher.
This is how we’ll be affected:
If you don’t live in an entirely self-sufficient bubble, you can bet you’ll be affected in one way or another.
It’s more vital than ever to be aware of what’s going on and to start getting prepared for it on all levels. You need to consider the following:
Create multiple streams of income. We’d all like to feel like we’re reliably employed, but that’s just not true. You need only to look at the numbers above to see that jobs can be ephemeral. You need to be making money from more than one source (multiple streams of income). Start a small business that provides a safety net. Check out this great article on Graywolf Survival for more information on how to do it.
Learn to shop wisely. A couple of years ago, I wrote this article about how shopping wisely can save you a fortune on your regular purchases. Each purchase needs to be thought out carefully because the day may come when your own personal economic collapse occurs in the form of a job loss, an illness, or a catastrophic bill.
Build a pantry. A well-stocked larder can be your lifeline in the event that your personal finances take a hit. Your supply of food, toiletries, and household items can mean the difference between weathering a storm in relative comfort or going under completely. When I got laid off from my job in the automotive industry, it took 4 weeks before the severance pay arrived, and 9 weeks before my unemployment insurance kicked in. We were able to survive in total comfort due to the supplies we had laid in, and the lower amount of money I was receiving was enough to cover things like the mortgage, car payments, and utilities. Check out my book on building a one-year food supply in 3 months. Another option (although not as thrifty) is to stock up on freeze-dried food for your family. The nice thing is, you can put this at the back of your closet until the day you need it. It’s packaged for the long haul in buckets and it keeps for ages.
Learn to do it yourself. Really, the epitome of preparedness is self-sufficiency. Only when you reduce your dependence on the economy can you be truly unaffected by the things going on in retail-land. Grow it, make it, build it. No matter where you live, you can take steps towards personal independence. The last half of this book is all about being as self-reliant as possible – it’s a must-read. Learn to live like there are no stores, and if a day comes when there aren’t, you’ll be just fine. Learn skills like canning, sewing
Learn to live on less (and enjoy it). When my oldest daughter was a newborn, my husband lost his job. We went through the toughest financial period I ever faced. Quite literally, at one point we had 2 bags of bagels in our freezer, half a jar of peanut butter, and the desperate hope that our vegetable garden would produce enough to get us through until unemployment checks started arriving or a new job was found. I read a book (borrowed from the library and signed out for the maximum allowed number of times) that completely changed my life. If you haven’t read The Complete Tightwad Gazette, I strongly encourage you to read this gigantic bible of frugality from cover to cover. I still hear Amy Dacyzyn’s “voice” in my head sometimes and my own work is strongly influenced by those lessons she taught me back when I was a new mama. Here’s an article to get you in the frugal mindset.
If you can’t protect it, you don’t own it. Lots of people hate this part, but it’s true. You absolutely must have a strategy for protecting your home and family. That means you need weapons. You need to figure out how to harden your property against attacks. You must be mentally and physically prepared for the increase in crime that comes with the increase in desperation. I know in my small, sleeping town, property crimes have been on the rise, and sadly, violent crimes are popping up now when they were so rare as to be an anomaly before. This article talks about hardening your home, and this one tells you how to prepare your home for battle, should things really go awry.
How are things in your neck of the woods? I know that where I live, some of the nearby malls are turning into ghost towns. Crime has been steadily rising for the past six months. I personally know several people who have lost their jobs recently due to the closure of the businesses with whom they were employed. Have you seen evidence of this financial downturn? Let’s compare notes in the comments section below.
The economy is indeed collapsing, but for most of us, there’s still time to get prepared. If your own situation has collapsed, don’t despair – there are ways to live very well on less. Here are some resources to help you become more self-reliant and less dependent on the financial well-being of others.
The Prepper’s Blueprint: The Step-By-Step Guide To Help You Through Any Disaster
The Pantry Primer: How to Build a One Year Food Supply in Three Months
Prepper’s Home Defense: Security Strategies to Protect Your Family by Any Means Necessary
How To Use Your Sewing Machine: A Complete Guide for Absolute Beginners
Tools for Survival: What You Need to Survive When Youre on Your Own
Please feel free to share any information from this site in part or in full, leaving all links intact, giving credit to the author and including a link to this website and the following bio.
Daisy Luther lives in a small village in the Pacific Northwestern area of the United States. She is the author of The Organic Canner
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yep, I already posted this
Roger that, thanks for linking to it — the original piece was by Michael Snyder over at The Economic Collapse Blog, but Daisy took it a step further at The Organic Prepper and included some great ideas on preparing for the economic ramifications.
Slowly but surely America’s consumption economy is griding to a halt.
And no, I don’t believe the 3rd quarter positive economic growth figures and here’s why: https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/chart-points-to-massive-slow-down-this-is-the-biggest-collapse-in-the-trade-indicator-since-records-began_12202014 🙂
Off Topic, but not the first time. A week or so ago I made a comment that everyone should contact their U.S. Rep. and tell them to vote against Boehner as Speaker of the House. Anyhow our only Rep. in Wyoming voted for that asshole, and today on the news in Wyoming, Rep. Lummis stated that she got alot of responses against her for voting for Boehner, and she said if she had of voted against him she would be cleaning toilets in the basement, atleast she was honest in that respect. I know this is no great revelation, but never give a contribution to a political party, because if you do your just supporting the party machine. If you have someone that you like, contribute directly to them and not the Party. The Party Machine does control everything, thats why big government just rolls on. I know many say they don’t vote, but if we had a reset like many talk about, how do you think the next time around would be any different. Just remember even if you don’t get involved in politics, politics will get involved with you! Trekker Out. Freemen Own Guns, Slaves Don’t!
“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors” – Plato
Duplicate defacation, repeat rotation.
GMAFB
Who needs jobs? We’ll just live off the gubmint.
Daisy My Love: is “Affirmative Journalism” a euphemism for Alt Media; or is this an entirely new category, like “Yellow Journalism” once was?
Just asking Sweetheart!!! 🙂
Daisy,
As always, well done. Thanks for your contribution.
Wilson
And when we run out of income generating citizens to tax, we… what? Take it from other countries by force?
You know… somehow I think I’ve heard this story before, like a dozen times or so. As I recall it tends to end badly.
No – First they’ll confiscate your retirement funds (Nationalize them)and then raise your property taxes to the point where you will no longer own any real estate.
Tax the corporations!
Here is a website with lots of useful information about living frugally.
