I Asked the Secretary of Energy About Space Aliens, and...

What a week it was traveling the West Coast. [The Rude Awakening] September 07, 2023 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( I Asked the Secretary of Energy About Space Aliens, and… - Byron had a heck of a week, running from NW British Columbia to SoCal. - He rubbed shoulders with the likes of Rick Perry, former Governor of Texas. - But as Energy Secretary, what secrets did Perry learn? [Click here to learn more]( [The Biblical Reckoning has arrived Genesis 47:15]( In his 2011 book Currency Wars… Jim Rickards issued a warning that came from the book of Genesis… One that could spell an [economic reckoning]( of biblical proportions. Now it looks like that prediction is starting to come true. And you may not have long to prepare. That’s why Jim published a major update to that warning… To tell you exactly what he recommends you do next. [And you can view it by clicking here.]( [Click Here To Learn More]( [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Good morning from warm, sunny Asti. Today is a lucky day. I woke up, opened my email, and found an article from Byron King. Seriously, that’s as good as Christmas for me. No one in Paradigm Press has published this yet, so you’re the first to read it. Byron had a heck of a trip up and down the West Coast. But it was his meeting with Rick Perry, former Texas Governor and U.S. Energy Secretary, that he’ll talk about in this edition of the Rude. Enjoy! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening X (formerly Twitter): [@seaniechaos]( [Urgent Notice From Paradigm CIO Zach Scheidt!]( [James Altucher]( Hi, Zach Scheidt here… I’m the Chief Income Officer at Paradigm Press. With inflation raging (and showing no signs of coming to an end any time soon), almost everyone in America is feeling the pain in a big way. Which is why, several months ago, I set out on a big mission… my goal was to create a [complete, step-by-step plan to surviving and beating inflation]( one that anyone could take advantage of. Today, after hundreds of hours of research, I’m revealing all of my findings. [Simply click here now to see how to survive America’s deadly inflation crisis](. [Click Here To Learn More]( [Byron King] BYRON KING The Trip Wow, what a week! It began in northwest British Columbia, in the legendary Golden Triangle, where I was looking at mineral deposits at the edge of glacier fields. [SJN] Your editor at the edge of the vast Salmon Glacier, spanning parts of both British Columbia and Alaska. BWK photo. And it ended in Southern California, where I spoke with former Texas governor and U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. We talked about energy, of course, but we also talked about space aliens. Seriously. Have a great day! [SJN] Your editor with former Texas governor/Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. BWK photo. I’ll tell you about the Golden Triangle one day. And I’ll let you know about energy one day, too. First, the space aliens. Because it’s not every day that you can collar a former cabinet officer and not get hold of a former Energy Secretary, but there we were… Spaced Out It was a private event, an energy-themed get-together at a secluded spot near Portuguese Bend, in Palos Verde Estates, straight south of LAX and just west of Long Beach. And Gov./Sec. Perry was invited to say a few words. Perry is a charming, personable guy and deeply knowledgeable about all manner of U.S. policy. He likes to say that he has held “the best job in the country, being governor of Texas,” as well as “the most interesting job in the country, running the Department of Energy.” Perry discussed his time at Energy, running 17 national laboratories, plus the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, signing off on cutting-edge research into ungodly exotic realms of science and engineering. We discussed everything from the heavily drained Strategic Petroleum Reserve to U.S. refining capacity to the looming hurricane/tropical storm that was even then bearing down on Baja, Mexico, Southern California, and other parts of the U.S. Southwest. And then… I popped the question. “Hey, Mr. Secretary… You were there, in the big building in Washington. You had access to everything about nuclear and energy. What can you tell us about those space aliens we hear about?” Perry looked straight at me. He tightened his lips. He tilted his head very slightly. I followed up. “Well, we have former government people, from Navy pilots to Air Force intelligence officers, testifying under oath that they saw aliens or reports about alien tech. Can you say anything?” Perry thought momentarily and then said, “Well, okay, yeah. Here’s what I guess I can tell you…” Whoa! We leaned towards each other. “There’s a place in Nevada northwest of Las Vegas. It’s way out in the desert, called the Nevada Test Site. We used to test nuclear weapons there.” I said, “Yes, I know. I’m an old Navy nuclear weapons officer. I attended an underground test blast in the