Researchers found that in many areas, rent prices shot up over 200%, and are likely to continue to rise in 2023. This means that many struggling U.S. families are about to lose their homes as they fall behind payments, and evictions start to pile up all across the country. That’s what we’re going to break to you in today’s video.

Over the past three years, home prices jumped by almost 47%, and today, they remain about 38% more expensive than they were in 2019. Higher mortgages are also pricing many would-be homeowners out of the market. As a result, demand for rents is soaring, and a shortage of affordable rental units is creating a perfect storm for evictions, experts say.

Right now, rental vacancy rates are at the lowest level since 1984, which is giving landlords, especially corporate landlords, much more power to mark up prices for a limited number of available units. On the other hand, we all know by now that wages aren’t keeping pace with rising rents in the U.S.

In point of fact, wages aren’t keeping pace with anything these days, and 58% of renters are currently living paycheck to paycheck. About the same rate, or 57% to be precise, are now paying more than 30% of their income on rent.

In cities with minimum wages above $7.25, it takes an average of 2.5 full-time minimum wage workers to make the typical two-bedroom rental affordable, meaning renters would spend no more than a third of their income on rent. In cities with a $7.25 minimum wage, it takes an average of 3.5 full-time workers to meet this threshold. “Income disparity does really play a big role and impact the affordability outlook for a lot of renters,” Chen added.

From 1985 to 2022, the national median rent price rose 151%, while overall income grew just 35%. That’s to say, the average rent rose over 4 times faster than wages. Overall, the cost of living in the U.S. increased by 89% since the mid-1980s, according to the firm’s calculations. In other words, Americans have experienced a steep decline in their purchasing power across the last four decades, and they have been forced to move to cheaper, subpar units or spend significantly more of their earnings on rent.

We’re going to see cases of evictions reaching crisis levels in the months ahead, especially as big companies start to layoff their workers en masse. Many renters are hanging by a thread at this point, and as the economic downturn that is now unfolding all around us accelerates, millions of U.S. households will be pushed over the edge.

If you doubt this, just consider what is already happening.

According to a new Alignable survey that was just released, 41 percent of all small business owners in the United States could not pay rent in November…

Due to high inflation, reduced consumer spending, higher rents and other economic pressures, U.S.-based small business owners’ rent problems just escalated to new heights nationally this month, based on Alignable’s November Rent Poll of 6,326 small business owners taken from 11/19/22 to 11/22/22.

Unfortunately, 41% of U.S.-based small business owners report that they could not pay their rent in full and on time in November, a new record for 2022. Making matters worse, this occurred during a quarter when more money should be coming in and rent delinquency rates should be decreasing. But so far this quarter, the opposite has been true.

In September, that same survey found that 30 percent of all small business owners could not pay rent.

Many were deeply alarmed by that figure, and then it jumped up to 37 percent in October. Now we are at 41 percent, and if there is any time when small business owners should be able to pay rent it is during the holiday season. When commercial real estate tenants cannot pay rent, it inevitably has a domino effect.

It appears that we will soon have millions of empty commercial spaces all over the nation, and many owners will soon be unable to make loan payments because sufficient rent money is not coming in. If the Federal Reserve insists on raising rates even higher, I anticipate that we will eventually be facing a commercial real estate crash of unprecedented size and scope.

Meanwhile, the implosion of the housing market continues to pick up speed. Existing home sales have now declined for nine months in a row, and the median price of a home in the U.S. has now fallen by about 7 percent. Sadly, many experts are now warning that things will only get worse in the months ahead.  Here is one example…

“In one line: Collapse in prices is coming,” wrote Kieran Clancy, senior U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

I told my readers that this would happen if the Federal Reserve aggressively hiked interest rates.

Of course home prices could soon fall a lot more.  In fact, Pantheon is projecting that they could ultimately fall by a total of 20 percent from the peak…

Pantheon estimates that existing home prices will keep falling, ultimately dropping by about 20% from their June peak of around $414,000.

If you are planning to sell a home, I would try to do it as quickly as possible before prices go way down.

Meanwhile, another troubled cryptocurrency firm has just filed for bankruptcy…

Distressed crypto firm BlockFi has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey following the implosion of putative acquirer FTX.

So why is BlockFi in so much trouble?

Well, the truth is that there are a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest is the fact that they loaned 275 million dollars to FTX that will never be repaid…

In the filing, the company listed an outstanding $275 million loan to FTX US, the American arm of Sam Bankman-Fried’s now-bankrupt empire.