How to Survive Hard Times
http://grandpappy.org/indexhar.htm
This website includes useful information about living in hard times
-Shelf stable food to buy on a tight budget
-Simple recipes
-Gardening
-Preserving food
-How-to make it or do it yourself
On a more important note: BJ, Stolz, WC, Braveheart, KY, WWTI, and all the rest of you that I figure are around my age, I bring you this memory from steppenwolf.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk3sURDS4IA This is the absolute best song ever because it is timeless. It applies now more than ever. You will know as well as the young people here what it means. Hear me acid etch? Please take the time to listen my friends, it’s worth every second.. 🙂
Spot on sir!!!
I called the office of Rep Chaffetz out of Utah about this exact issue and the told me in no uncertain terms to fučk right off. I called them traitors and told them they were welcome to rot in hell for selling us out. I then wishes aids and ass cancer on them all
Jesus I must be a little drunk
*they
*wished
I will never understand how in these times of outright tyranny, why anyone still actually continues to turn to their government gods to beg them to vote this way or that way. Anyone who votes is an utterly blind fool. Government is a religion worshipped by millions. I will never beg to one of these monsters. Stop being a sheep and think for yourself. Stop worshipping your government gods and resist governmental tyranny. Rule yourself and not others.Politicians and representatives are only straw man mercenaries people are tricked into believing that by voting for them they have made a difference. Voting is violence upon your neighbors. Stop feeding the beast.
MT-
I did contact my House Rep, Mark Amodei. He voted for Boehner too. Although he did not admit he would be cleaning toilets if he didn’t, he actually emailed me back personally. That is the first time I did not get the generic canned response from Congress. While I still disagree with his reasons, he was man enough to spend the time and articulate them to me. That is deserving of some respect.
Some say voting is giving them license. Some say if you don’t vote, don’t complain. I like your quote, and I am going to steal it from time to time:
“Just remember even if you don’t get involved in politics, politics will get involved with you!”
Becoming active and speaking your mind is the true power. If you don’t, you are already a cowed little sheep and here come the shears. The tide is churning, not quite turning, but it is churning.
I’m sorry, but that vote should be by closed ballot only. No one should ever be able to tell who voted for him and who didn’t. Congress needs to fix that.
Off topic —–
Are you ok with public schools using dogs to sniff for drugs? 4th amendment violation? Or is it a local issue?
Do we get to keep them if they find any?
Is it true they get the dogs addicted to the drugs they search for?
No, it’s not true. The dogs get addicted to the adrenaline of the hunt and the resulting rewards from their handlers for success.
Dogs don’t care to stumble around, and drugs don’t always have the same effects on dogs as they do humans.
Let it all collapse. I already have all the shit I need.
25 years of buying shit.
I’m trying to get rid of it all.
My new sport is being cheap and not buying anything.
Maybe we all need a good hard collapse and depression to wake folks up.
Just look at the price of colleges.
I say, stop paying the big prices.
Live low and lean.
You watch, the “boomer bummer” of non spending will cause many issues.
As we all age…we don’t need all the china plastic crap.
Let it all fail.
Then when things are redone.. all the armed folks will run things.
Sorry dems. You stupid jerks gave up your arms.
You will now be our slaves.
ha.
I’m just kidding…but it sure is a funny thought.
They enslaved us with social crap and high taxes.
So maybe we need to open up the fema camps. Dems welcome!
Final thought… purge all the immigrants.
Enemy of the State says:
Comment ID: 3312622
January 14, 2015 at 8:42 am
Best Buy
Forecast store closings: 200 to 250
Sears Holding Corp.
Forecast store closings: Kmart 175 to 225, Sears 100 to 125
J.C. Penney
Forecast store closings: 300 to 350
Office Depot
Forecast store closings: 125 to 150
Barnes & Noble
Forecast store closings: 190 to 240, per company comments
Gamestop
Forecast store closings: 500 to 600
OfficeMax
Forecast store closings: 150 to 175
RadioShack
Forecast store closings: 450 to 550
Macy’s is closing 14 of its 790 stores across the country.
JCPenney is closing 39 of its stores and laying off 2,250 workers.
Sears has been around for 122 years, but it, too, is closing 235 under-performing stores.
C. Wonder, the preppy retailer, is going out of business, closing all 11 of its U.S. stores in the next few weeks.
Wet Seal is closing 338 retail stores while dealing with bankruptcy proceedings. Nearly 3,700 full- and part-time workers will be unemployed.
Aeropostale, suffering from declining sales, closed 75 stores during the holiday season, which runs from November through January. And in 2015, they expect to close an additional 50 to 75 stores.
RadioShack, which is negotiating with lenders to gain approval to shutter 1,100 stores, said last month that it closed 175 locations in 2014.
This is how we’ll be affected:
The price of everything is going to go up because wary distributors are going to try to recoup what they’ve lost from these companies that went under, while transporters increase prices to try to cover losses.
Jobs will be even harder to get than they were previously – and looking at the unemployment rates, it was pretty darned difficult before.
When people have no jobs, they spend no money, crushing the manufacturer’s and retailer’s economy even more.
As financial desperation increases, so will crime. And it won’t just be property crime – expect an uptick in violence as property owners fight back.
someone also commented on my post and said Cesars palace declared bankruptcy too
Woogie says:
Comment ID: 3312674
January 14, 2015 at 11:09 am
Cesar’s Palace filed bankruptcy, chapter 11 today.
Indeed: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/caesars-bet-days-led-bankruptcy-division-28212312
They were betting on the fact that the “official” numbers were accurate and apparently invested a ton of cash in anticipation of an actual recovery that never happened.
Casino companies globally are about to get hammered. The Chinese gambling haven in Macau is seeing massive drops in revenue and visitors (with several US-based companies like Wynn about to lose tons of cash on failing investments out there).
50 million Americans can’t afford food and almost 100 million are not working… last place they will be headed is the Black Jack table…
But they do go to the games. They put state run video games in my VFW and people flush money like I have never seen. Instead of saving and buying tangible goods they would rather flush it . And they make fun of me for prepping. People…shoulder shrug.
Those scratch off lottery tickets aren’t sold to the 1%. Never seen a professional (that I know of) pull on the handle of a slot machine.
There are people that believe that gambling is an investment strategy. As P.T. Barnum said, “There’s a sucker born every minuet”.
Lottery is a tax on people who don’t know math.
