Those are not musings but a dose of likely reality.

The begining will be when the gold starts its next serious run and the media start reporting the rise ( Jim's $1650?). I recall the run in the late seventies before everybody and their dog got into the gold rush. My own brother is sitting with tens of thousands of dollars worth of gold bars from that time for not listening to me to sell them when I told him - Actually begged him. He eventualy sold a small portion but is still holding most for this run up after 30 years, I hope.

Finally: The general public will get a rude awakening when the main stream media start reporting on a regular basis bank bankruptcies and a large part of the population will see that their own bank is cutting them off from their money. The general public in the States (as in most places) does not keep an eye on the likes of the FDIC but they do on their own accout in their own branch.
Unfortunatelly that is too late.
( I have noticed that folks in Europe are more in tune with the goings on in their countries and their own banks. They have more experience of tough times?)

Caseyc - I Like your comparisons - What the dutch boy is not told is if he keeps on poking his fingers in the leaks, eventually the dam will break and take him with it.

That is when the real and inevitable panic will come.
The rest of us who are cognizant of the situation will not so much profit from it as not lose most of our wealth.
The only real profiteers will be those that have plenty of cash to spare and are buying up now at bargain prices.