I warned my readers that FTX would not be the last domino to fall. And now another one has tumbled over.

Needless to say, there will be many more, because FTX “has more than 1 million creditors”…

In a matter of days, FTX went from a $32 billion valuation to bankruptcy as liquidity dried up, customers demanded withdrawals and rival exchange Binance ripped up its nonbinding agreement to buy the company. Gross negligence has since been exposed. Ray added that a “substantial portion” of assets held with FTX may be “missing or stolen.”

FTX has more than 1 million creditors, according to updated bankruptcy filings, hinting at the huge impact of its collapse on crypto traders and other counterparties with ties to Bankman-Fried’s empire.

FTX was just one giant Ponzi scheme, but of course the entire system is just one giant Ponzi scheme.

The entire thing is eventually coming down, and a lot of prominent voices are trying to sound the alarm about this.

For instance, author Robert Kiyosaki tweeted the following just a few days ago…

Many of you know I do not invest in equities, bonds, ETS or MFs. Please DO NOT listen to what I’m going to say next: “I would get out of paper assets.” The world economy is not a “Market.” I believe economy is the biggest bubble in world history.

Of course he is quite correct.

We have been living in the largest bubble in all of human history.

And once it finally shatters into billions of pieces nobody is going to be able to put it back together again.

So get ready for a massive adjustment in your standard of living.

With very hard times looming, the Washington Post is encouraging their readers to reduce food costs by eating bugs…

The Washington Post advised Americans Sunday that instead of a traditional season dinner, which now is unaffordable for a quarter of families, they should instead look to eating bugs.

Yes really.

In an article headlined Salted ants. Ground crickets. Why you should try edible insects, the Post stated “Consumers can already find foods like salted ants on Amazon and cricket powder protein bars in Swiss grocery stores.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on ever eating bugs.

No matter how bad things get, I just couldn’t eat ants or crickets or beetles.

Unfortunately, most people are completely and utterly unprepared for the times that we will soon be facing. A tremendous amount of economic chaos is on the way.

The Federal Reserve could help matters a great deal if they would just stop raising interest rates.

But that isn’t going to happen, and so it appears that 2023 will be a year of severe economic pain all over the nation.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.

I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.

I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  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, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Article cross-posted from The Economic Collapse Blog.

The small business network Alignable released new survey results that found that 35 percent of U.S. small business owners “could not pay their rent in full or on time in June.”

“Most small business owners attribute this worsening situation to record-breaking inflation, which includes escalating gas, labor, and supply costs,” Alignable said. “Simply put, there’s less money available to pay the rent.”

According to the survey, rent increased for 48 percent of small businesses this month. Meanwhile, rent delinquencies have continued to increase all year.

“This is the highest rate of U.S. rent delinquency among SMBs this year,” the group said.

Another key factor hurting small businesses are gas prices, which hit record highs last month, averaging more than $5 per gallon for regular gas, before dipping down slightly. Diesel gas prices also hit record highs in June.

“Even more alarming, 63 percent of transportation SMBs couldn’t afford June rent, up 41 percent from May,” Alignable said. “It’s no shock to learn that 76 percent of this group said gas prices have had a ‘very significant’ negative effect on their businesses.”

Illinois and Texas lead the nation in rent delinquencies.

“States with the highest rent delinquency rates include: Illinois (44 percent), Texas (44 percent), [and] New Jersey (39 percent),” Alignable said. “While they’re still high, rates dropped in Massachusetts, New York, Florida, and California.”

The report comes as other survey data show that soaring inflation is a top concern for small businesses.

As The Center Square previously reported, the survey found 51 percent of small businesses fear that rising prices could “force them to close their businesses within the next six months.” In particular, restaurant owners are concerned with 72 percent saying they are worried.

That concern is not new. An April poll from NEXT Insurance reported that many small businesses have considering shutting down because of inflation.

“According to a new survey by NEXT Insurance, small business owners across the United States are frustrated and stressed about inflation and the state of the economy,” the group said. “More than one-third have considered shutting down in the last 12 months. As prices continue to rise and supply chains continue to falter, many small business owners have been forced to work longer hours, raise prices, and even cut their own salaries just to stay afloat, our survey found. And a majority of small business owners believe the pain isn’t over.”

Image by muntazar mansory from Pixabay. Article cross-posted from The Center Square.