The speaker warns about Japan's severe debt crisis, highlighting its Debt-to-GDP ratio exceeding 250%. The Bank of Japan's recent interest rate hike to 0.75%, the highest since 1995, is causing a destabilization in the bond market. This is triggering an unwinding of the $20 trillion carry trade, where investors borrowed at near-zero rates in Japan and invested in higher-yielding US debt. This unwinding involves selling US assets and buying back JPY, which is expected to strengthen the Yen and potentially lead to Dollar weakness. The speaker references an "August 2024 preview" showing significant market drops: Bitcoin down 23%, NASDAQ down 10%, and S&P down 8%. He argues that traditional 60/40 portfolios are now at risk because both stocks and bonds may fall simultaneously, negating their hedging benefits. For an action plan, he advises checking portfolio exposure, setting price alerts for the S&P 5,800 and US 10-year Treasury yield at 4.5%, and calculating defensive allocations. Strategically, he recommends building a 10-20% cash position, rebalancing towards quality companies, reviewing variable-rate debt, and researching a 5-10% gold allocation. Key levels to watch include JGB 10-year above 2.5% (stress), US 10-year above 4.5% (danger), US 30-year above 5.0% (break), and the Dollar/Yen exchange rate above 162 (intervention). Sectors to favor include energy (XOM, CVX), materials/gold (GOLD, NEM, SLV), quality tech with strong balance sheets (MSFT, AAPL, META, GOOGL), and consumer staples (KO, PG, WMT). Sectors to avoid are banks/financials (especially regional banks), high-debt companies, discretionary consumer goods, and speculative tech. The speaker emphasizes that "Knowledge is Power, but only if you act on it." He also shares that "Smart Money Is Panicking", citing Ken Griffin (Citadel) warning that bonds lose their special role in a portfolio when they move with stocks, and Jeffrey Gundlach (Bond King) advising a 20% cash minimum, which he has never done before. Michael Purvis suggests hedging with long gold instead of VIX calls.