So is that it?

Is the gold bull market over?

Or is this the buying opportunity of the decade?

It depends on who you ask and how you think…

If you think the Federal Reserve and their global counterparts have ‘got this’…then you probably aren’t interested in gold…

If you think they’ve done enough to create a real, self-sustaining recovery, which will see bond yields — the interest investors get paid to lend their money to the government — rise from near zero…then you probably aren’t interested in gold…

If you think markets can remain at these high levels without the support of trillions and trillions in collective global government spending and stimulus...then you probably aren’t interested in gold…

If you think businesses forced to shut down and survive on government handouts will be able pick right back up where they left off and the economy will recover with no ongoing support…then you probably aren’t interested in gold…

If you think we’re in great enough shape that central banks can begin winding down QE, taper all bond purchases, raise interest rates even one point above zero without crashing the entire economy...then you probably aren’t interested in gold!

But it’s time to get real…

We are in a debt trap the likes of which we’ve never seen in civilised history.

It’s not going to unwind overnight.

But it could be sooner than many in the mainstream think.

Our friend and colleague Jim Rickards has an idea as to why, which he’ll explain in Monday’s Insider:

But here’s a snippet…

‘We may be in the early stages of a financial panic caused by a global shortage of high-quality dollar collateral (mostly in the form of Treasury bills), and a resulting contraction in large bank balance sheets (because they don’t have good collateral they can leverage for cash).

‘Such panics can unfold slowly and out of the view of the mainstream media for a year or more before they burst into view.

‘The Russia-LTCM panic of September 1998 started in Thailand in June 1997. The collapse of Lehman Brothers and AIG in September 2008 started with mortgage delinquencies in late 2006 and early 2007.

‘It took a year for both panics to erupt.

‘Only professionals and experts see the signs. Most investors realise there’s a panic when it’s already too late to protect themselves.

‘If a new liquidity crisis is underway (and there are signs that this is the case), then we should not be surprised to see it turn into a full-scale panic and possible market collapse late this year.’

This idea of a shortage of collateral to underpin the balance sheets of the world’s largest banks is something Greg touches on in our conversation today.