RHINEBECK, N.Y., Nov. 19 (UPI) -- A financial crisis will likely send the U.S. dollar into a free fall of as much as 90 percent and gold soaring to $2,000 an ounce, a trends researcher said.

"We are going to see economic times the likes of which no living person has seen," Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente said, forecasting a "Panic of 2008."

"The bigger they are, the harder they'll fall," he said in an interview with New York's Hudson Valley Business Journal.

Celente -- who forecast the subprime mortgage financial crisis and the dollar's decline a year ago and gold's current rise in May -- told the newspaper the subprime mortgage meltdown was just the first "small, high-risk segment of the market" to collapse.

Derivative dealers, hedge funds, buyout firms and other market players will also unravel, he said.

Massive corporate losses, such as those recently posted by Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) and General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM), will also be fairly common "for some time to come," he said.

He said he would not "be surprised if giants tumble to their deaths," Celente said.

The Panic of 2008 will lead to a lower U.S. standard of living, he said.

A result will be a drop in holiday spending a year from now, followed by a permanent end of the "retail holiday frenzy" that has driven the U.S. economy since the 1940s, he said.

oooo cutting edge report november 2007...good work detective

Wow, that added alot. I found it interesting that this piece is pretty much right on track for what we are looking at.

But hey, thanks for adding something worth reading, you know full of cognitive thought.

I have been saying for along time we are going down and going down hard..Whats sad I think the proposed bailout will not stop it..I think they better really think this thru before they act..!!!!! A collapse might not me a bad thing..It might just start a revolution and get the changes we so desperately need...JMO

this coming from "mr. cut and paste"

ddn.... why?
Machine, good research to bring to the top of the pile.
Good thing I bought gold when I did. I hope.....

Well, what price was it when you bought it and did you get hard assets or the Gold certificates?

Hard assets and I'll never tell!!!

Some people just lash out sometimes.

gold has 30 year track record of 3% annual growth.....speculation is fine just be ready for the flip side.

i found a great article from january, 2008 predicting; the Giants winning the super bowl... it's brilliant...

Sounds like a good answer to me.

LOL!

NOT IN MY PORTFOLIO!! I've flipped, I've flopped. I'm flippin' LATER!! And, platinum has been even more nutty, yes???

Silver seems to just be regulating itself, Copper has been out of control.

Commodities in general are shooting up, dollar devaluation in conjuncture with the Fed force feeding our economy inflation at the same time.

copper is at a 9 month low.....inventory remains high and volume is lagging......crazy i tell you crazy!

The whole market is acting like it's got MPD.