As a Guyanese-American, I'd like to point out a few major points regarding Guyana's geopolitical position. 1) As a (flawed) secular democracy, its legislative, and judicial tradition most aligns with that of the US among all the major oil & gas producers. 2) Its not part of OPEC 3) Guyanese, on average, have a neutral-to-positive view of the US, which is steadily improving. 4) Its not part of OPEC 5) Its in the US's backyard. 6) Its not part of OPEC 7) The US has already started military exercises and training with the Guyanese armed forces. 8) Its not part of OPEC RESULTS: The US is positioning itself as a major investor, backer, and partner which will further aid in its growth and political stability, while also allowing the US to have its very own oil producer in its pockets (the US has been shifting towards gas for years now, having a strong partner for oil is in their national interest. Keep in mind that the oil is only partly processed in Guyana, alot of of it processed in Louisiana and other Gulf coast states) EDIT: If Marco Rubio is confirmed as secretary of state, you can expect further support since Rubio is very much anti-Venezuela, and who will be backed by a politically agressive US president that is very much pro fossil fuel. Also: Its not part of OPEC EDIT 2: One very important thing to point out : Even though Guyana is geographically a South American country, it is economically, culturally, politcally, historically, etc, an "english carribean" country. All its cities are on the coast and any access to its Spanish or Brazillian neighbhors is nigh impossible due to the Amazon rainforest. Its in the same category as Jamaica and Trinidad.
Careful. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Trump administration attempt to install a Batista-esque demagogue and reduce Guyana to a banana republic, leeching all the revenue out of the country and impoverishing its citizens just like the U.S. has done over and over again all across Latin America.
@@anoriolkoyt Third worlders are always so offended at the slightest things. Also, FYI, Trump is not "pro fossil fuel". He's pro USA energy independence. which is going to screw Guyana, as we won't have to rely on them, but we'll also get hella pissed off if they sell their fuel to Europe or China. The only neutral market is India. Good luck, but it's not looking good hombre.
My geoguessr eyes mostly noticed that Guyana drives on the left. Good to know if they get street view (and a major economic boom would make that much more likely).
Watching this from Georgetown Guyana at this very moment, what timing! I went to that Starbucks this morning and as a native New Yorker I can confirm the prices. The last time I was here was 10 years ago and the change is quite literally unbelievable. It’s wonderful to see my country coming up in the world - it’s starting to get to the point where I don’t have to explain what/where Guyana is to Americans anymore which is proof in and of itself. Also just want to point out that it’s pronounced “guy-anna” not “gee-yana”.
I just want to say that, many countries wasted their oil wealth. But from what I have read Guyana has been doing so far, it looks like the government is doing a lot of great things. More great than bad in my opinion. Irfan Ali looks like a very intelligent man as well. The only thing that worries me is that, I am afraid that the benefits of oil welath will not be spread to the locals fast enough. I am not sure over the political landscape of Guyana, but if there is ever a socialist party in Guyana and like I said welath are not spread to the locals quickly. These socialist politicians will seize the opportunity to take control. Latin America has a history of socialism too. I hope Guyana doesn't share this problem. And for sure corruption must be minimized to a large extent. Having said that, for now everything looks lovely and I will follow Guyana news closely. Might even consider visiting Guyana in the near future. ☺️
@@tabathaogost4982 visiting family and doing some business. Wouldn’t recommend visiting without some connections there and a purpose, it isn’t the safest place. It’s getting better though.
Yeah he’s really struggling with the pronunciation lol he keeps going between two different ways of saying it and neither are right, but he also mispronounced Iraq and Iran in this video too 😅
Venezuela has over 100 years of petrol exploitation, in that time the country did go through a very rapid "development", schools, hospitals, highways, etc, the usual. As the prices of oil rise and crash through the decades, for us that lived there we could feel, see the impact, again conditions of buildings, roads, schools, hospitals, public housing etc. Several major problems, one that was mentioned here, the dependance on a sole source of income, OIL, agriculture was pretty much abandon at a macro economic level, Venezuela imported food from Colombia, Brazil, US, etc. Other industries were developed but not to the level and capacity that they should have been. I mean anyone who has visited Venezuela properly can see the infrastructure (either functioning or in decay or closed down). But they (the administration/government, not just the current one, ALL of them since the 1920s) could have done much more to diversify the economy. It was such a rich country that it had a huge influx of immigrants from all over South America and Europe at different periods last century. But the people working in the oil industry (after the US did the original exploration and set up), from engineers, to specialised tradespeople and administrators were all Venezuelan. Those specialised engineers and workers are now working internationally, that is how well prepared they are. And going back to agriculture, the point is that the only places that were highly developed were the main cities, or those linked to the metallurgic industry, so Caracas, Maracaibo, Puerto Ordaz. The rest were left on a standstill. Which is sad. Because you need your country folk to also have good schools, services, roads, etc. That is why people migrated out of the countryside. They were seeking a better livelihood. So yeah. I'm not an economist, I'm an anthropologist, so I can only describe it from the side of human condition and every day life. Oil is not the curse. Poor planning and politics is the curse.
@@racudo1898 I understand. I'm just saying it's great that countries develop their oil industry and also develop their education system so that local populations take hold of the oil industry. Venezuela did all of that effectively. The problem was that they abandoned other areas of production, particularly agriculture, and ended up depending on food imports, when we have extremely fertile soils, and not a very large population. In Guyana's case they are far far behind the rest of South America with their industry, but I hope they are saavy enough to use the money to develop all the necessary sides to this, if not it is better to stay in rural condition, at least food is guaranteed that way.
@peterii3512 jokes aside, people on usa, Canada and Europe eagerly blame immigrants as a major problem, but God forbid we on latin america, africa and asia blame sanctions, military coups, colonization, slavery, pillage, genocide, imposed dependent economy and all sort of problems summarized as "imperialism" as a problem, I agree its absurd we're wrong
Frankly, my view as someone who goes there and to other Caribbean countries: i dont know. The country has major problems with infrastructure (thank Burnham for killing the train lines built by the British), and is lacking in usable highways to the extent that entering the capital city from any suburbs is a ridiculous commute in traffic along a three lane highway. Lots of roads even in nice neighborhoods are still dirt tracks. House prices are absurdly high because of all the extremely wealthy people moving in, but its not creating a natural division of wealth for the native population. We saw a shell of a house, and the owner told us she wanted 500k. The country is characterized by a rigid racial division (again thanks Burnham) where the two major ethnic groups (afro guyanese and indo Guyanese) do not properly mingle, and many other minorities have up and left for the most part (Chinese, Portuguese). Even in New York City, the Afro Guyanese literally live in a different part of the city to the Indo Guyanese, shared national heritage be darned. The status of the Afro guyanese has also overall arguably declined in the country due to brain drain (meet a professional from the Caribbean and they are likely Guyanese), and elections are essentially ethnicity polls. I do not know whether the government is going to be seriously incentivized to fix these issues, especially if they simply get foreign money to retain power and influence. I remember visiting multiple times during the mid 2010s before any efforts were made to clear storm drains of shrubbery, which were causing crazy mosquito problems. I think that got fixed under former president Granger? The current government is keeping that up, which is good. Other problems, I suppose, can be fixed. The economy is mostly cash-based, but East African and South Asian countries have demonstrated how to switch to digital banking systems without much usage of credit cards. But the real fear is climate change, as most of the country is below sea level, and it is right by the South Americn coast. The country only existed because the Dutch drained the land to make it tenable, back in the colonial era. The expectation I have, honestly, is that Guyana might end up as a glorified city state. The governent investing into the main capital to attract foreign money, keep up appearnaces, and appease a wealthy elite--while the rest of the country is blighted by poverty and exploitation. That already sums up the experience in places like Angola, and many countries in Africa. Lets hope it doesnt happen to Guyana.
But they're only doing it by profiting off of oil production, which is not what the world needs right now. Yes, the Guyanese deserve their slice of the pie, but this isn't a sustainable outcome.
It’s interesting hearing about the cracks in Guyana trying to be democratic. The pessimistic read would be that people are trying to drag Guyana down into corruption and despotism and will eventually succeed similar to how Venezuela fell. The optimistic read is that Guyana’s institutions were strong enough to block these attempts and can only get stronger, preventing corruption and autocracy from taking full root. It’s going to be interesting to watch it play out.
Which is why democracy is often flawed. The people often vote for what they want in the moment but don’t see what consequences there could be down the road. Governments are better run by people that understand how governments work and are looking out for the country as a whole for the future. Not just what the people want right now.
@@lemonz1769 I understand your sentiment, unfortunately we’re seeing a populist shift or backlash as the economic system of development as it is, have exacerbated income inequality to a point where people are more willing to get a strongman to resolve a systemic problem. What is required, however, are collective action to safeguard labour and environmental protections that was fought hard to achieve.
@@lemonz1769the problem is that most governments devolve into protecting their own interests rather than that of their people. When they lose sight of the fact that they represent their constituents and not, in fact, their own wallets, it turns into a corrupt mess that drags the world down with it.
@@lemonz1769 ah yes, of course, THAT wont faster lead to despotism or of the such - lets just ignore all current and long history that shows its even worse when what YOU are talking about it done.
Did business in Guyana back in 2010's amazing people and culture. Best Chinese and Indian food I have had in my life was there, and their pepper sauce is amazing. Glad to see them doing so well. The people I worked with where worried they would fuck up the oil finds.
@clairmontbabb2771 shit man that makes me sad. This was in 2012 talked to several people and that was the biggest worry. It would disappear in someone's pockets.
