Extreme Gaslighting: Here Are 7 Signs That The Mainstream Media Is Flat Out Lying To Us About The Economy

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

How many times have you heard the mainstream media tell you that the economy is doing just great in recent months?  Personally, I have seen the word “booming” used over and over again to describe the economy, and it makes me sick.  The level of gaslighting that we are witnessing right now is off the charts.  Millions of Americans are sleeping in their vehicles, thousands of businesses are failing all over the nation, and most of the country now believes that the American Dream is no longer attainable. 

If this is what a “booming” economy feels like, I would hate to see what would happen during a “recession”.

I totally understand why the mainstream media is gaslighting us.  They want us to believe that everything is fine so that we will vote a certain way in November.  They have an agenda, and they are pushing it really hard.

But what they are telling us simply does not match up with reality.

The following are 7 signs that the mainstream media is flat out lying to us about the economy…

#1 Survey after survey has shown that the economy is the number one concern for American voters during this election season.  If the economy was in good shape, we would not be getting results like this…

The economy was still the top issue for 26 percent of voters, per the poll. Threats to democracy and extremism came in second at 22 percent, and immigration was third at 13 percent.

#2 At this point, the economy is in such rough shape that even Dollar General customers seem to be running out of money…

Dollar General shares tumbled Thursday after the discount retailer slashed its sales and profit guidance for the full year, suggesting its lower-income customers are struggling in this economy.

Shares of the retailer, which caters to more rural areas, tumbled 25% after the earnings report.

#3 When the U.S. economy was actually booming, Big Lots was thriving.  Sadly, today’s economic environment has been very hard on the retail chain and it is now teetering on the brink of bankruptcy…

Discount home goods retailer Big Lots is reportedly on the brink of bankruptcy after years of falling sales.

The beleaguered chain may seek Chapter 11 protection within weeks, according to Bloomberg, if it is not able to find investors.

The Ohio-based company runs around 1,400 stores across the US, after closing hundreds of locations earlier this year.

#4 Needless to say, Big Lots is far from alone, because the number of businesses that are filing for bankruptcy has reached dizzying heights…

According to statistics released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, annual bankruptcy filings totaled 486,613 in the year ending June 2024, compared with 418,724 cases in the previous year.

Business filings rose 40.3 percent, from 15,724 to 22,060 in the year ending June 30, 2024. Non-business bankruptcy filings rose 15.3 percent to 464,553, compared with 403,000 in the previous year.

#5 According to Zero Hedge, several regional Fed business surveys just fell even deeper into contraction territory…

‘Four more years’ is not the message being heard from the regional Fed surveys this week as the Philly, Dallas, and Richmond business surveys all slumped deeper into contraction…

#6 As I discussed yesterday, approximately two-thirds of the entire U.S. population no longer believes that the American Dream “is still alive”…

Only about a third of U.S. adults believe the American dream is still alive, a Wall Street Journal/NORC poll published Wednesday found.

A survey of 2,501 people conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute twelve years ago found more than half of respondents believed the American dream “still holds true,” but now only a third feel that way, according to a recent WSJ/NORC poll of 1,502 adults. The study also found an increasingly large gap between people’s economic goals and what they think is actually attainable — a trend that was consistent across gender and party lines, but was especially common amongst younger generations.

#7 Last, but certainly not least, total household debt in the United States has soared to a level that we have never seen before…

A quarterly report published this month by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on household credit and debt found that between the first quarter of 2021 and the second quarter of 2024, credit card debt surged 48.1% while household debt — which includes mortgages and auto loans — rose by 21.6%.

In dollar terms, credit card debt rose from $770 billion in early 2021 to $1.14 trillion in the most recent quarter, while household debt increased from $14.64 trillion to $17.8 trillion in the same period.

Yes, there is a small segment of society that is still doing really well.

Thanks to the unprecedented intervention that we have seen in the financial markets in recent years, they are still able to live the high life while most of the country suffers.

But while stock prices continue to set new all-time highs, much of the nation looks like a horror show.

For example, just consider what has happened to Pine Bluff, Arkansas…

A small Arkansas city suffering from severe population decline and economic turmoil has become so abandoned that properties are on offer for as little as $400.

Pine Bluff, a bleak metro that saw its population drop from 49,000 to 41,250 residents from 2010 to 2020, made headlines this month after being panned in a YouTube documentary from Abandoned Atlas.

In the movie, filmmaker Michael Schwartz said witnessing the city’s decay ‘shocked’ him, saying: ‘It seems like every time I turn a corner, there is another abandoned home or building left behind.’

The gap between the ultra-wealthy and the rest of us has never been larger than it is right now.

The next time you walk past an abandoned store that has been boarded up, just remember how much the mainstream media has been lying to you.

The next time you walk past someone that is sleeping in a vehicle, just remember how much the mainstream media has been lying to you.

The next time you walk past someone that is hooked on drugs because they have lost all hope, just remember how much the  mainstream media has been lying to you.

Our communities are falling apart right in front of our eyes, our economy is falling apart right in front of our eyes, and our entire society is falling apart right in front of our eyes.

So don’t let the mainstream media fool you.  The economy really is moving in the wrong direction very rapidly, and it won’t be too long before even they are forced to admit the truth.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.