late 1980s when I worked for the Chief of Naval Operations.” Perry looked at me and said, “Okay, then you know the drill. That place has tight security, right? Nobody gets in without serious business.” He continued, “And at the edge of the test site is a big mountain, Yucca Mountain. The U.S. built a storage facility there for nuclear waste, remember?” I nodded. Yes, Yucca was supposed to house nuclear materials from America’s reactors, but raw politics got in the way. People in Nevada didn’t want to be the national dump for nuclear waste, so nothing ever went there from the nuclear-electric industry. Perry continued, “So, the U.S. spent tens of billions of dollars building this underground facility, with deep caverns, just miles of them. Super secure. No nuclear waste, though. We keep the nuclear waste scattered at power plants all over the country. Kind of a shame to have this facility and not use it, right?” As he said that, Perry nodded his head just ever so slightly. Hmm… He added, “So there was this one time that I was out there, visiting Yucca Mountain. And we were driving across the desert, and I saw this other huge building. I mean, gigantic. Massive. It’s made of concrete, with steel beams sticking out from it. And a massive gantry crane next to it. And I asked my guides what it was.” Hmm… A huge building in the middle of nowhere? “The site manager said that it was constructed in the 1950s and 60s to test new ideas for space propulsion. Basically, it was a test rack for some sort of nuclear rocket engine intended for interplanetary travel. And you know what? It worked! Except the engine was so radioactive that it would have killed the astronauts after a time. So, the project never went anywhere.” Perry looked at me and said, “Byron, I think that’s about all I can say.” I asked the Secretary, “Did you read that book by an Army Lieutenant Colonel named Philip Corso? He wrote a book published in 1997 called The Day After Roswell. It’s about how the U.S. found a crashed alien spacecraft in 1947, near Roswell, New Mexico. And the military harvested tech from it. Things like transistors, integrated circuits, glass fiber, night vision, and high-energy lasers. Things like that. Took these alien items and farmed them out to Bell Labs, Jet Propulsion Lab, IBM, and such.” Perry looked at me and just smiled. “Yes, that’s an interesting book.” As I said, Rick Perry is a lovely guy. Quite knowledgeable. And I suspect he knows a few things. That’s all for now. Thank you for subscribing and reading. [Byron W. King] Byron W. King Senior Geologist In Case You Missed It… Almighty Dollar Hammers Asia, Europe [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Happy Hump Day from a gloriously sunny Asti! [Yesterday, we broke down the dollar index]( showing the basket’s constituents and performances and why it’s a good bet to be dollar-bullish. It was a good exercise, and I hope you feel like you understand the US dollar index’s gears and cranks better. And we were right on time. Because this morning, stories of dollar dominance fill Bloomberg’s front page. Don’t get me wrong: de-dollarization is a thing. It’s just going to take time. Perhaps lots of time. As Hemingway once wrote, “Gradually. And then suddenly.” In the meantime, flows are going through the USD. And it’s pretty easy to see why. As the Fed hikes rates, the dollar becomes more attractive. And while most investors thought the rate hikes would end soon, it looks like they will wait longer. In fact, while the market seems sure Chairman Pow won’t hike this September, I’m still not so sure. And even when he finally stops, there’s no guarantee that a “pivot” to rate cuts is around the corner. In this edition of the Rude, we’ll get a bit more macro and geopolitical on the renewed almighty dollar. Dollar Rises in the East. From [Bloomberg]( Japan issued its strongest warning in weeks against rapid declines in the yen on Wednesday, with its top currency official saying the nation is ready to take action amid speculative moves in the market. Shortly after, China’s central bank offered the most forceful guidance on record with its daily reference rate for the yuan, as the managed currency weakened toward a level unseen since 2007. As these two countries are export-driven, they may be crying crocodile tears. Nevertheless, as China and Japan still pay dollars on many of their imports, they may be starting to feel the pinch. Bloomberg’s Asian dollar index has certainly underperformed: [pub] Credit: [Bloomberg]( Again, from Bloomberg: “The prospect of higher-for-longer US rates is reigniting pressure, and investors will be cautious,” said Vijay Kannan, a macro strategist at Societe Generale SA in Singapore. “Specifically, EM Asia is more vulnerable to this dollar strength, given a much lower interest rate differential and a greater exposure to a weaker China growth outlook.” This is something we’ve been saying in the Rude for a while. Jay Powell won’t start cutting rates as soon as he’s done hiking, whenever that is. And the market may be completely incorrect this time regarding the September meeting. According to the [CME FedWatch Tool]( the chances of a rate hike are only 7%. [pub] It’ll be a fun day at the markets if Powell and Co. surprise them! [You’re Invited To A LIVE Zoom Call!]