Investment adviser Doug Casey recently appeared on Reason TV to discuss the current state of the US economy. He did not paint a rosy picture, saying that things are “building up to a catastrophe of historic proportions.” Doug made some stark comparisons between the current situations in American and conditions leading up to crises in Greece and Argentina, and even the Great Depression. As a way of warning, he criticized Greeks who failed to see the warning signs and act before it was too late.

But all is not gloom and doom. Doug sees opportunity in the pending economic crash, and he points to gold as a “great value.”

Video length: 00:05:57

Highlights from the interview:

“How can everything be overpriced? Because it's a relative thing. Overpriced relative to what? Stock markets all around the world are in near bubble territory. The bond markets are in super bubble territory of historic measure. real estate is overpriced everywhere. So, what can you buy? There's very little. What's happening with these stupid governments printing up trillions and trillions of new currency units – not just the Americans…the Chinese the Japanese the Europeans and all kinds of little countries are doing the same thing – it's building up to a catastrophe of historic proportions.”

“I lived in Argentina and they're quite used to these things, and when the Argentines cyclically destroy their currency…it's a big problem in the country. But it's soluble, because the people outside the country – the overseas, Argentines…that keep their money outside of the country – can bring it back in and rebuild. But when this happens on a worldwide basis, which is going to happen this time, there is nobody to bail you out.”

“I think this is going to be much worse and much different than what happened in the 1930s. The clock on the wall, it seems to me, is at about at the same time as we were in 2007 followed by 2008. Or more appropriately…we're at about the same time we would have been in 1929.”