The Skinny on How This Monster Economy Is Losing Steam – and the Worldwide Fallout The Year of the Red Monkey, also known as the Fire Monkey , starts next month in China. According to Chinese astrologers, the year will be a real rollercoaster ride, filled with surprise and mischief. And, they say, it bodes well for individual initiative, as opposed to collective effort. Will these predictions become self-fulfilling prophecies? In the first trading days of 2016, a full month before the arrival of the Fire Monkey, the world saw dramatic evidence of the collateral economic damage that can be wrought by gyrations in Chinese equity markets. Over 140 China-based companies listed on American exchanges lost $45 billion in valuation, according to USA Today. China’s regulators spent billions in just a matter of days to try to stabilize their own exchanges. Market watchers around the world held their breath […]