With the Congressional Budget Office reporting that the United States will soon fall off the fiscal cliff unless the government takes immediate action, the Federal Reserve weighing another round of heavy-hitting monetary expansion, and the Republican Party now apparently jumping on board the gold standard train, the stars for precious metals seem to be in alignment. So says Peter Schiff, CEO of Europacific Precious Metals.

Having been ahead of gold’s massive upward move years before the bursting of the real estate bubble and crash of 2008, Schiff says there has been a “major development in precious metals,” and if you don’t have any gold or silver yet, this may be your last chance before they head to new record highs.

All summer long I have been forecasting that the prices of both gold and silver would break out. I have been urging clients not to wait until the breakout occurred, but to buy in anticipation of that breakout while prices were lower.

I think that opportunity has now passed. But we still have an opportunity to buy now, while the breakout is still early in its process.

I think the lows are clearly in for both, gold and silver. I think now that we have broken out the time to buy cheap will soon be gone.

I don’t want people who have already hesitated to hesitate any longer…

…

I think the catalyst for that move, I believe, was the Federal Open Market Committee minutes that came out earlier this week, that put QE 3 – that’s quantitative easing or basically money printing and debt monetization – it put that right back on the table in the minds of a lot of people.

In my mind, QE 3 was never off the table. I always knew it was a sure thing. It was just a matter of time. But now the Fed came out and surprised a lot of people with its language. It basically said, ‘if we don’t get evidence soon of a sustainable increase in the economy, we’re going to have to take action.’ And of course, the only tool in it’s arsenal is to print money and buy bonds and try to goose the economy with the same monetary stimulus that create the problem.

…

Those of you who didn’t buy before the breakout, it’s not to late to buy. The prices are not quite as cheap as they were a week ago or a month ago, but I believe they’re a lot cheaper than they will be a month from now, six months from now, a year from now as more and more investors realize that the recovery was an illusion. It was simply an artificial high created from stimulus and that more stimulus is coming. More investors are going to flock to gold.

As we’ve previously noted, the debt-based monetary system of the entire world is now at risk. Two years ago no one would have believed that a break up of the Euro Zone and a destruction of the Euro currency was possible. It’s happening now and there is a real threat that the entire currency system of that continent will collapse over the next year as countries like Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Italy are unable to meet their obligations and are forced to take on more loans and print even more money just to maintain a perception of stability.

In the United States, we have taken on more debt in the last 8 years than all of the previous 200 hundred years combined. With the economy shrinking rapidly, inflation rearing its ugly head in the retail sector, and tens of thousands of jobs being lost monthly, there is simply no way our nearly $20 trillion in national debt or the over $100 trillion in long-term liabilities we’ve committed to will ever be repaid.

The solution – and it only extends the game a bit longer, but does not prevent eventual collapse – is more money printing in the hopes that this will somehow change the trend.

According to Peter Schiff and a host of other analysts, the long-term trend for gold is still intact and will lead to record highs. Price targets range from $2000 to $5000 depending on who you ask.

One thing is for sure – if gold ever does get to $5000 than something very, very bad has happened and you’ll want to be holding this asset in your reserves, along with other key commodities and goods that become money when the system collapses. To get to those levels we would have to experience a serious shock to the system such as a currency crisis, hyperinflation, or widespread global conflict.

If such an event were to occur, and you’re only holding paper currency and trading assets you’ll be in for the shock of a lifetime.

It’s time to get physical. Gold, guns, food, essential skills and a well laid preparedness plan is what you’re going to need to survive and thrive in coming years.