I had an ex like that. He’d put his LAST $2 in a video poker machine, fully believing that that royal flush would hit…I flushed that one real fast.
Warface, those same people that refuse to prep are ‘flushing their own lives down the shitter’ and won’t know it until it’s too late.
I live in Reno, and what is sad is seeing people put their last few dollars in a slot machine either at a casino or even in a grocery store. Unfortunately I think there is some “urban mentality” that they will be the one to win. It’s just like the lottery, they sell the most tickets to the poorest of the population.
Howdy neighbor!
Us smarter urban hicks use the casinos to our advantage.
Bring $25.00. Sit at the bar, insert $20.00, select nickels – play one credit at a time. Bartender comes around, gives free drink, tip 1 dollar. Rinse and repeat 4 more times.
The frugal can make that $20.00 last hours. Sometimes you actually do win or break even or whatever. In today’s economy that is cheap entertainment!
I recognize the types that do this, but max bet 5 quarters or dollars, then go back to the ATM, lose it all, back to the ATM…Addictions have many forms.
Mac Salvo
Its been my observation that the bringer of bad news, regardless how valid, is scorned and the optimist that says they can, “Turn water into wine” advances their career.
People tell the Emperor what he wants to hear.
… last place they will be headed is the Black Jack table.
…. probably to replaced by the derivatives bankster gamblers using OUR money!
Mac;
I understand a guy was arrested today who was planning to shoot up and bomb the white house. Will you monitor and see who of the regulars here is missing?
On a more serious note, why when I am typing something on this web site do I have to pound on my keys and still not register half of the time? It never happens anywhere else.
Skeptic, that is weird. Are you saying that you can’t seem to type in the comment areas? I use various devices to interact in the comments with no issues that I have come across… hmm… I am honestly not sure. Apologies if this is our end causing the problem.
Hello Mac;
Yes, exactly. It’s when I am typing in the comment field.
The idiot reporter on ABC news said the subject had two “M-15 assault weapons” and a “HUGE” supply of ammunition”
Really, M-15’s? WTF is a M-15? MSM talking heads are the second-dumbest people on earth, second only to the stupid gullible sheeple that believe the BS flowing from their mouths.
HAHAHA , I saw that as well.
They showed a picture of an ar-15 and kept repeating m-15 , great entertainment , piss poor news .
It is this:
http://www.armalite.com/ItemForm.aspx?item=15A4B
I have this exact same issue. Many times a single letter or space do not register. It happens on all my various devices. Really makes me have to work at my comments.
FU skeptic. We here are NOT insane idiot!
That is rather harsh. Insane Idiot? On what do you base this?
one thing to bear in mind..
All Casinos were built on Losers…and the fact that the deck is stacked against all players
Not one casino was built because they gave away tons of money
… and Vegas is running out of water quickly!
Going to be a ghost town again!
In other news today it looks like the Plunge Protection Team had it’s work cut out for it today in stopping a run on the markets. They have not had to work this hard since 10/14. Could be the last four days are an indicator of things falling apart. Glad I have nothing left in that rat trap of a stock market.
BigB
Why did you copy and paste the list from the article that we all just saw? Also, the top 2/3 of that list is from 2 years ago! Yet, since that time the unemployment rate has decreased.
We all need to help the GUNS & AMMO INDUSTRIES. I don’t need new cloths and shoes. Just repair the old ones.
Part of the problem is much of the crap we buy now is crap and not repairable. Material is too thin in pants, shirts, shoes, socks. Have you seen a pair of Levi’s lately? They’re about half as thick as they used to be. The leather on shoes is either plastic or so thin you can breath through is. The soles don’t wear out any more, they fall off!
I know what you’re saying, but there is still some better quality stuff out there. I seem to fall into the craziest sales when I’m not even looking. Take advantage of those opportunities when you can.
Shoe Goo is your friend. Amazing what you can fix with the right glue and a vise or some clamps.
amen support your local gunsmith I know I have seen a lot of business pick up lately there is just me and the owner and we are having a hard time keeping up
falloutboy, Thats a good profession! With all the shit going down and the threat of reporting every transaction with gunzz including repairs, you could do it under the table and make bank! Not that I am saying break the so called law of course 😉 but man that would be a good side gig for anyone that is so inclined ….
you would be amazed t the deals I get also 80% lowers (well enough said) I am about to do a 1919a4 parts kit lots of fun think I am going to mount it on top of my jeep its my BOV just got through putting four inch lift on it with set of 35’s new bumpers front and rear with a front locker been considering doing he bullet resistant glass tint
My town has lost Arby’s, one its Burger Kings, and is about to lose its J.C. Penney. If it weren’t for cellphones, the RadioShack would already be gone. We already have to drive an hour each way to get to a large bookstore. The good thing is that we’re surrounded by miles and miles of good farmland.
hello archivist, My town has the exact same closings, glad to know I am not the only one from EC reading this site. kf
Then I guess you know that Kenyon-Bailey is closing. They are keeping the landscaping business going though.
I figured the Penney’s wouldn’t last long when they stopped accepting cash for mail orders. I have stopped going there.
The good news is that Barbecue Barn is planning to rebuild.
If Chick-fil-A closes I may get violent.
Love their waffle fries and chocolate shakes.
They make the best chicken sandwiches.
I like their chicken trips or nuggets dipped into BBQ sauce…..YUM YUM YUM.
Hey braveheat, you’ve said here many times that you NEVER eat fast food. Just caught yourself in another of your many lies, please get the professional help yo need asap.
It would probably be one of the last to go! If it went, weKNOW the stuff has hit the fan,and there’s no going back!
Things getting tight.
Bet high, sleep in the streets.
Here in the UK the lamestream media our dear leaders can say what they like about our economic situation.
I only monitor 2 indices.
1. The cost of my shopping at the supermarket which is giving me a smaller basket of goods for the same fixed sum with every week that passes.
2. The Baltic Dry Index which tells me how healthy International trade is. It only takes a quick glance to see that global trade is declining rapidly.
That’s my micro and my macro economic indicators right there without needing to spend a decade in College to able to make nor tail of the figures they show me. Things are not looking pretty and the general trend has been horrid with no signs of anything changing any time soon. It’s gonna get harder and harder.
One thing that did suprise me was the size of the packages of the traditional Xmas meats this year. The chickens on sale were smaller than my son’s bantams, and I didn’t know you could get such tiny turkey crowns. The price per chicken etc was higher than in 2013 though. (Historically us Brits have been a bit spoilt when it comes to meat). Did you guys notice the same on your side of the Atlantic?
