Baltimore — It is too late to debate. A debt-fueled crash is imminent.

I made a promise to my wife late last fall. Once the holidays were over and she was well on her way to recovery after a recent surgery, we would hit the local furniture stores and redecorate our living room.

Remember the old expression, “I wouldn’t do that for all the tea in China.” People used to associate China with tea. Well, now it’s time to associate China with gold, and a lot of it. Because the Chinese recently announced that they control over 33.89 million ounces of gold for monetary purposes. That’s an increase of 75% in Chinese gold holdings over the past six years.

Gold was little changed in Europe on Monday, consolidating after last week’s more than 3 percent rise, with strong demand for physical investment products such as gold-backed exchange-traded funds supporting prices.