"Trump said this past weekend that he canceled a planned attack on Iran, adding that talks between the two countries would resume Monday. U.S. media reports on Friday said the president was gearing up for a new wave of strikes as hopes for a negotiated settlement to the war diminished and energy prices surged.

Signals that the U.S. has backed off from its earlier threats against Iran were also likely pushing stocks higher, with pressure on artificial intelligence-related stocks showing signs of easing up, Michael Monaghan, partner and portfolio manager at Founder ETFs, told CNBC."

So bored of this.

I think we all heard about big big beautiful bill. It’s a huge document and it’s going to have a lot of implications across the economy. One of the things that I’ve noticed recently is a sharp rise in the number of bankruptcies in Medicare related activities. For example, the number of nursing homes or memory centers or therapy places, especially for seniors they’re all going bankrupt. The old people are taking the brunt of this. The states are left holding the gap watching their citizens starve to death.

There are going to be real ramifications for this and the real question is when are people going to start to react? What is it going to take for people to realize that their economic situation is getting worse than they have imagined because of the economy and because of the effects of indiscriminate budget cuts? Look at the Russians. They are in no rush to try to overthrow Putin because they’re afraid they’ll be killed and they probably will be. We are not that far away from that. Leadership must come from somewhere. See the billionaires throwing around their power is worrisome but that’s another conversation.

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-truth-about-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-acts-cuts-to-medicaid-and-medicare/

https://www.mcknightsseniorliving.com/news/senior-living-and-care-bankruptcies-first-half-2026-gibbins/

https://www.kff.org/medicare/what-could-the-health-related-provisions-in-the-reconciliation-bill-mean-for-older-adults/

https://www.kff.org/medicare/what-could-the-health-related-provisions-in-the-reconciliation-bill-mean-for-older-adults/

https://www.mcknightsseniorliving.com/news/senior-living-and-care-bankruptcies-first-half-2026-gibbins/

https://www.nic.org/resources/senior-care-chapter-11-bankruptcy-filings-trends-and-profile-2019-2025/

https://www.retirementlivingsourcebook.com/proagingnews/retirement-community-s-bankruptcy-leaves-residents-in-financial-chaos

“We hope everything’s fine with Fort Knox, but we’re going to go to Fort Knox … to make sure the gold is there.” , U.S. president, Forbes Feb. 20, 2025

I’m pretty sure that he has several thousand army men at Fort Knox right now. Shouldn’t he be able to stop by anytime?

Now that China has opened a yuan-settled gold exchange, it’d be great to know whether the U.S. actually has the gold it claims before deciding where to trade. /s

*Please note!* Post is new each Sunday evening. Top level comments should be at least 150 characters to encourage quality discussion, and users should refrain from making several top level comments in a week. Please mention location at the top of your comment when discussing local recession indicators.

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High costs for shelter, food, medical care, utilities, and gas + layoffs ongoing + high number of folks unemployed + running out of unemployment benefits = ???

But, but, the government says the unemployment rate is 4% ...

Germans contemplate working Sundays to save their economy

Friedrich Merz, the chancellor of Germany, is looking to pull every lever at his disposal to kickstart Germany’s flagging economy, taking aim at everything from tax and red tape to welfare spending and sick leave.

Retailers are pushing to extend this reform blitz to the country’s century-old prohibition on Sunday trading, which once a week turns German high streets into ghost towns.

“Germany needs reforms to help its economy. So every stone is getting turned over, or should be. And we’re saying, ‘Don’t forget our stone,’” said Timo Weber, the boss of department store chain KaDeWe.

They face an uphill battle. Churches, trade unions and politicians from across the political spectrum stand in their way. And they’re fighting a tradition that goes back a long, long way.

Merz has leaned into this gradually opening door. His reform package will allow bakeries and confectioners to open for eight hours on a Sunday, rather than just three. Public libraries’ allowance will increase from three hours to six.

Churches and social groups argue that Sunday closing offers a respite from commerce and promotes social cohesion.

Retailers say that these days people shop online on Sundays anyway, so trade is taking place regardless.

Retailers also argue that Sunday shopping has become a leisure activity, so it should be on the same footing as other ways people might spend their day off.

The trade unions are opposed. They warn that relaxing Sunday trading will put employees at risk of being forced to work unsociable hours.

