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Or we can get away from the dollar. Oil as an energy source has lifted billions of people out of poverty, so its value goes far beyond the industry insiders.

Or we can get away from the dollar. Oil as an energy source has lifted billions of people out of poverty, so its value goes far beyond the industry insiders. However, this is where nuclear power comes in: vast quantities of energy, with fuel sources not controlled by the United States.

vhgyu75e6u 5y ago
That is such a non comment, dollar is the currency used to buy and sell because is the easiest one trade in the international market, not because it has some mystical power. They can sell it for euros, pounds or whatever. Oil is currently being used to keep dictatorships and regimes afloat within the OPEC. The United States does not control how many barrels of oil SA, UAE or other countries can push to the market.
- OnlineGladiator 5y ago
  > dollar is the currency used to buy and sell because is the easiest one trade in the international market, not because it has some mystical power It actually is a little (well, a lot) more complicated than you might think. https://www.lynalden.com/fraying-petrodollar-system/ https://www.lynalden.com/fraying-petrodollar-system/
throwaway2331 5y ago
Poverty exists only within industrial societies (and those that interact with industrial societies). Outside of that scope, poverty doesn't exist. It's a made up concept to describe the relative lack of material compared to some arbitrary, and ever-changing standard. Did hunter gatherers live in poverty? Or were they plenty content with their lot in life -- spending some of their time on survival in food-resource-rich geographies, and the rest on socializing and primitive leisure? How about uncontacted tribes in the Amazon Rainforest? Are you going to label them as "living in poverty" so they can be "saved" and "enriched" by Western Industrial Society's values? "Lifting people out of poverty" is slowly becoming "think of the children"; or even "housewives with nervous ailments should be treated with sedatives and lobotomies. Their conditions are quite saddening, so we should help them post-haste. We know best."
- shakow 5y ago
  I'd rather argue that poverty only exists in societies developed enough to exhibit stark contrasts between individuals' estates. There was what we would perceive as poverty in e.g. the Roman Empire or Middle-Age Europe.

vhgyu75e6u 5y ago

That is such a non comment, dollar is the currency used to buy and sell because is the easiest one trade in the international market, not because it has some mystical power. They can sell it for euros, pounds or whatever. Oil is currently being used to keep dictatorships and regimes afloat within the OPEC. The United States does not control how many barrels of oil SA, UAE or other countries can push to the market.

OnlineGladiator 5y ago
> dollar is the currency used to buy and sell because is the easiest one trade in the international market, not because it has some mystical power It actually is a little (well, a lot) more complicated than you might think. https://www.lynalden.com/fraying-petrodollar-system/ https://www.lynalden.com/fraying-petrodollar-system/

throwaway2331 5y ago

Poverty exists only within industrial societies (and those that interact with industrial societies). Outside of that scope, poverty doesn't exist. It's a made up concept to describe the relative lack of material compared to some arbitrary, and ever-changing standard. Did hunter gatherers live in poverty? Or were they plenty content with their lot in life -- spending some of their time on survival in food-resource-rich geographies, and the rest on socializing and primitive leisure? How about uncontacted tribes in the Amazon Rainforest? Are you going to label them as "living in poverty" so they can be "saved" and "enriched" by Western Industrial Society's values? "Lifting people out of poverty" is slowly becoming "think of the children"; or even "housewives with nervous ailments should be treated with sedatives and lobotomies. Their conditions are quite saddening, so we should help them post-haste. We know best."

shakow 5y ago
I'd rather argue that poverty only exists in societies developed enough to exhibit stark contrasts between individuals' estates. There was what we would perceive as poverty in e.g. the Roman Empire or Middle-Age Europe.