Economic Meltdown?

Today as I was checking my email, I saw several notices that gave me a little chill. 

It appears that several major lenders are still having liquidity issues.  It looks like Wells Fargo is shutting down more and more products, along with other big lenders like Wachovia, rumored to be shutting down wholesale divisions.  I know this isn't new news, but the fact that it keeps on coming disturbs me a bit.

It is becoming clear that the problems are far from over.  If you haven't checked out www.ml-implode.com, check it out.  This site keeps tabs on all the mortgage companies that have 'imploded' or are in trouble.

 I met with an economist about a month ago who had some pretty crazy ideas. 

He talked about the FED continuing to print and print and print money to bail us out of this economic crisis....basically pushing the problems of the past 10 years forward and forward.  We'd devaluate our $ so much that it'd end up hurting us in the end.  Combine this with the energy crisis, real estate meltdown, loss of jobs, inflation, baby boomers retiring, consumerism mindset, [insert calamity here], and we're in for a perfect storm!

This particular economist thinks the U.S. economy is going to have to RESET.  We're causing ourselves to implode and we literally will have to start over and base everything off the gold standard.

Is this happening?  Hard to say.  There's too many signs pointing in both directions.  The real questions though, is 'COULD this happen'?  I think there's a possibility.  I'll tell you this, I just bought shares of GOLD!