Are you ready for what is coming in August? All over America, economic, political and social tensions are building, and the next 30 days could turn out to be pivotal. In July, we saw things start to turn. As you will read about below, a major six year trendline for the S&P 500 was finally broken this month, Chinese stocks crashed, commodities crashed, and debt problems started erupting all over the planet. I fully expect that this next month (August) will be a month of transition as we enter an extremely chaotic time in the fall and winter.
Things are unfolding in textbook fashion for another major global financial crisis in the months ahead, and yet most people refuse to see what is happening. In their blind optimism, they want to believe that things will somehow be different this time. Well, the coming months will definitely reveal who was right and who was wrong. The following are 11 red flag events that just happened as we enter the pivotal month of August 2015…
#1 Puerto Rico is going to default on a 58 million dollar debt payment that is due on Saturday. Even though this has serious implications for the U.S. financial system, Barack Obama has said that there will be no bailout for “America’s Greece”.
#2 As James Bailey has pointed out, the most important trendline for the S&P 500 has finally been broken after holding up for six years. This is a critical technical signal that will likely motivate a significant number of investors to sell off their holdings in the weeks ahead.
#3 The IMF is indicating that it will not take part in the new Greek debt deal. As a result, the whole thing may completely fall apart…
Leaked minutes of the fund’s latest board meeting, which took place on Wednesday, showed staff “cannot reach agreement at this stage” on whether to take part in the new €86bn (£60bn) bailout for Greece. The document said there were doubts over the capacity of the Athens Government to implement economic reforms, as well as the over the sustainability of the country’s sovereign debt pile, which is now projected to hit 200 percent of GDP.
The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, only sanctioned a new Greek deal earlier this month on the condition that th
#4 Italy is going down the exact same path as Greece, but Italy is going to be a much larger problem for Europe because it has a far, far larger economy. This week, we learned that youth unemployment in Italy has reached a 38-year high of 44 percent, and Italy’s debt to GDP ratio has now hit 135 percent.
#5 The Canadian economy has officially entered a new recession. This is something that was not supposed to happen.
#6 The price of oil plummeted close to 20 percent during the month of July. It was the worst month for the price of oil that we have seen since October 2008, which just happened to be during the height of the last financial crisis.
#7 Commodities just had their worst month in almost four years. As I have written about previously, we witnessed a collapse in commodity prices just before the stock market crash of 2008 too.
#8 Thanks to Barack Obama, the U.S. coal industry is imploding, and some of the largest coal producers in the entire country have just announced that they are declaring bankruptcy…
On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that the biggest American producer of coking coal, Alpha Natural Resources, could file for bankruptcy as soon as Monday.
Competitor Walter Energy filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, and several others have done the same this year.
#9 For the month of July, the Shanghai Composite Index was down 13.4 percent. Despite unprecedented government intervention to prop up the market, it was the worst month for Chinese stocks since October 2009.
#10 A major red flag that a recession in the United States is fast approaching is the fact that Exxon Mobile just announced their worst earnings for a single quarter since 2009. Compared to the same time period one year ago, Exxon Mobile’s earnings were down 51 percent.
#11 Chevron is another oil giant that has seen earnings plunge. In the second quarter of this year, Chevron’s earnings were down an eye-popping 90 percent from a year ago.
And in this list I didn’t even mention the economic chaos that is happening down in South America. For full coverage of that, please see my previous article entitled “The South American Financial Crisis Of 2015“.
To a certain extent, I can understand why most Americans are not alarmed about the months ahead. The relative stability of the past several years has lulled most of us into a false sense of security, and the mainstream media is assuring everyone that everything is going to be just fine and that brighter days are ahead. At this point, many believe that it is patently absurd to suggest that we could see an economic collapse in 2015. But of course even though the signs were glaringly apparent, very few of us anticipated the financial crisis of 2008 either.
A few weeks ago, I authored a piece entitled “The Last Days Of ‘Normal Life’ In America“, and I stand by every single word of that article. I truly believe that the era of debt-fueled prosperity that we have been enjoying for so long is coming to an end, and our standard of living will never again get back to this level.
