Sooz
1st October 2013, 07:35
Hi All,
This is a snip from a financial newsletter I subscribe to.
i.e., it IS a financial newsletter, albeit from crazy Oz mavericks. I've edited out all the other stuff.
What do you make of it?
VERY interesting....lol....
Sooz
'The Gold in Fort Knox?
This reminds me of a story - a true story, no less. I was in the Pentagon, some years ago, in the days of the Bush II-administration. It was E-Ring stuff. I was in the very spacious office of a very senior guy in the US Air Force. We were discussing energy issues, particularly Air Force programs to spur a US 'synthetic fuel' industry.
Our discussion touched issues of government funding of private industrial development, and questions about who owns the intellectual property (IP). New energy-development technology has national security implications. Should the IP go into the public domain? Or do we keep parts of it classified?
One of the military staffers at the table spoke up, and said, with a downbeat voice, 'I don't know if we can keep this kind of tech classified. We're terrible at keeping these things under wraps for long.'
As everyone around the table nodded in agreement, I decided to test their hearing.
I said, 'That's true. Really, the only two national secrets we've ever been able to keep are about those space aliens, and the captured flying saucer in Area 51, and that there's no gold in Fort Knox.'
The room went quiet. You could hear a pin drop. The senior Air Force guy leaned over the table, and looked right at me. He said, 'Really? There's no gold in Fort Knox?'
That's all for now. Thanks for reading.
Byron King
Contributing Editor, Money Morning'
This is a snip from a financial newsletter I subscribe to.
i.e., it IS a financial newsletter, albeit from crazy Oz mavericks. I've edited out all the other stuff.
What do you make of it?
VERY interesting....lol....
Sooz
'The Gold in Fort Knox?
This reminds me of a story - a true story, no less. I was in the Pentagon, some years ago, in the days of the Bush II-administration. It was E-Ring stuff. I was in the very spacious office of a very senior guy in the US Air Force. We were discussing energy issues, particularly Air Force programs to spur a US 'synthetic fuel' industry.
Our discussion touched issues of government funding of private industrial development, and questions about who owns the intellectual property (IP). New energy-development technology has national security implications. Should the IP go into the public domain? Or do we keep parts of it classified?
One of the military staffers at the table spoke up, and said, with a downbeat voice, 'I don't know if we can keep this kind of tech classified. We're terrible at keeping these things under wraps for long.'
As everyone around the table nodded in agreement, I decided to test their hearing.
I said, 'That's true. Really, the only two national secrets we've ever been able to keep are about those space aliens, and the captured flying saucer in Area 51, and that there's no gold in Fort Knox.'
The room went quiet. You could hear a pin drop. The senior Air Force guy leaned over the table, and looked right at me. He said, 'Really? There's no gold in Fort Knox?'
That's all for now. Thanks for reading.
Byron King
Contributing Editor, Money Morning'