[for-the-right-reason]

Heya.

I was just watching Dom Joly (sp?) on Sky 3 and it was a programme on him going to Russia to check out the country and drinking problems. Basically, Russia comes across as being a tragically poor country. I have known for a long time that poverty in Russia was quite widespread but having watched the programme...it made me feel slightly depressed. I don't understand why making a country rich should be such a problem. Surely, why doesn't Putin hire some super clever economists and say 'make Russia rich'. I mean, Russia has tremendous potential with its raw minerals and whatsnot. So why then is it stuck in the ghetto...it's not a third world country (yet)....thus, I assume it has most of the technological know how to help develop itself...

So my question is this:

Why are some countries like Russia so f-ed up? Is it political problems? If the politicians would stop being mugs and got something done...wudn't Russia get richer? It just seems so dumb to me that such a country of historical richness should be so poverty striken in the year 2006...whereby worldwide economic growth is happening...


Another question...in Nigeria it exports billions and billions of barrels of oil a year...so why is it so poor?

I think I know the answer to these questions but judging by other threads...there seems to be really clever ppl here. And 2 heads are better than 1. Please help!

Much Love

[SSM]

A few quick answers:

Corruption (freedom fighters/government spending everything on themselves)
Communism
Stupidity

[akula]

Originally Posted by SSM

Stupidity

that's not a objective assessment

[SSM]

Originally Posted by akula

that's not a objective assessment

but it does sum up a lot of things

[akula]

no it doesn't

it's a judgment you're making on the actions of men (who happen to be a lot smarter than us), as well as the stochastic nature of developmental economics

the only thing this judgment sums is that ignorance is the cousin of arrogance

[akula]

for-the-right-reason, great questions

there are answers to your questions

why do you wanna know these things? is it just personal interest or school?

how complicated do you want this analysis?

it's a complicated question

you're basically asking for a crash course in russian economic history and the theory of developmental economics

Originally Posted by for-the-right-reason

Heya.

I was just watching Dom Joly (sp?) on Sky 3 and it was a programme on him going to Russia to check out the country and drinking problems. Basically, Russia comes across as being a tragically poor country. I have known for a long time that poverty in Russia was quite widespread but having watched the programme...it made me feel slightly depressed. I don't understand why making a country rich should be such a problem. Surely, why doesn't Putin hire some super clever economists and say 'make Russia rich'. I mean, Russia has tremendous potential with its raw minerals and whatsnot. So why then is it stuck in the ghetto...it's not a third world country (yet)....thus, I assume it has most of the technological know how to help develop itself...

So my question is this:

Why are some countries like Russia so f-ed up? Is it political problems? If the politicians would stop being mugs and got something done...wudn't Russia get richer? It just seems so dumb to me that such a country of historical richness should be so poverty striken in the year 2006...whereby worldwide economic growth is happening...


Another question...in Nigeria it exports billions and billions of barrels of oil a year...so why is it so poor?

I think I know the answer to these questions but judging by other threads...there seems to be really clever ppl here. And 2 heads are better than 1. Please help!

Much Love

[SSM]

akula - I wont begin to tell you how much smarter I am than politicians of third world countries. Believe whatever you want tho. It's your world too.

[for-the-right-reason]

heya everyone. Wasn't expecting this much interest! It's good.

Yes Akula...I appreciate that I am 'asking for a crash course in russian economic history and the theory of developmental economics'. If you could be kind enough to share your wisdom and knowledge then that would be great. Even if only it were 30 lines long it'd be great. It's just that I figured that corruption and differing politics come into play. But (and a lot of people may disagree with me here) how hard can it be to make a country rich? Of course, very hard. But not impossible. The British in the 19th Century were determined to become rich and the greatest nation on earth...the Brits accomplished that in a sense that they ruled 1/4 of the world. Now if Britain can do it...why can't Russia (with its much greater size, population, raw minerals etc) do it? To me, if I was Putin, i'd get every economist worthy of recognisation inside the Kremlin and talk about how to make 'Russia rich'. Such an action hasn't taken place...which tells me that the Russian politicians can't really be bothered...?! Because Russia can make herself super rich (one of the richest countries in the world in my humble opinion) and she has the ability to do so. Why would Russian politicians not want Russia to be rich?! Are sentiments associated with the Soviet Regime still so ingrained? Do they fear what the man with alot of money can do? Because economically, the richer the population...the more likely the politicians are to stay in power. In addition, the richer the population, the more likely that everyone in Russia will become richer thus, the politicians could enjoy pay rises.

It just doesn't make any sense to me. If a homeless man can become a millionaire then why can't Russia become rich?


I don't expect anyone to write a novel on my questions but anyones answers/judgements would be appreciated! Also Akula i'm answering these questions because I'm very interested in economics and trying to figure out why the world is the way it is. The world is rich enough to support everyone on the planet yet billions still suffer in the pit of poverty. This paradox just confuses me and I want to completely understand why the world is the way it is...so that (hopefully) I can help others with the knowlegde I hope to gain.


Much Love

And thanks alot for the interest!!!

[skidlin]

In my view there are a couple of reasons that may contribute to the poverty of Russia in the past.

1. Russia's major seaport is only accessible 6 months of a year

2. communism blocks the drive for competition

[Newton]

The more a government messes with an economy, the more the people suffer, IMO. It's why communism has been such a huge failure.

There's many countries with no real reason to be poor but simply are.

Look at Japan on the other hand... barely any natural resources but a culture that encourages large scale enterprise and BOOM there you have it, a rich country.