The great majority of people, who have already seen the first half of the Great Unravelling come to pass, still somehow cannot imagine the second half—the more disastrous half—as being in any way possible. [Here’s a heads up on] what that collapse will look like as it unfolds – and what the symptoms be.

The madmen who are responsible for the coming economic disaster continue to behave as if they can manage to avoid it. Violating Einstein’s definition of insanity, they continue to apply the same poison that caused the problem. These fools believe they can manage complexities they do not understand. We are bigger fools for providing them the authority to indulge their hubris and wreak such damage.

Much has been written by a variety of analysts on the health of the U.S. economy, its susceptibility to a collapse, and possible/likely/imminent (depending on who the author is) of an impending stock market crash, falling U.S. dollar and future hyperinflation. Below is a cross-section of opinions on the subject to help you get a more enlightened understanding of the factors at play and what influence, if any, they may have on how things unfold.

Mladjenovic explains his contention that we are in for a inflationary depression and, as such, investors should put their money in those things that will benefit from both inflation and strong demand and supply and stay away from where there is a deflationary impact, such as real estate. Words: 825

I keep wondering to myself, do our money-printing central banks and their cheerleaders understand the full consequences of the monetary debasement they continue to engineer? [Below is what I think awaits us.] Words: 1013

People riding a runaway train can party and remain oblivious to the fact that the train is about to crash into a huge obstacle. Our runaway financial train is about to destroy the status quo as it crashes into the obstacle of mathematical consequences – the inevitable financial train wreck. “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” [Let me explain.] Words: 974

Swings in the US dollar have no long-term impact in the price of gold and gold isn't an inflation hedge either so what is it then? Read on!

The debt ceiling is of course a total farce. Why? Because it has been raised 95 times since 1940 and 14 times in this century. As a result, there is now a clear disconnect between the credit expansion and the lagging gold price which will soon be rectified as gold not only catches up with the debt expansion - but overtakes it.

Everyone must be wondering where this "unprecedented global financial crisis", (the World Bank's words), is heading. What follows, for what they are worth, are my cogitations on this crisis. Words: 1641

Inflationary periods are highly unjust. They undermine the ethics of hard work and thrift. They destroy solidarity, lead to widespread hardship and often to social unrest. Gold, in contrast, has been the best hedge as investors seek to protect themselves against the large purchasing power losses of inflated currencies.