It will come. The moment that no modern American under the age of 75 even remembers. The moment that few had even considered a remote possibility during this time of a new global order and Pax Americana. Our time has been declared the "end of history", the beginning of a new world order of undreamed peace and prosperity stretching into the new millennium. Economic prosperity for all!

Only the recent vision of the global elite is collapsing under something they hadn't taken into account. Namely, bank runs by hysterical mobs in a state of absolute panic. The elites seem to have forgotten that the masses they so despise, yet desire to rule, have a tendency to stampede when their money is exposed as a fraud. Fiat money is dependent upon confidence and trust and little else. When that trust is destroyed, as in Russia the last few days, the masses seek to convert the fiat money into ANYTHING THAT HAS REAL VALUE! Hence, they have stormed banks demanding rubles (I now rename it the rubble, as in pile of), to be changed into dollars, cans of soup, anything that could conceivably be a store of physical value. Things like GOLD AND SILVER, which we have been assured have no role in the modern economy because, well, the global bankers say they don't.

Of course, this kind of behavior, the rabble repudiating the fiat ruble, really annoys the global banker types. Of even more distress is when the Russian government floats a plan to mint 127 million gold coins in this time of crisis. Or when a CNBC commentator mentions, albeit with a pained look, that there has been a "flight to quality by buying gold". Gee, perhaps the Asian economic depression, global stock markets in free fall and the prospect of Russia entering a second revolutionary period has made people take a second look at gold and silver. Or then again it could be the Clinton constitutional crisis looming, the spreading ripple effects of Asia to Latin America. Russia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Oh yes, I forgot that the Antarctic ice caps are melting also! A full plate, even without Y2k and a likely Mid-East war within 18 months.

People are nervous these days with good reason. When people are nervous they seek certainty in all areas of their lives, including economic. Economic certainty can be gained by trusting that precious metals, gold and silver in particular, will fulfill their historical role during periods of chaos. Make no mistake that we are well into a period of economic chaos unlike any since the Great Depression. The historical role of gold and silver is not to make money, but to preserve wealth. This is a subtle yet critical distinction between precious metals and mutual funds, stocks, bonds and other "investments". Gold and Silver are like a toilet float, the currency can inflate only so high before the float shuts off the inflation flow. Inflation can only flood the bathroom when the float is fiat money. This is because instead of precious metal's actual toilet float on the end of the metal bar, fiat money has a taped paper note saying "the full faith and credit of-insert government name here-guarantees that your toilet won't overflow when 3000 gallons of water are poured into it". Which is why there never has been, is not now, and never will be a fiat currency which can endure a sustained bank run, i.e. water flow. It's like the liberal who yells at the criminal, "halt in the name of the ACLU". There is no enforcement capacity if the felon laughs at you.

And that is exactly where the United States finds itself in late 1998. We are witnessing a global collapse of confidence in fiat money that is feeding on itself. The signs are obvious and ominous to anyone not in a "don't worry be happy" state of mind. All you have to do is turn on the television and watch the panicked mobs storming banks in-insert country here-, demanding that their local fiat money be exchanged for something of value, usually American dollars. Nor should America take particular joy in having their currency chosen as a global store of value. It is interesting that during this year of chaos the prices of precious metals have gone down. The only conclusion is that gold and silver are viewed as simple commodities like soybeans and wheat. But that will not last. Recent events in Russia show that the first phase of what I call the golden moment has already begun. Gold and silver are now, slowly and with little organized fanfare, being viewed in their historical role of protecting assets during chaotic economic times. The next phase is for gold and silver to first supplement and then replace the US dollar as the ultimate economic safe haven.

We are not at this stage yet. But we are laying the groundwork for destroying confidence in the dollar as anything more than green paper. Whether it is Clinton's fancy footwork in defining the difference between "mislead" and "lie", our national debt Ponzi scheme, our two tier society of economic losers and winners and our drift into a moral never never land, America is setting itself up for a fall. Why is our fiat money any better than a Russian ruble or and Indonesian rupiah? Because America is the biggest ship in the economic ocean? Those old shipwreck movies always had a scene where a typhoon hit and all you would see is a spinning wheel, crashing waves and no one at the helm. Pretty much describes the United States for the foreseeable future.

Into this mix comes a systemic computer failure called Y2K, which will increasingly darken the horizon during the next 16 months. The bank runs will start soon in America. Whether it is people taking some cash out "just to be sure", or people starting to lose confidence in the dollar due to domestic and global turmoil doesn't really matter. America's golden moment will come soon enough. I really wonder whether we understand the implications of massive bank runs upon our larger society? Our constitution says that if Clinton resigns, he will be replaced by Al Gore, who is currently under investigation by Attorney General Janet Reno, who may be impeached by a Republican congress. Assuming this, the recently censured Newt Gingrich would then take over, followed by Dick Armey and then Trent Lott as our next president. The storm is coming; the helm wheel is spinning and these clowns are the best America can do. America's golden moment will come when the world's people lose faith in the dollar which now rules the economic waves. And that moment is soon upon us.