This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog. 

We sure have seen a lot of really crazy things happen so far this year. But in the minds of most Americans, there is one crisis that far outweighs everything else. As I have been documenting for years, our standard of living has been collapsing as the cost of living has risen much faster than our incomes have. As a result, 67 percent of U.S. workers are now living paycheck to paycheck. We are in the midst of the worst cost-of-living crisis in modern history, and Statista has found that Americans consider it to be the biggest challenge that they are facing by a very large margin…

The cost of living won this survey in a blowout, but that shouldn’t be a surprise to any of us.

There are countless videos on social media where ordinary Americans are complaining about how oppressive the cost of living has become.  Zac Rios has compiled some of the most poignant videos that have been posted lately, and when you watch them back to back, it really is heartbreaking…

And as economic conditions continue to deteriorate, it is going to get even worse.

Are you ready for that?

Many Americans are going deep into debt in a desperate attempt to stay afloat, and one recent survey found that nearly half of all Americans now worry about debt every single day…

Debt weighed heavily on daily life for many participants. Just under half (46.5%) said they worry about debt every day. Half admitted to avoiding their bank statements, a behavior that could worsen financial problems by delaying action.

Shame was another theme. More than half of respondents (54.6%) said they felt embarrassed about their debt, even though nearly everyone surveyed (98%) reported owing money.

When asked about specific concerns, the most common answers included falling behind on payments (53.7%), not having enough for retirement (53.7%), discovering higher balances than expected (53.5%), losing homes or belongings (53.3%), and leaving little to children (51.8%).

It is easy to tell people that they should get out of debt.

But for the two-thirds of the country that are living paycheck to paycheck, there is never an opportunity to get ahead of the game.

And a lot of people who are living on the financial edge are now losing their jobs.

During the second quarter of this year, a whopping 17 trucking and logistics companies went bankrupt…

At least 17 trucking and logistics companies filed for bankruptcy in the second quarter of 2025 alone, Equipment Finance News reported.

While dry van truckload contract rates were flat in the first half of 2025 from the same period a year ago, as FreightWaves reported, trucking spot rates, which shippers pay carriers for a one-time shipment, however, finished the first half below year-over-year levels.

Long-haul truckload demand reportedly plummeted by 25% in the first half of 2025, with trucking becoming more of a short-haul delivery method for the final leg of freight movement.

At this moment, we are in a trucking recession.

If the economy were moving in the right direction, that would not be happening.

The retail industry is experiencing a tremendous amount of pain as well.

This may be difficult to believe, but the largest shopping mall in San Francisco is now 93 percent empty…

The largest shopping mall in San Francisco is now reportedly 93% vacant and has seen its value plunge by 25% over the past year, as high rents and retail crime continue to batter the Northern California city.

A new appraisal has slashed the value of San Francisco Centre, located at 865 Market Street, to $195 million, which is a 25% decrease since August 2024 and more than $1 billion below its valuation in 2016, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing research from Morningstar.

The 1.4 million-square-foot mall has become largely deserted, with 93% of its property now empty, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

I haven’t written about it for a while, but our rapidly growing commercial real estate crisis is reaching a crescendo.

As large numbers of commercial mortgages go bad, many of our financial institutions suddenly find themselves in very hot water.

Meanwhile, a residential real estate crisis is quickly developing.  In some of the markets that were once the hottest, condo prices have begun to crash…

Condo prices in Killeen, TX, a little over an hour north of Austin, have collapsed by 40% since the peak in mid-2022 and have given up the entire 52% spike from mid-2020 to mid-2022, plus some. The spike had been driven by FOMO-madness and the Fed’s Free Money policies. This is one of the fastest-growing cities around; its population has surged by 35% in the past 15 years to 160,000 in 2024.

But Killeen and other cities like this with condo markets in free-fall don’t qualify for our list here because they’re too small.

Several additional cities made it onto this list because the August price drop brought the total price drop from the peak to 12%, including Phoenix, AZ, and Orlando, FL.

In so many ways, it is starting to feel like 2008 all over again.

Of course, it isn’t just the U.S. that is experiencing significant economic pain.

Earlier today, I came across an article that was posted on Zero Hedge that warned that “the collapse of the German economy continues unabated”…

The collapse of the German economy continues unabated. The German Engineering Federation (VDMA) now expects a dramatic decline in production this year and lashes out at the federal government.

A rebound in the German economy this autumn has failed to materialize. Just a week ago, the Federal Statistical Office revised the country’s GDP decline for Q2 2025 from –0.1% to –0.3%. Now, the German machinery association follows suit with its forecast for the full year, confirming the ongoing downward trend in production: “We had previously expected a decline of 2 percent, now we anticipate minus 5 percent for 2025,” says VDMA President Bertram Kawlath, who expects production to grow by just 1 percent in 2026. Was 2025 really the trough?

I have been watching Germany for quite some time.

This is not a good sign at all.

I will probably have much more to say about the deteriorating situation in Europe in future articles.

At this stage, the entire global economy has reached a critical tipping point.

It certainly wouldn’t take much to push us into a worldwide economic nightmare, and I am expecting so much chaos in the months ahead.

A lot of people out there seem to think that they have no need to prepare for what is coming.

They are wrong.

Yes, things are bad now, but what is on the horizon is going to be much worse.

So I would encourage you to do what you can to get prepared, because the collapse of our standard of living is only going to escalate.

Michael’s new book, entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next,” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book, entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next,” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com, including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books, you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream, and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  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, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.