Comments by "" (@shauncameron8390) on "How This Central African City Became the World’s Most Expensive" video.

  1. What more do you except from a country operating on central planning which the needs of the population are an afterthought?
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  2. And then Angola conveniently ditched communism for social democracy as their thanks for Cuba's support. LOL
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  3. But Angola got its model from the USSR/Russia, not the US or UK.
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  4.  @jvictormacedo6624  Brazil's inequality is worse than the US's. But overall, South Africa has the world's worst inequality.
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  5.  @nanouekonzo5581  Just like the other Congo with Sassou-Nguesso and Equatorial Guinea with Obiang-Nguema.
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  6.  @emilio2647  They already did. Remember Equatorial Guinea? Too bad all that produced was Pol Pol-lite a.k.a Francisco Macias Nguema and his nephew and current President.
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  7. Simply because yesterday's freedom-fighters and liberators have become today's colonizers and oppressors which is the MPLA.
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  8. <Pinochet’s regime> That went on to make Chile the 6th wealthiest country in the Americas.
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  9.  @EduardoMusasa  Not really. Singapore was colonized. The Gulf was colonized. There are 10 countries that never got colonized, but only 3 of them are prosperous. The other 7 are just middling at best.
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  10. Not really. Angola is more than capable for being corrupt on its own as it was the original Slave Empire that happily helped Portugal get the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade off the ground.
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  11. Nope. Angola is not a free-market country.
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  12. A one-time Russian-backed but now Chinese-backed authoritarian government.
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  13. The current ruling MPLA was USSR and Cuban-backed. Its main opposition was Chinese-backed.
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  14. <aid but they still on crack and shooting eachother and single mothers..> All of which are results of Johnson's War On Poverty and Reagan's War On Drugs.
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  15. Angola operates on Russia's model, not the US's.
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  16. Botswana.
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  17. Angola is not that capitalist as operates on a command model.
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  18. Actually the MPLA were Russian-installed.
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  19. Angola was the OG Slave Empire.
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  20. Communists are just users and abusers of the people they claim to have solidarity with.
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  21. Nope. The people were just simply put under new rulership.
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  22.  @kennarajora6532  But by mismanagement on the part of the Angolan government.
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  23. Especially in dictatorships and totalitarian regimes.
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  24.  @jackyex  But it occupies a lot of spots in the top 50 highest crime rates in the world. The US is not among the top 50.
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  25. No. He's backed by China.
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  26. Russia is the country Angola got its model from. Post-communist kleptocracy.
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  27. Don't forget Teodorin Nguema, son of the current President of Equatorial Guinea and Vice-President.
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  28. Angola already found it.
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  29. One problem, though. Angola is not a capitalist country.
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  30. Angola is hardly capitalist.
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  31. No. That would be Equatorial Guinea doing the worst as 75% of the people are poor compared to 40% of Angolans.
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  32. They already did that.
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  33. Her husband is long dead.
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  34.  @yanniskarageorgiou3573  LOL @ Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa being just fine.
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  35.  @mesut7699  Latin America = rich man's Africa.
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  36. UNITA was originally backed by China.
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  37. <Foreign aid that was supposed to help the Angolan people> But didn't because it had to go through the Angolan government first.
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  38. Yet somehow the US is on par with Sweden in overall crime rate.
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  39. Angola is not a capitalist country, though.
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  40. Kanye West and Tim Cook would like a word with you.
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  41. LOL.
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  42. No. And not even close.
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  43. The US is an exception as most of its financial success came from everything but natural resources.
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  44. But Angola is yet another socialist "success" story.
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  45.  @boathemian7694  No. Angola has been gutted by socialism OOPS! I mean social democracy since 1990.
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  46. Because Angola doesn't produce much locally.
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  47. Denmark is not a world power. But China is. And so is Angola's former backer, Russia.
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  48. And nothing will ever change even if the 1% shared with the 99% as the 99% are too short-sighted and frivolous to put that wealth to good use resulting in most of them ending up right back to poverty and hardship.
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  49.  @fgsaramago  Doesn't matter.
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  50. Not in Angola's case. Yet another socialist failure.
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  51. LOL. That was Ethiopia under Mengistu.
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  52. Guyana was that well before the oil back in the 70's and 80's.
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  53. And if enacted, it will just be used to silent dissenters and political rivals.
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  54. @BOB K The US is not suffering from a lack of development.
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  55. But short-lived, though.
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  56. But the Bolshevik Revolution did.
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  57. But Angola is not that capitalist.
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  58. The MPLA and Dos Santos are far-left.
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  59. Would that be the Russians?
