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Saudi's story has Spain written all over it. Spain once discovered huge silver deposits quickly rised to a major global power but they totally failed to invest

• mbroncano 10y ago
  Maybe I'm mistaken and you are surely referring to a different Spain, not the one that established the first global empire, spawning half the globe barely after medieval times, and lasting over three hundred years [0]. I'm pretty sure Saudies (heck even USA) could settle with half of that. * The Spanish Empire (Spanish: Imperio español) was one of the largest empires in history. It reached the peak of its military, political and economic power under the Spanish Habsburgs,[2] through most of the 16th and 17th centuries, and its greatest territorial extent under the House of Bourbon in the 18th century, when it was the largest empire in the world. * [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Empire https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Empire
  • Mao_Zedang 10y ago
    Does spain still have a global empire spanning half the globe? No, I think their point stands, maybe spend less time name calling people pseudo intellectuals.
    • kbart 10y ago
      "Does spain still have a global empire spanning half the globe?" There were no eternal empires throughout the history and probably will never be. Current world dominating countries are still in infancy compared to some empires of the past. Spain was one of the world dominating powers for centuries and that counts for something.
      • mbroncano 10y ago
        Far beyond the point, which was KSA and the Spanish Empire are nothing alike. Unless I'm missing a deeper point, for which I'll appreciate clarification.
        • tn13 10y ago
          Read Thomas Sowell here: ---In 16th and 17th century Spain — its "golden age" — the windfall gain was gold and silver looted by the ton from Spanish colonies in the Western Hemisphere. This enabled Spain to survive without having to develop the skills, the sciences or the work ethic of other countries in Western Europe. Spain could buy what it wanted from other nations with all the gold and silver taken from its colonies. As a Spaniard of that era proudly put it, "Everyone serves Spain and Spain serves no one." What this meant in practical terms was that other countries developed the skills, the knowledge, the self-discipline and other forms of human capital that Spain did not have to develop, since it could receive the tangible products of this human capital from other countries. But once the windfall gains from its colonies were gone, Spain became, and remained, one of the poorest countries in Western Europe. Worse, the disdainful attitudes toward productive work that developed during the centuries of Spain's "golden age" became a negative legacy to future generations, in both Spain itself and in its overseas offshoot societies in Latin America. In Saudi Arabia today, the great windfall gain is its vast petroleum reserve. This has spawned both a fabulously wealthy ruling elite and a heavily subsidized general population in which many have become disdainful of work. The net result has been a work force in which foreigners literally outnumber Saudis. Some welfare states' windfall gains have enabled a large segment of their own citizens to live in subsidized idleness while many jobs stigmatized as "menial" are taken over by foreigners. Often these initially poor foreigners rise up the economic scale, while the subsidized domestic poor fail to rise. Do we really want more of that? ----- [1] https://www.creators.com/read/thomas-sowell/06/16/is-personal-responsibility-obsolete-part-ii https://www.creators.com/read/thomas-sowell/06/16/is-persona...
    • mbroncano 10y ago
      I'm afraid I don't understand: as Spain is not a global empire anymore, the previous point (i.e. Saudi Arabia is akin to the Spanish empire in any meaningful way) stands. I must confess, I find your logic quite lacking in sense or purpose. On the other hand, I can't see where I called the parent pseudo intellectual. You'd rather look that up as well.