14 Reasons Why The U.S. Economys Bubble Of False Prosperity May Be About To BurstMichael Snyder Just prior to the last stock market crash, a massive amount of money was pulled out of junk bonds. Now it is happening again. In fact, as you will read about below, the market for high yield bonds just experienced a 6-sigma event. But this is not the only indication that the U.S. economy could be on the verge of very hard times. Retail sales are extremely disappointing, mortgage applications are at a 14-year low and growing geopolitical storms around the world have investors spooked. For a long time now, we have been enjoying a period of relative economic stability even though our underlying economic fundamentals continue to get even worse. Unfortunately, there are now a bunch of signs that this period of relative stability is about to end. The following are 14 reasons why the U.S. economys bubble of false prosperity may be about to burst #1 The U.S. junk bond market just experienced a 6-sigma event earlier this month. In other words, it is an event that is only supposed to have a chance of 1 in 500 million of happening. Billions of dollars are being pulled out of junk bonds right now, and that has some analysts wondering if a financial crash is right around the corner. #2 The last time that we saw a junk bond rout of this magnitude was back during the financial crash of 2008. In fact, as the Telegraph recently explained, bonds usually crash before stocks do Will the same thing happen this time around? #3 Retail sales have missed expectations for three months in a row and we just had the worst reading since January. #4 Things have gotten so bad that even Wal-Mart is really struggling. Same-store sales at Wal-Mart have declined for five quarters in a row and the outlook for the future is not particularly promising. #5 The four week moving average for mortgage applications just hit a 14 year low. It is now even lower than it was during the worst moments of the financial crisis of 2008. #6 The tech industry is supposed to be booming, but mass layoffs in the tech industry are actually 68 percent ahead of last years pace. #7 According to the Federal Reserve, 40 percent of all households in the United States are currently showing signs of financial stress. #8 The U.S. homeownership rate has fallen to the lowest level since 1995. #9 According to one survey, 76 percent of Americans do not have enough money saved to cover six months of expenses. #10 Rumblings of a stock market correction have become so loud that even the mainstream media is reporting on it. For example, just check out this CNN headline from earlier this month: Is a correction near? Wall Street on edge. #11 The civil war in Iraq is spiraling out of control, and Barack Obama has just announced that he is going to send 130 troops to the country in a humanitarian capacity. Iraq is the 7th largest oil producing nation on the entire planet, and if the flow of oil is disrupted that could have serious consequences. #12 As a result of the conflict in Ukraine, the United States, Canada and the European Union have slapped sanctions on Russia. In return, Russia has slapped sanctions on them. Will this slowdown in global trade significantly harm the U.S. economy? #13 The three day cease-fire between Hamas and Israel is about to end, and Hamas officials are saying that they are preparing for a long battle. If a resolution is not found soon, we could potentially see a full-blown regional war erupt in the Middle East. #14 The number of Ebola deaths continues to grow at an exponential rate, and if the virus starts spreading inside the United States it has the potential to pretty much shut down our entire economy. For example, the economic slowdown has gotten so bad in some nations over in Europe that they areactually experiencing deflation And in Japan, GDP just contracted at a 6.8 percent annual rate during the second quarter There is no way that this bubble of false prosperity was going to last forever. It was never real to begin with. It was just based on a pyramid of debt and false promises. In fact, the condition of the global financial system is now far worse than it was just prior to the financial crisis of 2008. Sadly, most people do not understand these things. Most people just assume that our leaders have fixed whatever caused the problems last time. And when the next crisis arrives, they will be totally blindsided by it. 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. 