As for what we do about it? I think 2015 is the year when the old school, frugal traditions of digging for victory, make do & mend etc, stop becoming part of our preparations and turn into our new way of life, whether we wish them to or not. It will not be long now before if you can’t fix it, grow or make it yourself it’s gonna be too late to learn before those hard times hit.
If you still need to drag yourself out of debt, relocate or make any other truly major lifestyle changes like kicking that kidult out of your spare room or basement then it needs to be happening NOW. I do agree on the concept of multiple income streams and this is my New Year’s resolution – to create several part time independent ways of earning honest money so that not all my eggs are in one basket. If nothing else taxes and the like will mean that the need for money will continue, even if I’ve already adapted to living on a fraction of what I brought in a decade ago.
I think in the West tptb have opted for a long, slow miserable descent into a poverty stricken totalitarianism for most of us. 2015 is the year they start turning those screws.
lonelonemum…. One of my colleague is from the UK. Last week after work we had a beer together and he opened up about his family who lives in Manchester and express that they really are suffering financially similar to almost everyone else in the world except the PIG class controlling the wealth.
I told him the source of the UK suffering is in the London financial district and the famous six sided start based family in your country. Do the Brits really see this as an issue and are they awaken like everyone else in the world as who is behind the world wide suffering? I am just curious as far as the % of the awaken people in the UK.
Cheers.
Stolz
The working man in the UK is not generally a happy bunny at all right now. There is a simmering anger/discontent at the bankers just under the surface present everywhere. (In London people don’t say much, but elsewhere it’s openly spoken of). Our political class is so detached from reality it’s not even funny anymore. People are so desperate that the buffoon Nigel Farange may even get a few votes at the next general election.
On an island this small, planning our relocation, so as to avoid the worst of the civil unrest, that I believe at this point seems unavoidable in our future was tricky. I think the end of the year, after the general election will lead us into what the Chinese describe as interesting times.
Lonelonmum,
I agree the Baltic Dry Index is a good economic indicator.
Unfortunately, it continues to decline.
Currently it is at 762.
Lonelonemum, good to hear from you. I also feel 2015 will be THE year for the balloon to go up. To answer your question about meat, on our side o the Atlantic, some parts of the US are experiencing a shortage of meat and some other items. That sends up a major red flag in my mind. This yea may prove to be far more interesting than we would like. Take care.
Don’t care if all those stores close. Don’t have one thing to buy from them. I would be concerned it Tractor Supply was closing.
Almost crunch time.
One just opened in my town. Literally right next to a Sears. I LOVE that place!
All I need is a cal ranch and sportsmans warehouse 😛
A new one here too! Opened in November
I vote for Farm and Fleet! 🙂
How about Harbor Freight. It would be great to have a huge amount of cheap broken Chinese shit after shtf!
from the article.
Have you seen evidence of this collapse?
How are things in your neck of the woods? I know that where I live, some of the nearby malls are turning into ghost towns. Crime has been steadily rising for the past six months. I personally know several people who have lost their jobs recently due to the closure of the businesses with whom they were employed. Have you seen evidence of this financial downturn? Let’s compare notes in the comments section below.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Where have you been. All that stuff is going down right here. K-Marts are gone. Strip malls have plenty of empty stores. Crime up. Lots of homes in my area vacant.
SS I don”t know Where you are but in SE Michigan,we just lost our Only Kmart and it was the First Super K ever Built! The Strip Malls are about 30% empty, and unemployment is around 40%, I see six out of ten People Here using Snap Cards, The only business that seems to thrive here are Pizza Joints…Bars..and Car Dealers…The Kenyan Prince has lied about the economy from day one!Its going to get very Bumpy in the next two years..until Obama hits the Back Nine forever!!!
Semper Fi
Cameraman.
With retail stores if one closes, people move over and buy from the next available same type store. I do feel for those people who lose their jobs but it is all about the numbers with corporation.
The next big deal with be the Supermarkets/Grocery stores. Imagine if your supermarket closed down in you area. One chain that had good prices just up and left. Two stores gone in a month. Soon there will be only convenience stores and Wal-Mart. Saving Grace is Farmer’s Markets for vegetables. Still their prices are getting high.
Slingshot—
Funny you should seek the ‘economic-pulse’ of posters here..a good idea, btw.
..since my job/company entails extensive travel over a 5-6 state area..I always scope-out the cities/towns & ‘burgs, in whatever locale I’m working in.
Have noticed the following since mid-summer ’14, to today:..
Substantial reduction in the number of tenants in manifold malls..big up-tick in reduced-rate dental procedure adverts (per local TV & billboards), in manifold locations…..plus, more lot-lizards at highway truck-stops….and lots of mini-strip malls, where every business advert, is in ‘Spanish’ w/ adds slathered everywhere there is a glass surface & then some….and sadly, a huge increase in ‘sand-box vets’ **panhandling** at traffic intersections.
..I’ve seen a shitload of mom-&-pop businesses “going outta business sales-signs”..and several defunct car dealerships & their parking lots, are now flea-markets..!!
In truth, I could go on ‘Ad Infinitum’…but what’s the use, right???
We both know the economy is on an IV-drip, per the buckets of spilled ink & paper dross..on the floor..at the treasury…
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BTW, coverage spans ..all of SC/all of NC/Va(no further north than Suffolk)/Tn(no further west than Knoxville)/Ga(no further south than WR-AFB area)/WV(no further west than Charleston)..!!!
..for the record, I’ve found that “”most”” of the common-folks residing/inhabiting/working/struggling/surviving(of late), in said chunk of real-estate..
..to be amongst the finest folks..I’ve met!
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**Per those panhandling vets…yeah, I give ’em a “$10 Yellen-script” note, every time…as the real vets always stop & salute smartly…whenever they see the DoD sticker…on my windshield!!!
..as there, but for the “Grace of GOD”…go many of us!
–addendum to above–
…and a “SHOUT-OUT” to them, per the “Veterans Today” web-site(dot-com) address..per help w/ finding a job….
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–(deep sigh & flowing tears)– ..really!!!
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Amerika….you don’t have a “fucking clue”..!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ll wave at you when you are on I 40 headed to 81. You would be within shouting distance ! 😉
GOD Bless you…BabyC-55…
PLEASE!!!..help the real grunts/vets..every chance you get!
