James Turk Predicts $1800 - $2000 Gold: Then $8000

James Turk, founder of Gold Money and a favorite gold analyst of Barrons Magazine, recently defended his gold price predictions at the 2010 World Mining Investment Conference in London.

At the end of his talk he was asked where he thinks the gold price is headed. He responded, "$1800 to $2000 by the end of the year."Amidst all the recent volatility, it seems hard to imagine such lofty prices.But, if that isn't lofty enough for you, Turk went on to say that by 2015 we would see gold prices at $8000 an ounce.Perfect!At that time I will be 59 1/2 and I can access my Gold IRA without penalty.

But, as much as I would like to see gold prices at or near those levels, today I find myself a little disappointed that I may have missed an opportunity to add a gold coin to my own savings and retirement as Europeans sold gold down to levels we may never see again.Don't take that as some assurance that gold won't dip even lower, but, as Rick Santelli commented earlier, when things get dicey, as they did in European markets this morning, investors look to sell something they can take profit from.

With the Dollar currently showing steroid-induced strength against the Euro, it's no wonder Europeans want to sell gold for dollars.It was just in November of 2009 that the Euro was worth $1.51.Today it's about $1.23.Dollars are king and selling gold is a good way to get about 20% more Euros than you could just 6 months ago..

That's another thing I find so amazing.The dollar is so strong yet the gold price still hovers near $1200 an ounce.With Euro weakness being attributed to a coming European debt contagion set off by Greece, I'm just wondering what happens when the world figures out the U.S. debt problem is at least 100 times greater than Greece's.

Maybe Turk has it right!