Norwegians aren't benefitting as much as they can. If you go there, they still blame their incredibly high prices (the most expensive country in Europe) on oil and fishing, though only the government and the owners of salmon and crab farms benefit from those industries while the rest struggle because of the rise in demand for Krone. Their wages are high but apparently, it's just pissing in the wind. Literally, everyone I spoke to was dissatisfied.
I agree, but if I had to bet, they'll be squander every penny on a free rich people and be authoritarian, very much like equatorial Guinea, within 20 years.
Might be a bit hard, that's asking for an oil rich nation in the USA's backyard to nationalize their oil industry without having the US intervening on the behalf of the company.
When you see a story about an oil nation trying to be successful and bring wealth to their people, the first question is always "do they have a sovereign wealth fund like Norway". It is truly an important first step. Oil is a big boom or bust industry, with so much wealth at some times and so little at others, and you need a way to smooth that out and move a lot of your income away from oil and start generating it through other means, so when the price of oil crashes you can handle the fallout and weather the storm and economic turmoil. The fund then can be used to generate money through investments for the country, but also to invest in the country, diversifying and improving the economy. It is truly a win win win scenario. The only flaw is the potential for corruption with such a large fund, luckily Guyana seems to have robust enough institutions to handle that stuff currently. You have to remain ever vigilant though as corruption can then infect those institutions.
for that they did made a good effort in making that trust fund public for everyone. it is a extra safety. in a way the more eyes you have the less easy it gets to just take money from it.
This country is now for the wealty and not the poor or middle class. Sure, it's looking great with it's rapid development but the lower and middle class are feeling the hardship of higher costs of living. Like this video said some products are way more expensive than of America. These huge development is to provide for the international investors. So it would be great to also highlight the burden the lower and middle class people are suffering from
@amazonwarrior-wf7kl I'm sorry you don't understand my point in the conversation but keep trying and review it better so you can grasp the message put forward.
As a Guyanese person (first generation Canadian) it’s pretty cool to see my ancestral country in a video from a quality creator like you. Looking forward to watching the video!
Bro, are you moving back? If I were Guyanese I would be on the first flight back right now. You can always come back, and if you take any ideas there, you can start a killer business.
@@AkaSwvy it just occurred to me that they won't. They prefer 'known' comfort to unknown variables. I noticed with people who've been in the west for 15+ years, they inherit the stereotypes people have of their country. So, you and I see opportunity, but they don't, they see all the negativity they ran away from.
Will you guys be moving back?. I reckon the thing that would happen Guyana the most is a population who had first world education? Or is Guyana still too underdeveloped for people to consider.
I started my first job in 1985 and a few years later, I set the goal to have $1 million saved by the time I retired. I'm 3 years from retirement and hit that goal last year, but I now know I should have moved that goal post further out to $1.5 million or more. I remember as a kid thinking millionaires were these people who lived like demi-gods among all us serfs. Now I am one and still don't feel any different from a serf.
@@SekouJannickeSteady progress! A solid strategy is crucial for growth and minimizing taxes. After six months of getting affiliated with Stephanie Janis Stiefel , l'm averaging 35k a week . It's not huge, but it eases financial stress. Best of luck on your journey!
You get used to it. lam a net worth seven figure guy for 6 years now. Actually had seven figures in all retirement accounts as of 2020. Had seven figures in just one account this year. I still drive the same car I bought 23 years ago. Everyone who sees me thinks I'm the poorest of the poor because I don't even wear a watch or "dress to impress" now.
@@FradAnnerI know this FA, Stephanie Janis Stiefel but only by her reputation at Neuberger Berman ; even though she's now involved in managing portfolios and providing investmnt guidance to clients. I have been trying to get in contact since l watched her interview on WSJ last month.
@@OsamahMocoWell her name is 'STEPHANIE JANIS STIEFEL'. Just research the name. You'd find necessary details to work with a correspondence to set up an appointment.
That land was stolen by the British while Venezuela was fighting Spain in their revolution. Venezuela made the mistake of trusting the US to be an impartial mediator to the conflict, but they conspired with the British for a backroom deal.
Just so people understand the daily output of Guyana, in the next year or two they will produce enough oil to power the entire west coast of America: CA, OR and WA. CA alone consumes around 800-900,000 barrels per day and it’s the 5th largest economy in the world.
@@xBINARYGODxBy current numbers alone, I think it is. Now the logistics and trade that would realistically happen is another story, but it's a commonly cited fact for a reason.
3:00 "help alleviate commuter traffic" - no it won't. It'll help sell more cars and induce more traffic. The only solution to traffic is viable alternatives to driving.
Eh, I gotta push back slightly. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like how they’re suburbanizing to sprawl , and am big into public transit, but the big thing is that the region is underdeveloped. Take a street view of the region and you can see that the previous connection they had is one lane in each direction next to where people’s homes. They physically don’t have the infrastructure there yet to support buses, and constructing another type of mass transit means shipping workers and material along an already overloaded road. They should absolutely look into public transit, and the highway will probably be congested as the city grows, but this isn’t a “Just one more lane” sort of deal. It’s more akin to building a new direct highway connection when the old one is a two lane residential road would route you through a city.
Historically speaking, the U.S. has been far more concerned with other countries governments enthusiastically embracing capitalism, and a willingness to allow U.S. based corporations access to their resources/goods, than how democratic they are. We support emerging democracies in our backyard, as long as they democratically elect governments that value having a "good relationship" with us.
I think you should stop speaking "historically". The U.S. from the past is nothing like the U.S. today. The statement "WELL OBVIOUSLY THE U.S. CARES ABOUT MONEY AND BUSINESS MORE THAN DEMOCRACY, AND ARE WILLING TO OVERTHROW DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS FOR IT" has been true only, like, once, and hasn't really been true at all for the 21st century.
True but I also blame other countries for giving in so easily. I'm sure if enough countries united against the US they'd have no choice but to step back.
when your exchange rate increases making your other exports less competitive, the solution is to buy productive assets that increase supply. they could literally buy all the cheap solar panels that china won't be selling to the US, and get a lifetime of free renewable energy to power their industrial/ urban aspirations.
The issue with democracies suddenly becoming oil rich is that there’s a risk of a populist coming to power promising to use the money on welfare instead of long term investments, leading to collapse when the oil dependent economy (with other industries killed off by Dutch disease) faces low oil prices (exactly as happened in Venezuela). It’s such a risk because it’s really hard to ask voters not to want an immediate improvement in their standard of living with this new wealth; Norway is I think the only democracy to have used their resource money responsibly, and I hope Guyana will be the next.
I mean, that's not a democracy only problem. The UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain aren't democracies, but they all in some way or another to some scale spend their oil profits on welfare schemes not grounded in any ideology to bribe their citizens into not calling for the unseating of the aristocracy, aside from the vanity projects that don't help anyone.
In the context of this video, Norway fits in with the US and Canada in that it already had an economy (based on fishing, seafaring, mining, etc.) before the discovery of oil and gas, while for example Venezuela's economy was almost entirely built by and based on oil.
Spending on welfare isn't a negative. The question is what sort of a populist the people would bring up. Welfare when used correctly- spent on education, housing, healthcare, infrastructure development, etc can enable a country to upskill, diversify, and reduce reliance on oil itself. It's going to be a test of the peoples' Time Preference.
America is currently plagued by the hydra-headed evil duo of inflation and recession. The worst part about this recession is that consumers are racking up credit card debt. In April alone, credit card debt went up 20% while rates have doubled in a year. Inflation is so high that consumers are literally taking debt for basic life necessities. Collapse has indeed begun..
We face a new challenge every day. The new normal is this. We now see that this is the new normal and must adjust, having formerly believed it to be a crisis. Everywhere in the country, this year will be extremely painful economically. What can we do to increase revenue while undergoing quantitative adjustment?My hard-earned $180,000 in savings must be allowed to disappear.
I just googled her and I'm really impressed with her credentials; I reached out to her since I need all the assistance I can get. I just scheduled a caII.
As a fellow Guyanaese, our government could be making a lot more money and progress but it doesn't seem like they want to. Guyana is getting 2% royalties while ExxonMobil is getting 98%. The only good thing I remember President Granger did was backing down on the offer when ExxonMobil came to Guyana a few years ago. He this is our oil and we only accept 50/50. Irfaan Ali should have made some notes.
I'm Norwegian and I hope and pray that Guyana keeps their democracy alive while going through this transition. It is incredibly good news that they are taking lessons from us and not walking the path of Saudi Arabia or Venezuela. God knows we have enough corrupt dictatorships in this world...
TBH, Venezuela's incompetent tinpot dictator threatening to take half of Guyana by military force would be deterrent enough to avoid Guyana following their lead...
Spent a week in Georgetown as a backpacker in 2019. Felt like an American enclave, the few supermarkets were 1/4 stocked with imported US food, ridiculous markups. Marriott Hotel was around 150$/night back then. Cheapest accomodation I found was 25$ and shabby - but enough to live. Guyana also has the largest single drop waterfall by volume waterfall in the world. Its a one hour flight from Guyana. Less than 5000 people came there in 2019. Truly a gem. Seeing these drone shots and broll from Georgetown streets brought back many great memories. Thank you, Sam
bjorn465 well they call Guyana little England, little Africa, little america, little india, little Brazil, little venezuela, little haiti, its every thing but Guyana
as a Civilization player i cannot help but frown every time i'm reminded of major oil reserves in the world that SoMeHoW aren't present in our earth maps. i swear i found myself owning the entire middle east once and barely had anything
I visited Guyana a couple times. It is a cool and unique place with friendly people. Guyana became my #1 video. I only hope that they cleaned up the beach. The beach near the capital has the river exit, a and a lot of trash ends up on the beach.
