Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

In a civilized society, authorities are able to maintain at least a basic level of law and order in the streets most of the time.  Unfortunately, at this point it is up for debate whether the United States is still a “civilized society” or not.  The chaos in our streets never seems to end, and those that are in charge of running things don’t seem to be able to regain control.  The theft, violence and mayhem that we are witnessing in our major cities is being fueled by the worst homelessness crisis in our entire history, the worst drug crisis in our entire history, and the worst migration crisis in our entire history.  If authorities cannot control our streets now, what is going to happen once our societal collapse reaches a much more advanced stage?

Robin Bach and her husband were absolutely thrilled when they were able to purchase their dream home in Concord, New Hampshire several years ago.

But now her children won’t even play in the backyard because it has been taken over by a homeless encampment…

A New Hampshire family is being terrorized by a homeless encampment that sprouted up behind their historic home, leading to violent encounters with the vagrants, according to a report.

Robin Bach and her husband spent years restoring their 19th-century dream home in Concord to raise their two children, ages 8 and 11 — but have been plagued by the campers living in the woods behind the palatial abode.

They’ve received death threats and have heard gunshots and screams from beyond the tree line. A swingset in their backyard, bought in 2020 during the pandemic, sits untouched by her terrified children, who will only play in the front yard.

Thousands upon thousands of homeless encampments are popping up in communities all across this country.

Bach and her family have been endlessly terrorized by those that are camping out just behind her property, and it is being reported that she has called the police 37 times…

Since purchasing the house in 2018 with grand plans to renovate and raise a family, Bach has called police 37 times, according to police records reviewed by the newspaper. Six calls were for an area check, another six for disturbances as well as domestic violence and criminal trespassing incidents.

I suppose that they could sell the house at a loss and move some place where the homeless have not taken over yet.

But the problem is that the homeless encampments keep on spreading to new areas.

Meanwhile, the violence in our major cities just continues to escalate.

Over the 4th of July holiday weekend, a total of 109 people were shot in the city of Chicago…

One hundred and nine people have been shot, 19 fatally, in gun violence across Chicago since Wednesday during the extended Fourth of July holiday weekend, police said.

Superintendent Larry Snelling and Mayor Brandon Johnson both called for accountability for those responsible for the shootings.

Johnson was pressed to address what adjustments need to be made to keep the community safe, his response was simply getting more support.

In a civilized society, when you are attacked you call the police and they come and help you.

But in Chicago, about half the time there isn’t even a police officer available when someone calls in to report a violent crime…

In Chicago in 2023, more than 1,800 calls were made to 911 of a person being shot. Only about 800 – fewer than half – were responded to immediately by police officers. The other 1,000 callers were victims of 911 backlogs, where no police were available at the time of the call. Those victims had to wait half an hour, an hour, or even several hours for the 911 call backlog to end and for police to finally arrive.

It was the same for the 32,000 911 calls of an assault in progress, where police were only immediately available for 50% of those calls. And it was the same for 54% of the city’s 911 calls of 35,000 batteries in progress.

All over this country, the police are completely and utterly overwhelmed by the tsunami of lawlessness that we are witnessing all around us.

They are massively outnumbered by the lawbreakers, and the lawbreakers are becoming increasingly bold.

In some of our major cities, things have gotten so bad that lawbreakers brazenly take over entire streets on a regular basis.

In Los Angeles, one of these “street takeovers” recently ended with a blazing inferno…

More than 50 cars were involved in a street takeover in downtown Los Angeles early Saturday as some went up in flames, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Video shows a car completely engulfed by a fire, sitting in the middle of an intersection as a thick black cloud of smoke rises from the vehicle. Other cars can be seen as they try to drive around the inferno.

LAPD said several vehicles were impounded after authorities responded to the area near East 18th Street and Main Street, where participants intentionally set two of the cars on fire.

Unfortunately, this is the most law and order that we are going to get.

From this point forward, our society will only become even more chaotic.

Those that have been following my work for a long time know that I have warned that someday we would see armed guards on food trucks.

Well, now it is starting to happen…

Things have gotten so utopian in the state of California, delivery drivers are being accompanied by armed guards due to “crime concerns” while out making deliveries.

One company, Core Mart, has started hiring the guards to escort its drivers. Which means that somewhere, in a board room, it likely made more financial sense to pay for all new security staff than it did to continue to allow drivers to get robbed (and inventory lost) as was happening prior.

These trucks are not transporting objects of immense value.

As you can see in this footage, they are simply making deliveries to convenience stores…

This is our country now.

Authorities are not able to maintain a sufficient level of control in the streets, and so companies are starting to take matters into their own hands.

Needless to say, this is just the beginning.

We will see things happen during the months and years to come that most people never would have imagined in their wildest dreams.

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Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.