Jim Hlavac
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Economic Theory
| Economic Theory |
Natural resources are unevenly distributed around the world. That
requires us to have relations with other nations. Both because we
need their resources and they need ours. It was Marx, basing his ideas
on earlier thinkers, who either surmised or proposed, that the natural
resources of the world be spread evenly around the planet. It is
actually hard to say what he exactly thought, mostly because he lived
in a time when the whole concept of natural resources was just
developing.
Natural Resources are actually rather hard to extract and then put
to a useful function. That is why invariably huge enterprises must be
created to extract, refine and distribute them. The modern world
that developed since the industrial revolution required ever more
resources, and ever more types of resources. This led to the creation
of ever larger natural resources enterprises.
There is an idea that somehow these resources are "owned" by the
people living above them. But they can only be "owned" when there
is not only a system of ownership -- but a real knowledge of what you
have. When oil was first discovered in the mideast the Arabs there
had absolutely no idea what they had, or that it was even there. It
took American and British and French companies to come and find the
oil and then develop it. The argument that we somehow "stole" the
resources is absurd -- because the people there had no idea they even
had oil. They were only too willing to laugh as they said, "sure, go dig
in the sand for some black goo that's been in our way for centuries."
But no matter what your political theories, the resources are still
needed. The idea that somehow they are the patrimony of the
people where the resources are located is false because it was not
only mere happenstance that these people wound up living above the
resource, but also because they did nothing to figure out what they
had and what to do with it. The resources actually belonged to those
who found and used them. It was only after the realization of all the
wealth that could be derived from the resources did the divine right
of kings to appropriate all they could get their hands on did they
decide to nationalize the oil fields. Had they nationalized them
earlier the oil never would have been developed.
And given that the cultures there are against modernizing, they
really had no need for the oil. They were only too happy to get the
money paid to them for what they thought was something absolutely
worthless. Indeed, it is probable that many a sheik laughed himself
silly when he was given a bunch of money and other things for
something he thought was worthless. He thought he had made out
like a bandit. "Look, I have sold them the sand."
requires us to have relations with other nations. Both because we
need their resources and they need ours. It was Marx, basing his ideas
on earlier thinkers, who either surmised or proposed, that the natural
resources of the world be spread evenly around the planet. It is
actually hard to say what he exactly thought, mostly because he lived
in a time when the whole concept of natural resources was just
developing.
Natural Resources are actually rather hard to extract and then put
to a useful function. That is why invariably huge enterprises must be
created to extract, refine and distribute them. The modern world
that developed since the industrial revolution required ever more
resources, and ever more types of resources. This led to the creation
of ever larger natural resources enterprises.
There is an idea that somehow these resources are "owned" by the
people living above them. But they can only be "owned" when there
is not only a system of ownership -- but a real knowledge of what you
have. When oil was first discovered in the mideast the Arabs there
had absolutely no idea what they had, or that it was even there. It
took American and British and French companies to come and find the
oil and then develop it. The argument that we somehow "stole" the
resources is absurd -- because the people there had no idea they even
had oil. They were only too willing to laugh as they said, "sure, go dig
in the sand for some black goo that's been in our way for centuries."
But no matter what your political theories, the resources are still
needed. The idea that somehow they are the patrimony of the
people where the resources are located is false because it was not
only mere happenstance that these people wound up living above the
resource, but also because they did nothing to figure out what they
had and what to do with it. The resources actually belonged to those
who found and used them. It was only after the realization of all the
wealth that could be derived from the resources did the divine right
of kings to appropriate all they could get their hands on did they
decide to nationalize the oil fields. Had they nationalized them
earlier the oil never would have been developed.
And given that the cultures there are against modernizing, they
really had no need for the oil. They were only too happy to get the
money paid to them for what they thought was something absolutely
worthless. Indeed, it is probable that many a sheik laughed himself
silly when he was given a bunch of money and other things for
something he thought was worthless. He thought he had made out
like a bandit. "Look, I have sold them the sand."