Expect the U.S. (especially under Trump) to eventually install a Batista-like puppet to rig Guyana’s system and shape it into yet another banana republic that siphons all the revenues out of the country, plunging its citizens into squalor. This will force the aggrieved citizens to form alliances with Venezuela, which will invariably result in yet another Maduro-esque leftist dictatorship.
My mother is full blooded, one of her parents is native amerindian, and almost every recent development absolutely sucks for the country. Fossil capitalism is bleeding the people drier than is used to be. They're weaseling out of paying taxes on the oil they extract as they destroy the land of the country. My evidence: bro is mispronouncing "Guyana" as "ghee-yah-nuh" is nails on a chalkboard"
@@andyjay729UAE is not perfect by any means but they’ve done a pretty solid job building up their tourist industry and developing the nation, albeit by using mass amounts of indentured servants from South Asia.
One of the big issues with Venezuela wanting to annex the Essequibo from Guyana is that it would extend Venezuelan territorial rights into waters of the Caribbean by taking a significant section of Guyanese coastline. As can be seen at 17:56, that region compromises over half of Guyana's coastline, and the territorial rights extending into the Caribbean would grant Venezuela access to a major portion of the Stabroek Block, a huge offshore oil reserve which is part of Guyana's main reason why they are becoming a significant player in the oil business. By annexing this territory, and specifically the coastline, Venezuela would instead seize most of the Block for itself and therefore all the income that would be associated with it.
4:53-5:07 I want to mention that emirate is a form of government, while a democracy is a political regime. The use of these terms in opposition may not be the best way to tell the difference between the situation in Kuwait and the one in Guyana. A monarchy can still be democratic (most of Europe's monarchies). What is more (this doesn't show a flaw of the video), a republic (Guyana's form of government) can have an authoritarian/totalitarian regime (People's Republic of China). In order to corect this error, I suggest saying something like "While the regime of Kuwait is more authoritarian and revenues from the oil reserves mostly arrive in the emir's pockets, Guyana has a more democratic regime in which revenues money from oil is invested for its people". P.S. Sorry for any typo and I hope my comment is constructive and help improve your already good content.
Guyana is a an ex British colonial power, which has largely maintained good ties through the commonwealth and never suffered the military dictatorship that others in the region did. It also speaks English and has closer relationships with Caribbean nations than their south american neighbors. Also democracy doesn't mean nationalised oil to benefit the people, thats called socailism. it could easily mean private development of oil. Which is whats happening. The investment is coming in to support the infrastructure needed to extract oil. I hope Guyana can develop and I think it will and I think the UK needs to work closer with Guyana as an energy partner away from the islamic world and more importantly the red sea and suez canal.
I should add, before the oil news broke, I have always wanted to visit Guyana and experience the Amazon rainforest with English speaking locals that will cook a mean chicken jerk! I hope they lean heavy into eco-tourism with their new found wealth as a way to diversify, as this gives them an opportunity to not have to exploit the natural amazon in the way Brazil and some of it's neighbours have. Defence will also be an important industry for Guyana especially with Venezuala right there, so hopefully the US can add Guyana to it's list of military partners and that hardware can start turning up in droves. The military is a really good use of government money as it provides ready employment to young people at salaries that are often higher than what they can earn otherwise. If this was my nations thats what I would do, immediate investment in defence to protect against Venezuela, big investment into tourism and infrastructure in the major cities, then finally a push for education to transition away from secondary school educated to college and degree education. Also I guess an aviation hub for passengers transiting to the Caribbean and Latin America from the USA and Europe. Guyana Airways - 10 flights daily from Miami and more from London and New York
@ember_5657 if that industry represents 80% of the nations GDP then yes it does. Unless the government is a monarchy and nationalised means in private ownership of the royal family like Saudi Arabia
'Tiny' Guyana landmass area is larger than Greece or either of the Korea's. It's issue is a small population who's fertility rate is near or already below the replacement rate. The leadership should talk to Norway about how to use the oil wealth.
It’s birth rate is 2.348 as 2024, not to mention there are more Guyanese outside the country that have a vested interest in the country, manpower isn’t a problem
Get ready for the U.S. to install a puppet dictator within the decade. Guyana will be great to live in for about that long before it becomes yet another U.S. controlled banana republic.
"gee-on-uh". 😢 "guy-anna". 😃 Given both Trinidad & Tobago, and Venezuela, it's not a surprise that deposits would be found in its waters, and why Venezuela keeps encroaching on its territory.
With the rise of Bitcoin and the potential for small caps to outperform, I'm cautiously optimistic. Still, with the market volatility and economic uncertainty, it's tough to decide where to allocate funds. Keeping an eye on AI stocks like NVIDIA, but also considering diversification in this environment.
I agree. Even with great opportunities, we should proceed cautiously. Seeking market analysis or advice from certified market strategists is important.
The best course of action if you lack market knowledge is to ask a consultant or investing coach for guidance or assistance. Speaking with a consultant helped me stay afloat in the market and grow my portfolio to about 65% since January, even though I know it sounds obvious or generic. I believe that is the most effective way to enter the business at the moment.
There are a handful of experts in the field. I've experimented with a few over the past years, but I've stuck with Rebecca Nassar Dunne for about five years now, and her performance has been consistently impressive. She’s quite known in her field, look her up.
7:44 "There is very little correlation between oil reserves and national wealth" I wonder what Libya, Iraq, Iran and Venezuela might have in common. I bet US interventions has nothing to do with it.
@@x--. and racism ended with the civil rights movement, US attitudes against the political left returned to normal after the cold war, objects require a constant force to remain in motion, pigs fly and I'm having the easter bunny and santa claus over for dinner this evening
Libya per capita had already fallen in 90s if i remember correctly. And only venezuela from this list can't be blamed on usa. They had already mismanaged their economy during chavez. Maduro election increased it and usa sanctions ended whatever was left
......Was it American intervention when the "socialist" Chavez broke the 2002-2003 strike started by hard-working, unionized PDVSA workers and management, then fired 18,000 workers thus consequentially losing a ton of institutional knowledge, and then went on to install party loyalists and cronies instead of people with actual technical expertise (kinda like what Trump is doing now, and what Maduro has continued to do)? ......Was it American intervention that lead Saddam to invade and attack Iran for almost 8 years (with a priority in the oil-rich Khuzestan province) and then invading Kuwait because he thought Kuwait was "stealing" oil?
Everything happening to Guyana happened to Trinidad and Tobago in the 70s. Can they diversify where Trinidad failed, and escape the resource curse? I hope so. Cuz Trinidad didn't
Trinidad and Guyana is two different cases firstly Guyana is producing more and for more than half of Trinidad’s oil history it was a British colony so the resources were exploited by the British and during that first half of oil production before independence majority of the oil was already extracted leaving the country with mostly gas from the late 70s early 80s to build on and Trinidad has done quite well living off of gas for the past almost 40 years.
@@reuel2333 guyana is effectively a US colony. they have a large military presence in guyana, own most of the oil rights, its us companies doing most of the development in the oil industry, and guyanese politicians basically all have connections to US lobbyists. guyana is an important strategic partner to the US and they would not take it well if guyana decided for whatever reason to distance itself from the US
@@reuel2333 Stop blaming the UK for everything. they set up the oil industry and left If the leaders were too incompetent to make changes as time went on, and as the industry changed that has nothing to do with the UK
By the way, the premise behind your ad read is incorrect. Ground news will do a good job giving users a complete picture on divisive stories, but not stories that have a broad consensus. This is because all of the news sites will want to share the same set of facts as they are trying to reach the same conclusion. Any fact that disagrees with this would be suppressed, and ground news leaves you about as well off as if you had read from a single source
At 16:33 you say 'The side contracted out by the *federal* government" but Guyana is a unitary state not a federal one, so I think you meant to just say national government.
What they should do: Qualify the people investing in technical courses and universities, giving salary to matriculated people would accelerate it. What not to do: The same that Venezuela did, giving money to people to do nothing (only to keep them in power), forbidding foreign investments and nationalizing everything. Surely the left wing will try to force those things.
7:46 You missed out important information to why those nations also lacked when it came to a per capita basis like foreign intervention through sanctions & war
The US has been trying to break away from its dependency on the middle east for a while now, so Guyana is a pretty natural choice for an oil-rich investment. The ease of access to the oil is the cherry on top, making the whole venture that much more profitable. I just hope Guyana's political system doesn't get too corrupted by this newfound wealth, would be nice for one of these fossil fuel rich nations to have something close to a healthy and balanced economy afterwards.
I’ve been watching your videos from 5 years ago, first time being early to watch a release. Over the past week, I know a lot about the world to be at least somewhat interesting when I converse.
07:30 That's GDP PPP per capita. The default is normally the nominal GDP per capita, which is nowhere near those numbers (except for the US of course).
I think its important to point out that Guyanese people will likely stay poor. There are a few countries like gabon and eq guinea that also are oil rich but the money goes to those at the top
Yeah if the country starts out poor then its very likely it will remain that way. The only way it can work is if they had an authoritarian government that made sure no one puts their hand in the cookie jar, but even that isnt perfect.
While they're experiencing booming economy, they should take this opportunity to invest in infrastructure and gradually diversify their income sources as well. Learn from the mistake of Venezuela.
