This article reviews the characteristics and different stages of a bubble...and identifies current conditions which match up with traditional bubble criteria.

Currently, the U.S. dollar is strong and that trend may continue for some time. As long as it does or for as long as the U.S. dollar maintains stability, there cannot be new highs in the gold price.   …At one time there was a fixed ratio of dollars to gold ($20 U.S. to 1 troy ounce of gold) but, …

What phase are we in today? We are in the middle to late stages of Phase IV and Phase V — monetary reform to inflate away mountains of debt — is right around the corner! Words: 1864

In basic terms, in the bigger picture, the United States is going broke. We’re heading for a sovereign debt crisis. I don’t say that for effect. I’m not looking to scare people or to make a splash. That’s just an honest assessment based on the numbers.

A vicious upward debt spiral is gaining momentum. The budgets of most advanced economies, excluding interest payments, need 20 consecutive years of surpluses exceeding 2% of gross domestic product – starting now – just to bring the debt-to-GDP ratio back to its pre-crisis level.

After two years of declines, many investors sold their gold holdings and vowed never to invest in gold again. However, in the fall of 1976, gold began an ascent that saw it rise 750%, peaking at $850 a troy ounce three years and four months later. After a 3-year correction, the same opportunity to buy low exists today, just as it did in 1976.

The global economy is perched on the edge of an abyss, and averting our gaze doesn’t actually lessen the risk, it increases it because problems which aren’t faced directly and addressed directly fester and rot the system from within.

We are now at the end of a major economic era and bubbles in many asset markets and commodities are typical for the end of a cycle. This is exactly what we have seen in this century with historical overvaluations of stock, bond, and property values.

Here's a definition of precisely what constitutes a melt-up: “A melt-up is a sustained and often unexpected improvement in the investment performance of an asset or asset class, driven partly by a stampede of investors who don’t want to miss out on its rise, rather than by fundamental improvements in the economy.“

I believe that we are at the end of a very major economic cycle. Not only are markets insane, but so are deficits, debts and currency debasements but also moral and ethical values have now vanished into thin air and been replaced by lies, deceit and the golden calf. We are now in a very critical period for the world since excesses of the magnitude we are now seeing must be corrected... and the corrections will be of a similar magnitude to the rise but happen much quicker. We are talking about falls of 90% or more in all major asset and debt markets. [Let me explain.]