Thoughts On Gold Crossing $1,800.00/Ounce

Gold just crossed the $1,800.00 line a few minutes ago.  Not just peeked over the threshold, but crossed over looking to stay.

It occurs to me that gold's appreciation of $140.00 an ounce since Sunday afternoon is a harbinger we should be paying serious attention to, more so than the wild swings (mostly down) in the equities markets.

There must be a lot of gold buyers in order to drive the price up that high.  A lot of people who must also believe there is a substantial chance that either the price will stay that high, or that conventional currencies will soon have such diminished value that gold is worth the price. 

Does that mean that an economic collapse is imminent?  I am hesitant to make such a prediction, but I don't think the underlying reasons for gold's increase paint a rosy picture.