A “Lockdown Economy” Without The Lockdowns: 48 Percent Of U.S. Small Businesses Couldn’t Even Pay Their Rent Last Month

By Michael Snyder

When nearly half of all small businesses are struggling so much that they can’t even pay their rent, you have an enormous economic crisis on your hands. The last time that we witnessed anything like this was during the peak of the COVID pandemic, but here in 2024 we don’t have a major global health crisis to blame for our catastrophic economic performance. In March 2021, 49 percent of small business owners in the United States could not make their rent payments, but that was because so many states had instituted lockdowns which were severely harming the economy. In September 2024, 48 percent of small business owners in the United States could not make their rent payments, but there is no excuse this time around…

Close to half of small business owners couldn’t pay their rent in September, marking a new three-year high.

According to business networking platform Alignable’s September Revenue & Rent Report, 48% of small business renters could not make their rent payments. That was up from 41% in July and August. And it was the highest it has been since the Covid recovery era in March 2021, when 49% of small business owners were delinquent.

We have a “lockdown economy” without the lockdowns.

Does anyone out there want to try to put a positive spin on this?

Because if you do, I would love to hear what you have to say.

Fox Business interviewed one restaurant owner in California that has tried everything that she can think of to keep her restaurants going…

A regenerative farmer and restaurateur who closed several of her California eateries is now facing the possibility of shutting down her remaining two locations.

Mollie Engelhart, owner of Sage Regenerative Kitchen, said despite her continuous attempts to keep her restaurants afloat, they are “barely hanging on by a thread.”

“It doesn’t feel like we can hold on because I’ve run out of assets to literally liquidate, to keep us above ground and above water,” Engelhart told FOX Business. Engelhart said she and her husband “leveraged everything” including their retirement and home, in hopes that things would turn around.

I feel so badly for her.

But the truth is that there are countless other small business owners that are in the exact same boat.

Our economy really stinks.

That is the bottom line.

Of course many larger businesses are deeply struggling too. In fact, we just learned that TGI Fridays has just filed for bankruptcy…

Casual dining chain TGI Fridays Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas on Saturday with the company’s executive chairman saying it still has not fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bar and grill chain, known for serving up hamburgers, loaded potato skins and $5 happy hour drinks, said the move was done to “address legacy liabilities and position restaurants for long-term success,” the company said in a press release.

The Dallas-based company says 39 of its corporate-operated domestic restaurants would remain open.

When I first started using the term “restaurant apocalypse” many months ago, a lot of people thought I was exaggerating.

Since then, chain after chain has gone bankrupt.

It turns out that I was not exaggerating one bit.

Meanwhile, the percentage of middle-income households that rate their financial situations negatively has just hit a brand new high…

America’s middle class is feeling the squeeze like never before, according to new data.

Primerica’s latest Financial Security Monitor report for the third quarter found 55% of middle-income households now rate their personal financial situation negatively, a 6-point jump from the previous survey.

“For the first time in a year, a majority of middle-income households are feeling negative about their personal finances,” said Glenn Williams, CEO of Primerica. “In fact, this latest report represents the highest negative rating we’ve seen since we began fielding the survey exactly four years ago.”

The middle class is being absolutely eviscerated, and it is getting worse with each passing month.

Last week, I was stunned to learn that hundreds of people had applied to rent a “sleeping pod” in San Francisco for $700 a month…

A company that rents “sleeping pods” in downtown San Francisco for $700 a month has had 300 people apply for its remaining 17 beds, the company’s CEO said.

Brownstone Shared Housing describes its mission as “providing low cost housing in the most expensive cities”. Its bunkbed-style “pods” measure approximately 3.5ft-by-4ft-by-6.5ft, large enough to fit a twin mattress. The pods come with privacy curtains, inside lighting and charging ports.

I still remember the days when you could rent a spectacular luxury apartment for $700 a month.

Now all you get for $700 is a “pod” that allows you to sleep in a large room with a bunch of other stinky people.

The government has been feeding us numbers that indicate that the economy is performing well, but it turns out that they were just an illusion.

For example, we are now learning that the labor market is actually far weaker than we were originally told…

Biden/Harris lied about jobs numbers.

They said in August there were 159k added, there were only 78k.

In September they said 254k, but only got 223k.

In October they expected 100k, but only got 12k.

Will they later revise October’s number even lower?

It takes 150,000 jobs a month just to keep up with population growth.

And that doesn’t even account for the millions upon millions of people that have been coming into this country illegally.

And the outlook for the months ahead is not good at all.

It is being reported that Nissan “is planning on cutting production of its main U.S. models by 30%”…

In continuing signs that the U.S. consumer is tapped, Nissan is planning on cutting production of its main U.S. models by 30%, according to a new report from Nikkei, which says the cuts could jeopardize the automaker’s 2024 global sales targets.

Nissan forecasts a 99% drop in quarterly operating profit to 995 million yen ($6.52 million) and a 12% decline to 500 billion yen for the year, citing weakening U.S. market earnings, the report says.

The company’s target of 3.65 million vehicles sold for 2024 is now at risk, it says.

If Nissan thought that the economy was about to turn around, they wouldn’t be doing this.

So far in 2024, U.S. banks have shut down more than 700 branches…

US banks closed more than 700 branches in the first nine months of the year, forcing thousands to travel further to access vital services.

Bank of America closed the most locations of any bank, shuttering 132 between January and September.

U.S. Bank followed swiftly behind, having closed 101 of their own branches.

If our banks thought that the economy was about to turn around, they wouldn’t be doing this.

Warren Buffett continues to sell off stocks, and he now has a cash stockpile of 325 billion dollars…

Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate headed by Warren E. Buffett, extended its retreat from stocks in the third quarter, cutting its holdings in Apple and Bank of America and increasing its cash to a record $325.2 billion.

If Warren Buffett thought that the economy was about to turn around, he wouldn’t be doing this.

Let’s be real.

I have been documenting our economic decline for more than ten years, and now we have reached a terminal phase.

Our leaders flooded the system with money and piled up trillions upon trillions of dollars in new debt.

They were able to delay the inevitable for a few years, but now the economy is crashing anyway.

Economic pain is all around us, but what is ahead is going to be even worse.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” 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 “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight 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.