( What: An urgent Zoom call exclusively for Rude Awakening readers. When: Friday, _______ at 10 AM Eastern. Where: Attend right from home via a virtual link. [>> Spots are limited. Click here to see how to reserve your seat.]( [Click Here To Learn More]( Who’s Really Getting Hurt? I’ll give you a hint. I’m typing from there. But even better, let me give you this little ditty the incomparable Tom Luongo wrote on his blog, [Gold Goats ‘N Guns]( While everyone is talking de-dollarization, the real currency losing its position in global trade is the euro. But no one is talking about de-euroization. I guess it doesn’t roll off the tongue as well. According to the latest data from the SWIFT RMB Tracker, there is no currency that has lost more ground in global trade than the euro. In just over two years, the euro has fallen from 39.5% of global payments outside the eurozone to just 13.6%. [pub] The dollar absorbed most of those payments, with the British pound, Japanese yen, and, yes, the Chinese renminbi taking up the rest. So, the great distraction about de-dollarization is, in part, about paying no attention to the rapid demise of the euro and the emerging sovereign bond crisis that ECB President Christine Lagarde works every day to paper over. You must remember the euro was a politicalproject meant to tie Germany and France into a death embrace so they couldn’t go to war anymore. The economic story fed to the public was complete poppycock. Read [The Tragedy of the Euro]( if you fancy more detail on that history. The euro was never going to work. And now, we’re seeing just how fragile it is. We also see how willing the US is to sacrifice Germany on the altar of neocon warmongering. Do you really think Germany was worse off “depending” on Russian oil and gas? Right now, Germany looks like it will turn into the New European Rust Belt. It makes one wonder why Europe treats the US like an ally. Perhaps it’s the over 60,000 US troops based there. But even more disappointing are the BRICS and their “plan.” BRICS Didn’t Make a Dent. I thought the BRICS were a bit farther along the path of de-dollarization. But the truth is they didn’t develop their plan. Luongo asserts this is because geography trumps currency. As a fan of David Landes, I greatly sympathize with this argument. [Luongo writes]( But, back to the BRICS. If de-dollarization wasn’t the point of the Summit this year, then what was? Expansion. And not just expansion for the sake of expansion, but geographically strategic expansion. The BRICS formally added six countries — Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Egypt, and Ethiopia. They could have added others and almost added Algeria if not for a last-minute veto by India on behalf of France. Algeria is symbolic of the fight between Italy and France for access to African oil and gas. There can be no Ital-exit from the EU without Italy minimizing France’s influence in North Africa, shoring up its energy needs as collateral for a return to the lira. Thankfully, with the help of Russia and China, the Africans are taking care of the Italians’ French Problem all on their own. If there is one common theme beyond the geography (more on that in a bit) with all six of these countries, it is their relationship with the supposedly former British empire. From the Arab states and Egypt to those that defied the Brits in the past — e.g., Iran and Argentina — these additions represent a power shift that is profound. And while we wait expectantly for an alternative monetary system, we put our savings in USD. Wrap Up Imagine the irony: It won’t be a weak dollar that destroys the international monetary system. It’ll be a strong dollar. A strong dollar that capital-hungry countries simply can’t pay back. And while that locks countries into this system, for now, it easily explains why the Global South wants out so badly. China and Russia see the opportunity to offer an alternative but haven’t developed their plan enough. So here we are, watching the Ascent of the Almighty. Have a great day! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening X (formerly Twitter): [@seaniechaos]( [Paradigm]( ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2023 Paradigm Press, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. By submitting your email address, you consent to Paradigm Press, LLC. delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your Rude Awakening e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Rude Awakening, feel free to [click here.]( Please note: the mailbox associated with this email address is not monitored, so do not reply to this message. We welcome comments or suggestions at feedback@rudeawakening.info. This address is for feedback only. 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