Serious Financial Trouble Is Erupting In Germany And JapanMichael Snyder German stocks have declined 10 percent since July, and that puts them in correction territory. In Japan, the economy is a total mess right now. According to figures that were just released, Japanese GDP contracted at a 7.1 percent annualized rate during the second quarter and private consumption contracted at a 19 percent annualized rate. Could a financial collapse in either of those nations be the catalyst that sets off financial dominoes all over the planet? This week, the worst German industrial production figure since 2009 rattled global financial markets. Germany is supposed to be the economic rock of Europe, but at this point that rock is starting to show cracks. And certainly the civil war in Ukraine and the growing Ebola crisis are not helping things either. German investors are becoming increasingly jittery, and as I mentioned above the German stock market has already declined10 percent since July And when you look at some of the biggest corporate names in Germany, things look even more dramatic. Just check outsome of these numbers Meanwhile, things in Japan appear to be going from bad to worse. The government of Japan ismore than a quadrillion yen in debt, and it has been furiously printing money and debasing the yen in a desperate attempt to get the Japanese economy going again. Unfortunately for them, it is simply not working. The revised economic numbers for the second quarter were absolutely disastrous. The following comes from a Japanese news source For the moment, things are looking pretty good in the United States. But as I have written about so many times, our financial markets are perfectly primed for a fall. Other experts see things the same way. Just consider whatJohn Hussman wrote recently And it isnt just stocks that could potentially be on the verge of a massive decline. The bond market is also experiencing an unprecedented bubble right now. And when that bubble bursts, the carnage will be unbelievable. This has become so obvious that evenCNBC is talking about it If the strength of our financial markets reflected overall strength in the U.S. economy there would not be nearly as much cause for concern. But at this point our financial markets have become completely and totally divorced from economic reality. The truth is that our economic fundamentals continue to decay. In fact, the IMF says that China now has the largest economy on the planet on a purchasing power basis. The era of American economic dominance is ending. It is just that the financial markets have not gotten the memo yet. Hopefully we still have at least a few more months before stock markets all over the world start crashing. But remember, we are entering the seventh year of the seven year cycle of economic crashes that so many people are talking about these days. And we are definitely primed for a global financial collapse. Sadly, most people did not see the crash of 2008 coming, and most people will not see the next one coming either. 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. 