kek

Doesn't really matter. We could have nationalized it and made far better use of it. Also, is that historical oil wealth? Because we mined a shit load of oil between 1900 and now.



We didn't "finance global security" as much as we actively destabilized dozens of countries for our own economic interests. I very much object to this rosey characterization.



In other words "it's difficult to establish a robust society when we have to cater to racists who will shoot their foot to spite the browns".

holy fuck:



are our pard republicunts ok with this?

BASED

✝️✝️✝️

I did some quick, crude napkin math:

- the cumulative oil production of the US since 1865 has been around 232.5 billion barrels of crude oil:
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=mcrfpus1&f=a

- at a current oil price of around $75 per barrel, assuming that oil prices rose roughly in line with inflation over such a long time period, this would correspond to a contemporary equivalent value of $17.4 trillion.

- this boils down to $52.6k per capita. Contrasted with the total wealth of the U.S. of around $126 trillion, its median net worth per adult of $79.2k and mean net worth per adult of $505k, it becomes clear that the spoils of oil production don't come anywhere close to explaining the filthy wealth of America's rich.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_wealth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult

- it must also be kept in mind that historically speaking, most of this oil was consumed in the U.S. and fueled the economic growth, paid for a lot of infrastructure and generated substantial tax revenue that financed public spending. Hence, a non-negligible share of today's wealth in the country is indirectly built on the oil extraction of the past, it's not like 100% of these 17 trillion all went into the bank accounts of the Rockefellers to never be seen again.






For comparison: Norway's state-owned oil fund had a value of around $1.2 trillion at the end of 2020, which corresponds to $181k per capita. This is cash if you will and does not include the economic benefits Norway reaped from its oil production and this oil fund over the years.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Sep 17 2021 06:05pm

Sure, not all of it went to billionaires, but too much definitely did. Standard Oil had to be broken up because it blatantly monopolized oil production after all, and then the owners just got stock in the new companies.

We could have used our oil wealth better is my point lol. And we could have done it for any number of other resources in a similar manner. Even if it's not oil, we are a resource rich country and we haven't distributed the benefits optimally at all.

Sure, I don't disagree with any of that. The original debate, however, was whether the U.S. could look as wealthy and equitable as Norway does today if only it had distributed (the revenue from) its natural resources better - and the answer to this question is "no, not even close".

That wasn't the claim lol. You're trying to make equivilance where none was claimed.

Unless Fender said it specifically? Idk, I don't read his posts.

This post was edited by NetflixAdaptationWidow on Sep 17 2021 06:37pm

He was posting this old meme in response to me asking for an example of a socialist country in which the living conditions are better for the median citizen than in capitalist countries:


... which spawned the same old "socialism vs social democracy" debate, and people pointing out that Norway is not a good example for the effectiveness of social democratic policies since the country is filthy rich thanks to its oil.
At that point in the debate, you replied to a sarcastic "why can't we be rich thanks to oil like Norway" with the comparison with American oil wealth.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Sep 17 2021 07:01pm