The Death of Money

`` Courtis believes that gold and other commodities have hit a short-term peak and will stagnate in the months ahead as new fears about sluggish global growth unsettle investors. However, the "Himalayas" of debt, public and private, in the United States, Japan and Western Europe trouble him. The total debt burden in these countries ranges from 350 percent of national GDP to 500 percent. "Only people who believe in the tooth fairy should believe this will be repaid", he jibes. One result of this unsustainable debt burden, he predicts, is that governments and central banks will try to inflate their way out of their debt problems even more than they are doing now. "We will look back and say to ourselves, ‘Why didn't we buy gold when it was only $1,900 an ounce?'" says Courtis.''