More change occurs in a single month than happened during most entire years when I was growing up.  When I pull up the news each day, there is always a fresh serving of chaos awaiting me.  Unfortunately, chaos is not good for the economy.  The U.S. dollar is in the process of dying, debt levels are exploding all around us, more mass layoffs have been announced within the past 24 hours, and the cost of living crisis is absolutely crushing most Americans.  Those that can look at the information that I am about to share with you and say "everything is fine" are simply not being rational.  The following are 12 signposts that indicate that a monumental economic meltdown is now upon us…

#1 Consumer confidence just fell to the lowest level that we have seen in 12 years…

America's economic mood deteriorated in January to its lowest level in more than a decade as consumers fretted about geopolitical tensions, affordability and President Donald Trump's unrelenting trade war.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for January, released Tuesday, declined 9.7 points to a reading of 84.5, the lowest since 2014, surpassing the lows of last year when Trump unveiled stiff tariffs and the depths of the pandemic recession in 2020.

January's reading came in much lower than the 91.1 reading economists projected in a poll by data firm FactSet.

#2 One recent survey discovered that 56 percent of U.S. workers are experiencing serious financial strain…

Social media is rife with tearful videos of how hard it has become to make ends meet. Some 14% of workers can't or struggle to pay their bills each month, PwC found. Another 42% pay their bills with little or nothing left over for savings. PwC says that's more than half of the workforce experiencing financial strain in 2025.

"I have to work 40 hours a week just so I can have a place to live," one woman said in one Instagram post. "Forty hours a week makes me $2000 a month and my rent is $1,660. So I work 40 hours a week so I can have a two-bedroom apartment and an extra $300 a month. Like, that doesn't even cover my phone, internet, food."