Better late than never. I have been following the Guyanese oil boom for several years now. And considering if the Chinese govt. would support the Venezuelan claim since they have been making inroads in the Caribbean and South American countries. Thinking also about the operations of the "French Foreign Legion" in "French Guyana" and Suriname". A direct flight from NYC to Guyana could be expected because I'm from NY and a lot of them have been in NY for a long time with no reason to go back.I got interested because I dated some US-born Indo-Caribbean women because they are gorgeous, educated, and hard-working. The main drawback in developing nations is the family dynamic even among elected officials. You are expected to use your authority to take care of "Family", even over the Country. Even if they are corrupt.
I know afro Guyanese, same problem. Constantly complaining about having to find people back home with their hard earned money.... And then they do it anyway because they want to though they won't say it lmao
I pray this will be a benifit for the people of Guyana as a small and developing nation state. The big players on the international stage will exert pressure and influence that may not benefit the man on the ground. From a Dominican (Tjimbé wèd pa moli) Stay strong by assuring that the benefits flow to the people and not a chosen few.
That shot of 03:00 reminded me of Tropico videogame series :D Mainly because those houses in lower left corner appear to ahve been taken straight outta the game :D
I have doubts about the GDP data you have shown in this video. Russia has never achieved a GDP per capita of 44 thousand (currently 13,8k in 2023) and Venezuela holds up to below 5 thousand, I haven't really looked up the other countries, but based on those two examples these statistics are hardly credible.
@@nietur That's quite misleading then, should've specified that since GDP PPP does not measure wealth of a country itself, it tracks the prices of goods adjusted for local currency which isn't the topic mentioned in the video itself and also makes some countries seem way richer than they otherwise would be. The US GDP nominal and GDP PPP is basically the same, while Russia's GDP PPP is about 3,2 times bigger than nominal.
Місяць тому
@@moumo23 Actually is the other way around, measuring things in raw dollars is not accurate because each country has different prices for their goods, so GDP PPP actually takes into account the difference in exchange compared to USA, thats why USA GDP PPP is the same than raw GDP, in other words, GDP nominal can make some countries seem way poorer than they actually are. It wouldn't make sense to say that 5 dollars equals 1 bread because that only applies to USA, in Russia for example, 1 bread can cost 2 dollars locally, so even if a russian earns less money than an american in USD, it doesn't matter as long as both can buy the same products at the end of the day, with the bread example, if an american earns 5 dollars per hour and a russian 2 dollars per hour, both can buy 1 bread each hour, so their PPP are equal.
@@moumo23 Wealth of a country would be the assets. Wealth as in what people consume, the PPP figure is closer to the truth. Russians can buy 3.2 more than what you'd expect, they're 3.2 times richer.
Thanks Sam! Sharing this video with all my friends and colleagues as I am Guyanese-Canadian and love that you've put out an informative video about my parents' home country! I hope the government does everything it can to diversify its economy, improve on the racial tensions and to improve its democracy, and I'll do everything I can as well!
Guyana mentioned! ❤🔥❤🔥 Edit: 12:10 Feeling seen. Me and most of my family left for mainly Brooklyn in the late 90s and 2000s. But hope persists. The hard solution are often the most worthwhile.
I visited Guyana a few weeks ago and I was very disappointed with the quality of the infrastructure developments going on there. It looked like they have a penchant for truly ugly things. I even wondered if they have building standards. This country needs a lot of work. Also when a nation hands out cash to citizens that is a bad sign. Instead of deploying the $2B handouts to building the country they give it away for people to just enjoy for a few days, it’s like bribing citizens to keep quiet. It’s a very bad policy. Every single Guyanese I interacted with was apprehensive and they all said corruption is rampant and they don’t see any good future for the country coming out of the o&g. They cited the abundance of other natural resources in the country. They said more Guyanese are leaving the country than ever before, instead of many returning as a result of the oil and gas discoveries. Georgetown needs serious modernisation and cleaning up but I doubt they have the skilled professionals to do that. I liked the food, the people and the culture. Above challenges presents opportunities to the world.
The same reserve likely extends to the Brazilian coast, and there is now an increasing debate about whether it should be explored due to environmental concerns regarding the mouth of the Amazon River.
As a Guyanese-American, I'd like to point out a few major points regarding Guyana's geopolitical position.
1) As a (flawed) secular democracy, its legislative, and judicial tradition most aligns with that of the US among all the major oil & gas producers.
2) Its not part of OPEC
3) Guyanese, on average, have a neutral-to-positive view of the US, which is steadily improving.
4) Its not part of OPEC
5) Its in the US's backyard.
6) Its not part of OPEC
7) The US has already started military exercises and training with the Guyanese armed forces.
8) Its not part of OPEC
RESULTS: The US is positioning itself as a major investor, backer, and partner which will further aid in its growth and political stability, while also allowing the US to have its very own oil producer in its pockets (the US has been shifting towards gas for years now, having a strong partner for oil is in their national interest. Keep in mind that the oil is only partly processed in Guyana, alot of of it processed in Louisiana and other Gulf coast states)
EDIT: If Marco Rubio is confirmed as secretary of state, you can expect further support since Rubio is very much anti-Venezuela, and who will be backed by a politically agressive US president that is very much pro fossil fuel.
Also: Its not part of OPEC
EDIT 2: One very important thing to point out : Even though Guyana is geographically a South American country, it is economically, culturally, politcally, historically, etc, an "english carribean" country. All its cities are on the coast and any access to its Spanish or Brazillian neighbhors is nigh impossible due to the Amazon rainforest. Its in the same category as Jamaica and Trinidad.
Careful. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Trump administration attempt to install a Batista-esque demagogue and reduce Guyana to a banana republic, leeching all the revenue out of the country and impoverishing its citizens just like the U.S. has done over and over again all across Latin America.
As shallow a take as one would expect from someone's whose credentials are literally just their nationality
@@Eltener123 You know nothing about me, what I do, where I live, who I know. Look in the mirror next time you talk about "shallow take"
@@anoriolkoyt Third worlders are always so offended at the slightest things.
Also, FYI, Trump is not "pro fossil fuel". He's pro USA energy independence. which is going to screw Guyana, as we won't have to rely on them, but we'll also get hella pissed off if they sell their fuel to Europe or China. The only neutral market is India. Good luck, but it's not looking good hombre.
I think it's important to point out that Guyana isn't part of OPEC.
18:26 My geoguesser skills were heavily triggered by the road sign clearly showing the road was in Brazil while talking about Venezuela
My geoguessr eyes mostly noticed that Guyana drives on the left. Good to know if they get street view (and a major economic boom would make that much more likely).
@@LeyrannI’m going to start studying now. By the time it comes out I’ll be #1 in the world for Guyana for like a week.
That's because the only road from Venezuela to Guyana goes through Brazil
@@Leyrannany idea on how to be a google view driver i would love to add guyana to geoguesser
Yeah that was clearly brazilian grass. You can just tell.
lets go a new video to watch while eating
Wendover, Half as Interesting, and Real Life Lore = Pizza Time
Don’t go
@@EvanVoxdont forget lemmino
@@EvanVoxJet Lag = Snacks for the Snack Zone
So real wtf
12:09 "more than 50% of Guyanese live outside of Ghana" well yes, why would they all live in Ghana.
To Americans all Ghayanese look the same 🤦🏿
Cause it's not part of OPEC
Lmaoo it’s Guyana so get
Ghana is in Africa 😂
@@ybokors8524 the word is Guyana it’s in the south of America
Watching this from Georgetown Guyana at this very moment, what timing! I went to that Starbucks this morning and as a native New Yorker I can confirm the prices. The last time I was here was 10 years ago and the change is quite literally unbelievable. It’s wonderful to see my country coming up in the world - it’s starting to get to the point where I don’t have to explain what/where Guyana is to Americans anymore which is proof in and of itself. Also just want to point out that it’s pronounced “guy-anna” not “gee-yana”.
Why are you there?
I just want to say that, many countries wasted their oil wealth. But from what I have read Guyana has been doing so far, it looks like the government is doing a lot of great things. More great than bad in my opinion. Irfan Ali looks like a very intelligent man as well. The only thing that worries me is that, I am afraid that the benefits of oil welath will not be spread to the locals fast enough. I am not sure over the political landscape of Guyana, but if there is ever a socialist party in Guyana and like I said welath are not spread to the locals quickly. These socialist politicians will seize the opportunity to take control. Latin America has a history of socialism too. I hope Guyana doesn't share this problem. And for sure corruption must be minimized to a large extent. Having said that, for now everything looks lovely and I will follow Guyana news closely. Might even consider visiting Guyana in the near future. ☺️
They are a citizen of the country they went home. @@tabathaogost4982
@@tabathaogost4982 visiting family and doing some business. Wouldn’t recommend visiting without some connections there and a purpose, it isn’t the safest place. It’s getting better though.
Part Guyanese-American here I love this channel, but it is pretty funny to see wendover butcher the pronunciation of my mother's country
As a Guyanese I'm waiting desperately for at least one of these youtubers to pronounce the name of my country correctly
Guiana
I thought it was just me. Why does he pronounce it this way? Lol
How do you say it?
Yeah he’s really struggling with the pronunciation lol he keeps going between two different ways of saying it and neither are right, but he also mispronounced Iraq and Iran in this video too 😅
It's pronounced as Guiana
Thanks!
0:41 Counterpoint: The Marriott in Times Square isn't very good
Lol
Turning to the Norwegians was a smart move
did we turn to the norwegians? when was that?
1964, who said we turned to the Norwegians? we have never asked them for advice ,so wher did you get that bull shit from?
