By Terry Weiss, Money Morning

Noted expert Peter Schiff says the U.S. economy is on the verge of an economic collapse worse than 2008 and is warning investors to take immediate steps to protect themselves.

In a gripping interview on Yahoo Finance, Schiff warns that while any moves the Fed makes could "artificially" bolster the economy – and bring investors false hope that things are turning around – the truth is that the government will only be delaying the "Day of Reckoning."

"If the Fed ultimately comes through with QE3… it won't strengthen the economy, but it will weaken the dollar," Schiff said, noting that Bernanke's policies will eventually lead to a Greek style debilitating sovereign debt crisis where the dollar plunges and consumer prices and interest rates spike.

"We have a much bigger collapse coming, not just the markets, but of the economy. It's like what you're seeing in Europe right now only worse," Schiff said.

An Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker followed a team of scientists, economists, and energy analysts to explore an incomprehensible financial crisis that's facing average Americans. Click on the video above to see the shocking charts and proof.

Schiff goes on to say that things will get truly ugly when we hit our fiscal cliff and have to slash government spending across the board.

"People on entitlements like Social Security and Medicare… they're not going to get the benefits they've been promised. Government workers are going to have to take pay cuts… banks are going to fail… people are going to lose money, not just investors but depositors. The housing market is going to fall again."

And Schiff isn't the only expert warning about the U.S. economy's dire predicament.

A group of prominent scientists, economists and geopolitical experts have uncovered an emerging pattern… one they believe could soon hasten an American economic catastrophe – and a radical hit to the wealth and financial security of millions Americans.

Expert: Germany's military held a secret investigation into this emerging pattern and concluded it could lead to "political instability and extremism." Click here to view this controversial investigation.

A large part of this has to do with the velocity of total credit market debt. It's part of a pattern of accelerating debt – and few have been able to track the speed of it, which is growing at a rate even faster than just a few months ago.

Chris Martenson, a highly acclaimed scientist and an expert on exponential growth, says the dangerous pattern of accelerating debt can go unnoticed at first. But what's happening underneath the radar is the speed of the doubling, which is now accelerating even faster to an unsustainable level.

"That's when chaos breaks out," Martenson says.

As of today, the total credit market debt is 357% larger than GDP. That represents an astounding $691,000 for a family of four in America.

Yet the doubling period for this gets shorter at an exponential rate that increases every day. "It's a very dangerous exponential growth curve," says Martenson, "one that's setting us up for a situation worse than we've seen in Greece and across Europe."

"Every American needs to know what this means and what steps to take with your finances, investments and day-to-day life to prepare for it, "Martenson added.