While I agree with some of the points in the article, I don't think the world is going to end as a result of said points. I am worried about the endless amount of debt my country is accumulating. The Federal Reserve prints money out of thin air and isn't even "Federal". Can't believe Americans let a private company take control of our monetary policy
-___-

You? I suggest you check where I'm from...

^^^ this.

No one country is immune to the current world problems.

USA - has massive debts, but is doing better economy wise (income and jobs). Also it's cheap fuel (fracking etc) is ensuring it gets cheap energy - very useful for a growing economy.

Russia - is using alot of it's stored up wealth to keep its head above water, but hasnt diversified it's economy. Relies on gas/oil, which are under immense pressure price wise. Lots of issues in Russia, and may get worse in 2015.

Saudi/Kuwait/AbuDhabi etc... most of these countries rely on oil as their balancing of the books, great article on the BBC website which detailed how much the cost of oil affected their books. 

UK: Lots of debt, and having to cut spending massively. Growth relatively slow, but not as bad as europe. UK is just about ok... will definately get worse if Labour were to get in power (which I dont think they will).

Welcome to a new world order, guys...

China To Launch Yuan Swap Trading With Russian Rubles On Monday

The world was slow to wake up to the new reality in which China is now the de facto IMF sovereign backstop, as Zero Hedge described two weeks ago in "China Prepares To Bailout Russia" when we noted that a PBOC swap-line was meant to reduce the role of the US dollar if China and Russia need to help each other overcome a liquidity squeeze, something we first noted over two months ago in "China, Russia Sign CNY150 Billion Local-Currency Swap As Plunging Oil Prices Sting Putin."

In fact, it was only this week that Bloomberg reported that "China Offers Russia Help With Currency Swap Suggestion." But in order to fully backstop Russia away from a SWIFT-world in which the dollar reigns supreme, one extra step was necessary: the launching of direct FX trade involving the Russian and Chinese currencies, either spot or forward - a move away from purely theoretical bilateral FX trade agreements - which would not only enable and make direct currency trading more efficient by sidestepping the dollar entirely, but also allow Russian companies to budget in Chinese Yuan terms. It is no surprise then that this is precisely the missing step that was announced overnight, and will be implemented starting Monday.

From Bloomberg:

China will allow trading in forwards and swaps between the yuan and three more currencies in a bid to reduce foreign-exchange risks amid increased volatility in emerging markets.

 

The China Foreign Exchange Trade System will begin such contracts with Malaysia’s ringgit, Russia’s ruble, and the New Zealand dollar from Dec. 29, it said in a statement on its website today. That will extend the yuan’s swaps trading to 11 currencies on the interbank foreign-exchange market.

 

A plunge in Russia’s ruble this month to a record low sparked a selloff in developing nations’ assets, leading to a surge in currency volatility. The new contracts come amid efforts by China to increase the international use of the yuan, as the world’s second-largest economy promotes it as an alternative to the U.S. dollar for global trade and finance. Malaysia and Russia are China’s eighth and ninth biggest trading partners, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

 

“This will provide companies with better hedging tools, and at the same time, make currency trading more efficient,” said Ju Wang, a senior currency strategist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Hong Kong. “China won’t stop yuan globalization or capital-account opening because of the volatility in emerging market currencies.”

 

The CFETS is an agency under the People’s Bank of China.

So while the US continues to parade with "destroying" the Russian economy, even if it means crushing the shale industry, aka the only bright spot, and high-paying job-creating industry in the US economy over the past 5 years, Russia and China continue to be nudged by the west ever closer monetarily and strategically, until one day, as we have long predicted, China and Russia will announce a joint currency, one backed by both China's "surprising" gold reserves and Russia's commodity hoard. Then things will get interesting.

Source

World heading for financial crisis worse than in 2008 — China’s Dagong rating agency head

BEIJING, February 4. /TASS/. The world economy may slip into a new global financial crisis in the next few years, China’s Dagong Rating Agency Head Guan Jianzhong said in an interview with TASS news agency on Wednesday.

"I believe we’ll have to face a new world financial crisis in the next few years. It is difficult to give the exact time but all the signs are present, such as the growing volume of debts and the unsteady development of the economies of the US, the EU, China and some other developing countries," he said, adding the situation is even worse than ahead of 2008."

"The current crisis in Russia is caused by Western countries’ sanctions rather than internal factors. If we look at the US and the EU countries, their crises were caused by internal and not external factors," the president of China’s Dagong rating agency said.

"As distinct from Russia, the scope of crediting in these countries exceeded the potential for the production of goods and created a bubble. This crisis was transmitted to the entire world through the policy of quantitative easing and the use of the printing press. All the countries had to pay for that," he said.

A setback in the growth model focused on credit-based consumption may become a source of a new crisis, he said.

"Developed countries, including the US and the EU, remain the main consumers. But these countries develop only if there is consumer demand while the main potential for this consumption is based on borrowings. The US, the EU and Japan are increasing consumption through growth in crediting, which poses a risk," he said.

Some emerging market countries have also been increasing consumption through crediting in recent years and the global economy has been based on the model that promotes consumption through funds that will be earned in the future," the head of China’s Dagong rating agency said.

Source: http://itar-tass.com/en/economy/775374, which is only a fraction of the original interview: http://itar-tass.com/ekonomika/1743325

Think about 1 thing for a second.

Government 1 group of people having all the power and money they can imagine and obviously want to keep it that way. Who does not even try to tell you anything of any importance at all.

Random person that will never even get close to be a politician or powerful person or as rich as politicians. That at least tries to explain things to you.

Who is more likely to be a liar? And has more too lose?

Yawn. I bet there's plenty of christmases to be had. Gotta love the doom and gloom threads.

Reading past the topic title in, I assume, your native language is such an impossible feat?

Well,  actually I skimmed through it. I also skimmed through the source. The Title "The End is Near: We just enjoyed the last christmas in america" is a flatout lie or just plain ol' click bait. Since the title implied that this is a The end thread, I just played right along with it. The same could be said of the article itself.

Yes it is, Captain Obvious. The article by itself is not about Christmases though, the core quote of the article.

Borrowed money and phony financial legerdemain (mortgage-backed securities, derivatives based on the MBS, etc. etc.) from 2000-2007 created what I have termed a "bogus prosperity": no actual new productive wealth was created, only a brief and self-liquidating bubble of debt-based housing and stock valuations.

Today it's 2008-2009 all over again, except MBS have been replaced by a mountain of shale oil and gas derivatives.