——————-
On the other hand:….. –(beforehand crap)–
Heads-up Yo’ Momma…{ 🙂 }…been-there-done that w/ wicked “SHIT”..
..bought-the-T-shirt w/o $$$ …& nobody ever surfed thru basic …. w/ current wisdom/mindset/knowledge…
..cut some slack, dude!
..we are brothers…
What is a lot-lizard?
In my nearest small town, 5 stores/businesses have closed and one is for sale. I go 4 to 5 days without one piece of mail now. It never stopped like this, even since 2008!
The few jobs listed in my area are in the healthcare industry since 30% of the last quarter GDP was spent on healthcare, not holiday sales. The gov’t reported Dec. retail sales were up from last year, but reports from the retail business industry sources say retail sales were down 10%.
More businesses in the US are closing down now than those that are being created, so this is your wake up call.
Around here, the only things that boom are the tobacco shops. Bars only doing marginal business as a whole compared to before the Wal-Mart here opened their extra-large alcohol department…no lie. For-sale signs everywhere…multiple businesses coming and going in the same buildings, but never lasting for very long. And, yes, SNAP cards everywhere.
Cam,the k-marts having been on a death spiral for many years,they kept trying new things/leadership but was toast a long time ago.
K-mart has been plagued by moronic leadership for decades. They never learned any lessons.
One example: having way too many checkout stands too close together but not open. Why have 14 checkout stands jammed together with only one or two open? Take every other one out and open it up a little.
Or not labeling prices on the products or shelves. So many times I’ve put an item back on the shelf because there was no price on it.
I thought Sears, after emerging from bankrupcy and bought K-mart (I’ll never understand that one), would have changed K-mart’s ways, but nope, K-mart never changed a thing. And now they are dying off.
I can tell you here is not that bad but it is the home of wal mart and Tyson chicken and a few other big corps are based here
falloutboy, we must be neighbors. Yes lots of construction going on here. Pretty good place
live. Beats anything south of here. Have a good
day.
bigben
hey bigben I in good ole Fayetteville are you in Bentonville
damn cntspell today (I’m)
AHHH (Can’t)
Local mom and pop movie theater closed, one of town’s three hotels closed, one of two sporting goods stores closed, many misc. small businesses shut down, lots more theft and assaults than we normally see around these parts, most folks you’d consider “good” working multiple jobs and taking money under table for small jobs…lots of people quietly stacking and prepping.
I get hassled a bit posting because I am a peace officer, but I see firsthand what the ongoing collapse is doing to my community. Even my local newspaper has stopped printing almost all of the crimes because the sheeple don’t seem to want bad news. I was a mechanic before I was a cop and have started to repair things again for friends and family…taking networking advice from this site.
The wife cans, the kids shoot deer, grandma mends clothes…this is the way people should live collapse or not…I wish I had discovered it sooner.
People shop online now so stores are going to close. I resisted shopping online for a long time but now do so regularly. I support mom and pop stores but the big box stores can go to Hell where they belong. I know it is going to put alot of people out of work but maybe they should be burning up their “leaders” phone lines and demanding that something should be done to bring industry back to this once great nation. Most of our problems are caused by ourselves and our apathy. Everything only gets worse so get used to it.
I shop online for a very good reason. Mainy to avoid Paying sales taxes. Starve the beast is my mantra. And too boot I usually get a better price and free shipping. these places like sears ect. are middle men. Why pay middle men and parasite taxes? Those folks had ought naught to do with he making the product. To me daisys so called bad news isn’t bad at all. Its a sign that things are changing.
WARFACE, Online shopping is where I get all the things I can’t get locally. The other things I need I buy at small stores locally owned. Radio shack cannot compete with ebay and ebay has every electronic thing you ever dreamed of. When is walmart going to fall off the face of the earth dammit?
You can shop online at Wal Mart also!
No thanks.
Look ay the bright side. At this rate we can all get jobs making 22 ammo.
.22 ammo?????? Where? Please help…I had to fire 500 rds this past weekend and my inventory is damaged from 15,600K CCI to 15,100K. I can’t sleep at night.
Stolz,me heart bleeds for you!
Stolz, You mean you can count your .22 ammo? I measure mine by the pound lol… 🙂
Good one Genius.
Stolz
@ Genius
That ther iz funny. I’z don’t carz wat anyin sezs that ther iz fuuny.
Para I know your starting to lose jobs in the energy field, but I wanta know, what happened to Joel Barnes?
Well,a lot of those stores sold junk anyhow,and having travelled around the world a bit outside of large cities we have more stores per person then most other countries I have been to.That said,sure,times getting tougher and folks also spending less as they are making less.Here is a way to help retail for you and friends:htp: //comeandmakeit.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-state-of-3d-printed-firearms-today.html ,a wide variety of plans from WRS site for manufacture,remember,can only make for your self on receivers!
On a side note,when I first hit site keep getting sent to another page to sign up for the site,is this going to keep happening/glitch/whats the deal?Is this happening to anyone else?I am not clicking anything on page except a article and scrolling thru comments.
Brand new pop up to sign up for e-mail notification…
yeah, what’s up with that?
Prepare now..won’t be long before it falls apart completely.
Prepare for a very dark future.
On another note.
All the Sports teams. Football, Soccer, Basketball, Nascar, Golf and Baseball. Stadiums are pretty filled up.
Doesn’t seem the country is hurting that bad. Tail gating, R.V.’s, Party!
Something to watch for a slowdown?
All that is paid for with credit. Buy now, pay later, buy now, pay later… Not sustainable.
This all y’alls fault…
You listened to the conspiracy wackos and started paying off debt and cut back spending.
In order for an economy that is made up of 70% consumption to function, you need to buy and run up credit.
Shrub was right when he said to go shopping.
In local news, they are building a bunch of them ratty Dollar General stores around here.
JRS,at times the dollar stores have good deals on some items,always peruse em when going by one.
WC, Good point! I have found a lot of things good for preps etc. in dollar stores. Kitchen stuff, foil, baggies, candles, etc. for cheap. Yard sales are even better. Blankets, clothes, kitchen stuff, games, gunzz, a plethora of good stuff and waayyy cheap too 🙂
Yep,usually it’s only a,well,dollar.That is,you live in a tax free state like N.H.
