I like the idea of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs). In brief, with an SWF, the state owns the natural resources and manages them for the benefit of all. Unlike "colonialism" where a country's natural resources were exploited, usually leaving impoverishment in its wake.
A example of the latter: I once drove a Land Rover across Belize. I would see one sawmill after another, full of logs, Honduran mahogany--a valued hardwood. Did the British colonialists extract value? Yes. Did the native British Hondurans ever get more than sorry wages? No. The natives could have used an SWF for their mahogany.
However, more and more countries the world over now have SWFs and I applaud how they support green economics. Why shouldn't the common good of natural resources be shared? Instead, the burden of classical economics has given us, as we posted earlier, the moral nonsense of 62 individuals owning 50% of the Earth's wealth.
Can anyone doubt that a "beeline" does not exist from Bernard Mandeville's The Fable of the Bees (a foundational text in classical economics) to the misery of being an imprisoned worker bee in a plutocrat's Amazon warehouse? Of course not.
Gunnar Myrdal pointed out where classical economists went wrong. They could not think holistically. They understood investment in machinery, but not in the individual person, qua worker, who must be seen as a resource of value.
Enter the Nordic model: heavy taxation, heavy investment in social services to develop individuals throughout their life. The Norwegians took their North Sea oil revenues and put it to good use for all Norwegians. Norwegians outproduce Americans and work fewer hours annually, and by impartial surveys are among the happiest people on the planet. It's been two-thumbs-up for the Nordic model of democratic socialism.
Another great SWF, in the U.S., is the Texas College Permanent University Fund first set up in 1876, with public land sales, plus an override on oil extraction finalized in the 1920s. All dedicated to funding the University of Texas and Texas A & M systems. Needless to say, the endowments at these schools are sizey (#2 & #6) and rival any university in the country.
Last, but not least, the Norwegians got another bonus from discovering North Sea oil. Tacos. When the Norwegians set about importing the experts for offshore drilling, they went to Texas. And Texans gladly introduced Norwegians to hard shell tacos, where as a shared meal, folks pick from a variety of toppings. Not that tacos will ever replace lefse, but tacos are there to stay.
Image credit: author/ezmaker.ai
Questions, comments? Email >> beingcharlesdickinson@yahoo.com
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