Just yesterday, I had the chance to go over and stock up on some emergency supplies at a dollar store. It always astounds me what you can still buy for a dollar. The combined cost of raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, shipping and retailing most of these items shouldn’t be less than a dollar, but thanks to having the reserve currency of the world we are still able to go to these big box stores and fill up our carts with lots and lots of extremely inexpensive merchandise.
Unfortunately, this massively inflated standard of living is going to come crashing to a halt. This next financial crisis is going to destroy the system that is currently producing such comfortable lifestyles for the vast majority of us, and that will be an extremely painful experience.
So enjoy this summer for as long as it lasts. Even though August threatens to be pivotal, it is going to be nothing compared to what will follow.
Fall and winter are coming.
Prepare while there is still time to do so.
A deadly outbreak of Legionnaires' disease, a severe type of pneumonia, has now killed four people and sickened 65 in the Bronx section of New York City since July 10, New York City health officials said on Saturday.
This wave of Legionnaires', which officials have called unusual, is now more than five times the number of cases recorded in the last outbreak, in which 12 people in the Bronx fell ill in December 2014.
The disease is caused by Legionella, a bacteria found in certain plumbing systems, including hot tubs, humidifiers, cooling towers and hot water tanks. It is spread by breathing in mist from water, and cannot be spread from person to person.
The illness is most common in the summer and early fall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms include fever, cough, headaches and muscle aches.
In response to the outbreak, the city's health department has inspected 22 buildings in the Bronx, 17 of which have cooling towers. Five buildings, including the historic Opera House Hotel, Lincoln Medical Center and the Concourse Plaza mall and movie complex, tested positive for Legionella.
Disinfection efforts are ongoing or have already been completed at all five sites.
Julio Vargas, general manager of the Opera House Hotel, said the water in the cooling tower used by the hotel has been treated and disinfected, and there have been no reports of hotel guests falling ill.
South Lake (United States) (AFP) - Wildfires burned out of control across swathes of parched California, forcing residents to hastily evacuate and shutting miles of highway after claiming the life of a firefighter.
There had been "thousands" of lightning strikes since Thursday night, California fire chiefs said, sparking several hundred small wildfires.
At least 23 large fires were burning menacingly across California but many were clustered in the north of the bone-dry US state, which is in the crippling throes of a historic drought.
About 9,000 firefighters backed by helicopters and air tankers were battling the blazes, CAL FIRE spokesman Daniel Berlant said, with particular concern about the Rocky Fire in Lake County, northwest of Sacramento.
Witnesses described apocalyptic scenes as thick smoke from the giant fire turned day into night and flames swallowed up large tracts of woodland and forest.
Vehicles had been left to the flames, abandoned and burnt-out.
Berlant, writing on Twitter, warned that the Rocky Fire had grown to 25,750 acres (10,000 hectares) "& continues to burn north towards Hwy 20. Still 5% contained."
Long stretches of Highway 20 were closed in both direction, spelling weekend travel misery for motorists.
Dozens of homes and outbuildings in Lake County, home to the picturesque Mendocino National Forest, had been destroyed and an estimated 6,000 more structures were under grave threat, fire chiefs said.
A 5.7-magnitude earthquake, equal to the most damaging in country’s history, has hit near the coast of Queensland in northeastern Australia, senior seismologist from Geoscience Australia Dan Jaksa said.
“This is equivalent to the earthquake that occurred in 1989 in Newcastle, which of course is the most damaging earthquake in Australia's history,” Jaksa said Saturday, as quoted by ABC News.
Jaksa said that a 5-magnitude earthquake is equivalent to an atomic bomb, but Queensland had avoided a disaster because the epicentres were offshore.
He added that the 5.7-magnitude earthquake and the two subsequent ones were the aftershocks of a 5.3-magnitude quake that hit the region on Thursday and was felt by people over 125 miles away.
The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre did not issue a tsunami warning.
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