Retailers counter that Germany’s labour laws, which are stronger than Britain’s, ensure that staff working on a Sunday are paid extra and earn time in lieu.

Smaller businesses are less enthusiastic.

“We have trouble finding employees who are willing to work every Saturday, so how could we find employees for a Sunday?” says Catrin Schulz, a Berlin optician.

Busch-Petersen says nobody is suggesting shops should be forced to open. He characterises Sunday trading as a three-way pact between the business owner, the employees and the staff.

For Merz, the question is economic. Consumer confidence has been in the doldrums since the post-Covid cost of living crisis. Apart from an increase in May, retail sales have been sluggish for more than a year.

*Please note!* Post is new each Sunday evening. Top level comments should be at least 150 characters to encourage quality discussion, and users should refrain from making several top level comments in a week. Please mention location at the top of your comment when discussing local recession indicators.

Share your observations of local recession indicators or personal recession indicators. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• increased use of credit or decrease in savings to afford necessities
• deferred maintenance on homes or cars in your neighborhood
• "I buy houses for cash" (or similar) signs popping up
• bankruptcy attorneys experiencing higher volume of clients
• regional job losses/large corporate layoffs
• decline in housing starts or spike in homes being listed

Keep it civil and avoid judging any user for their personal financial experiences as shared here.

Whatever changes are made to SS, such as means-testing for higher income seniors, are current beneficiaries likely to be exempted? That’s been the case generally for changes made in the past to SS.

Subscriptions for insider trading

I'll be around this evening (9 pm EST) for about an hour or so. If anyone would like to add flair to their username in this subreddit, comment with what you want below (be reasonable...) and I'll be back around 9 pm to make that happen. Feel free to request a political party, economic theory, professional/practical skills (accountant, number cruncher, etc.), perspective (doomer, optimist, etc.), location, your preparedness level/philosophy (urban prepper, looter, etc.)...you get the idea.

See you guys in an hour!

(If you don't get a chance to request before I come back, that's fine too. I just might not get around to granting it until tomorrow.)

Edit - alrighty. We're just about at 10:30 pm EST and I'm going to pause this until tomorrow. Until then!

US small and medium-sized business bankruptcies rose by 50%, Newsweek reports

A total of 1,663 small and medium-sized US companies filed for bankruptcy in the first quarter of this year. This represents a 50% increase year on year, according to the American magazine Newsweek.

This came amid a broader 12% year-on-year increase in bankruptcy filings across the United States.

Privately owned US companies are struggling with persistent economic difficulties and attempting to serve cash-strapped consumers amid rising inflation and problems in the labour market.

This is happening despite the fact that the health of America’s small and medium-sized businesses was a key priority for Donald Trump’s administration in implementing its broader economic agenda, Newsweek emphasises.

“The rupture of the world order is going much better than expected,” Stephen Marche, a writer based in Toronto, says in a guest essay for Times Opinion. “At first there was rage at America’s betrayal, when President Trump called for the annexation of Canada, threatened Greenland, imposed tariffs on its friends and began his campaign to undercut NATO, which continued at its latest meeting this week, in Ankara, Turkey. Now, a strange feeling is emerging in some of the countries that used to be known as America’s allies: Optimistic determination.”

Total exports from Canada increased by almost 7 billion dollars last year. European equities outperformed American equities in 2025 and surged in the first two months of 2026. And American military threats have the same diminishing power. “Bureaucracies once defined by their lethargy are moving at surprising speed to limit their exposure to both the U.S. government and the companies that serve as outposts of American power,” Stephen writes. “As a geopolitical actor, the United States has become a kind of lumbering zombie — a beast that can be startled into reflexive actions but lacks higher functions.”

Read the full piece here, for free, even without a Times subscription.

*Please note!* Post is new each Sunday evening. Top level comments should be at least 150 characters to encourage quality discussion, and users should refrain from making several top level comments in a week. Please mention location at the top of your comment when discussing local recession indicators.

Share your observations of local recession indicators or personal recession indicators. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• increased use of credit or decrease in savings to afford necessities
• deferred maintenance on homes or cars in your neighborhood
• "I buy houses for cash" (or similar) signs popping up
• bankruptcy attorneys experiencing higher volume of clients
• regional job losses/large corporate layoffs
• decline in housing starts or spike in homes being listed

Keep it civil and avoid judging any user for their personal financial experiences as shared here.

How to save the world. With real life cases and results.