How Long Can American Consumers’ Debt-Fueled Spending Spree Last?

Good morning,

Americans have almost never felt worse about the economy, but that hasn’t stopped them from spending lavishly. How much longer can they keep this up?

[BRIEF]

• The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to 46.3 this month, barely above May’s all-time low. Yet Bain forecasts that holiday sales will top a record $1 trillion. Adobe, which tracks online retail sales, expects a record $275 billion in online sales alone.

Optimistic commentators call this resilience. That’s the rose-colored view. The truth is uglier:

• Americans aren’t buying more—they’re paying more: Even Bain admits inflation is a major contributor to retailers’ sales growth. Retail sales beat forecasts by jumping 0.8 percent in September, but 0.6 percent of it came solely from paying higher prices at the gas pump.
• Paychecks don’t buy what they used to: Over the past year, average hourly earnings rose 3 percent—but consumer prices rose 3.7 percent. The amount and quality of items you can buy with your average paycheck is shrinking.
• Who is still spending? Economist Ed Yardeni argues that it’s baby boomers. Sitting on record accumulated wealth of nearly $90 trillion, they are carrying the consumer economy by tapping their savings. Meanwhile, younger Americans face an affordability crisis.
• Those without savings are using their credit cards: Card balances reached $1.26 trillion in the second quarter, just short of last year’s record. Auto loans hit an all-time high of $1.7 trillion. Adobe projects that buy-now-pay later loans will finance $21.3 billion in online holiday purchases.

So, though spending remains prolific, it’s coming from two unsustainable sources: older Americans drawing on wealth they built up over decades, and households borrowing against future income.

• Meanwhile, what Americans earn from their jobs is not keeping up. Many are working longer hours to make up the difference, and it still isn’t enough. The average weekly paycheck is about $45 bigger than it was last September, yet it buys less.
• For about 4 out of 5 employees in the private sector, it’s worse: The prices they pay rose 3.9 percent, and their real weekly pay fell 0.3 percent.

Economists and politicians who are enthusiastic about America’s consumer spending are overlooking these realities. People’s sense of their own finances is closer to the truth than the headlines.

God says not to ignore the warning signs.

Their real problem wasn’t the economy. They were busy building their own houses while God’s house lay in ruins. So God told them: “Consider your ways” (verse 5).

• In the days of the Prophet Haggai, the people of Judah worked hard yet couldn’t get ahead. God told them why: “Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough … and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes” (Haggai 1:6).

Their real problem wasn’t the economy. They were busy building their own houses while God’s house lay in ruins. So God told them: “Consider your ways” (verse 5).

• The people listened. They “obeyed the voice of the Lord their God” (verse 12). God’s response was immediate: “I am with you, saith the Lord” (verse 13).

The financial strain you may be feeling is real. Let it prompt you to examine your life before God. Ask Him to show you where you have put other things ahead of Him, and then change. When you are right with God, you can go to Him for help with confidence.

Syria’s Anti-Semitic Education

According to a report released Monday by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education, Syrian schools are increasingly teaching anti-Semitism as part of their curricula.

• A press release for the report states: “Jews are repeatedly portrayed through anti-Semitic stereotypes of betrayal, hostility and dishonesty.”

Bible prophecy warns that Syria will become part of an anti-Israel military alliance. This institutionalized anti-Semitism further radicalizes the population to that end.

The institute compared textbooks from 2011–2023 to 130 textbooks from Syria’s current 2025–2026 national curricula, which include maps that identify Israel as “Palestine,” and teach:

• “Treason and backstabbing are among the traits of the Jews.”
• Israel’s 1948 defensive war against Arabs for statehood is comparable to “Nazi crimes against the Jews.”
• The Jews are “a mixture of peoples, not a single nation.”
• They mention little to nothing about Jewish history in Syria.

These texts appeared after Ahmed al-Sharaa became Syrian president in January 2025 and signify that Syria’s new regime won’t become friendlier to the Jews and Israel as some hoped.

• The curriculum also now strongly emphasizes Islamic martyrdom.

“This report should raise serious concerns among international leaders who hope to see Syria emerge as a partner in building a peaceful and prosperous Middle East,” institute ceo Marcus Sheff stated.

• Sharaa is a former member of al Qaeda and a listed terrorist, and he has strong anti-Semitic beliefs. Now his government is increasing anti-Semitic indoctrination in a nation that was already anti-Semitic.

Psalm 83 warns that Syria will join forces with other Arab states, Turkey and German-led Europe in an attempt to destroy Israel. Syria’s institutionalized anti-Semitism, along with the tolerance for anti-Semitism by Germany and other nations, foreshadows this alliance, formed “that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.”

Spain’s Conservatives Consider Empowering Far-Right

Spain’s conservative politicians are preparing an alliance with their far-right colleagues to replace Pedro Sánchez’s socialist government.

• Alberto Núñez Feijóo, head of the conservative People’s Party, confirmed yesterday that he is negotiating with the far-right Vox party ahead of the November 29 snap election.
• Part of the deal is an agreement to avoid competing in key areas, giving each party a higher chance of winning and thereby producing an overall conservative majority in the upper house of Spain’s parliament.

Spain has not had a far-right government since the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. However, seven years after Vox first entered parliament, it has a real chance of entering the government.

• What’s happening in Spain resembles the 2022 Italian election, in which the politicians who took control of the government came from the successor party to Benito Mussolini’s fascists.

Fed up with socialist policies, Europeans across the Continent are shifting right, even at the risk of reviving extremist and dictatorial regimes. This trend lays the groundwork for another resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire, the beast of Revelation 17.

IN OTHER NEWS

E-mail hack exposes more AfD extremism: The far-right Alternative für Deutschland, which has become the most popular political party in Germany, announced yesterday that a “small number of e-mail inboxes,” were hacked and “copied without authorization” last month. On Monday, an anonymous group published what it claims are 421,000 AfD emails from 10 accounts, including some from current party coleader Alice Wiedel. Of the messages, 10,243 are categorized as racist or xenophobic. Some were also labeled anti-Semitic.

Italy to deploy troops to counter student riots: The Italian government announced yesterday that it will send 500 troops to Milan in response to ongoing riots. The government also announced stronger consequences for rioting, including parental responsibility to pay for damage caused by their children. France announced yesterday that it will also deploy troops against its ongoing mass riots.

Japan deploys new long-range missile near China: The Japan Self-Defense Forces deployed new Type-25 land-to-ship missiles to the nation’s westernmost inhabited island on Monday, placing parts of mainland China within the missile’s reported 620-mile range. The deployment came during the biennial “Keen Sword” exercises, one of the largest recurring Japan-U.S. joint military drills—this iteration of which involves approximately 45,000 Japanese and 12,000 American personnel, along with forces from partner nations simulating a defense of Taiwan and Japan’s southwestern islands against a long-threatened and increasingly powerful potential Chinese invasion. The deployment reflects Japan’s broader shift toward long-range strike capabilities, moving beyond its post-World War ii defense doctrine limited to territorial defense. Watch for Japan to continue its biblically prophesied march toward military normalization—and for Japan and China eventually to set aside their mutual hostility and join forces.