2014 Is Turning Out To Be Eerily Similar To 2007Michael Snyder And you know what they say if we do not learn from history we are doomed to repeat it. Just like seven years ago, the stock market has soared to all-time high after all-time high. Just like seven years ago, the authorities are telling us that there is nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, just like seven years ago, a housing bubble is imploding and another great economic crisis is rapidly approaching. Posted below is a chart of existing home sales in the United States during 2007. As you can see, existing home sales declined precipitously throughout the year Once again, this is so similar to what we witnessed back in 2007. The following is a chart that shows how new home sales declined dramatically throughout that year It is almost as if we are watching a replay of 2007 all over again, and yet nobody is talking about this. Everyone wants to believe that this time will be different. The human capacity for self-delusion is absolutely amazing. There are a lot of other similarities between 2007 and today as well. Just the other day, I noted that retail stores are closing in the United States at the fastest pace that we have seen since the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Back in 2007, we saw margin debt on Wall Street spike dramatically and help fuel a remarkable run in the stock market. Just check out the chart in this article. But that spike in margin debt also made the eventual stock market collapse much worse than it had to be. And just like 2007, consumer credit is totally out of control. As I noted inone recent article, during the fourth quarter of 2013 we witnessed the biggest increase in consumer debt in the U.S. that we have seen since 2007. Total consumer credit in the U.S. has risen by 22 percent over the past three years, and 56 percent of all Americans have subprime credit at this point. Are you starting to get the picture? It is only 7 years later, and the same things that happened just prior to the last great financial crisis are happening again. Only this time we are in much worse shape to handle an economic meltdown. The following is a brief excerpt from my recent article entitled We Are In FAR Worse Shape Than We Were Just Prior To The Last Great Financial Crisis You can read the rest of that article right here. For a long time, I have been convinced that this two year time period is going to represent a major turning point for America. Right now, 2014 is turning out to be eerily similar to 2007. Will 2015 turn out to be a repeat of 2008? Please feel free to share what you think by posting a comment below 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. 