[While] the price of gold has gone up for 12 straight years, and is on pace to make it 13 when this year comes to a close, it seems that despite all of the gold bugs calling for the metal to surge to unbelievable highs, major financial institutions are calling for the gold bubble to finally burst in the coming months. [Let's examine what they and others have to say.] Words: 450

Goldman Sachs has been out with a number of reports in recent weeks highlighting their positioning for 2013. While it's important to keep in mind that these kinds of reports are no holy grail... it is always good for brain storming and, after all, it's not like Goldman Sachs is a bunch of dummies.

Been too busy to stay informed about developments on the financial/economic scene this week? Here are links to 6 of the “best-of-the-best” articles which have been edited for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure you a fast and easy read. Enjoy!

Although our supposed leaders are presumably highly intelligent, educated, and knowledgeable, they act largely “brain-dead” as they lead the United States down an unsustainable path that guarantees eventual catastrophic financial destruction. Do you own enough gold and silver that you would feel safe in a such a financial melt-down? If not, why not? Words: 817

Wall Street has been transformed into a gigantic casino where people are betting on just about anything that you can imagine. This works fine as long as there are not any wild swings in the economy and risk is managed with strict discipline but, as we have seen, there have been times when derivatives have caused massive problems in recent years - the government bailout because of derivatives at AIG; the failure of MF Global because of bad derivatives trades; and the 6 billion dollar loss that JPMorgan Chase recently suffered because of derivatives - [but the next] derivatives panic that comes will destroy global financial markets, and the economic fallout from the financial crash that will happen as a result will be absolutely horrific. [Let me explain my contention.] Words: 1485

As I see it, worsening financial crises lead initially to lower gold prices which are followed by some form of government intervention to alleviate the crises and that action, in turn, eventually results in renewed appreciation in the price of gold. The basic steps in such a transition are really quite straightforward. (Words: 477; Charts: 2)

I'm going to lay out everything you need to know about the fiscal cliff negotiations. After reading this, you can ignore all of the media's coverage of this topic as well as various politicians' announcements pertaining to this subject. (Words: 575; Charts: 3)

At the end of the day the gold price is not a mystery – it's a proxy for dollar weakness. After spending the previous fall and winter testing new nominal highs above $1,800, future investors may come to view...2012 as the opportunity of the decade. Gold has shown its strength and retreated. While most investors will take that as a signal that the market has topped, some will take advantage of the general trepidation to add to their positions at hundreds of dollars off the highs. Words: 700

The U.S. has reached a Debt to GDP ratio of over 100%. Indeed, at no point in history has the U.S. had this much debt during peacetime - and the fact that we're overspending by this amount at the exact time that other countries are showing signs of shunning US Treasuries is a formula for disaster. With that in mind, it is highly likely that the U.S. will enter at the very minimum a debt crisis and quite possibly a currency crisis during the Obama administration's second term. [Such being the case,] now, more than ever, investors need to get access to high quality guidance and insights [and this article does just that] to help you navigate the markets and protect your wealth. Words: 964

There has been a persistent fear among...owners of gold that...their gold will be confiscated by their governments, as was the case in 1933. For very different reasons, we believe that that danger persists and is growing by the day. We feel that because gold is rapidly returning to an active role in the global monetary system...investors should be aware of the conditions in which this would happen. We also indicate what we feel to be a solid solution for protecting yourself against a gold confiscation. (Words: 1581: Charts: 2)