(The Economic Collapse Blog)—Once upon a time, America’s cities were beautiful, clean and the envy of the entire world. But now the rest of the world is literally laughing at how badly they have degenerated. A stunning nationwide crime wave has combined with the greatest homelessness crisis in modern U.S. history, the greatest drug crisis in modern U.S. history, and the greatest migration crisis in modern U.S. history to produce absolutely deplorable conditions in the streets of our largest cities. For example, if you find a plastic cup on the ground in New York City, you may want to carefully examine what is inside before you decide to pick it up. The following comes from the New York Post…
“There was a cup of what I thought was somebody’s discarded hot chocolate that turned out to be not hot chocolate,” said street cleaner John Cashvan.
“On warmer days, it can smell like a toilet over here — and not a well kept-toilet.”
In the past week, locals and volunteers said they’ve spotted cups filled with urine around the park’s entrance near the former school, along with human-sized poop in tree beds and between parked cars.
“Most of them want to pee in plastic cups rather than the ground, and they leave them on people’s door steps,” said longtime resident Garrett Rosso, 64, who said he spotted a dozen cups filled with urine.
One migrant had no problem taking an al fresco whiz on a tree Wednesday afternoon as The Post surveyed the stomach-churning scene.
Authorities in the Big Apple have run out of places to put all of the people that have come flooding into the city.
And more are arriving with each passing day.
Of course the same things could be said about Los Angeles.
At this point things are so bad that even the Hollywood Walk of Fame “has become overrun with homelessness and violent crime”…
The Hollywood Walk of Fame has become overrun with homelessness and violent crime, leaving tourists and locals feeling unsafe.
The iconic LA landmark, once the epitome of glitz and glamour, is disappointing visitors with its dirty sidewalks and repulsing locals who have experienced violent attacks.
Decades ago, the streets of Los Angeles were very safe and very clean.
But now if you wander the streets of Los Angeles by yourself you are literally putting your life at risk…
One local, Amy Michele, said she was punched in the face when running errands on the boulevard.
‘I’ve seen people with machetes and knives just slicing the air in front of them hoping to get someone who passes by,’ she said in a TikTok video warning others.
‘I’ve seen people sell drugs out of the back of a truck.
‘I’ve witnessed a hostage situation at one of the apartment complexes on Hollywood Boulevard.
‘I’ve been punched in the back of the head by a homeless person’ she added.
At this stage, virtually the entire city is becoming just like Skid Row.
Los Angeles is an extremely dirty city, and all of that filth has spawned a massive explosion in the rat population. But Los Angeles is not “the rattiest city” in America. For the ninth year in a row, Chicago has taken that title…
Orkin Pest Control named Chicago the Rattiest City for the ninth year in a row. Los Angeles follows Chicago in second and New York City finishes in third place.
More than 80 percent of the U.S. population lives in urban areas, and so what is happening to our cities really reflects what is happening to the country as a whole.
In Oakland, auto theft has increased almost 50 percent during the past year, and there is one square mile near the airport that has become world famous for how lawless it is.
In particular, there are three gas stations where criminals steal from rental vehicles dozens of times a day, and the police seem powerless to do anything about it…
Less than a mile away from the Chevron, a Shell gas station on Hegenberger Road is also plagued by thefts. Around five hundred yards from the Shell, another Chevron is another hotspot. And next to that, the parking lot of an In-N-Out Burger is hit daily.
Police say the criminals, who operate in well-organized groups, follow the same playbook: a spotter keeps watch for targets, usually rentals headed to or from the airport, as they pull up at the gas stations.
They then alert accomplices, who pull up in a vehicle when the targets start to pump fuel. Often, they smash a rear window or pop the trunk of unlocked vehicles before making off with luggage and valuables. The thefts take just seconds.
The spike has earned the Shell the nickname ‘America’s most dangerous gas station’. The two Chevron sites are also top contenders for the unwanted title.
There are police that patrol the area, but they are restricted from chasing non-violent criminals, and so the thieves know that they will be able to get away if they flee rapidly…
But the officer, who’s picked up an overtime shift to keep watch and act as a deterrent, wasn’t just referring to the theft epidemic when he made the strikingly blunt assessment.
He was referring, in his words, to the ‘restrictive’ policies passed by city and state lawmakers which mean police officers can’t even pursue the thieves because smash-and-grab theft is a ‘nonviolent crime’.
‘We can’t do a car chase on nonviolent crime,’ he told DailyMail.com from the seat of his police cruiser. ‘I can go behind the cars and try and turn on my lights, but why would they stop?’
I would strongly advise not visiting Oakland.
But of course most of our other major cities are not much better.
In Denver, so many migrants have been pouring into the city that the city’s primary public hospital is on the verge of financial collapse…
The migrant crisis in Denver has plunged the city’s main public hospital deep into the red after patients received $136 million in treatment they couldn’t pay for.
Denver Health lost $2 million in 2022 – but that was substantially-reduced by a $20 million cash injection from the state.
In 2022, the hospital system lost $35 million, with bosses warning of ‘dire consequences’ for the hospital if 2024 is as bad as the previous two.
Our cities were already filled with hordes of extremely desperate people, but over the past few years our politicians have allowed millions more to enter this country.
Now we live in a permanent atmosphere of lawlessness, and our society is absolutely teeming with predators.
Earlier this month, I was absolutely horrified to read about what seven of those predators did to two children at a mall in Houston, Texas…
Very few things shock me in this age of social media extremism, live-streamed terror and international permacrisis.
But the headline last week truly forced the bile to rise in my throat:
Seven Texas men filmed themselves gang-raping two toddlers in a bathroom of Houston’s Galleria Mall.
Sickening, indescribable evil.
A 29-year-old mall worker Arthur Hector Fernandez was identified as the suspected ‘ringleader’ and arrested in December, charged with assault. His accomplices are yet to be identified.
This is what America has become.
That story actually didn’t stay in the news cycle for very long at all, because this sort of thing has become very common in our society.
The truth is that the fabric of our culture really is coming apart at the seams all around us and we really are on the brink of societal collapse.
I believe that 2024 will be the most chaotic year that any of us have ever seen, and I believe that the years beyond 2024 will be even more chaotic.
If we had made much different choices as a society, we could have gotten much different results.
But now our cities are being turned into open sewers, and our entire nation is becoming a little bit more lawless with each passing day.
Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.
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Starting the Day With a Scripture-Inspired Roast Helps Center Your Thoughts on Eternal Truths Amid Temporal Pressures
The world can seem chaotic, especially right after we wake up. Many believers start their mornings reaching for something familiar — a hot cup of coffee — yet end up settling for mediocre brews that do little more than deliver a caffeine jolt. The daily grind of life, with its endless distractions, news cycles, and responsibilities, can leave even the most faithful feeling spiritually parched alongside their physical fatigue. What if your morning ritual could do more than wake you up? What if it could ground you in truth, nourish your body with exceptional quality, and quietly advance a kingdom purpose at the same time?
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