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I guess you are talking from a cushy spot.
I am what makes a spot cushy. If the United States didn't exist, every poor country on earth would become even poorer.
Things have been working like this, it will change.
I'm not talking about what's working. I'm talking about what already worked. Every rich country on earth used to be poor and became rich through work. There is no other way.
Few things I did not cover earlier:
Venezuela was already dependent on oil before Chavez. The socialist government doubled down instead of diversifying—policy failure, not an indictment of sovereignty-seeking. US sanctions made it worse. Neither excuses poor governance, but it complicates the "socialism failed" narrative you're running with.
On the schools question: you're assuming the only way to generate capital is low-wage export manufacturing. South Korea, Japan, China—they used industrial policy, targeted tariffs, public finance, credit guidance to build domestic capacity before opening up. Sequencing matters. The argument isn't "stop producing." It's stop producing exclusively what's profitable for foreign capital and start producing what your own population needs.
And on "second-best options"—why are those the only options? Because structural adjustment programs stripped these countries of the ability to use industrial policy, plan their economies, or protect domestic industries. Their poverty is manufactured. You benefit from that arrangement. Doesn't make you a bad person, but it's the structure we're talking about.
It's stop producing exclusively what's profitable for foreign capital and start producing what your own population needs
And again this is not a logical view of the world. You might as well say I should stop working a job in construction and start building a nice house for myself first. It makes no sense economically. It's a policy of envy and resentment that fails to understand basic math.
South Korea, Japan, China—they used industrial policy, targeted tariffs, public finance, credit guidance to build domestic capacity before opening up.
What timeline are you living in?? Japan and South Korea were both occupied by the US. How much more open can you get? China was a hellhole before opening up and the capitalist reforms that enabled them to be less of a hellhole were driven by civilians operating in a black market.
Their poverty is manufactured. You benefit from that arrangement.
Not how it works. Japan being rich benefits the US. Somalia being poor is not a benefit to the US. It's their own governments that keep poor countries poor. Granted Western intellectuals make it worse, but that's not coming from my half of the US.
I guess you are talking from a cushy spot. Things have been working like this, it will change. It's up to us to decide how. Future generations will look back and struggle to comprehend why we traded the way we do, the same way new generations can't read the time on an analogue watch.