I in no way doubt that we are in big trouble across the board, but I honestly haven’t seen that big of an impact in middle america. I work in a big box home improvement retailer in central Indiana in a county that is not as well off as some surrounding counties/towns and we are having near record sales week to week. We are up from 30M to over 32M in one year. This is usually the slow time of year for us, but I’ve had many people bring house remodel plans and prints just this week. We have seen an increase in new homes being built and the investor buying/rehabbing/selling like never before. Some is insurance, but restoration has been down as a whole this year. Thoughts or insight in this?
On a side note referencing the tightwad gazette as mentioned above…clicking that link it’s sale price is 16$. Being the tightwad that I am I looked on eBay and there it sat for 4$ with free shipping.
I just bought it 2 minutes ago for $4.79 including shipping from
Abebooks dot com.
The student becomes the teacher, Grasshopper.
The entire supply / demand equation that worked so well failed when the plan to get hordes of people to make things at a low price, that they themselves cannot afford to purchase and then significantly raise the price of said goods, skimming the excess off for a sub fraction of the population destroying the inherent manufacturing / consumer relationship. Unsound currency of potentially infinite supply separated the cost of stored wealth via interest rates destroying the self correcting nature of transactions and their relationship to productivity.
Magic and special effects have displaced fundamentals with a, “If it appears good it must be” as opposed to reality.
Its like Abe Lincoln said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time”. After a while reality has a way of catching up.
Fook lincoln that stinking bag of sh*&t. Hes in hell where he belongs! No wonder obama identifies with lincoln, they both used theyre power to destroy us…
John Wilkes Booth,though late a American hero.
WC, evidently some uninformed/misinformed fools disagree. If you idiots think lincoln was a great president you better look again. Or just go watch foot ball you stupid ass armchair idiots 🙂
His earlier plan to kidnap lincoln and put a stalemate in the rebellion(not a civil war,the south didn’t want to be part of washington),might have worked out well,slavery was going to end either way over time and this was not what lincoln wanted if necc. a war for,he could have given a rats ass about that.
Peter Schiff: NO-JOBS Report: HORRIFIC NUMBERS!
http://beforeitsnews.com/economy/2015/01/peter-schiff-no-jobs-report-horrific-numbers-2691726.html
the government has gone far beyond the mere manipulation of
the numbers
they are outright LYING about everything now
as if the figures above aren’t bad enough
Texas stands to lose 140,000 jobs in 2015 if oil prices don’t recover,other oil producing states will be right behind them
If you haven’t yet read Jonathan Cahn’s “The Harbinger” better get busy. Only 8 months remaining for America. http://www.amazon.com/Harbinger-Ancient-Mystery-Secret-Americas/dp/161638610X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421277325&sr=1-1&keywords=harbinger
I guess I will just party like it’s 2015 🙂
I did that in 1999 , still got the t-shirt.
I’ve heard Cahn. Very intriguing, particularly about the citation from the O.T. talking about rebuilding, which is actually a gross misunderstanding of the text, and a self-imprecation of sorts.
Still, I hold this with a lose hand. I am old enough to recall Hal Lindsey, and his compelling arguments in The Late, Great Planet Earth. Yet his prognostications did not come about. Nevertheless, one say the Lord WILL come back, and people will be blowing it off, saying “We’ve heard it all before.”
My point is, listen and read Cahn, but do so with a critical eye, and always compare to Scripture. Only the latter is inspired. All this being said, Cahn’s work is very interesting; in fact, we ARE being judged right now as a nation – 47mm on food stamps, rampant drug use and divorce destroying lives, massive companies like GM, GE, AIG all went or are essetially bankrupt, and only live as zombies sucking life from YOUR wallet (yes, ZIRP for these cronies IS de facto bankruptcy); in fact, Mr. Obama himself is perhaps one of the biggest curses on this country one can imagine. Even worse, there are MANY Christians I know who voted for this guy. Staggering.
Please read Cahn’s book, “The Shemitah”. Every 7 years under God’s judgment our country suffers a calamity for taking Him out of the schools, 53+ million abortions, etc.
I borrowed the Harbinger from my son’s teacher over Christmas break and emailed her to let her know to be looking for it in my sons backpack and that I had the Shemitah on my to read list. Well, just so happens a friend of hers gave her The Shemitah audio book for Christmas so I am listening to it now. I sent her the Fourth Turning and what was described by Strauss and Howe is happening now. We are looking at a 20 year decline according to them that started in 2007 and 2008. According to the book, typically what pulls economies out of these periods is- war, their timing somewhere around 2020.
Its easier to fool a person and keep them fooled. Than it is to convince them they have been fooled.
old, that’s the truth! I can tell people bullshit all day long and they would eat it like a steak, but tell them the truth and they look at you like you have 2 heads. Other than my wife I don’t know one fooking person near me that is awake to all this shit. Thank god I know a lot about force multipliers or I’d be fooked. Did I ever tell you how much I hate going out and dealing with the public at large? We live in a fascist idiocracy…
@Genius…… ” Did I ever tell you how much I hate going out and dealing with the public at large?”
MY wife gave me a key ring years back that I still proudly use today, and it says:
I don’t discriminate! I hate everyone.
She said she thought of me immediately when she saw it, so bought it for me.
SO who am I to argue with the (bitch. << sarc;<)
shipping container cabin: while doing research on a bugout retreat secure cabin build, i found a cheap supplier for shipping containers, will ship them nation wide.
even modify them for you.
check out ‘cherokee shipping containers’.
found 3 weather proof rated used steel ship containers – 8×8 20 footers for $4500.
which is exactly what i was looking for.
check em’ out.
Damn bugsy thats expensive! I can get them for half that locally. And the downside is you have to have a road that will allow delivery of it. Yopu could build a wood cabin the same size for that price and not have to have a good road or any road for that matter. Just FYI.
Genius,could be worth it you loaded with goldfish crackers and federal ammo and then had delivered,prepped for life with room to live in!
yep WC, Use the nitro in the powder to eat when you have a heart attack from eating too many goldfish crackers 🙂
NO SILLY RABBITS.
i found (X3) X-THREE weather proof rated used steel ship containers – 8×8 20 footers for A TOTAL OF $4500.
THAT’S X3 FOR $4500.
THAT’S X1 FOR $1500.
—
I’M BUILDING A LOCKABLE STEEL CABIN FORTRESS WITH A ENCLOSED GREEN HOUSE GARDEN ON THE ROOF!
shipping container ” 8×8 20 footers for $4500″
$1850.oo here in the middle of Missouri.