Venezuela has over 100 years of petrol exploitation, in that time the country did go through a very rapid "development", schools, hospitals, highways, etc, the usual. As the prices of oil rise and crash through the decades, for us that lived there we could feel, see the impact, again conditions of buildings, roads, schools, hospitals, public housing etc. Several major problems, one that was mentioned here, the dependance on a sole source of income, OIL, agriculture was pretty much abandon at a macro economic level, Venezuela imported food from Colombia, Brazil, US, etc. Other industries were developed but not to the level and capacity that they should have been. I mean anyone who has visited Venezuela properly can see the infrastructure (either functioning or in decay or closed down). But they (the administration/government, not just the current one, ALL of them since the 1920s) could have done much more to diversify the economy. It was such a rich country that it had a huge influx of immigrants from all over South America and Europe at different periods last century. But the people working in the oil industry (after the US did the original exploration and set up), from engineers, to specialised tradespeople and administrators were all Venezuelan. Those specialised engineers and workers are now working internationally, that is how well prepared they are. And going back to agriculture, the point is that the only places that were highly developed were the main cities, or those linked to the metallurgic industry, so Caracas, Maracaibo, Puerto Ordaz. The rest were left on a standstill. Which is sad. Because you need your country folk to also have good schools, services, roads, etc. That is why people migrated out of the countryside. They were seeking a better livelihood. So yeah. I'm not an economist, I'm an anthropologist, so I can only describe it from the side of human condition and every day life. Oil is not the curse. Poor planning and politics is the curse.
Imperialism is the curse, let's not forget about sanctions, embargoes and interventions.
@@racudo1898 I understand. I'm just saying it's great that countries develop their oil industry and also develop their education system so that local populations take hold of the oil industry. Venezuela did all of that effectively. The problem was that they abandoned other areas of production, particularly agriculture, and ended up depending on food imports, when we have extremely fertile soils, and not a very large population. In Guyana's case they are far far behind the rest of South America with their industry, but I hope they are saavy enough to use the money to develop all the necessary sides to this, if not it is better to stay in rural condition, at least food is guaranteed that way.
@@racudo1898 sure blame everything on imperialism, it's always the big bad West's fault and those countries were utopias before the West came
@@peterii3512 exactly!
@peterii3512 jokes aside, people on usa, Canada and Europe eagerly blame immigrants as a major problem, but God forbid we on latin america, africa and asia blame sanctions, military coups, colonization, slavery, pillage, genocide, imposed dependent economy and all sort of problems summarized as "imperialism" as a problem, I agree its absurd we're wrong
Frankly, my view as someone who goes there and to other Caribbean countries: i dont know. The country has major problems with infrastructure (thank Burnham for killing the train lines built by the British), and is lacking in usable highways to the extent that entering the capital city from any suburbs is a ridiculous commute in traffic along a three lane highway. Lots of roads even in nice neighborhoods are still dirt tracks. House prices are absurdly high because of all the extremely wealthy people moving in, but its not creating a natural division of wealth for the native population. We saw a shell of a house, and the owner told us she wanted 500k. The country is characterized by a rigid racial division (again thanks Burnham) where the two major ethnic groups (afro guyanese and indo Guyanese) do not properly mingle, and many other minorities have up and left for the most part (Chinese, Portuguese). Even in New York City, the Afro Guyanese literally live in a different part of the city to the Indo Guyanese, shared national heritage be darned. The status of the Afro guyanese has also overall arguably declined in the country due to brain drain (meet a professional from the Caribbean and they are likely Guyanese), and elections are essentially ethnicity polls. I do not know whether the government is going to be seriously incentivized to fix these issues, especially if they simply get foreign money to retain power and influence. I remember visiting multiple times during the mid 2010s before any efforts were made to clear storm drains of shrubbery, which were causing crazy mosquito problems. I think that got fixed under former president Granger? The current government is keeping that up, which is good.
Other problems, I suppose, can be fixed. The economy is mostly cash-based, but East African and South Asian countries have demonstrated how to switch to digital banking systems without much usage of credit cards. But the real fear is climate change, as most of the country is below sea level, and it is right by the South Americn coast. The country only existed because the Dutch drained the land to make it tenable, back in the colonial era.
The expectation I have, honestly, is that Guyana might end up as a glorified city state. The governent investing into the main capital to attract foreign money, keep up appearnaces, and appease a wealthy elite--while the rest of the country is blighted by poverty and exploitation. That already sums up the experience in places like Angola, and many countries in Africa. Lets hope it doesnt happen to Guyana.
thanks for the insight
With all the bad news in the world its damn nice to see a country doing well!
But they're only doing it by profiting off of oil production, which is not what the world needs right now. Yes, the Guyanese deserve their slice of the pie, but this isn't a sustainable outcome.
It’s interesting hearing about the cracks in Guyana trying to be democratic. The pessimistic read would be that people are trying to drag Guyana down into corruption and despotism and will eventually succeed similar to how Venezuela fell. The optimistic read is that Guyana’s institutions were strong enough to block these attempts and can only get stronger, preventing corruption and autocracy from taking full root. It’s going to be interesting to watch it play out.
Which is why democracy is often flawed. The people often vote for what they want in the moment but don’t see what consequences there could be down the road. Governments are better run by people that understand how governments work and are looking out for the country as a whole for the future. Not just what the people want right now.
@@lemonz1769 I understand your sentiment, unfortunately we’re seeing a populist shift or backlash as the economic system of development as it is, have exacerbated income inequality to a point where people are more willing to get a strongman to resolve a systemic problem. What is required, however, are collective action to safeguard labour and environmental protections that was fought hard to achieve.
@@lemonz1769the problem is that most governments devolve into protecting their own interests rather than that of their people. When they lose sight of the fact that they represent their constituents and not, in fact, their own wallets, it turns into a corrupt mess that drags the world down with it.
@@lemonz1769 ah yes, of course, THAT wont faster lead to despotism or of the such - lets just ignore all current and long history that shows its even worse when what YOU are talking about it done.
@@FiredAndIced AND we need to remember that, no, properly taxing the rich the corporate is not socialism.
Did business in Guyana back in 2010's amazing people and culture. Best Chinese and Indian food I have had in my life was there, and their pepper sauce is amazing. Glad to see them doing so well. The people I worked with where worried they would fuck up the oil finds.
They did fuck it up I'm Guyanese living in guyana it gets harder month after month
@clairmontbabb2771 shit man that makes me sad. This was in 2012 talked to several people and that was the biggest worry. It would disappear in someone's pockets.
@@feartheamish9183yea well ee cant reallt do much actually seriously considering migrating with my family for a better life
@clairmontbabb2771 well this internet stranger that fell in love with your country and it's people wish you well.
@@clairmontbabb2771There is a lot of Guyanese living in the US, you can probably make contact with some and get help immigrating.
I hope they are doing what Norway has been doing, and benefitting people, and not what Venezuela or the Emirates are doing
Exxon is the one with the righst so... :)
Norwegians aren't benefitting as much as they can. If you go there, they still blame their incredibly high prices (the most expensive country in Europe) on oil and fishing, though only the government and the owners of salmon and crab farms benefit from those industries while the rest struggle because of the rise in demand for Krone.
Their wages are high but apparently, it's just pissing in the wind. Literally, everyone I spoke to was dissatisfied.
Defiinely the latter, lol. There is no plan. The party in power are just enriching themselves. No sovereign wealth fund
I agree, but if I had to bet, they'll be squander every penny on a free rich people and be authoritarian, very much like equatorial Guinea, within 20 years.
Might be a bit hard, that's asking for an oil rich nation in the USA's backyard to nationalize their oil industry without having the US intervening on the behalf of the company.
When you see a story about an oil nation trying to be successful and bring wealth to their people, the first question is always "do they have a sovereign wealth fund like Norway". It is truly an important first step. Oil is a big boom or bust industry, with so much wealth at some times and so little at others, and you need a way to smooth that out and move a lot of your income away from oil and start generating it through other means, so when the price of oil crashes you can handle the fallout and weather the storm and economic turmoil. The fund then can be used to generate money through investments for the country, but also to invest in the country, diversifying and improving the economy. It is truly a win win win scenario. The only flaw is the potential for corruption with such a large fund, luckily Guyana seems to have robust enough institutions to handle that stuff currently. You have to remain ever vigilant though as corruption can then infect those institutions.
for that they did made a good effort in making that trust fund public for everyone. it is a extra safety. in a way the more eyes you have the less easy it gets to just take money from it.
This reads like a chat gpt text
Very good comment.
This country is now for the wealty and not the poor or middle class. Sure, it's looking great with it's rapid development but the lower and middle class are feeling the hardship of higher costs of living. Like this video said some products are way more expensive than of America. These huge development is to provide for the international investors. So it would be great to also highlight the burden the lower and middle class people are suffering from
yes your lies stink, Guyana has gone from a middle income country to an upper middle income country so it means you are a lier. world bank report
@amazonwarrior-wf7kl I'm sorry you don't understand my point in the conversation but keep trying and review it better so you can grasp the message put forward.
As a Guyanese person (first generation Canadian) it’s pretty cool to see my ancestral country in a video from a quality creator like you. Looking forward to watching the video!
Go back to buy a land in Guyana, brother. If you still have the citizenship
Bro, are you moving back? If I were Guyanese I would be on the first flight back right now. You can always come back, and if you take any ideas there, you can start a killer business.
@@AmorFati-n6q fr if I was Guyanese I would move back immediately and captilize on the success as soon as possible
@@AkaSwvy it just occurred to me that they won't. They prefer 'known' comfort to unknown variables. I noticed with people who've been in the west for 15+ years, they inherit the stereotypes people have of their country. So, you and I see opportunity, but they don't, they see all the negativity they ran away from.
