In a Nov. 11 article we coined the term “mate-in-one” to describe obvious events investors should not to ignore. Even experts sometimes miss such things, simply due to distractions or focus on the wrong factors. The longer term case for gold now appears to be closing in on status as a genuine “mate-in-one.”

Now, before we continue, keep in mind, the key words here are “longer term.” We do not intend this column to make a short term prognostication on gold, although we do have several highly accurate short term indicators about which we will tell you soon.

The long term case for gold cannot be found in our indicators, however sophisticated. Our “mate-in-one” case for gold emanates from this week’s headlines in major newspapers, combined with tidbits of other relevant news.

We’ll start with a pair of tombstone headlines on the front page, above the fold, in the Saturday Nov. 9, 2013 New York Times. Headline one on the far left: “Bloomberg News Is Said to Curb Articles that Might Anger China.” Headline two, immediately to its right: “Right Wing Surge in Europe Has the Establishment Rattled.”

Combine these tombstones with a recent “neutral story” on China, documenting a rumor several months old, that Hong Kong purchased a safe large enough to hold 2,000 tons of gold. The story continues, further, to report (as we have, frequently) on the tremendous flight of gold now going from west to east. A third header from the Saturday New York Times reads, “Cuts in Hospital Subsidies Threaten Safety-Net Care.” We also recall our Nov. 1, 2013 blog, “It Really is Different This Time.” Among other things, we discussed a seasoned eye doctor and recent recipient of a Master’s Degree in Public Health, a left leaning woman who excoriated the divisiveness of the U.S. president, and described Obamacare as a way, at best, of throwing crummy leftovers to whose who cannot afford the real thing.

As if we needed extra sugar-laden frosting on this unwholesome cake, on Monday the leader in the Financial Times warned, “ECB split stokes fear of German backlash.”

To translate, all this combined suggests that Europe is not alone at the brink of splintering. Despite the best efforts of governments globally to expand economically via monetary policy, growth throughout the developed world ranges from anemic to decidedly negative. To be kind, even that gives far the U.S. far too much credit.

The outcome, which the Chinese appear to see much more clearly than the U.S., is utter economic chaos, or massive reflation. Any attempt at massive reflation within the euro zone, furthermore, would probably need to occur without Germany. That is tantamount to saying “goodbye” to the Euro.

Even if Germany were to accede, however, the outcome would likely be the same. In order to save themselves if the Euro does collapse, all the region’s countries (including Germany) would need to wildly inflate.

In this scenario, three central powers seem to be China, Russia and Germany. China’s growth rate continued for some time to send false signals on its economic strength. Russia, ruled by an utterly ruthless dictator for good reason recently named the most powerful man in the world, controls a broader base of commodities than any other nation in the world. Germany maintains an industrial base arguably second to that of none other.

We long puzzled over how this odd trio would fare with the dissolution of the Euro. It seemed at first glance that two of the three would be crippled by the Euro’s demise. Germany, and to some extent Russia, would face massive inflation along with the rest of Europe. The German mark in particular would go through the ceiling. All three powers would do much better, however, were they together to transition to a gold standard. Instituting a new gold standard would make that inflation much easier to control.

Another way to handle the fall of Euro would be to allow massive deflation, a wonderful outcome for the rich, but likely to morph into an increasingly dangerous and unstable phenomenon as the rich would grow ever-richer—and diminish sharply in number. This simple arithmetic explains why in recent times we have never seen louder cries for inflation and reflation.

We think that the economic coalition of Germany, Russia and China will eventually implement a gold standard to effect a concomitant rise in the value of gold by which they can accommodate one-time revaluations in their respective currencies. And that amounts to a long term “mate-in-one.”