So I guess you’ve heard by now that Black Friday was an abysmal failure, shattering the myth that the recession is over. But frankly,  all the hope that Christmas shopping was going to lead us out of a recession and pull teetering companies out of the red was a pipe dream at best. While the media had everyone looking at what turned out to be disappointing shopping data, we’ve all been ignoring the big picture:

Gas prices are set to rise to levels that consumers can’t sustain.

Howard Davidowitz says U.S. consumers getting “dramatically worse” due to high unemployment, sinking housing prices, and a record number of new bankruptcies.

A University of Arizona professor is advising people to default en masse on their mortgages.

The Federal Reserve policy of a weak dollar will only worsen our problems.

Is the Fed facing margin calls from European banks?

Morgan Stanley predicting a U.K. debt crisis next year. Ministry of Sound founder James Palumbo has cashed out his investments and is warning readers of  The Daily Mail that he believes England is facing economic collapse.

Goldman Sachs workers are arming themselves for fear of an upcoming uprising against them. What do they know that you don’t?

And here’s Gerald Celente bringing you some holiday cheer in an interview by Tim Pawlenty(!?!)

Part I:

Part II:

You get the picture. Your money isn’t safe and harder times are ahead.

h/t SurvivalBlog and The Survivalist Blog