Nothing has imploded yet. I don't see the point in comparing now to Bear Sterns or Lehman collapsing. If you look back at the VIX term structure on Vixcentral, it isn't that much different than right now other than the near months are much depressed compared to the financial crisis. We are pretty flat and in slight backwardation. If a major business collapsed though I am sure the term structure would look pretty much the same as back then. http://vixcentral.com/ Actually, interesting to see how the day when Bear Sterns basically collapsed we are higher right now. Was a full year from that when it felt like we were going into the abyss
Here's some light reading (31 pages worth):- Predicting Recessions Using VIX-Yield Curve Cycles Anne Lundgaard Hansen Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond - Quantitative Supervision & Research https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers...orms,beyond other leading economic indicators
Worth noting it's from a Fed economist (shill) who doesn't make their living from predicting or trading anything...though they may make extra dough from insider trading (definitely some Federal Reserve members doing that along with politicians).