2008 Economic Crash Reset
This thread is my prognostication. Buckle up...here it comes. 2015 - maybe into 2016 might be a rough ride.
Let's take stock:
-- Oil is now down to under $45/barrel -- and there's no end in sight to the oil glut. OPEC refuses to budge on oil production. Gasoline is now under $2 bucks a gallon at the pump. Sure it's great that gas is cheap, but world economies that are based on petroleum production are taking a huge hit.
-- The economy in the U.S. is good. But everywhere else outside the U.S. is $hit. Some countries in Europe are threatening default, and have been this way for a little while.
-- Commodity prices -- base metals -- especially copper are dropping because demand cannot match supply. Yesterday copper prices dropped as much as is allowable in a single day -- down to $2.55/pound. Copper is in freefall and there's no end in sight. Copper producers will continue to flood the market, but the current global economic slowdown means copper consumption will not match production, perpetuating the current copper glut. This has a domino effect -- the copper producers can't produce at the dramatically lowered prices, so they have to shutter projects and institute layoffs to stay in business.
-- China's economic growth rate is expected to decline this year, which affects commodity prices as China is a huge consumer of raw materials, especially iron and copper.
The writing on the wall points to another global recession -- for some countries they're already there. Only logical that the U.S. should follow suit.
Thoughts?