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As part of their survey of analyst expectations for the Gold Market in 2008, one of the editors from the BIG GOLD service interviewed the newsletter's founder, the famous contrarian investor and Casey Research chairman, Doug Casey.

Here's his take on what's to come in gold...

BIG GOLD: The Gold Price has passed its 1980 nominal high. Why do you think it's breaking out now?

DOUG CASEY: The fact that Gold has moved above its 1980 high is meaningful only in an academic way today's Dollar is worth only a fraction of a 1980 Dollar.

From here on, it's best to avoid thinking about anything just in terms of US Dollars. What's developing now is likely to be the biggest monetary crisis of the past 100 years, potentially the biggest since the US Civil War.

This isn't a prediction it's just an appraisal of the tumultuous possibilities now opening up. Americans are going to have to learn to think more like Argentines. If an Argentine tried to keep track of value in the local Peso, he'd be bankrupt in 5 years.

BIG GOLD: There are those who agree with you about a possible crisis but believe we'll see deflation instead of inflation, or at least deflation before inflation.

DOUG CASEY: What we're facing is a monumental monetary crisis that can take one of two forms. It can be deflationary, where billions and billions of dollars are wiped out through bankruptcies and defaults, and the remaining dollars become worth more as a result. Or it can be inflationary, where the world's central banks keep dollar assets from being wiped out by supporting the issuance of debt.

That is what they're currently doing, by propping up failing banks and homeowners who can't pay their mortgages. Those are your two alternatives. You can have either one it's really a flip of the coin as to which you get. It's also possible you can have both at the same time.

You could have deflation in some areas of the economy, such as real estate, which is happening now, and inflation in other areas of the economy where prices are going up as with food and oil.