Will you guys be moving back?. I reckon the thing that would happen Guyana the most is a population who had first world education? Or is Guyana still too underdeveloped for people to consider.
Watching from Jamaica 🇯🇲
Never would I thought my sweet Guyana would be in one of these 🇬🇾
Won't last for long now we know oil is there....
14:42 Guyana doesn't have any federal bureaus, considering the country isn't a federation. 16:34, nor does Guyana have a "Federal government"
Honestly, good for them. It's refreshing to see a positive turnaround story
thats what i thought, this was super refreshing, hope they manage the challenges that come with oil money
Let's just hope it stays positive.
I started my first job in 1985 and a few years later, I set the goal to have $1 million saved by the time I retired. I'm 3 years from retirement and hit that goal last year, but I now know I should have moved that goal post further out to $1.5 million or more.
I remember as a kid thinking millionaires were these people who lived like demi-gods among all us serfs. Now I am one and still don't feel any different from a serf.
I would really love to know how much work you did to put in to get this stage
@@SekouJannickeSteady progress! A solid strategy is crucial for growth and minimizing taxes. After six months of getting affiliated with Stephanie Janis Stiefel , l'm averaging 35k a week . It's not huge, but it eases financial stress. Best of luck on your journey!
You get used to it. lam a net worth seven figure guy for 6 years now. Actually had seven figures in all retirement accounts as of 2020. Had seven figures in just one account this year. I still drive the same car I bought 23 years ago. Everyone who sees me thinks I'm the poorest of the poor because I don't even wear a watch or
"dress to impress" now.
@@FradAnnerI know this FA, Stephanie Janis Stiefel but only by her reputation at Neuberger Berman
; even though she's now involved in managing portfolios and providing investmnt guidance to clients. I have been trying to get in contact since l watched her interview on WSJ last month.
@@OsamahMocoWell her name is 'STEPHANIE JANIS STIEFEL'. Just research the name. You'd find necessary details to work with a correspondence to set up an appointment.
Venezuela: “We call dibs on that oil”
USA: “Lol, no”
That land was stolen by the British while Venezuela was fighting Spain in their revolution. Venezuela made the mistake of trusting the US to be an impartial mediator to the conflict, but they conspired with the British for a backroom deal.
How the turntables huh
CROSSCODE!
Sounds like you need freedom 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🇺🇲
Haha, Monroe Doctrine goes brrrr!!!
Just so people understand the daily output of Guyana, in the next year or two they will produce enough oil to power the entire west coast of America: CA, OR and WA. CA alone consumes around 800-900,000 barrels per day and it’s the 5th largest economy in the world.
its not the 5th if its not part of the US, so that metric which is trotted out all the time is somewhat useless
@@xBINARYGODx It is
Sounds like they're in need of some 'freedom'. I wonder how long it will take for the US to give it to them.
@@xBINARYGODxBy current numbers alone, I think it is. Now the logistics and trade that would realistically happen is another story, but it's a commonly cited fact for a reason.
A lot of California’s power does not come from oil, so saying that Guyana produces enough to power the entire American west coast is not true
3:00 "help alleviate commuter traffic" - no it won't. It'll help sell more cars and induce more traffic. The only solution to traffic is viable alternatives to driving.
Wendover is American of course he doesn't understand transit
@@robertaries2974Wendover has multiple videos addressing vehicular congestion and solutions to it. You’re obviously new here.
@@robertaries2974He’s literally just reading off the government provided justification for why they’re opening the highway my guy.
I can tell that you're a fellow Not Just Bikes viewer :D
Eh, I gotta push back slightly. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like how they’re suburbanizing to sprawl , and am big into public transit, but the big thing is that the region is underdeveloped. Take a street view of the region and you can see that the previous connection they had is one lane in each direction next to where people’s homes. They physically don’t have the infrastructure there yet to support buses, and constructing another type of mass transit means shipping workers and material along an already overloaded road.
They should absolutely look into public transit, and the highway will probably be congested as the city grows, but this isn’t a “Just one more lane” sort of deal. It’s more akin to building a new direct highway connection when the old one is a two lane residential road would route you through a city.
Historically speaking, the U.S. has been far more concerned with other countries governments enthusiastically embracing capitalism, and a willingness to allow U.S. based corporations access to their resources/goods, than how democratic they are. We support emerging democracies in our backyard, as long as they democratically elect governments that value having a "good relationship" with us.
I think you should stop speaking "historically". The U.S. from the past is nothing like the U.S. today. The statement "WELL OBVIOUSLY THE U.S. CARES ABOUT MONEY AND BUSINESS MORE THAN DEMOCRACY, AND ARE WILLING TO OVERTHROW DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS FOR IT" has been true only, like, once, and hasn't really been true at all for the 21st century.
True but I also blame other countries for giving in so easily. I'm sure if enough countries united against the US they'd have no choice but to step back.
when your exchange rate increases making your other exports less competitive, the solution is to buy productive assets that increase supply. they could literally buy all the cheap solar panels that china won't be selling to the US, and get a lifetime of free renewable energy to power their industrial/ urban aspirations.
Watching from Trinidad 🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹
Wtf. A video on my country from one of my favorite channels. Yesss boys!
The issue with democracies suddenly becoming oil rich is that there’s a risk of a populist coming to power promising to use the money on welfare instead of long term investments, leading to collapse when the oil dependent economy (with other industries killed off by Dutch disease) faces low oil prices (exactly as happened in Venezuela). It’s such a risk because it’s really hard to ask voters not to want an immediate improvement in their standard of living with this new wealth; Norway is I think the only democracy to have used their resource money responsibly, and I hope Guyana will be the next.
I mean, that's not a democracy only problem. The UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain aren't democracies, but they all in some way or another to some scale spend their oil profits on welfare schemes not grounded in any ideology to bribe their citizens into not calling for the unseating of the aristocracy, aside from the vanity projects that don't help anyone.
In the context of this video, Norway fits in with the US and Canada in that it already had an economy (based on fishing, seafaring, mining, etc.) before the discovery of oil and gas, while for example Venezuela's economy was almost entirely built by and based on oil.
Hopefully they can balance between those two goals, def doesn't have to be one or the other.
@@Arrow_of_Times what happened with Trinidad as well
Spending on welfare isn't a negative. The question is what sort of a populist the people would bring up. Welfare when used correctly- spent on education, housing, healthcare, infrastructure development, etc can enable a country to upskill, diversify, and reduce reliance on oil itself. It's going to be a test of the peoples' Time Preference.
As a Jamaican I’m so happy for them
They discovered oil in Jamaica too, it’s just when the USA is ready to ruin another country. Venezuela first example
America is currently plagued by the hydra-headed evil duo of inflation and recession. The worst part about this recession is that consumers are racking up credit card debt. In April alone, credit card debt went up 20% while rates have doubled in a year. Inflation is so high that consumers are literally taking debt for basic life necessities. Collapse has indeed begun..
We face a new challenge every day. The new normal is this. We now see that this is the new normal and must adjust, having formerly believed it to be a crisis. Everywhere in the country, this year will be extremely painful economically. What can we do to increase revenue while undergoing quantitative adjustment?My hard-earned $180,000 in savings must be allowed to disappear.
Mind if I ask you to recommend this particular advisor you using their service?
I just googled her and I'm really impressed with her credentials; I reached out to her since I need all the assistance I can get. I just scheduled a caII.
That's a lie
Thanks deh bai 🇬🇾
As a fellow Guyanaese, our government could be making a lot more money and progress but it doesn't seem like they want to. Guyana is getting 2% royalties while ExxonMobil is getting 98%. The only good thing I remember President Granger did was backing down on the offer when ExxonMobil came to Guyana a few years ago. He this is our oil and we only accept 50/50. Irfaan Ali should have made some notes.
The prior administration signed off on that deal for the 2%.. there’s a contract …
I'm Norwegian and I hope and pray that Guyana keeps their democracy alive while going through this transition. It is incredibly good news that they are taking lessons from us and not walking the path of Saudi Arabia or Venezuela. God knows we have enough corrupt dictatorships in this world...
TBH, Venezuela's incompetent tinpot dictator threatening to take half of Guyana by military force would be deterrent enough to avoid Guyana following their lead...
They probably will "Dutch Disease" the situation unless they have SOLID leadership that doesn't even hint at corruption like Norway's
"I am Norwegian and I am better than you." :)
@@golatificontypical european lmao
@@Mikasks But in norway's case they are right
Spent a week in Georgetown as a backpacker in 2019. Felt like an American enclave, the few supermarkets were 1/4 stocked with imported US food, ridiculous markups.
Marriott Hotel was around 150$/night back then.
Cheapest accomodation I found was 25$ and shabby - but enough to live.
Guyana also has the largest single drop waterfall by volume waterfall in the world.
Its a one hour flight from Guyana. Less than 5000 people came there in 2019. Truly a gem.
Seeing these drone shots and broll from Georgetown streets brought back many great memories. Thank you, Sam
The flight is 1 hour from Georgetown*
bjorn465 well they call Guyana little England, little Africa, little america, little india, little Brazil, little venezuela, little haiti, its every thing but Guyana
as a Civilization player i cannot help but frown every time i'm reminded of major oil reserves in the world that SoMeHoW aren't present in our earth maps.
i swear i found myself owning the entire middle east once and barely had anything
I am a big fan of this channel, i was shocked and happy to see this video on my birth country. Well done.
Very happy to see Guyana rise! Bless up 🇺🇸🇪🇹🇰🇳🇬🇾
I visited Guyana a couple times. It is a cool and unique place with friendly people. Guyana became my #1 video. I only hope that they cleaned up the beach. The beach near the capital has the river exit, a and a lot of trash ends up on the beach.
