Retirement savings are a juicy target. But, unfortunately, they're among the lowest-hanging fruit for any desperate government.

What's your take on the situation?

Doug Casey: Let me remind you of something that I've said a number of times in the past. But it bears repeating because it's so critical but overlooked, even while it's so obvious.

And that is that the prime directive of any living entity—an amoeba, an individual, a corporation, a government, anything—is to survive. The government is an entity as distinct as General Motors or Apple Corporation, with its own peculiar interests. It isn't "We the People"; that's just a promotional catchphrase—propaganda. Its prime directive is to survive. And it will attempt to do so at any cost.

However, the US Government is already manifestly bankrupt. It has vastly more recognized liabilities than assets—forget about its huge contingent and hidden liabilities. But that's just its balance sheet. Its income statement is equally out of control, running trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see. To finance itself, it can only tax, borrow, and inflate the currency. Of course, it will do more of all three, but that will no longer be enough. It's finally at the end game.