47 Statistics That Indicate That Economic Stress Points In 2011 Could Be Setting The Stage For A Global Economic Meltdown In 2012

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Is the world approaching a devastating global economic meltdown? Right now there are a large number of factors that are creating economic stress points all over the globe. All of the crazy money printing that the Federal Reserve and other central banks have been doing is putting inflationary pressure on agricultural commodities, oil and precious metals. Massive floods, horrific droughts and extreme weather patterns all over the globe are ruining crops and creating food shortages. Some nations are now actually hoarding food, and in other nations rising prices have sparked food riots. The price of oil has been moving back towards $100 a barrel, and if it stays at a high level for an extended period of time that is going to have very serious consequences for the global economy. In addition, the growing sovereign debt crisis could erupt again at any time. Half a dozen nations in Europe are on the verge of insolvency, Japan's national debt is now well over 200 percent of GDP, and the global financial system is growing increasingly concerned about the exploding national debt of the United States. The truth is that the entire world financial system is a house of cards balanced on a razor's edge and it could come down at any time.
Sadly, very little has changed since the world financial system experienced almost a complete meltdown back in 2008. Global financial markets are still a whirlpool of debt and speculation. One really bad week could put us right back where we were prior to the infamous Wall Street bailouts. Very little in our world is truly stable anymore. As we have seen recently in Egypt, the globe can literally change almost overnight. All it would take is for one really bad event to happen and world financial markets would instantly start imploding.
So when will the coming economic collapse happen? Nobody knows for sure, but the fact that the global economy is increasingly becoming less stable as we approach the year 2012 is making a lot of people very nervous.
The following are 47 statistics that indicate that economic stress points in 2011 could be setting the stage for a global economic meltdown in 2012....
#1 According to the United Nations, global food prices set a new all-time record during the month of January.
#2 In early February the worst freeze in 60 years wiped out entire crops all across the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. Already, it has been reported that some U.S. supermarkets have doubled or even tripled prices for certain produce items.
#3 It is being reported that due to the recent horrible freeze in Mexico cases of tomatoes that would usually cost shop owners between 12 and 15 dollars are now going for up to $40.
#4 One of China's key agricultural provinces is facing its worst drought in 200 years.
#5 The Food and Agriculture Organization says that up to two-thirds of China's wheat crop could be at risk of failing due to weather conditions.
#6 Officials in Mexico are estimating that four million tons of corn have been lost because of the recent freeze. That represents a full 16 percent of Mexico's annual corn harvest.
#7 The price of corn has doubled over the last six months and it recently hit a new all-time high.
#8 The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that corn supplies are the tightest that they have been in 15 years.
#9 It appears that Chinese imports of corn will be about 9 times larger than the U.S. Department of Agriculture originally projected them to be for 2011.
#10 The price of wheat has more than doubled over the past year and it hit a 30-month high on Monday.
#11 In the event of a global catastrophe, current global stockpiles of wheat would only be able to feed the world for 82 days.
#12 According to Forbes, the price of soybeans is up about 50% since last June.
#13 The price of cotton has more than doubled over the past year.
#14 The commodity price of orange juice has doubled since 2009.
#15 The price of sugar is the highest it has been in 30 years.
#16 The United Nations is projecting that the global price of food will increase by another 30 percent by the end of 2011.
#17 In the U.K., the official rate of inflation is now twice as high as the target rate of inflation.
#18 Inflation in China is starting to get out of control. For example, food prices in China rose 10.3 percent during the month of January.
#19 Almost 14 percent of all credit card accounts in the United States are currently 90 days or more delinquent.
#20 New home sales in the state of California were at the lowest level ever recorded in the month of January.
#21 According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of job openings in the United States declined for a second straight month during December.
#22 Average household debt in the United States has now reached a level of 136% of average household income.
#23 It is estimated that there are about 5 million homeowners in the United States that are at least two months behind on their mortgages, and it is being projected that over a million American families will be booted out of their homes this year alone.
#24 Today, 46% of all Americans carry a credit card balance from month to month.
#25 700,000 Americans have signed up for a credit card that has interest rates that go as high as 59.9%.
#26 Americans now owe more than $889 billion on student loans, which is even more than they owe on credit cards.
#27 The FDIC is "insuring" U.S. bank deposits that total 5.4 trillion dollars with a deposit insurance fund that is currently sitting at approximately negative 8 billion dollars.
#28 The Social Security trust fund will run a deficit of 56 billion dollars this year. Just a couple of years ago government planners were promising that we would not have any Social Security deficits until at least 2016 or 2017.
#29 When you adjust wages for inflation, middle class workers in the United States make less money today than they did back in 1971.
#30 4.2 million Americans have been unemployed for one year or longer at this point.
#31 The number of Americans that have become so discouraged that they have given up searching for work completely now stands at an all-time high.
#32 According to a recent Gallup poll, 35 percent of Americans believe that unemployment is currently the most important problem in the United States. Another 29 percent believe that the economy is currently our biggest problem.
#33 Gallup also says that 19.6 percent of the workforce in America is currently either unemployed or underemployed.
#34 The U.S. government says that 504,000 Americans "dropped out of the labor force" in January.
#35 The Obama administration is projecting that the federal budget deficit will be 1.65 trillion dollars for fiscal 2011.
#36 It is estimated that the total U.S. national debt will be greater than 100 percent of GDP by the end of this fiscal year.
#37 The U.S. government relies on foreign nations such as China and Japan to finance 40 percent of all new government debt.
#38 State and local government debt is now sitting at an all-time high of 22 percent of U.S. GDP.
#39 The Chinese are now hoarding gold like there is no tomorrow. In fact, Chinese demand for gold has now risen to approximately 25% of total global production.
#40 According to a recent report from the World Economic Forum, the world is going to need another $100 trillion in credit to support projected "economic growth" over the next decade.
#41 According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, visits to soup kitchens are up 24 percent over the past year.
#42 One out of every seven Americans is now on food stamps.
#43 One out of every six elderly Americans now lives below the federal poverty line.
#44 During the last school year, almost half of all school children in the state of Illinois came from families that were considered to be "low-income".
#45 According to a survey released very close to the end of 2010, 55 percent of all Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck. A major economic downturn could quickly wipe out millions of families.
#46 Gasoline prices in the United States are now the highest that they have ever been in the middle of February.
#47 Faith in our economic system continues to decline. According to one new report, only 26 percent of Americans now trust the U.S. financial system.