Has a “Silent Depression” Already Started in the United States?

(The Economic Collapse Blog)—The Biden administration and the corporate media are telling us over and over that the economy is just fine, but the term “silent depression” has been going viral on TikTok.  Housing, vehicles, food and just about everything else that we spend money on is far more unaffordable today than it was during the Great Depression of the 1930s.  A realtor in Florida named Freddie Smith posted a video on TikTok with some absolutely startling numbers about the cost of living in the United States today, and that is what started the “silent depression” trend…

TikTok user Freddie Smith, a realtor based in Orlando, posted a video in September claiming that the U.S. economy is in what he calls a “Silent Depression.” In the video, which has amassed nearly 800,000 likes, Smith compares the average 2023 salary and basic costs to those of the Great Depression to highlight the growing cost-of-living crisis in the country.

“If you look back to the Great Depression, the house was only three times the average salary. Now, it is eight times the average salary,” Smith said. “The car was 46% of the salary, the car today is 85% of the salary. And here’s the craziest part, the rent was 16% of the average salary, it is now 42% of the average salary.”

Of course he is right on target.

There is a reason why 62 percent of the country is currently living paycheck to paycheck.

The cost of living has become incredibly oppressive for most Americans, and nobody can deny that reality.

@fmsmith319

Great depression vs silent depression

♬ original sound – Freddie Smith

When Whoopi Goldberg declared that “Millennials just need to work harder” during one of her crazed rants, Smith followed up with another video about the rising cost of living…

@fmsmith319

Boomers: “Millennials just need to work harder.”

♬ original sound – Freddie Smith

Many Americans are working as hard as they can, but they just keep falling farther and farther behind.

But we aren’t supposed to talk about what is happening.

We are just supposed to pretend that everything is just wonderful.

And now the corporate media has been putting out  lots of articles attempting to debunk Smith’s videos.  Here is just one example…

But economists strongly disagree.

“Any notion from TikTok that life was better in 1923 than it is now is divorced from reality,” said Columbia Business School economics professor Brett House.

So what is the truth? Are we in a “silent depression” or not?

Let’s take a look at three key areas.

If honest numbers were being used, they would show that GDP growth has been negative for almost the entire time that Joe Biden has been in the White House. That would indicate that we are at least experiencing a recession.

And if honest numbers were being used, they would show that the unemployment rate in this country is sitting at about 25 percent right now.

Needless to say, that is absolutely horrible. And if the rate of inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, it would still be in double digit territory even though it has come down a bit. The official numbers that the government gives us are designed to make us feel good about things. But at this point things are so bad that the charade is falling apart.

It certainly feels like a “silent depression” if you just got laid off from your job. And it certainly feels like a “silent depression” if you cannot pay your bills…

Millions of Americans strapped with student loan debt are still not paying their bills after a three-year payment hiatus ended this fall.

Federal student loan payments restarted at the beginning of October after President Biden declined to extend the pandemic-era pause that first began in March 2020 under his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.

However, 40% of the 22 million borrowers who had bills due failed to make a payment as of mid-November, according to a new report published by the Department of Education. That means about 9 million Americans who have payments due are not making them.

And it certainly feels like a “silent depression” if you cannot sell your home…

Home sales in California plunged to the lowest level in 15 years in November, according to the latest data shared by the California Association of Realtors (CAR).

According to a report released on Tuesday, existing single-family home sales were down 7.4 percent last month compared to October and down 5.8 percent from November 2022, totaling 223,940. It was the biggest monthly decline in the past year, which plunged existing home sales in California to the lowest level since the Great Recession of 2008-2009.

And it certainly feels like a “silent depression” if you are living in the streets…

Homelessness shot up by more than 12% this year, reaching 653,104 people. The numbers represent the sharpest increase and largest unhoused population since the federal government began tallying totals in 2007, the U.S. Department of Urban Planning and Development said Friday.

If the economy is in “good shape” why are Americans becoming homeless at the fastest pace ever recorded?

That doesn’t make any sense at all.

But those at the top of the economic food chain simply do not understand what all the fuss is about.  Today, Americans age 70 and older now hold more than 30 percent of the nation’s wealth.  For the moment, life is good for the elite, and they think that the rest of us just need to work harder.

Of course they shouldn’t be looking down their noses at the rest of us, because hard times are coming for them as well.

The “silent depression” that has already started is hitting those at the bottom of the economic food chain the hardest, but those at the very top will soon be feeling it too.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.