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  60. LOL. Angola missed out on nothing. The Marxist-Leninist party which is the MPLA won the war and has been in power ever since.
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  61. Angola was Soviet-backed and won the civil war.
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  62. <these Arab tribal sheikhs have an intense desire to improve the lives> I would not say that. It's a matter of social control. As long as the economy is booming and there's a tangible improvement in overall living conditions, people are willing to sacrifice freedom for security if Arab Spring proved anything especially in Tunisia.
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  63. Better than the economy controlled and inevitably stifled by evil corrupt local governments apparently.
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  64. Don't forget imperialist Russia/USSR.
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  65.  @derekkearns3377  Ukraine would like a word with you on that.
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  66. Only for a short period of time. That was one of the reasons the Spanish Empire declined and eventually became no more.
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  67.  @pitabread79  <Despite what they call themselves, the MPLA is not socialist and definitely not communist. > Yes they are. <Angola has a form of state capitalism,> A by-product of socialism. Who knew that socialists happen to be the biggest practitioners of capitalism around? Like their idol, Friedrich Engels? < Power and wealth are still concentrated in a small number of unaccountable hands, ripe for corruption and exploitation. It's oligarchy with a thin socialist veneer.> Like every other socialist/communist regime that ever existed.
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  68.  @exploringtheplanetsn  And the general lack of economic freedom because the government controls a lot of industry.
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  69.  @fgsaramago  The US has plenty of decent public schools. They're just found in the wealthier parts while the not-so-decent ones are usually found in "the 'hood" known for crime and poverty and most of the residents either live on social assistance or make too little to contribute to funding the schools.
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  70.  @jennifersalt3194  the problem is inequality.> And racism. The crappiest public schools are majority Black and Latino. And the biggest opponents of school vouchers and choice are Democrats who Blacks and Latinos vote for en masse.
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  71. Corruption and nepotism.
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  72. Angola was a participant in the Slave Trade.
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  73. Angola got its model from Russia, not the US.
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  74. Because the documentary is about Angola and its corruption. That's if they can finally get rid of the ruling MPLA. Maybe, but it still doesn't change the fact that Angola needs reform as the current model is just not adequate.
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  75. Does the US have a 40% poverty rate like Angola?
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  76. 40% of Angolans live in poverty.
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  77. No. It's socialism. The Angolan government controls most of the economy.
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  78. <implementing non-marxist policies > That's the only time Marxism prospers. By cutting back on the central planning and allowing some free-market capitalism to thrive. USSR under Khrushchev and China under Deng.
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  79. But America has never had and still doesn't have 40% of the population living in poverty.
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  80. There's hardly anything capitalist about Angola,
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  81. Except Angola is a socialist country with the government controlling most of the economy.
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  82. Isn't South Africa part of the BRICS?
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  83.  Aeri Uchinaga  Actually it is. Just rebranded as social democratic.
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  84. That's nothing. Equatorial Guinea has vast natural resources and a small population, yet the rulers live like kings and 75% of the population live in poverty.
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  85.  rued siuu  Kleptocracy.
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  86. But Angola is not a free market, though. 40% of the population lives in poverty.
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  87.  @stefmyt5062  Angola is not a free market as the private sector barely exist. <Wealth is not "trickled down" onto the rest of us, it is accumulated at the top.> That's because the government controls it only going to members, families friends and supporters.
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  88. But the MPLA is a Chinese puppet. Also used to be Russian/Soviet-backed.
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  89. Neither does it need centralized states. It has been doing that since independence to rather disastrous results like: Ethiopia under Mengistu DRC (Zaire) under Mobutu Equatorial Guinea under the Nguemas Somalia under Barre Angola under Dos Santos Zimbabwe under Mugabe CAR under Bokassa Guinea under Toure Kenya under Moi Uganda under Amin
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  90. And Equatorial Guinea.
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  91. Angola already had its revolution. Russian and Cuban-backed revolution that is. These are the results.
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  92. Not even close. For all the American politicians' corruption, they don't have 40% of the people living in poverty and misery.
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  93. Because humans are going to human like they have since Adam and Eve.
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  94. The MPLA liberalized the economy to Cuba's dismay.
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  95. The same UNITA that was originally backed by China with its purpose being to impose Chinese-styled communism Angola?
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  96. No. It's basically black elites and white expats living in luxury while average black citizens live in poverty.
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  97. None of the people received it, because it went to the government.
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  98. Angola is currently not at war. And the only country exploiting it theses days is China.
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  99. Actually yes it can with the one-time Russian-backed currently ruling MPLA as the centerpiece.
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  100. But Angola is run by socialists and has been socialist since getting its independence with USSR and Cuban support.
