Gold pushed to a record high $1,236.60 an ounce by 0302 GMT Thursday, up 25 cents from New York's notional close on Wednesday, when it roared to a record $1,248.15 on worries that a $1 trillion European rescue package will not solve the euro zone debt crisis.

Hopes that the trillion-dollar rescue package of loans and bond purchases by European and American taxpayers would bail out riot-torn Greece and end fears of the euro losing value or collapsing, almost evaporated by Tuesday.

International Monetary Fund Director for Europe Mark Belka earlier described the bailout package as nothing but "morphine to stabilize the patient."

This bailout, warned Belka, cures none of the underlying problems caused by Greece and other profligate nations' reckless borrowing and spending.

Loose monetary policy has central banks boxed in between deflation, stagflation and inflation - leaving them hesitant to raise interest rates.

Paying for this and future bailouts will require either growth-choking higher taxes or - the more politically palatable option - running trillions of dollars and euros off printing presses and letting the resulting inflation "tax" the purchasing power of worker life savings.

"The credit, debt and currency markets all require confidence to operate," said Swiss America Chairman Craig R. Smith. "Gold alone creates confidence because gold is one of the few assets that is not someone else's liability."

"Stock value and liquidity depend on the issuer," said Smith. "Gold, on the other hand, does not have a recurring liability."

The investor move to gold came less than a week after the New York Stock Exchange big board plunged by almost 1,000 points almost instantly, the reasons for which remain uncertain.

"Placing assets in markets that can drop 900 points in a matter of seconds is not really an investment; it is a 'bet,'" said Swiss America's Smith.

"Last week the vulnerable world financial markets reminded investors that paper markets rely on confidence, while gold creates confidence," he said.

With the euro sick and weakening, and with Greece's problems threatening to spread like contagion to other overextended PIGS countries - Portugal, Spain and Italy - investors are moving from stocks and currencies to the safe haven of gold, which historically rises when other investments sink.

Swiss America has compiled a chronological list of over 75 prominent gold analysts offering their perspective on where gold prices are headed in the next few years. Their combined average gold price expectation is $2,200/oz.