A Rising Sign of Consumer Stress

Consumers, the backbone of the U.S. economy, are exhibiting crisis-level stress.

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The odds of consumers missing minimum debt payments are on the rise (Source: Augur Infinity)

This week begins bank earnings season. Estimates now indicate that the average consumer will default on a minimum payment at about a 15% rate – the highest level since a spike during the pandemic lockdown of the economy.

President Trump’s proposal over the weekend to cap credit card interest at 10% for a year won’t arrive in time to help consumers who are already missing minimum payments.

Not to fret, the other 85% of borrowers continue to spend on borrowed time. Total U.S. household debt, including mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and credit cards, reached record highs in late 2025, exceeding $18.5 trillion. This surge was driven partly by rising credit card balances, which neared their own all-time peaks due to inflation and higher interest rates.

~ Addison

P.S. Gold, on the other hand, hit another all-time high of its own yesterday at $4,631. After decades of neglect, gold, silver, and critical minerals are moving back to the center of the global monetary and economic chessboard.

While we’ve been well ahead of this trend, investors are only just beginning to connect the dots.

Grey Swan Investment Fraternity contributor Shad Marquitz is joining us this week on Grey Swan Live! to walk us through why the next phase of the metals cycle won’t be driven by speculation alone — but by hard constraints, federal policy, and domestic scarcity.

In fact, for more than 20 years, one company was penalized for producing antimony and copper, strategic metals that smelters treated as contaminants rather than assets.

As of January 1, 2026, that’s just changed.

If you care about domestic supply chains, strategic metals, the next growth phase for precious metals, or how federal policy is quietly reshaping resource winners…

Join us live on Thursday at 2 p.m. ET for Grey Swan Live! with Shad Marquitz.

If you have requests for new guests you’d like to see join us for Grey Swan Live!, or have any questions for our guests, send them here.

Consumers, the backbone of the U.S. economy, are exhibiting crisis-level stress.

Turn Your Images On

The odds of consumers missing minimum debt payments are on the rise (Source: Augur Infinity)

President Trump’s proposal over the weekend to cap credit card interest at 10% for a year won’t arrive in time to help consumers who are already missing minimum payments.

~ Addison

While we’ve been well ahead of this trend, investors are only just beginning to connect the dots.

In fact, for more than 20 years, one company was penalized for producing antimony and copper, strategic metals that smelters treated as contaminants rather than assets.

As of January 1, 2026, that’s just changed.

If you care about domestic supply chains, strategic metals, the next growth phase for precious metals, or how federal policy is quietly reshaping resource winners…

Join us live on Thursday at 2 p.m. ET for Grey Swan Live! with Shad Marquitz.

If you have requests for new guests you’d like to see join us for Grey Swan Live!, or have any questions for our guests, send them here.

There’s an old Wall Street maxim: “Don’t fight the Fed.”

This year, you could add a Trump corollary.

A wise capital allocator doesn’t fight that storm. He doesn’t argue with it. He respects it the way sailors respect the sea: with preparation, with humility, and with a sharp eye for what breaks first.

In 2026, the things that break first are the stories. The narratives. The comfortable assumptions.

Total municipal, state and federal debt service costs soared to nearly $1.5 trillion in the third quarter of 2025. Debt’s easy to accumulate when rates are low. Trouble is, you are obligated to refinance them even after rates go up.

It’s also a key reason why the Trump administration is demanding lower interest rates – even if it means reigniting inflation.

The “Donroe Doctrine,” the White House is calling… because Trump hasn’t yet stamped his name on every facet of U.S. political life.

America in the Americas. China in East Asia. Russia, where Russia still can.

There is a certain gangster logic to it. Not the UN Charter. Not the Magna Carta. More Godfather than Geneva.

Markets, predictably, shrugged.

Oil stocks rallied. Defense stocks jumped. Consultants booked flights to the oil fields near Lake Maracaibo and the Orinoco Belt.

Interest rates are coming down, emboldening consumers to take on more debt.

The latest data highlights a central feature of the real economy. Americans no longer manage savings and income but credit cards, HELOCs, and mortgages in an effort to keep up appearances.

Day-to-day expenses, health insurance, housing, car payments and tuition will continue to plague Americans throughout the year ahead of going to the polls in November.