The Coming US Power Blackout (and What to Do When It Happens)
Bill Bonner

Demolition Derby

Dow down hard on Thursday – 231 points. Gold flat. What’s behind the big drop in equities? Our colleague Chris Hunter reckons it’s the two “C”s – China and Crimea. These two hotspots are giving investors the jitters.

Meanwhile, our friends over at Agora Financial gave us a fright. They pointed to an article in the Wall Street Journal: “Nation’s Power Grid Vulnerable to Sabotage.”

A few low-tech saboteurs could put the nation in the dark for 18 months, says the WSJ. The folks at Agora Financial reckon there could be an even bigger danger: cyber-attacks. “World War D” (for digital) they call it.

In our mind, this created a whole demolition derby of disturbing ideas. We had a taste of power-outage this winter, when we were staying at a hotel here in Aiken. The first day was a happy adventure. The second day… with plenty of food, water and (importantly) alcohol still available… was long. We didn’t have to suffer a third day; the power came back on.

Without power, you can’t pump water. And you can’t get gasoline. Without gasoline you can’t go anywhere. And you can’t even run a generator. Your beer is warm and your bath is cold. You’re out of luck. How do you get food? Is there any food to get? Without refrigeration how much of the nation’s food simply rots and spoils?

This is not a problem for us down in Argentina (where we have a ranch and where we are headed after we leave Aiken). We don’t have any power down there anyway. Water comes down from the snow-covered Andes. The evening meal wanders around the prairies, on four legs, until dinner time.

Of course, we’re not worried for ourselves; we’re worried for our dear readers!

Even if the federales were smart enough to protect the power grid from saboteurs – which we doubt – could they protect it from the sun? Yes, one of our dearest readers, has turned up the heat… upped the ante… and made us worry even more.

She sent us a report from author Mr. G. Edward Griffin (best known for his critique of the modern central banking system, The Creature from Jekyll Island). Griffin reckons solar activity is the real cause of global temperature changes… and that the sun’s hissy fits will blow out so many fuses all over the power system … we could be without power, well, for a long time.

As to the first provocative point, he cites a book by Lawrence Joseph, Solar Cataclysm: How the Sun Shaped the Past and What We Can Do to Save Our Future. The gist of the argument is that solar activity causes big swings in the Earth’s temperature. Al Gore and the global warming crew are wrong, he says.

According to an article in the MIT Technology Review their computer program is defective:

In the world of statistical analysis, there is a standard routine called the Monte Carlo Test that uses random data with no trends whatsoever to confirm that a computer model has no built-in errors or biases. If all is well, the Monte Carlo Test will produce zero trends.

When the global warming computer model was tested, he says:

[O]ut popped a hockey-stick graph just like the one for global temperatures. Conclusion: The computer model was rigged.

Maybe he is right. Maybe he isn’t. But it was what Griffin says next that caused us angst:

The electronic infrastructure of the modern world is a new phenomenon in history. It hasn’t yet been tested by large-scale solar storms, which have occurred as recently as a hundred years ago.

The grid didn’t exist at that time but, if it had, engineers say it would not have survived. When the next one will arrive is unknown, but one thing is certain: we are not ready for it. Unless steps are taken to protect transformers and control systems, the grid WILL be knocked out by the next large-scale storm.

What will we do if the juice goes out? Don’t know. But we’re stocking the wine cellar.

In red: the temperature record as it appeared in the first IPCC report in 1990.

In blue: the medieval warm period and the little ice age simply 'disappeared' in Mann's famed alarmist 'hockey stick' graph (which has been subject to heavy debunking by now).

In black: Anders Moberg temperature reconstruction (2005) – here is a critique of  a number of reconstruction models: scroll down to number 5 for an assessment of Moberg.

Not on this graph: the failure of any warming to appear since 1997. i.e., Mann's 'hockey stick' has been very thoroughly debunked by that inconvenient continuum which we all inhabit, widely known as 'reality' – click to enlarge.

The above article is from Diary of a Rogue Economist originally written for Bonner & Partners.

Bill Bonner founded Agora, Inc in 1978. It has since grown into one of the largest independent newsletter publishing companies in the world. He has also written three New York Times bestselling books, Financial Reckoning Day, Empire of Debt and Mobs, Messiahs and Markets.

www.acting-man.com