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  • #76
    Saying 150 years is pretty silly... let's remember that John D. Rockefeller was the richest person in the world in the 1910s and 1920s (and responsible for 1.5% of US GDP by himself) through oil extraction.
    “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
    - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

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    • #77
      Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui View Post
      Saying 150 years is pretty silly... let's remember that John D. Rockefeller was the richest person in the world in the 1910s and 1920s (and responsible for 1.5% of US GDP by himself) through oil extraction.
      I suppose one could argue that US Steel wasn't in the resource extraction business or that Leland Stanford's railroading adventures were only tangentially related to resource extraction. JP Morgan is really the first mega financier but almost everything his business underwrote was based in no small part on infrastructure and resource extraction.
      "I hope I get to punch you in the face one day" - MRT144, Imran Siddiqui
      'I'm fairly certain that a ban on me punching you in the face is not a "right" worth respecting." - loinburger

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      • #78
        Originally posted by Felch View Post
        That's exactly what the OP was about. Americans have pretty much everything they need, and the difference between rich and poor is more a matter of relative luxury than having food and shelter. Here's an old Economist piece about a poor American redneck and a Congolese doctor. They have similar income, but the redneck benefits from living stupidly in a rich country, while the doctor is owed months of back pay, and has to help support an extended family.



        I just thought that bit was ****ing hilarious.
        It's doubly amusing because in China patients frequently do attack their doctors.
        “As a lifelong member of the Columbia Business School community, I adhere to the principles of truth, integrity, and respect. I will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”
        "Capitalism ho!"

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        • #79
          Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui View Post
          I think his point was that the resources & land allowed for a substantial base for the US economy to become rapidly industrialized.
          And rapidly militarize.
          “As a lifelong member of the Columbia Business School community, I adhere to the principles of truth, integrity, and respect. I will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”
          "Capitalism ho!"

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          • #80
            Originally posted by DaShi View Post
            And rapidly militarize.
            Balderdash Dashi, we simply outsmarted and outexceptionalized every other nation.
            "I hope I get to punch you in the face one day" - MRT144, Imran Siddiqui
            'I'm fairly certain that a ban on me punching you in the face is not a "right" worth respecting." - loinburger

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            • #81
              Originally posted by Guynemer View Post
              Oh honey.

              Come work with me for a day if you think we have an almost-classless society.

              Is it better than India? Sure, no denying that.
              I'd like it if HC and BEn came to work with me for a day...walk onto a locked ward, show him around...then go on vacation for a few weeks.
              You just wasted six ... no, seven ... seconds of your life reading this sentence.

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              • #82
                Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View Post
                Norway's GDP is entirely because of oil revenue.
                Yah, US wealth has nothing to do with the fact that we took over the largest and most productive agricultural region on earth, with most of the resources on the continent unexploited, rather recently.

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                • #83
                  HC is the only one being reasonable here. Norway exports 20% of its GDP in the form of petroleum products. Any comparison which equates this with the US economy of the 20th century is idiotic.
                  12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
                  Stadtluft Macht Frei
                  Killing it is the new killing it
                  Ultima Ratio Regum

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                  • #84
                    The number of raw materials which the US isn't one of the leading producers of is a rather short list. But damn Norway and their frozen wasteland with oil under it ... they're cheating!

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                    • #85
                      Originally posted by KrazyHorse View Post
                      HC is the only one being reasonable here. Norway exports 20% of its GDP in the form of petroleum products. Any comparison which equates this with the US economy of the 20th century is idiotic.
                      Are you denying that we've extracted from the land more value in resources than any other nation on earth the last century?

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                      • #86
                        In a percentage of GDP terms? Absolutely.
                        12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
                        Stadtluft Macht Frei
                        Killing it is the new killing it
                        Ultima Ratio Regum

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                        • #87
                          If the EU was in NA with the unexploited resources we conquered, we'd likely see a much different wealth distribution. And likely they would have developed more like we did, and we more like they did. Incentive is higher when the tide is higher and has raised more boats. So yah, it makes sense that those who are on the biggest pile of natural resources in the world would work a bit harder at extracting it and making it into things to sell than those who have to work harder to get less.

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                          • #88
                            Originally posted by KrazyHorse View Post
                            In a percentage of GDP terms? Absolutely.
                            So your idea is that Europeans are just naturally more inclined to be lazy. Perhaps genetically? That environmental and economic pressures haven't affected Europeans or Americans at all?

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                            • #89
                              Watching you twist to try to make this reasonable is entertaining.
                              12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
                              Stadtluft Macht Frei
                              Killing it is the new killing it
                              Ultima Ratio Regum

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                              • #90
                                Originally posted by KrazyHorse View Post
                                HC is the only one being reasonable here. Norway exports 20% of its GDP in the form of petroleum products. Any comparison which equates this with the US economy of the 20th century is idiotic.
                                If you're asking why a particular country is rich, then looking at its history of natural resource usage is not idiotic. Is America today driven by resource extraction? No. Was America driven by resource extraction in the past? Yes. Did that past lead to this present? Hmm...
                                Click here if you're having trouble sleeping.
                                "We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones." - François de La Rochefoucauld

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