Expect thousands of people to suddenly discover their Guyanese roots in 3,2,1 😂😂😂
Expect the U.S. (especially under Trump) to eventually install a Batista-like puppet to rig Guyana’s system and shape it into yet another banana republic that siphons all the revenues out of the country, plunging its citizens into squalor. This will force the aggrieved citizens to form alliances with Venezuela, which will invariably result in yet another Maduro-esque leftist dictatorship.
No I’m 100% guineanese… also I ate the roots.
Well for a bit a I was worried our last bit of relevancy would be 'that time Venezuela decided to invade the jungle and get bigger ' 😅
I know a couple of Guyanese in Nashville.
My mother is full blooded, one of her parents is native amerindian, and almost every recent development absolutely sucks for the country. Fossil capitalism is bleeding the people drier than is used to be. They're weaseling out of paying taxes on the oil they extract as they destroy the land of the country. My evidence: bro is mispronouncing "Guyana" as "ghee-yah-nuh" is nails on a chalkboard"
Will Guyana become the next Norway or the next Nauru?
Or the next UAE (which not a good thing)?
@@andyjay729 It would still be one of the better outcomes as far as oil-rich countries are concerned.
@@andyjay729UAE is not perfect by any means but they’ve done a pretty solid job building up their tourist industry and developing the nation, albeit by using mass amounts of indentured servants from South Asia.
@@anthonyreyna8350 not perfect by any means?
Can you explain more.
I literally just thought "I wonder if there's a new Wendover video to watch while I eat lunch" and now here it is. Impeccable timing
@@ksegg_ffstimezones
@@ksegg_ffs with my mouth
You eat lunch alone?! So sad!! (I eat lunch alone too)
I eat lunch with my teeth
Always happy when a new wendover video comes out
One of the big issues with Venezuela wanting to annex the Essequibo from Guyana is that it would extend Venezuelan territorial rights into waters of the Caribbean by taking a significant section of Guyanese coastline. As can be seen at 17:56, that region compromises over half of Guyana's coastline, and the territorial rights extending into the Caribbean would grant Venezuela access to a major portion of the Stabroek Block, a huge offshore oil reserve which is part of Guyana's main reason why they are becoming a significant player in the oil business. By annexing this territory, and specifically the coastline, Venezuela would instead seize most of the Block for itself and therefore all the income that would be associated with it.
Because that region is ours. Imperial countries like the Netherlands and the UK stole that region from Venezuela.
Thankyou for this upload ♥️🇬🇾🙏🏾
4:53-5:07 I want to mention that emirate is a form of government, while a democracy is a political regime. The use of these terms in opposition may not be the best way to tell the difference between the situation in Kuwait and the one in Guyana. A monarchy can still be democratic (most of Europe's monarchies). What is more (this doesn't show a flaw of the video), a republic (Guyana's form of government) can have an authoritarian/totalitarian regime (People's Republic of China). In order to corect this error, I suggest saying something like "While the regime of Kuwait is more authoritarian and revenues from the oil reserves mostly arrive in the emir's pockets, Guyana has a more democratic regime in which revenues money from oil is invested for its people".
P.S. Sorry for any typo and I hope my comment is constructive and help improve your already good content.
Thomas Paine would hurt from reading that monarchies can be democracies, but good points!
Yep. Venezuela is a republic, Norway is a monarchy.
Guyana is a an ex British colonial power, which has largely maintained good ties through the commonwealth and never suffered the military dictatorship that others in the region did. It also speaks English and has closer relationships with Caribbean nations than their south american neighbors.
Also democracy doesn't mean nationalised oil to benefit the people, thats called socailism. it could easily mean private development of oil. Which is whats happening. The investment is coming in to support the infrastructure needed to extract oil.
I hope Guyana can develop and I think it will and I think the UK needs to work closer with Guyana as an energy partner away from the islamic world and more importantly the red sea and suez canal.
I should add, before the oil news broke, I have always wanted to visit Guyana and experience the Amazon rainforest with English speaking locals that will cook a mean chicken jerk!
I hope they lean heavy into eco-tourism with their new found wealth as a way to diversify, as this gives them an opportunity to not have to exploit the natural amazon in the way Brazil and some of it's neighbours have. Defence will also be an important industry for Guyana especially with Venezuala right there, so hopefully the US can add Guyana to it's list of military partners and that hardware can start turning up in droves. The military is a really good use of government money as it provides ready employment to young people at salaries that are often higher than what they can earn otherwise.
If this was my nations thats what I would do, immediate investment in defence to protect against Venezuela, big investment into tourism and infrastructure in the major cities, then finally a push for education to transition away from secondary school educated to college and degree education. Also I guess an aviation hub for passengers transiting to the Caribbean and Latin America from the USA and Europe. Guyana Airways - 10 flights daily from Miami and more from London and New York
one nationalised industry doesn't make a country socialist you mong
@ember_5657 if that industry represents 80% of the nations GDP then yes it does. Unless the government is a monarchy and nationalised means in private ownership of the royal family like Saudi Arabia
'Tiny' Guyana landmass area is larger than Greece or either of the Korea's. It's issue is a small population who's fertility rate is near or already below the replacement rate.
The leadership should talk to Norway about how to use the oil wealth.
functionally most of Guyana is empty
The best way to ensure the oil wealth gets wasted is to put the government in charge of it.
If the country does end up becoming rich off its oil reserves then immigration will naturally make up for their low fertility rates.
@@Anti-TaxxerYep. Just employing a lot of Guyanese workers is better for Guyana than nationalizing the oil
It’s birth rate is 2.348 as 2024, not to mention there are more Guyanese outside the country that have a vested interest in the country, manpower isn’t a problem
I'm so glad for them! I always love it to see African or South-American countries doing great. I hope they become very rich! They deserve it!
I'm Guyana enjoy watching this.
Wish the best to our Guyanese siblings. And this is not just a wish, but a genuine one.
Get ready for the U.S. to install a puppet dictator within the decade. Guyana will be great to live in for about that long before it becomes yet another U.S. controlled banana republic.
Dad, is that you?
@@ScarsNotFreshyes, son.
Hello Guyana! It is lovely to see that a country has its own UA-cam account 😂😂
The cost of housing in Georgetown is absolutely absurd -- prices are like US coastal cities. Incredibly distorted market there.
well because Guyanese middle classes can afford it,
"gee-on-uh". 😢
"guy-anna". 😃
Given both Trinidad & Tobago, and Venezuela, it's not a surprise that deposits would be found in its waters, and why Venezuela keeps encroaching on its territory.
Bro every video they do on this region I call them out on the pronunciation and they still keep fucking it up. See Essiquibo
I-ran and I-raq 😫
What's funny is he said it both ways in the same sentence at 8:08
It's literally pronounced how it looks
@CornStreetVEVO yet he keeps fkin it up. And somehow pronouncing it differently everytime he says it
Just subscribed to Alemio Network's channel. Looking forward to more updates on this project
Why doesn’t Australia have a sovereign wealth fund?
Cause anglosphere nations think that's "Marxist".
@@andyjay729 UK and USA do have sovereign wealth funds tho (UK at the national level, and US at regional (cities&states) level)
I hope their Government is wise in it's oil, and that it goes to benefit all in their country.
If it's controlled by the government, it will be wasted.
Hopefully there's not a coup 😅
😂😂😂😂
With the rise of Bitcoin and the potential for small caps to outperform, I'm cautiously optimistic. Still, with the market volatility and economic uncertainty, it's tough to decide where to allocate funds. Keeping an eye on AI stocks like NVIDIA, but also considering diversification in this environment.
I agree. Even with great opportunities, we should proceed cautiously. Seeking market analysis or advice from certified market strategists is important.
The best course of action if you lack market knowledge is to ask a consultant or investing coach for guidance or assistance. Speaking with a consultant helped me stay afloat in the market and grow my portfolio to about 65% since January, even though I know it sounds obvious or generic. I believe that is the most effective way to enter the business at the moment.
I need advice on how to rebuild my portfolio and develop more successful tactics. Where can I find this coach?
There are a handful of experts in the field. I've experimented with a few over the past years, but I've stuck with Rebecca Nassar Dunne for about five years now, and her performance has been consistently impressive. She’s quite known in her field, look her up.
I just looked her up on the web and I would say she really has an impressive background in investing. I will write her an email shortly.
The fact that just finding oil still immediately makes you a relevant oil nation shows us, how war we still have to go as humanity.
Georgetown!
One of the only places the hosts locks you in at night and tells you it's safer that way.
Did you cover the gold miners issues?
Great inspiration to watch over at lunch!
7:44 "There is very little correlation between oil reserves and national wealth" I wonder what Libya, Iraq, Iran and Venezuela might have in common. I bet US interventions has nothing to do with it.
If you go back far enough, sure. But the US isn't running those countries today.
@@x--. and racism ended with the civil rights movement, US attitudes against the political left returned to normal after the cold war, objects require a constant force to remain in motion, pigs fly and I'm having the easter bunny and santa claus over for dinner this evening
Libya per capita had already fallen in 90s if i remember correctly. And only venezuela from this list can't be blamed on usa. They had already mismanaged their economy during chavez. Maduro election increased it and usa sanctions ended whatever was left
......Was it American intervention when the "socialist" Chavez broke the 2002-2003 strike started by hard-working, unionized PDVSA workers and management, then fired 18,000 workers thus consequentially losing a ton of institutional knowledge, and then went on to install party loyalists and cronies instead of people with actual technical expertise (kinda like what Trump is doing now, and what Maduro has continued to do)?
