by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:

All of the things that we would expect to see at the start of a major economic downturn are happening.  Retail sales are falling, auto sales have been way down, and the housing market is starting to crash like it did in 2008.  But unlike the last recession, we are also dealing with a raging inflation crisis, and this is one of the main reasons why real disposable income declined at the fastest rate that we have seen since the Great Depression last year.  At this point, close to two-thirds of the entire country is living paycheck to paycheck, and more than half the country cannot even afford to pay an unexpected $1,000 emergency expense.  We are in very dangerous territory, because most U.S. consumers are tapped out.