Huge Trouble Is Percolating Just Under The Surface Of The Global EconomyMichael Snyder Even though things may seem to be okay on the surface for the global economy at the moment, that does not mean that big trouble is not percolating just under the surface. On Wednesday, investors cheered as stocks soared to new highs, but almost all of the economic news coming in from around the planet has been bad. The credit rating on Greek debt has been slashed again, global economic trade is really slowing down, and many of the exact same financial patterns that we saw just before the crash of 2008 are repeating once again. All of this reminds me of the months leading up to the implosion of Lehman Brothers. Most people were feeling really good about things, but huge trouble was brewing just underneath the surface. Finally, one day we learned that Lehman Brothers had suddenly collapsed, and then all hell broke loose. If the economy is actually getting better like we are being told by the establishment media, then why are so many big companies declaring bankruptcy? According to CNBC, the number of publicly traded companies declaring bankruptcy has hit a five-year high Plunging prices of crude oil and other commodities is one of the major reasons for the increased filings, and bankruptcy experts said a more aggressive stance by lenders may also be hurting some companies. It is interesting to note that the price of oil is being named as one of the primary reasons why this is happening. In an article entitled Anyone That Believes That Collapsing Oil Prices Are Good For The Economy Is Crazy, I warned about this. If the price of oil does not bounce back in a huge way, we are going to see a lot more companies go bankrupt, a lot more people are going to lose their jobs, and a lot more corporate debt is going to go bad. And of course this oil crash has not just hurt the United States. All over the world, economic activityis being curtailed because of what has happened to the price of oil Now that oil prices have dropped by half to $50 a barrel, Saudi Arabia and other commodity-rich nations are fast drawing down those petrodollar reserves. Some nations, such as Angola, are burning through their savings at a record pace, removing a source of liquidity from global markets. If oil and other commodity prices remain depressed, the trend will cut demand for everything from European government debt to U.S. real estate as producing nations seek to fill holes in their domestic budgets. But it isnt just oil. We appear to be moving into a time when things are slowing down all over the place. In a recent article,Zero Hedge summarized some of the bad economic news that has come in just this week If we are indeed heading into another economic downturn, that is really bad news, because at the moment we are in far worse shape than we were just prior to the last recession. To help illustrate this, I want to share with you a couple of charts. This first chart comes from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and it shows that after you adjust for inflation, median income for the middle class is the lowest that it has beenin decades We are also getting some very disturbing economic news out of China. In 2014, economic growth in China was the weakest in more than 20 years, and Chinese export numbers are absolutely collapsing Imports meanwhile fell 12.3% in yuan terms compared to forecasts for a fall of more than 11%. This is a clear sign that global economic activity is slowing down in a big way. In addition, Chinese home prices are now falling at a faster pace then U.S. home prices fellduring the subprime mortgage meltdown Reuters reported that average new home prices in Chinas 70 major cities fell 5.7 percent, year to year, in February marking the sixth consecutive drop after Januarys decline of 5.1 percent. Things continue to get worse in Europe as well. This week we learned that the credit rating for Greek government debthas been slashed once again And according tothe Financial Times, we could actually be on the verge of witnessing a Greek debt default So I hope that those that are euphoric about the performance of their stock portfolios are taking their profits while they still can. Huge trouble is percolating just under the surface of the global economy, and it wont be too long before the financial markets start feeling the pain. This article first appeared here at the Economic Collapse Blog. Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here. 