The overwhelming majority of Americans have no idea how our economy works and will be totally wiped out when the economic storm strikes again, which is inevitable.  Our financial system is extremely vulnerable and people are just unprepared for things they can’t foresee.  Americans tend to trust that their leaders know how to manage the economy and can fix problems before they become disasters.  The majority of Americans live paycheck to paycheck without setting anything aside.  They’re not buying emergency supplies of food and water and they’re not investing in gold and silver.

Less than a decade ago, in 2008, our financial markets were blindsided by the mortgage crisis and markets crashed.  Americans lost their jobs by the millions and because they were stretched thin already, they couldn’t stave off foreclosure and so lost their homes to the banks and financial institutions.  Now, just eight years later, people have forgotten and somehow seem to think it won’t happen again.  Preparing for the worst is not a priority anymore and people have turned a blind eye to the fact that the signs are already starting to appear that our financial markets are on the verge of another collapse.  People who have not learned the lessons of the past and have not prepared for this will be very regretful.

The 14 signs that indicate most Americans will be completely wiped out when this happens are as follows:

• Massive job layoffs can happen any time just as it just did at one of New York’s largest law firms.  Most Americans (76%) are living paycheck to paycheck and spending as if they have complete job security when in fact they could be laid off at any time.
• Over a quarter (27%) of Americans have no savings whatsoever.
• Nearly half (47%) of Americans have $800 or less in a savings account.
• Less than 25% of Americans has saved up enough money to cover the basics for six months.
• When surveyed, 62% of Americans in the middle class admit they’ve had to cut back on household spending this last calendar year.
• There are very few small businesses being formed in America these days.  When you eliminate farm workers, only about 7% of Americans are self-employed at this point in time.  So everyone else depends on a job for an income.  When these jobs begin disappearing what then?
• Twenty-five years ago, in 1989, the average American family had a debt to income ratio of approximately 58%.  That has now grown to 154%.
• Nearly half of all U.S. households (49%) depend on a government check every month.  What happens when the government decides to pull back and the checks stop coming?
• Forty years ago approximately one in 50 Americans depended on food stamps.  Today this figure has grown to the point where one out of 6.5 Americans receives food stamps.
• Nearly half of American households (44%) do not possess a first-aid kit.
• And even more American households (48%) have not purchased and stored up any emergency supplies.
• Over half (53%) of Americans do not have enough supplies of nonperishable food and water to last them 3 days.
• A survey was taken asking Americans how long they could survive if the electricity went out and when the results came in 21% said they would last less than one week.  28% estimated they couldn’t survive more than two weeks.  Almost 75% said they’d perish before two months.
• Over half of all Americans (55%) expect and believe that the government will rescue them when and if disaster strikes.  This is according to the Adelphi University Center for Health Innovation who conducted a survey.

You may be living a very comfortably these days, secure in your middle-class lifestyle, but this may not last.  If you’ve watched the news lately you know what is going on in Greece.  The economic situation there has gotten so bad recently that many middle-class families are now living in poverty and are unable to even feed their children.  They’ve had to leave them at orphanages just so they’ll survive.

Greek children by the scores are being left at care homes and orphanages because their parents can no longer support them.  One Greek charity reported that of the 100 children in its residential centers, 80 were there because of their parents’ newly impoverished financial situation.

In Greece, teachers are cancelling recess and PE classes because the children are malnourished and don’t have the energy to play.  Teachers have seen their pupils going through garbage cans looking for food.  They estimate that 10% of their students are going hungry.

If and when the U.S. economy crashes again and you find yourself out of work, how will you and your family put food on the table?  Could you find yourself homeless and looking to the government for help?

President Obama and Ben Bernanke (now Janet Yellin ) have kept everything under control in the recent past, but I’ve long since stopped trusting politicians and economists and prefer to prepare for the inevitable economic collapse.  I hope you’re preparing as well.

Source:homesteadingandprepping.com