I did a radio interview with Ernest Hancock of FreedomsPhoenix in which talk turned to the deepening crisis in the economy which I think will take a plunge in the 2nd or 3rd quarter of 2010. Several factors fuel my expectations -- e.g. a slew of mortgages for commercial real estate face adjustment during that period. High on the list of factors is the sagging U.S. dollar that is not only driving up the price of gold, as people and governments, flee to it for safety, but also is going to rain down inflation. I don't think it will be hyperinflation -- the sort that happened in post-WWI Germany where people bought bread with a wheelbarrow or suitcase full of cash -- but it will be more severe than anything North America has seen before and a great deal of hard-earned wealth will disappear.