“When you think it’s peace and safety, it’s sudden destruction …” – Jamaican Proverb, derived from 1 Thessalonians 5:3 Moneywise, WalletHub, Forbes, and Yahoo Finance reported recently that Florida is the second most distressed state in the union in terms of its residents’ debt obligations. The state saw a 23% increase in the share of people with distressed bank accounts between 2024 and 2025, the data show. In addition, Florida holds the sixth-highest overall share of people with accounts in distress, at 7.3%. “Measuring the share of residents in financial distress is a good way to take the pulse of a state and see whether people are generally thriving or having trouble making ends meet,” said Chip Lupo, a WalletHub analyst. “When you combine data about people delaying payments with other metrics like bankruptcy filings and credit score changes, it paints a good picture of the overall economic trends of a state,” he added. In human terms, this financial distress looks like a sharp increase in bankruptcy filings; residents with accounts in forbearance or deferred payments; America’s lowest average credit scores; and higher prices for groceries, rent, mortgages, gasoline, and health care. Americans are struggling to pay their bills, even turning to credit to pay for essentials. A recent LendingTree survey found that one-quarter of buy-now-pay-later users have used these loans to buy groceries. “The last few years have been a whirlwind for Americans’ finances, with inflation, fluctuating unemployment, public health crises and natural disasters making it hard for people across the country to pay their bills,” the WalletHub website says. In the most recent presidential election, political pundits say, the electorate voted for Donald Trump because of their anxiety and deep frustration with the price of everything. According to Clare Goudreau of the Johns Hopkins Hub, “Rising costs were top of mind as voters cast their ballots in the 2024 presidential election. According to exit polls from CBS News, 75% of voters reported that inflation had caused moderate or severe hardship for them over the past year, with 45% saying they were worse off now than they were four years ago. During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump vowed to end inflation and strengthen the economy.”