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Country

January 31, 2019

He couldn't understand why the country's economy was that bad because its estimated oil reserves was number one in the world. The news read that the inflation rate of the country became 1 million%! 61% of people in the country were now in poverty. 2.6 million of the citizens of the nation, which has about 30 million, already escaped from the country.   He started to check on the internet. Some of the websites gave various reasons for that country's circumstances: the price of oil had been down because of the worldwide anti-CO2 movements; and, discovery of new oilfields. At first he thought that it was correct, but another website read that the present price of oil was not so low, and more importantly, the oil production and consumption in the world had been increasing consistently. A chart that showed in the year 2000, daily oil was more than 100 million barrels. He was shocked, worrying about CO2 levels.   How is the oil used? Roughly 40% of the oil is used for oil-fired power plants; 40% is used for gas for vehicles (cars, trucks, airplanes, boats); 20% is used for materials (plastic products, car tires, synthetic fiber for clothes, etc.). He could easily guess that the oil consuming wouldn't decrease easily as it was deeply installed into our society. So why did the country with the number one estimated oil reserves almost go bankrupt? Maybe the country's politicians and public officials pocketed the government's money. But even so, did they think that they could take more money than the nation itself without the country going bankrupt? Maybe not. Maybe the country used their money for its army. Sometimes some countries become doubtful and fearful thinking that the neighboring countries would invade their countries. They buy a lot of expensive weapons from other countries and employ a lot of soldiers. Weapons and soldiers don't earn money, so they would become in debt. In fact, this country's military budget was huge. But why? This country was located near the stable countries that had good economies and democratic systems, so it was unthinkable that the neighboring countries would invade this country. This country's resources were not only oil but also the country has various types of natural resources: natural gas, iron, gold, diamonds, copper, manganese, nickel, etc. This country has a good climate and good soil for agriculture. Actually in the old days, this country's farms exported lots of their agricultural products. But now 89% of families can't eat suitably. This country used to be called 'Small Venetia'. Good nature, good scenery. As many cities are located in the highlands, they have a moderate climate. Actually there used to be many tourists that visited. There also used to be resort beaches on the Caribbean Sea. Now the crime rate was the worst in the world. They had a good education system. Elementary and middle school education was free. They had good universities. Once this country was ranked in a good position in the United Nation's happiness survey. There used to be freedom of media and opinion, as well as political parties. But now many people were arrested who criticized the government. He read that there were many open protest activities in the country. Maybe there was a hope for a change. When he was young, it was said that the amount of oil would be used out in 30 years or so. Later it became 50 years, and then 100 years. Now new oilfields have been found every year. And new technology enabled to excavate shale oil.   But even so, he expected that the people in this country would think that they had a responsibility, as the number one estimated oil reserves country, and they would start to think about things globally, i.e. how to use oil suitably, and study about proper usage of oil for the sustainability of the earth. They should have an initiative, so they can restart their economy.

*cynthetic fiver: 化学繊維
*excavate: 発掘する
*shale oil: シェールオイル