Economically I get the feeling Putins world is not far off imploding. It's no more than a feeling though. Can anyone expand on that at all?
In other words, the guy is all front. All hat and no cattle. It seems to me.
Yep, he's stuffed economically. Inflation taking off big time and oil/gas revenues drying up. Is a desperate Putin any safer than a well-resourced Putin, though? 
Inflation at 9.4% and they've put interest rates up to 10.5% from 8% in the last few weeks, so with the crash in oil prices and the Rouble, the Russian economy is in dire straights which if it's not hurting ordinary people now it soon will. 
Is Putin a wounded bear likely to lash out?
Possibly, there's nothing like a quick successful war to boost a politicians popularity. It won't be against the Western NATO countries, but I'd be really worried if I lived somewhere like Moldova. 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30431330
History has taught us that leaders will "lash out" if domestic politics need covering by "other events" that they can cause. Also we know that when a country requires extra living space or resources for the state, it can lead to engagement in offensive war.
However, Putin has not got sufficient over whelming resources to carry such an offensive off, apart from "local" activity. He cannot mount a huge offensive front across the plains of Russia into Western Europe without severe repercussions militarily, politically, and economically. As I have said before, he is not a Hitler; he would have mounted a well planned military offensive into Western Europe by now, not just a Austrian, Anschluss, type incursion into the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. Putin simply has not got the manic ambition, or entranced support of the Russian people for total war. That has never been the case in Russian history, even during Stalin's time, as acquisitions of territory have happened due to third party actions; ie Hitler's invasion of Russian and the subsequent push back by the Russians into Berlin.
Yes, I believe also that as with the USSR in it's latter days, all is about to implode with expenditure exceeding resource and the political will of the people coming forth; we do have global communication and the internet now so Russians are no longer only living on State propaganda, another huge advantage to Hitler. Few Russian's will believe any claim that the Ukraine attacked Russia, as Hitler claimed Poland had attacked German forces.
No, vastly different days now and a new piece of history will be written that will be vastly different than the period of 1933 to 1945.