Have a strategic reserve of silver, gold, whatever cash you can afford to put aside that isn’t in a bank as a buffer against job loss or other emergencies to stay afloat for some time.
So . . . replacing all those decent jobs the country has lost over the past 40-50 years – as the plague of ‘outsourcing’ shipped our economy to other countries – with ‘service’ McJobs and perpetual welfare has damaged the retail sector, as the people that once had an income and bought stuff now have no money to do so?
Huh.
I hear the bankers are doing ok, though. Hey, I wonder where all the money the bankers have accumulated over the past 40-50 years came from . . . .
92,898,000 out of work force
Heck, if we can keep fiddling with the numbers, we’ll have the unemployment rate at ZERO in another month. As Orwell once said, In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” Maybe they could start telling the truth with just the REAL jobless stats….
Per Breitbart, a record 92,898,000 Americans 16 years and older did not participate in the labor force last month, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS defines people not in the work force as people 16 years and up who are not employed and haven’t “made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week.” The labor force participation rate — or the “The labor force as a percent of the civilian noninstitutional population” — also dipped back down to 62.7 percent, from 62.9 percent in November. September also saw a labor force participation rate of 62.7 percent, however prior to then, the last time the rate hit 62.7 percent was in February of 1978.
Learjet leftists and limousine liberals of the world, unite!!
A Pew Research Center report shows that the wealth gap between America’s middle and upper-income families is the **widest** ever recorded. In fact, the median wealth of America’s most affluent families is nearly seven times that of their middle-income countrymen. The full story is at http://www.wallstreetdaily.com/2014/12/30/wealth-gap-middle-class/
If you think this due to capitalism, you would be exactly wrong. Capitalism has several opposites: communism, socialism and, yes, CRONY capitalism, aka “fascism” (the merger of the socialist state with co-opted, crony big business, which is co-opted to fund the brobdignagian statte. Fact is, capitalism as Adam Smith notes most equitably and efficiently distributes wealth out of any other system ever devised.
Places like Sears,K-Mart and Radio Shack have been sliding for years. Competition is killing off others Too many fast food joints,retailers,etc. even Walmart isn’t doing the business they used to. People are just flat out of money! Online shopping is competitive with the brick and block stores and are convenient and have less overhead. Malls are going under because the rents are crazy high. Kind of hard to compete when so much of your money goes to overhead.
A lot of those retailers deserve to die. I don’t hold that these are totally representative of the economy.
Best Buy – worst retail experience I can remember, not to mention that 3/4 of theire stuff is junk.
Sears – Clothing, which is a retail cash cow, was overpriced and mostly middling quality. I’d only miss Craftsman hand tools, but guess what? Our local hardware store now has them. And Lowes has their Kobalt brand, which ain’t bad.
J.C.Penney – Talk about overpriced ! ! ! Macy’s ditto.
Office Depot – OK, I still would shop there if I had one close by. I don’t.
Barnes & Noble – Amazon kills them on price and availability. Failed to develop their online business quickly enough. And I didn’t like their coffee one bit. All my books come from Amazon now. I don’t even look at the B&N site.
Gamestop – High speed internet is killing them. Why go retaill when you can download? Same as video rental stores.
Office Max – Didn’t Office Depot buy them out? Of course they are closing stores! If there’s an O.D. in the market area, why have an O.M. store too?
Radio Shack – Never a more deserving failure. In the ’80s I bought all sorts of components from them. They haved almost nothing in stock anymore. Their house-brand stuff is junk. And the last time I was in one they wanted to charge me $11 for a battery that I can buy on Amazon for under a dollar. For years they aggressively demanded your name, address, phone numbers and email every time you tried to check out. Second worst retail experience that I can remember.
Many women’s clothing stores are come-n-go fads. Exciting when new, but the kids get tired of them quickly. They die a natural death.
And much of this list is stores selling “I want it”, rather than “I need it”. They tried to “sell the sizzle” to keep margins high, and the public has seen through them, with the help of the internet. The times, they are a’changin’.
This news makes me excited and I will tell you why. People are wising up to the fact that buying thing does not bring happiness. Everyone on this site has learned that and stopped just being caught up in the material world of mindless commercialism. Should not we all be happy that the rest of the world is coming along also. Maybe we are on the cusp of realizing a better world.
Ancient, It’s called retail therapy my friend. Go out and buy all the crap you can to make your empty life full. Don’t you know, the more shit you buy the happier you are? Live like a king on a peasant salary that’s the way! Live short and prosper and have credit insurance to pay it off! Get a trophy wife who loves money and work overtime to pay the minimum payments on your huge ass house and useless shit so you can live the american dream! Waste as many resources as possible to make you look like your rich or some shit. Let your vanity shine for a short while before you eat shit and pay for the rest of your life for your stupidity. Your destiny as a miserable debt slave will engulf you like a python. Squeezing every ounce of energy you have till you can’t take it anymore. Put a boolit in yer stupid head and end your self induced suffering. Goodbye cruel world, sorry I was to retarded to make it here….
I want my color TV!
That’s funny the trucking co I work for is buying a whole new fleet and hiring people to replace those retiring and they dont make most of their $ from retail no $ in it most is from manufacturing companies raw materials things that businesses buy for their operations oh and it’s a teamsters gig so take a number you can be everyone’s bitch for the next five years if you want to work there All those stores that are closing suk anyway no skill jobs that don’t pay . Those are all mall stores I don’t shop there. Too expensive for crap quality can get same junk at Wally’s for less was looking for a belt to hold my drawers up so I decided to got to mall check some out they are all shit vinyl that will break at the worst possible time. Screw that wife came home with one from a close out lot store that is real leather for 4$ instead of 30$ at the mall I’m not kidding just because you spent big bucks doesn’t mean top quality. I think a lot of people can’t tell the difference the fake shit is very convincing but I’m not fooled and made in china doesn’t nesascarily mean shit. I’ve seen Chinese stuff that is better quality than us made though this rarely the case. Bottom line is all consumer goods are made to throwaway . That’s the real reason retail is in trouble sell something worth buying that is repairable down the road. I live simple so meeting my needs isn’t that difficult plus I spend my life at work so no time for consumerism for me the only thing I bought today is a cup of coffee and I didn’t need to I had drinks with me. I hate spending $ it kills me. I want to get out of the workforce ASAP so saving $ is all I’m interested in. Have been working 55 to 60 hours a week far past 16 years .missing a lot of time with my little kids .and will never get that back. Shtf will give me an oppertunity to be home more I’m looking forward to it.
