Are You Kidding Me? Chinese Exports Plunge 25.4 Percent Compared To Last YearBy Michael Snyder If someone would have told me a year ago that Chinese exports would be 25 percent lower next February, I would not have believed it. This is not just a slowdown this is a historic implosion. The following comes fromZero Hedge Things are not getting better in China as Exports crashed 25.4% YoY (the 3rd largest drop in history), almost double the 14.5% expectation and Imports tumbled 13.8%, the 16th month of YoY decline the longest ever. Altogether this sent the trade surplus down to $32.6bn (missing expectations of $51bn) to 11-month lows. So much for that whole devalue yourself to export growth idea I dont know how anyone can possibly dismiss the importance of these numbers. As you can see, this is not just a one-month aberration. Chinese trade numbers have been declining for months, and that decline appears to be accelerating. Another very interesting piece of news that has come out in recent days regards the massive layoffs that are coming at state industries in China. According to Reuters, five to six million Chinese workers are going to be losing their jobs during this transition China aims to lay off 5-6 million state workers over the next two to three years as part of efforts to curb industrial overcapacity and pollution, two reliable sources said, Beijings boldest retrenchment program in almost two decades. Chinas leadership, obsessed with maintaining stability and making sure redundancies do not lead to unrest, will spend nearly 150 billion yuan ($23 billion) to cover layoffs in just the coal and steel sectors in the next 2-3 years. For years, the Chinese economic miracle has been fueling global economic growth, but now things are changing dramatically. Another factor that we should discuss is the fact that the relationship between the United States and China is going downhill very rapidly. This is something that I wrote about yesterday. China has seized control of several very important islands in the South China Sea, and in response the Obama administration has been sailing military vessels past the islands in a threatening manner. Most recently, Obama decided to have an aircraft carrier task force cruise past the islands, and this provoked a very angry responsefrom the Chinese The four-shipU.S. strike groupthat patrolled the disputed South China Sea was followed by Chinese warships, a show of force thatprompted a hard-line response from Chinadoubling down on its claim to nearly all of the resource-rich sea. Chinas foreign minister said his countrys sovereignty claims are supported by history and made a veiled reference to the 5-day patrol by the Stennis Carrier Strike Group, as well as recent passes by Chinas man-made islands bydestroyersLassen and Curtis Wilbur in recent months. The South China Sea has been subject to colonial invasion and illegal occupation and now some people are trying to stir up waves, while some others are showing off forces, Wang Yi said, according to an Associated Press report, a day after the Stennis CSG departed the South China Sea.However, like the tide that comes and goes, none of these attempts will have any impact. History will prove who is merely the guest and who is the real host. Most Americans are not even paying attention to this dispute, but in China there is talk of war. The Chinese are absolutely not going to back down, and it does not look like Obama is going to either. Needless to say, a souring of the relationship between the largest economy on the planet and the second largest economy on the planet would not be a good thing for the global economy. And of course China is far from the only country that is having economic problems. Yesterday, I discussed how Italys banking system is on the verge of complete collapse. A few days before that I discussed the economic depression that has gripped much of South America. A new global economic crisis has already begun, and just because the United States is feeling less pain than the rest of the world so far does not mean that everything is going to be okay. There are huge red flags in Europe, Asia and South America right now. In addition, our neighbor to the north (Canada) is experiencing a very significant slowdown. The irrational optimists can continue to believe that the U.S. economy will somehow escape relatively unscathed if they would like, but that is not going to be what happens. Just like virtually everyone else on the planet, we are heading into hard times, too, and this is going to become a dominant theme in the presidential campaign as we move forward into the months ahead. Image Credit 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. Micheal Snyder is a covert Christian Zionist and thus his predictions are fraudulent, based on the distorted view of reality required to mindlessly support anything Israel does and a superstitious belief in prophecy. Try going to his site and commenting using the word talmud, you will instantly be censored. He wont allow any mention of how much the Tribe loathes Christ and Christianity. The tribe are bunch of parasites that (apparently) worship satan but they control the worlds wealth which effects exports and imports. Its because they celebrated Chinese new year in Feb. 2015. About 10 Days public holiday. No one is working at that time. The White Wealthy .1% discovered it was more profitable to financialize the worlds economies than to 