Gerald Celente on Russia Today May 7, 2010. The trend forecaster discusses the economic outlook for 2010 and beyond, as well as his thoughts on the recent market crash and rebound. [Video follows excerpts and comments]

The Crash of 2010. That’s our forecast that we came out with in the Trends Journal on January 13th of this year, and we’re sticking with it. We’re saying that the world markets will have gone through severe economic crash before 2011 begins. And we’re going to see country after country go through this kind of turmoil.

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Number one, I think you have to be out of your mind to be in the stock market. It’s a rigged game. Look what happened today when the stocks dropped 700 points in 15 minutes. You know how many people got blown out of the market. And what do they attribute it to? Dark pools, high frequency trading, insider trading. I think you have to take no risk at all. When you take risk you gamble…

…I have 80% of my assets in gold…

To me it’s about wealth preservation. Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Ukraine, Latvia, Italy – go around the globe. You’re going to start seeing defaults on sovereign debts. There is no safe risk to take. When you take a risk, you gamble. No time to gamble now.

After Thursday’s market performance, does anyone still believe the stock markets are on the up and up?

And if you think that there is safety in US Treasury instruments, think again. If the stock markets do collapse, we’ll likely be seeing capital flows into US treasuries (dollars) as we saw over the last two weeks. This will force interest rates on those instruments down – for example, the 10 year US Treasury bond yield a month ago was 3.88%, today it is 3.56% and if stock markets collapse, those rates will go lower. And US debt instruments will be touted as the only safe haven. And for the short-term, they may very well be, but be assured that as the US dollar loses purchasing power, those interest rates are going to rise. In July of 1981, for example, the 10-year yield was over 15%! This means that if you buy those bonds in the low 3% range and they jump to 15%, your portfolio is going to get destroyed, as will your purchasing power as inflation takes hold.

There are NO SAFE paper assets. In our view, this includes paper precious metals assets like the SLV silver ETF and GLD gold ETF. These are instruments that trade with no real physical backing, so if you think you own a precious metal because you own one of these ETF’s, you’ve been lied to.

The only safety you will find over the course of the next 5 years will be in hard, tangible assets like precious metals, energy and food.

And when we say tangible assets, we don’t necessarily mean that you should buy stocks in oil companies or agricultural companies, though this may be a part of a broader strategy. Consider investing in sustainable living assets.

Do you have a home with some acreage? Maybe start growing your own food and invest in soil, seeds, and equipment. What about energy independence? Our dear leaders talk about it from a top-down scale. Why not approach it from the other way around. Build your own sustainable energy facility on your own property using solar, hydro and perhaps even wind technologies. Why buy stocks in energy companies for $25,000 when you can invest in your own, personal power plant and produce the energy for yourself. The dividends will pay off for decades to come in the form of free energy, while oil and electricity prices go through the roof.

Another idea: What about water? It’s been predicted that wars in the 21st century will be fought over water rights. Do you have a well? Can you produce your own water? Why not invest in a deep well on your property and never have to worry about where your water will come from.

When we talk hard assets, we’re talking about not just the physical goods you hold in your possession, but the equipment and skills that give you the advantage of self sustainability.

It is no time to gamble in stock markets. Invest for yourself and your future.

Watch Gerald Celente on Russia Today: