The negative effects of the Covid pandemic economic shutdowns and unchecked spending by the federal government are just beginning to be realized. In 2023, the consequences could be catastrophic for families across America, but also across the globe.
Recent financial reports are warning that the total excess savings will be gone by mid-2023. What does that mean? You will be living paycheck to paycheck (assuming you aren't already).
Since 2021 wages have came down .9% and inflation went up .7%. We got hit with a double whammy. Most households do not have much of a savings account and what they have will disappear rapidly. The average home expenses for heating, food, and electricity will go up and excessive spending will stop.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned that interest rates will continue to slowly rise. The real estate bubble is ready to burst, unemployment is rising as massive numbers of layoffs are occurring in some of the largest and well known companies. Smaller businesses are closing their doors or working with fewer workers trying to survive. We are seeing just the tip of the iceberg and don't know what is out of sight below the water.
I saw this pattern during the 2008 when I lost 50% of my retirement account in the stock market resulting from greedy banks and money lenders who artificially created a real estate bubble that drove home values through the roof. When the bubble burst and prices plummeted, every new homeowner found themselves upside down on their home loan. Corruption was exposed and the federal government bailed out the banks so they wouldn't collapse. Taxes went up, prices went up, and a "stimulus package" was distributed to select banks and business who prospered as the average citizen suffered.
Average people worked and paid the bills and did nothing else. In 2010, I was laid off my job due to budget cuts and was forced onto unemployment. I remember how devastated I was after a lifetime of independence to have to ask for government assistance, but a single mom has to do what she has to do.
Unemployment hit 23%, and the way the government calculated unemployment was changed so the reporting didn't look as bad. When the unemployment checks ended - you just weren't counted as unemployed anymore. When that money ran out the bank foreclosed on my home and I had 3 weeks to get out. My family lost our home and the government paid the bank for the devaluation of my home. I was homeless and no one cared. The rich were getting richer and I suddenly had nothing. Ten years later, I find myself looking at the same signs of my past. Real estate bubble, economic shut downs, unemployment rising, tax increases, distractions everywhere to make sure we don't see what is really happening, yes, it all looks very familiar.
We have been told for decades that change is coming and it is arriving like a freight train in the night. Some hear the rumbling on the tracks because we know what to listen for. Some of us see the signs because history repeats. We know what we are being told is EXACTLY what we should expect, and instead of doubting their warnings, we take them heart. Storm clouds are gathering and it looks like a long, cold winter is on the horizon. We can prepare for the changes to come or we can sit in our ignorance and hope for the best. I pray we stop fighting long enough to see the season has changed and the storm has arrived.
"Wisdom belongs to the aged, and understanding to the old."
Job 12:12