......Was it American intervention that lead Saddam to invade and attack Iran for almost 8 years (with a priority in the oil-rich Khuzestan province) and then invading Kuwait because he thought Kuwait was "stealing" oil?
He was only talking about those two metrics.
I would absolutely love if you could do a video on New Orleans. Thank you so much!
Everything happening to Guyana happened to Trinidad and Tobago in the 70s. Can they diversify where Trinidad failed, and escape the resource curse? I hope so. Cuz Trinidad didn't
Trinidad and Guyana is two different cases firstly Guyana is producing more and for more than half of Trinidad’s oil history it was a British colony so the resources were exploited by the British and during that first half of oil production before independence majority of the oil was already extracted leaving the country with mostly gas from the late 70s early 80s to build on and Trinidad has done quite well living off of gas for the past almost 40 years.
@@reuel2333 guyana is effectively a US colony. they have a large military presence in guyana, own most of the oil rights, its us companies doing most of the development in the oil industry, and guyanese politicians basically all have connections to US lobbyists. guyana is an important strategic partner to the US and they would not take it well if guyana decided for whatever reason to distance itself from the US
With a tiny population they will need to bring allot of migrants to diversify into multiple industries
@@reuel2333 Stop blaming the UK for everything. they set up the oil industry and left
If the leaders were too incompetent to make changes as time went on, and as the industry changed that has nothing to do with the UK
Excellent storytelling
Caribbean islands, please take notes
I mean it probably helps they have oil
what is there to take note of? they would never be in this situation without oil reserves anyways
@@alfdlgnaat Trinidad and Tobago has a lot of oil too.
Grenada is now exploring and found some reserves
Comparing small isolated volcanic islands with Guyana isn't really smart.
I had visited tons of countries.
Trees on the sides of the roads are awesome looking
By the way, the premise behind your ad read is incorrect. Ground news will do a good job giving users a complete picture on divisive stories, but not stories that have a broad consensus. This is because all of the news sites will want to share the same set of facts as they are trying to reach the same conclusion. Any fact that disagrees with this would be suppressed, and ground news leaves you about as well off as if you had read from a single source
thanks for sharing about this. i had absolutely no idea what was going on in Guyana
Guyana has a cool looking flag, too. I hope they manage their rapid development excellently, and hope to visit someday
Spoiler alert - they’ll become a failed state in 10 years
@@FastGuy1Dutch Disease
@@FastGuy1 5 years*
@@FastGuy1define failed state.
@@FastGuy1 have some faith bro. If Norway can do it I think Guyana has a shot
At 16:33 you say 'The side contracted out by the *federal* government" but Guyana is a unitary state not a federal one, so I think you meant to just say national government.
What they should do: Qualify the people investing in technical courses and universities, giving salary to matriculated people would accelerate it.
What not to do: The same that Venezuela did, giving money to people to do nothing (only to keep them in power), forbidding foreign investments and nationalizing everything.
Surely the left wing will try to force those things.
7:46 You missed out important information to why those nations also lacked when it came to a per capita basis like foreign intervention through sanctions & war
The US has been trying to break away from its dependency on the middle east for a while now, so Guyana is a pretty natural choice for an oil-rich investment. The ease of access to the oil is the cherry on top, making the whole venture that much more profitable.
I just hope Guyana's political system doesn't get too corrupted by this newfound wealth, would be nice for one of these fossil fuel rich nations to have something close to a healthy and balanced economy afterwards.
They need to diversify through solar panels and something else like small modular reactors, otherwise they'll end up like Venezuela
Hopefully the oil money won't become a curse
beautiful analysis
I’ve been watching your videos from 5 years ago, first time being early to watch a release.
Over the past week, I know a lot about the world to be at least somewhat interesting when I converse.
Yeah except how to pronounce Guy-anna
07:30 That's GDP PPP per capita. The default is normally the nominal GDP per capita, which is nowhere near those numbers (except for the US of course).
I think its important to point out that Guyanese people will likely stay poor. There are a few countries like gabon and eq guinea that also are oil rich but the money goes to those at the top
Yeah if the country starts out poor then its very likely it will remain that way. The only way it can work is if they had an authoritarian government that made sure no one puts their hand in the cookie jar, but even that isnt perfect.
4083, yes we are dirth poor, no wonder we went from a middle income country to an upper middle income country, we have reached the Haiti standards,
Good to hear!
While they're experiencing booming economy, they should take this opportunity to invest in infrastructure and gradually diversify their income sources as well. Learn from the mistake of Venezuela.
Exactly
Another amazing production
As a guyanese person, thanks for making this video
My dad went back to invest in his village over the holidays, and it's been great seeing economic development touching regular people!
Better late than never. I have been following the Guyanese oil boom for several years now. And considering if the Chinese govt. would support the Venezuelan claim since they have been making inroads in the Caribbean and South American countries. Thinking also about the operations of the "French Foreign Legion" in "French Guyana" and Suriname". A direct flight from NYC to Guyana could be expected because I'm from NY and a lot of them have been in NY for a long time with no reason to go back.I got interested because I dated some US-born Indo-Caribbean women because they are gorgeous, educated, and hard-working. The main drawback in developing nations is the family dynamic even among elected officials. You are expected to use your authority to take care of "Family", even over the Country. Even if they are corrupt.
I know afro Guyanese, same problem. Constantly complaining about having to find people back home with their hard earned money.... And then they do it anyway because they want to though they won't say it lmao
Thank you for giving my paternal country the spot light
Also Guyanese pronounce it GUY-ana, not gee-ana
Also we know to spell "pronounce".
I pray this will be a benifit for the people of Guyana as a small and developing nation state. The big players on the international stage will exert pressure and influence that may not benefit the man on the ground. From a Dominican (Tjimbé wèd pa moli) Stay strong by assuring that the benefits flow to the people and not a chosen few.
11:30 Hinterland? They really use a german word?
Hinterland is also an English word, it’s just that the German spelling with a t became more popular than the English spelling with a d (Hinderland)
That shot of 03:00 reminded me of Tropico videogame series :D Mainly because those houses in lower left corner appear to ahve been taken straight outta the game :D
I have doubts about the GDP data you have shown in this video. Russia has never achieved a GDP per capita of 44 thousand (currently 13,8k in 2023) and Venezuela holds up to below 5 thousand, I haven't really looked up the other countries, but based on those two examples these statistics are hardly credible.
good catch, it's GDP (PPP) per capita
I guess it's Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)
@@nietur That's quite misleading then, should've specified that since GDP PPP does not measure wealth of a country itself, it tracks the prices of goods adjusted for local currency which isn't the topic mentioned in the video itself and also makes some countries seem way richer than they otherwise would be. The US GDP nominal and GDP PPP is basically the same, while Russia's GDP PPP is about 3,2 times bigger than nominal.
@@moumo23 Actually is the other way around, measuring things in raw dollars is not accurate because each country has different prices for their goods, so GDP PPP actually takes into account the difference in exchange compared to USA, thats why USA GDP PPP is the same than raw GDP, in other words, GDP nominal can make some countries seem way poorer than they actually are.
It wouldn't make sense to say that 5 dollars equals 1 bread because that only applies to USA, in Russia for example, 1 bread can cost 2 dollars locally, so even if a russian earns less money than an american in USD, it doesn't matter as long as both can buy the same products at the end of the day, with the bread example, if an american earns 5 dollars per hour and a russian 2 dollars per hour, both can buy 1 bread each hour, so their PPP are equal.
@@moumo23 Wealth of a country would be the assets. Wealth as in what people consume, the PPP figure is closer to the truth. Russians can buy 3.2 more than what you'd expect, they're 3.2 times richer.
The big problem with ground news, is who set and or how is their Overton window set?
NO WAY MY FAVOURITE UA-camR MAKING A VIDEO ABOUT MY FAVOURITE COUNTRY (I am Guyanese by blood)
Thanks Sam! Sharing this video with all my friends and colleagues as I am Guyanese-Canadian and love that you've put out an informative video about my parents' home country! I hope the government does everything it can to diversify its economy, improve on the racial tensions and to improve its democracy, and I'll do everything I can as well!
That's not USA backyard, that's Brazil backyard.
Another excellent video
Looks like there's a new country in desperate need of freedom being delivered to its doorstep 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
No need, the fields are already operated by Americans
Guyana mentioned! ❤🔥❤🔥
Edit: 12:10 Feeling seen. Me and most of my family left for mainly Brooklyn in the late 90s and 2000s. But hope persists. The hard solution are often the most worthwhile.
I visited Guyana a few weeks ago and I was very disappointed with the quality of the infrastructure developments going on there. It looked like they have a penchant for truly ugly things. I even wondered if they have building standards. This country needs a lot of work. Also when a nation hands out cash to citizens that is a bad sign. Instead of deploying the $2B handouts to building the country they give it away for people to just enjoy for a few days, it’s like bribing citizens to keep quiet. It’s a very bad policy. Every single Guyanese I interacted with was apprehensive and they all said corruption is rampant and they don’t see any good future for the country coming out of the o&g. They cited the abundance of other natural resources in the country. They said more Guyanese are leaving the country than ever before, instead of many returning as a result of the oil and gas discoveries. Georgetown needs serious modernisation and cleaning up but I doubt they have the skilled professionals to do that. I liked the food, the people and the culture. Above challenges presents opportunities to the world.
The same reserve likely extends to the Brazilian coast, and there is now an increasing debate about whether it should be explored due to environmental concerns regarding the mouth of the Amazon River.
Its going to be explored. They are already destroyed the amazon rainforest, you think they care about the mouth of the amazon