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Billionaire investors George Soros and John Paulson dramatically increased their gold stakes this month, as market analysts fear economic dangers lay ahead.
Paulson purchased 4.53 million shares of SPDR Gold Trust for his $21 billion hedge fund Paulson & Co. That leaves a whopping 44 percent of Paulson's U.S. traded equities tied to bullion.
On the same day, the Soros Fund Management revealed it more than doubled its shares of gold.
And it's not just billionaires loading up on the yellow metal.
According to the World Gold Council, Central Banks across the globe increased their gold hoards by 400 metric tons already this year.
Gold is considered the single best hedge against a plummeting dollar and high inflation. And several economic experts such as Richard Duncan and Jim Rogers have issued ominous warnings about America's ballooning debt.
Is this gold hoarding by banks and billionaires yet another sign of economic trouble to come?
New research released last month suggests severe economic trouble is indeed imminent.
In a newly released documentary, a team of influential economic experts say they have discovered a "frightening pattern" they believe points to a massive economic catastrophe. Right now, they say, we're on a countdown clock to disaster, and the ticking is speeding up.
The work of this team of scientists, economists, and geopolitical analysts has garnered so much attention, they were brought in front of the United Nations, UK Parliament, and numerous Fortune 500 companies to share much of their findings. Click on the short video above to see the eerie pattern.
The work of this team of scientists, economists, and geopolitical analysts has garnered so much attention, they were brought in front of the United Nations, UK Parliament, and numerous Fortune 500 companies to share much of their findings. Click on the short video above to see the eerie pattern.
"What this pattern represents is a dangerous countdown clock that's quickly approaching zero," said Keith Fitz-Gerald, a leading economic expert and authority on global resource conflicts who predicted the 2008 oil shock, the credit default swap crisis that helped bring about the recession, and the Greek and European fiscal catastrophe that is still wreaking havoc until this day.
"The resulting chaos is going to crush Americans."
Another member of this team, Dr. Chris Martenson, a global economic trend forecaster, former VP of a Fortune 300, and an internationally recognized expert on the dangers of exponential growth in the economy, explained their findings further:
"We found an identical pattern in our energy, food, and water systems that guarantees they're going to fail," Martenson said. "This pattern is nearly the same as in any pyramid scheme, one that escalates exponentially fast before it collapses. Governments around the globe are chiefly responsible."
"And what's really disturbing about these findings is that the pattern isn't limited to natural resources. We found the same catastrophic pattern in our debt, total credit market, and money supply as well."
According to Martenson, these systems could all implode at the same time.
"Food, water, energy, money. Everything."
Dr. Kent Moors, one of the world's leading energy analysts, who advices 16 world governments on energy matters and who currently serves on two State Department task forces on energy, also voiced concerns over what he and his colleagues uncovered.
"Most frightening of all is how this exact same pattern keeps appearing in virtually every system critical to our society and way of life," Dr. Moors stated.
"It's a pattern that's hard to see unless you understand the way a catastrophe like this gains traction," Dr. Moors says. "At first, it's almost impossible to perceive. Everything looks fine, just like in every pyramid scheme. Yet the insidious growth of the virus keeps doubling in size, over and over again - in shorter and shorter periods of time - until it hits unsustainable levels. And it collapses the system."
Martenson points to the U.S. total credit market debt as an example of this unnerving pattern.
"For 30 years - from the 1940s through the 1970s - our total credit market debt was moderate and entirely reasonable," he says. "But then in seven years, from 1970 to 1977, it quickly doubled. And then it doubled again in seven more years. Then five years to double a third time. And then it doubled two more times after that.
"Where we were sitting at a total credit market debt that was 158% larger than our GDP in the early 1940s... By 2011 that figure was 357%."
Dr. Moors warns this type of unsustainable road to collapse can be seen today in our energy, food and water production. All are tightly connected and contributing to the economic disaster that lies directly ahead.
Germany's military held a secret investigation into this unsustainable pattern and concluded it could lead to "political instability and extremism." See the investigation here.
According to polls, the average American is sensing danger. A recent survey found that 61% of Americans believe a catastrophe is looming - yet only 15% feel prepared for such a deeply troubling event.
Fitz-Gerald says people should take immediate steps to protect themselves from what is happening.
"If our research is right," says Fitz-Gerald, "Americans will have to make some tough choices on how they'll go about surviving when basic necessities become nearly unaffordable and the economy becomes dangerously unstable."
"People need to begin to make preparations with their investments, retirement savings, and personal finances before it's too late," says Fitz-Gerald. 
I had watched Dr. Martenson's lecture in Madrid in December last year as well as his interview with Mr. James Turk
and no one mentioned the Hydrogen Fuel cell technology which was researched by BMW and Honda. How viable would that form of transportation be and also how cost efficient when weighing up a benefit
versus risk ratio scenario for large haulers and small vehicles alike. Here in Cape Town a company called Optimum Energy actually started a project called the Joule which was an electric vehicle and a prototype was pre-produced right here in Cape Town.
Hydrogen economy depends on rare earths. There is a finite supply of this and once you poison the catalyst you are left with junk. The car culture is one (of many ) the most wasteful endeavors humanity has ever created. You will not replace the fleet in time even if you had (which we dont) all of the rare earths we could gather and build with. Time has run out. Zero Growth is here.