Truth. Try to buy something electronic from those stores? Gimme a break. Radio Shack people don’t know crap. They don’t have crap relative to modern devices (mini-hdmi to normal hdmi, etc). I can order from newegg or tigerdirect and the shipping is probably cheaper than the gas. Sears? Really?! Tried to buy a frig there this Christmas. so, they have this 15% sale coming up. Guess what? The model I wanted was “out of stock” one day later when the sale was on! Wife went over to HHGregg in same super-lot area and bought the same model and they honored the “promised” price from Sears! Most of those stores are run by absolute morons who deserve to be out of business yesterday. BestBuy? That’s like “New and Improved” or “Military Intelligence”. Oxymoron. There has never in the 15 years I’ve been to BestBuy stores been a best buy there. They are only in business because consumers are idiots.
There are companies out there making it and they are taking the customers from these bad companies. World is changing and unless these companies can legislate no competition like AT&T and TWC have done, they will not last.
We were warned…..But we let them sell us out….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkgx1C_S6ls
His job was to pull votes from GH Bush to get Clinton elected so NAFTA could be passed. As Perot gained in the polls and was advancing from a spoiler to a real contender he intentionally sabotaged his own campaign.
Republicans pushed for Free Trade.
The Main Stream Media broadcasted the Republican Free Trade position.
Democrats campaigned against it.
Democrats won.
Democrats got Free Trade through.
The Main Stream Media was silent.
The real deal…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PkWf9M3rUw
What do you get when yo cross a lesbian and a teamster? 2 people that dont do dick. Hey man, don’t dis teamsters, the best of the best don;t gravitate to the low paying jobs! Would you rather some illegal alien do your work? The best people in industry are union. Think you can out do me? I will smoke you like a cheap cigar man. I earn every penny I get and more, not all can say that but I can and I mean it. I get compliments on my work all the time. Not all of us are that good but, would you rather have the alternative???
This is good news. We are witnessing the death of the cheap-crap economy: it deserves to die. The US was polluted with big-box malls and junk-food restaurants all selling the same poisonous garbage made in China. That economy needs to die so that a new economy can grow; an economy based on sustainability. In the short to medium term this will mean lower wages for most because their skills and offer to the world is poor (just services sector work). But as people realize they will not get anywhere in life unless they create companies and innovations that can get a higher price, will we see a return to prosperity.
As somebody once noted, the US needs to create 300 companies every year as innovative as Apple in order to afford its current ‘exorbitant privilege’ in the world economy. A whole world of hurt is required for people to get that message into their thick, beer-and-junk food-soaked brains.
I work for a company that makes stuff to sell to some major retail outlets. This year they loved our offering and were supposed to commit to buy shipments.
3 months ago.
And they keep postponing… and postponing… and postponing…
Gee. Wonder why.
We were in good with ’em so it’s not that.
In my area, the times I have been in grocery stores, Walmarts, etc on Saturday mornings, its been eerily empty. I’m not much on shopping, just buy what I need and not into keeping up with the Jones. Most of these stores need to close that have popped up in the last few years because they are not sustainable. All these clothing, shoe, purse, phones, etc that are marketed to the mass affluent market are doomed. Gen X was greatly impacted job wise and is now working for less, millenials student loans and low wages, Baby Boomers spend less as they age. Discretionary income for a lot of folks is few and far between and will become increasingly so with increased healthcare costs, etc. I think we are headed for deflation….
This is all payback for the unions, the welfare dependency, and the bitching and griping and entitlements. The guys who pay the bills, the rich folks, they are done: they do not want to pay anymore for the plebs and that is why they are doubling down on the programme: to eliminate the middle classes and to just have a bifurcated society: a tiny elite who are very well educated overseeing a Smarties box of lower class folks who do all the menial work. Every move they make is designed to drain the wealth out of the middle classes and knock another million or so down into the lower classes. When they have got the right number in this position, they will re-shore mass manufacturing to the US from China, but all the jobs will pay less than people get in China. And people will be begging for this because life will be so awful on the food stamps and welfare. After they have handed the Chinese a laughing bag of worthless US dollar sh#t, they will drop the dollar hard, crash China’s economy and then launch an attack on China when the streets erupt in violence. This will be the final death blow to the remaining rivals to the US. Once this is done, the US will have total hegemony over the planet and will set the rules for the future.
China is crashing their economy all on their own. They don’t need our help.
And some mfg. that went to China is already coming back. Can’t deal with the corruption, I suppose.
“Have you seen evidence of this collapse?”
Google “Steamtown Mall’ In Scranton, PA 75% vacancy rate and the largest anchor store there- Boscov’s Is in bankruptcy. OBAMA has fundamentally changed America as he promised- He never said For the good……
Great, and timely, article. Thanks. I will check out the links.
For the past month I’ve been examining all of my expenses, and have found ways to cut hundreds from my monthly outflow.
For example, switched from my great, but expensive, phone contract to a Tracfone that is linked to a MagicJack. I make and receive calls via wifi for free, from wherever I have a wifi signal, and use the phone’s minutes for emergencies.
Still using vegetables canned from last summer’s garden to supplement bulk meat purchases made from local processing businesses. Also, rice and beans rock. Almost time to start next summer’s garden from seed. Just paid one dollar for a single red pepper at the store. A dollar will get me a packet of pepper seeds that will produce dozen of peppers to be frozen or dehydrated. The grow light in my basement gets some odd reactions, until I explain that it is for vegetables.
Interestingly, the pattern I have seen is that the greatest savings are achieved when switching from heavily taxed and regulated goods and services. The more I save, the more time I can spend in the hills fly fishing and enjoying what matters.
Tired of working more in order to pay for taxes and other government burdens. To quote the Stones, don’t want to be a beast of burden.
Take care.
In my town , bestbuy and RadioShack closed down last year .Food prices have gone up crazy for meat products and dairy. I also own a business in a private preschool, in 2008 just bought our building for school in June of that year then bottom fell out ! Our usual jump in attendance started dropping in Oct 08 , then barely made it back I’m 2013 . Now we started doing better in 2014 same thing started happening again same month of oct14 ! Headcount is lower then I have ever seen it now starting to see people get laid off again , don’t know if I can survive another downturn . Good news is I do prep! Good luck everyone
Watch commercial real estate and REITs tied to the same. Closed stores pay no rent. Empty stores drive commercial real estate rental prices downward. JMO.