In layman speak, the above chart is basically showing how fast and furious the US Feds have been buying securities ( mortage-backed,treasuries, e.t.c). When the US Feds buy securities, they use US dollars to pay for it, therefore, effectively increasing the money supply into the system. Don't you think the spike is kinda scary?
To understand what gibberish we are talking about, one needs to understand the purchasing power of cash . It refers to the amount of real goods and services that a person can buy with say $1 fiat money. Therefore, its not correct to measure whether one has become wealtheir by looking at one's bank account, its more important to see how much goods and services one can buy. See the second chart above.
A bit on the history of money so that one can have a firmer grasp on why we say the USD dollar is crumbling and appreciate the situation better. ( Anyway, who says history is a useless subject in school...we will punch you . Its has helped many people make serious money.. )
Fiat money ( the paper money) used to be backed by Gold. So simply , USD$1 is backed by 2 pieces of Gold held in the Central Bank. By doing this, there was a system in place that imposed discipline on the government and prevented them from printing too much money. Think about it, one's money then was actually backed up by something REAL and PRECIOUS. In 1971, the US government abandoned the above system, which means money can be printed wantonly as it is no longer backed up my ANYTHING. Doesn't it make you wary of that lousy piece of "Legal Tender" paper. When the US government increases money, its actually an invisible tax on especially those people who do not receive that money. Its similar to a company stock. When the board of directors issue shares to their employees or insiders, it is dilutive and those shareholders not receiving these shares actually now owns a smaller percentage of the company.
Ok that was just some rant. Think the only money we will keep now is the money in our EZ link cards and Minimum $500 dollars in our POSB bank for daily liquidity needs. Cash is crap..buy assets. Ok so we wrote an article about 1-2 months back regarding Gold...since its a hedge against inflation...well we are still not buying into Gold though....just don't feel like it.
Important: The objective of the articles in this blog is to set you thinking about the company before you invest your hard-earned money. Do not invest solely based on this article. Unlike House or Instituitional Analysts who have to maintain relations with corporations due to investment banking relations, generating commissions,e.t.c, SGDividends say things as it is, factually. Unlike Analyst who have to be "uptight" and "cheem", we make it simplified and cheapskate. -The Vigilante Investor, SGDividends Team
The only valid use for Gold, therefore, is definitely as a "culturally accepted" store of value as it is really quite a useless metal. And "culturally accepted" things are quite fluffy. Read more on the "culturally accepted" 
To be fair to the Gold Proponents (Majority), here is a link to a website that explains why Gold is worth investing:
Demand Breakdown for Gold ( added on 11 Jan 2008)