If you were to face an unexpected emergency in the next month, could you come up with $2,000? Would you have to sell something? Go to a payday loan company? Ask your parents for money?

If you are like most Americans, coming up with $2,000 would be a real struggle.

Here is the problem. Thrift has become a lost art. America is a nation loaded up with debt. It is the one thing that everybody has, but nobody wants. Federal, state, municipal, corporate, personal—Americans have more debt than any country in the history of the world.

USA Today reported Monday that the federal government is adding debt far faster than its “official” budget suggests. According to the report, America actually added an astounding $5.3 trillion worth of obligations last year, not the commonly reported $1.5 trillion.

Here is the point: If you are following economic developments closely—payrolls, railway loadings, housing market, banking sector, foreign exchange markets and gold price—you know that America is heading back into a recession. And if analysts like Jim Rogers are right, it will be a lot worse than the one we supposedly emerged from. If you are like most people, with tons of debt and very little cash, the coming economic storm could be very tough on you and your family.

A recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows just how vulnerable Americans are. The survey asked respondents if they would be able to get their hands on $2,000 in the case of an emergency. Just over half said they would either be “certainly unable” or “probably unable” to come up with the money. Another 25.1 percent said they thought they could, but couldn’t totally be sure.

Wow. Around 75 percent of Americans aren’t sure if they could come up with two grand within 30 days! Debt has a death grip on America.

If you can’t scrape together $2,000 for an emergency, you are living on the financial edge. It won’t take much to push you over. (In our booklet on managing your personal finances, we recommend working toward six months’ worth of expenses in easily accessible cash for emergencies. This is money that you should be able to go down to the bank and immediately withdraw. It should not be investments like stocks, bonds or commodities, etc. For a free copy, go here.)

Face it: In today’s society, $2,000 doesn’t go very far. What would you do if your car’s transmission blew? Or your roof sprung a leak? Or the dentist told you that you needed two root canals? Evidently, for many people, it would mean either more debt, or losing your vehicle, a ruined house, or having your teeth yanked.

If you can’t scrape together an emergency fund to handle these kinds of common emergencies, what are you going to do if you lose your job? Or have a major health trial?

Here are some signs you may be headed for financial ruin:

If you answered yes to any of these questions, take the time to reevaluate your finances. Do you have a monthly budget? Do you tithe? Why are you going in the hole? What are you going to do about it?

People are more financially fragile than ever. And time is running out to take action.

Another economic crash is looming.

When America’s economy went into meltdown in 2008, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke began printing money to stave off the debt collapse. He needed to print money because there was a massive demand for dollars to pay off debt that could no longer be refinanced or rolled over. Had he not created all that money, America risked a massive deflationary collapse in which prices of goods and commodities would have plummeted in value and people would have hoarded cash. The economy threatened to grind to a halt.

Bernanke’s money printing, which was designed to keep debt levels high and lending robust, succeeded in kicking the tin can down the road. However, it did not fix the economy or reduce any imbalances. Now the economy is even more precarious, because the government has so much more debt, while the economy has millions fewer jobs. The economic tin can is a lot heavier now. The next time Ben Bernanke takes a swing, he might end up fracturing his foot.

This month, Ben Bernanke’s money printing is scheduled to end. What will happen to the economy when Bernanke isn’t using newly conjured money to push up the stock market, drive down interest rates and supply the federal government with money to spend?

We are all about to find out. Bernanke is about to try to wean America off its debt addiction. But what will happen?

According to Nouriel Roubini, one of the few economists who warned about the 2008 economic meltdown, the world faces a “perfect storm” of converging crises. “There are already elements of fragility,” he said. “[A]ll these problems may come to a head by 2013 at the latest.” Roubini says America is facing a bond market revolt due to our inability to address our debt problems.

“We’re still running over a trillion-dollar budget deficit this year, next year and most likely in 2013,” he warns. “The risk is at some point, the bond market vigilantes are going to wake up in the U.S., like they did in Europe, pushing interest rates higher and crowding out the recovery.”

Well-known commodity investor Jim Rogers agrees that America is in a very precarious position. Rogers says that America faces a “staggering debt” crisis that will be worse than 2008 when Lehman Brothers failed.

“The economy is slowing down,” warned Rogers last week. “We’re going to have another recession in the U.S. in late 2011 or 2012 or 2013, and it’s going to be worse than the last time around, because America has shot all of its bullets, printing money and spending money we don’t have. Be very careful.”

If Rogers and Roubini are right, money may be about to get a whole lot more scarce. That is why the Trumpet has continuously warned people to get out of debt.

In a deflationary debt collapse—which America is going through—paying off debt and ramping up savings becomes progressively more difficult. As jobs disappear, for many people, it will be impossible.

Conversely, in the initial stages of debt collapse, those people with savings may actually benefit for a limited time before conditions get really bad, because prices of things like houses, used cars, furnishings and other goods plummet in value as the nation is forced into gigantic garage-sale mode to raise money to service debt. Even though the interest paid on savings accounts and money market accounts is near zero, those who have been good stewards and wisely saved up some reserves during the relatively good years will be rewarded.

Take the time now to reevaluate your financial condition. If the economy defies logic and heads into a period of recovery, you have lost nothing. But if America is on the cusp of another major crash—there isn’t a better time to prepare.

Ultimately, we all need to look to God for protection. Only God can protect you from the coming economic collapse. But at the same time, God demands that we do our part.