The Great American Oversight: New Legal Shift Forces Washington to Reconsider Long-Ignored $150 Trillion Asset

Former CIA Advisor Jim Rickards Reveals How a Historic May Finally Be Corrected

/EIN News/ -- WASHINGTON, April 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For more than a century, the U.S. government maintained a powerful resource it rarely spoke of—not for secrecy, but for control.

According to former CIA advisor Jim Rickards, this resource wasn’t hidden. It was held back—preserved as a kind of silent reserve meant for a future crisis that no one could quite define… until now.

“It was never part of the public conversation,” Rickards says. “But it’s always been there—quietly growing in size, sitting beneath our feet, waiting for the right moment to be brought online.” (p. 4)

That moment, he argues, has arrived—triggered by a 2024 Supreme Court decision that quietly dismantled the regulatory power structure preventing access.

A Strategic Reserve Kept Quiet—Until the Legal Floodgates Opened

Rickards points to a collection of mineral-rich federal lands — quietly protected by legal code since the late 1800s — that have never been fully counted as part of America’s tangible wealth. Why? Because they weren’t on the balance sheet. They were buried under regulatory control.

“This is different. Very different,” Rickards explains. “The government has raided the Social Security trust fund so many times, it is practically gone. But this… was sealed off.”

He estimates the raw value of the resource now exceeds $150 trillion, spanning materials critical to national defense, energy, and manufacturing.

THE POLICY SHIFT THAT REOPENS THE FILE

In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling overturning the Chevron Doctrine, a precedent that gave federal agencies near-total authority to interpret regulations. Rickards believes this change reopens the conversation around who controls this mineral-rich land — and how it can be used.

“Trump’s Supreme Court overturned the Chevron Doctrine,” he says. “It essentially gave so-called government experts ‘kill shot’ power… but that’s over now.”

With this reversal, Rickards says, the country may be forced to confront the value it has ignored for more than a century.

A COUNTRY RICHER THAN IT KNOWS

“America is anything BUT broke,” Rickards says.

“They didn’t spend it. They didn’t raid it. They just left it alone.”

He argues that this resource — unlike most government funds — was never manipulated because no one thought to use it. Now, it may be the most important fallback the country has.

KEY QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE REVELATION

Rickards says this discovery raises major questions for policymakers and citizens alike:

• Why have foreign countries gained access to similar materials — while the U.S. left its own untapped?
  
• What happens now that legal precedent has changed?
  

He calls the moment “an inflection point,” comparing it to the Homestead Act — only this time, it’s not about land giveaways, but reclaiming control over American materials for American priorities.

About Jim Rickards

Jim Rickards is a former advisor to the CIA, Pentagon, and U.S. Treasury, with a four-decade career in financial law, intelligence, and policy strategy. Known for his role in economic war games and crisis management, Rickards is the author of several bestselling books, including Currency Wars and Aftermath. He is widely regarded for connecting complex legal and economic shifts with real-world consequences.

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