According to a new poll by financial services company JG Wentworth, conducted in February 2026 and surveying 1,421 U.S. adults, almost half of all personal bankruptcies are due to the cost of living and tariff costs. When asked what contributed most to their bankruptcy, 43.4 percent of respondents cited the cost of living crisis, making it the most common factor. Increased tariffs followed closely, mentioned by 41.7 percent.
Other factors were cited far less frequently as contributors to bankruptcy, including mortgage and interest rate increases (0.3 percent each), poor financial planning (0.3 percent), the death of a loved one (0.2 percent), and unexpected expenses (0.2 percent).
Non-business bankruptcy filings rose by 10.8 percent between September 2024 and September 2025, reflecting mounting pressure on American households, according to the firm. In 2025, total bankruptcy filings rose 11 percent, with increases in both business and non-business bankruptcies, the United States Courts announced in February. There were 549,577 personal bankruptcies last year.
Among respondents who reported filing for bankruptcy, the timing was nearly evenly split. Around 45.8 percent said they filed three to five years ago, while 45.2 percent said they filed six to 10 years ago.
https://www.newsweek.com/tariffs-are-driving-americans-to-bankruptcy-11763237
Three months. That’s all the financial cushion most Americans say they have before the bills start going unpaid. Lose a job, face a medical emergency, or absorb one too many price hikes, and roughly four in ten adults would be out of options in about 90 days.
That figure comes from a national survey of 1,421 adults conducted in February 2026 by JG Wentworth, a financial services company specializing in debt relief. When asked how long they could cover basic living expenses if their income suddenly stopped, 40.8% of respondents said three months. Another 9.5% said two months, and 5.4% said less than one. On the other end, just 3% said they could stretch their savings beyond six months. For most households, the financial margin between stability and crisis is razor-thin.
https://studyfinds.com/most-americans-months-away-from-financial-collapse-bankruptcy-survey/
The rockets falling in the Middle East are sending shockwaves straight to your dinner plate. When the U.S.-led military intervention in Iran escalated, most expected an energy crisis. They watched the oil markets and the gasoline pumps. And indeed prices have soared, with the Brent barrel hovering at around $105 and U.S. gas prices topping $4 for the first time since 2022.
But the real casualty of this war may be far more insidious, and it starts in the soil.
Our modern food system is based on a foundation of natural gas, and now that foundation is cracking. It’s becoming clearer as the war drags on that the world is bound to face a historic global fertiliser shortage. With the Strait of Hormuz restricted by the Iranian military, shipments of critical agricultural chemicals have effectively stopped.
The result is a cascading failure across the global supply chain. This bottleneck is pushing food prices toward record highs not seen since the 1970s energy crisis, threatening millions of people with severe food insecurity.
“The potential is there for this to develop into a major crisis for poor and hungry people,” says Matin Qaim at the University of Bonn in Germany, speaking to New Scientist.
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/iran-war-food-crisis/