Quote Originally Posted by ths61 View Post
Here are a couple of other data points:

It really is the stock market’s worst. year. ever.

The opening days of 2016 are the worst-ever for the venerable Dow Jones Industrial Average. That’s according to Howard Silverblatt, the man who meticulously tracks the performance of the Dow, the S&P 500 and sundry other market metrics at S&P Dow Jones Indices. To be clear, the first 12 days of trading in a given year have never been this lousy for returns, based on records stretching all the way back to 1897.

http://qz.com/598758/it-really-is-th...rst-year-ever/

Global depression around the corner? Ship cargo rates at all-time low

The global economy appears to be in danger. The Baltic Dry Index, an indicator of international cargo trade, has fallen to its all-time low.

In the past, the index is notorious for falling ahead of some of the biggest economic depressions – including the dot com bust in 2000 and the great recession of 2008.

http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/...-all-time-low/

I thought the world was running out of oil for the past 40+ years ?

Oil plumbs new lows below $27 as oversupply woes persist

U.S. oil prices crashed below $27 dollars a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since 2003, caught in a broad slump across world financial markets with traders also worried that the crude supply glut could last longer.

Oil has fallen more than 25 percent so far this year, the steepest such slide since the financial crisis, piling more pain on oil drillers and producing nations alike. Yet they keep pumping more oil into an oversupplied market.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-gl...-idUSKCN0UY04U

Yep---all lines up with what I have heard and read.

It is really a combination of 2 big events.

1-China has an economy that is really slowing down. They have become the world center for manufacturing and either the world is requiring less or the world is looking elsewhere because of the poor quality of the items produced. Their lack of demand is producing a glut of oil combined with factor #2

2-The US has discovered how to mine oil in the Dakodas, Montana, and all the area up there. They always knew there was oil there, but it was contained in shale (rock) and was not able to pump out in convention methods. Then in the mid 2000's, somebody figured out how to pump steam underground and extract the oil from the rock and suddenly the US has become one of---if not the largest oil producers of oil on the planet---again. They are now controling the market more than OPEC. When I was on the Victory boards, there were a number of roughnecks that moved there for the "boom"---they said that if you could weld 2 pieces of metal together, you could get hired at a base pay of $35 per hour with all the overtime you desire. One guy paid for his Victory Vision in a few months.

http://www.ibtimes.com/hard-times-bo...dakota-2224834

I read a lot---maybe too much.