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This Is What The Early Stages of A Severe Recession Look Like
This Is What The Early Stages of A Severe Recession Look Like
By Michael Snyder
It is definitely starting to look a lot like 2008 and 2009 again. Those years were
such a painful time for our country, and in many ways we still haven’t fully
recovered from the damage that was inflicted upon us during that era.
Unfortunately, so many of the exact same things that we experienced back then are
starting to happen in our time. For example, the Great Recession brought us the
greatest foreclosure crisis in the history of our nation, and now foreclosures are
really starting to spike here in 2024. In fact, the number of new foreclosure filings
in the U.S. just jumped 10 percent in a single month…
But it did.
Interestingly, Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware actually experienced the fastest
increase in foreclosure filings last month.
Nevada was second, and that was due to the large number of foreclosure filings in
Las Vegas…
Nevada’s position in the ranking is largely due to foreclosure filings in Las Vegas,
where many people lost their jobs when tourism crashed during pandemic
lockdowns.
According to ATTOM, Las Vegas had a foreclosure filing on one in every 1,923
housing units in January.
But when hard times arrive, times are even harder in Las Vegas.
Michigan saw the fastest rise in completed foreclosures – up a huge 200 percent.
This was largely down to high rates of foreclosure filings in Detroit.
I remember writing articles about how some homes in Detroit were literally selling
for one dollar when things were at their worst.
Unless interest rates go down dramatically, home prices have got to fall, and that is
going to cause all sorts of problems.
Prices have crashed all over the nation, and now many office buildings that were
once worth millions of dollars are simply being torn down.
In fact, in Los Angeles there is a plan to tear down a very large office building in
order to build just 30 EV charging stations…
I don’t know what’s crazier…this headline or seeing office properties drop 80-90%
in just a few years
The commercial real estate recession (primarily office) has gone from scary to a
meltdown in many cities across the US and it seems as though the damage is
permanent
If we really are heading into a major economic slowdown, we would also expect
retailers to be shutting down stores all over America, and that is precisely what we
are witnessing right now.
Incredibly, even Walmart reduced the number of stores that it operates by 102 last
year…
Walmart last year closed 23 stores across the US, eight of which were in Illinois, it
emerged this week
Overall, its total number of stores fell by 102, from 4,717 in January 2023 to 4,615
a year later.
On top of everything else, large employers continue to conduct mass layoffs from
coast to coast.
Last week, many were saddened to hear that Vice Media Group is laying
off hundreds of workers as it continues to spiral toward oblivion…
Vice Media Group plans to lay off hundreds of employees and stop publishing on
its flagship news website, the company’s chief executive said in a memo to
employees Thursday — a stunning setback for a digital media pioneer that
ascended to cultural prominence more than a decade ago.
“It is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we
have done previously,” Vice CEO Bruce Dixon said in the memo, which was seen
by NBC News. Vice Media did not immediately respond to emails requesting
comment on Thursday’s news.
Everyone knew that Vice was in dire straits, and so those layoffs are not exactly a
shock.
But why has Google suddenly decided to give the axe to thousands of workers?
…
Google has initiated significant layoffs across its various teams, including the
Voice Assistant, hardware, engineering and ad sales teams, marking a continuation
of the tech industry’s trend towards reducing workforce expenses. The layoffs have
affected hundreds of employees within the Voice Assistant unit; hardware teams
responsible for Pixel, Nest and Fitbit products; and a considerable portion of the
augmented reality (AR) team. This move is part of Google’s broader effort to
streamline operations and align resources with its most significant product
priorities.
According to The Verge, the total number is in the thousands. This comes at a time
when Google parent, Alphabet Inc., reported record profits in late January. The
company reported $20.4 billion in net income in Q4.
Google is one of the most successful companies in the entire world, and they are
swimming in cash.
If they feel the need to ruthlessly cut workers, what kind of sign is that for the rest
of the economy?
Sadly, the truth is that it has become quite apparent that big trouble is ahead.
2024 is going to be such an important turning point for the economy, and it is also
going to be such an important turning point for the nation as a whole.
The state of the economy will certainly be a central issue during the upcoming
election season, but there are no easy answers for the problems that we are now
facing.