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  101. LOL. You know the oil industry is government-controlled, right?
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  102. The former President just recently died.
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  103. You mean Park Chung-hee. But to his credit, he turned South Korea Korea from a basket-case to a respectable country.
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  104. Angola is backed by China, not the US.
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  105. As practiced by communists in the case of Angola.
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  106. Enabled by her socialist President father.
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  107. The hyper-rich being the ruling MPLA.
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  108.  @mesut7699  Mostly in Democrat and leftist-run cities.
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  109. Her father is dead.
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  110. As practiced by communists in the case of Angola?
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  111. LOL. There's hardly anything capitalist about Angola. Plus, it got its model from Russia/USSR, the country that once backed the current ruling MPLA.
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  112. Angola is hardly democratic.
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  113.  @mesut7699  Like in the cases of Sri Lanka and Pakistan?
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  114. But the US's nepotism doesn't hold back development or progress the way it does in most 3rd world countries.
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  115.  @mussy9387  Most definitely is socialist as the revolutionaries become the oligarchs. Socialism was never based on justice and fairness, but on envy and ego.
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  116. MPLA. The same party once backed by Cuba and the USSR.
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  117.  @Taylordessalines  Southern Africa is full of Chinese puppets. Not European.
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  118. Namely the ruling MPLA that Dos Santos co-founded.
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  119. Exactly.
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  120.  @blueciffer1653  Yet the legacy that socialism left behind remains.
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  121. Yeah, because the natural resource-seller is a hapless victim. LOL
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  122.  @skeletorsnan8161  Not really as Angola is a functionally socialist country.
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  123.  @skeletorsnan8161  Yes it f-ing is. <a few elite do.> Like every other socialist/communist regime that ever existed. <ekete that dumb comment at this point and start over.> Delete yours.
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  124. How so? The ruling MPLA are now supported by China and was once supported by Russia/USSR and Cuba.
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  125. But in the case of Angola being effectively a one-party-state, education is only to keep the people in line, because truly educated people are competition to the regime.
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  126. Only because Angola has oil.
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  127.  @susanray8811  But corruption didn't stop the US from developing and prospering.
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  128. Angola's companies are state-owned.
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  129.  @Sun-Tzu-  That the government hired and profit from via kickbacks.
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  130. She's actually mixed. Also she wasn't born or raised in Africa but in the former USSR and UK.
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  131. Namely the ANC elite who share the same leftist socialist views as the MPLA.
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  132. And the Bidens.
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  133. Maybe when Africa stop having kleptocrats and Marxists run the show.
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  134. His. Actually, 40% of Angola's population are struggling eat 3 meals a day.
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  135. Angola has one-party Marxist rule. Brazil doesn't.
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  136. Because it's African politicians who allowed it.
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  137. What colonialism? Angola won its independence with Russia and Cuba's help.
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  138. No. Try Russian and Chinese corruption.
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  139. 40% = the vast majority?
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  140. <capitalism is about money.> Yeah. And? <I don’t understand how gdp growth not translating to hdi growth is baffling. That’s how capitalism works.> But Angola operates on a socialist model. <It’s not a system that cares about people and quality of life,> Capitalism never claimed such.
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  141. Because foreign migrants are not counted as part of its GDP figures despite making up the majority of the population and Emirati citizens are glorified welfare recipients.
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  142.  @truthtriumphs5289  But God forbid if the migrants decide to stop coming for work and the citizens have to do the work themselves.
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  143.  @blueciffer1653  So? Capitalism for all of its issues is still better than what they currently have which is Marxism.
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  144. Which means removing the MPLA.
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  145.  @blueciffer1653  <soviet union - no homelessness, everyone has housing, everyone has food, low wealth inequity, far better workplace democracy, greater access to healthcare and education. > Yet a limited economy, high spending on the military and vanity projects, no freedom of movement even within the country, etc.
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  146. It won't make much of a difference as most of it will just get squandered. For some people, food and housing are the least of their problems.
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  147. Africa already has that in Zimbabwe.
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  148. Poverty is not going anywhere. And the lack of wealth and the rich are the least of humanity's problems.
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  149. Yes it has. And Angola is just the end result of socialism/communism. Kleptocracy.
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  150. It wouldn't make much of a difference as some will manage it wisely and others will just simply pee it all away becoming a burden and a threat.
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  151. The Portuguese had it coming.
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  152. The father has just recently died.
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  153. Gaddafi lifted no one out of poverty. All he did was pacify his people with "free stuff" until that "free stuff" no longer sufficed and the people wanted freedom instead.
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  154. That is not going to solve anything as most of us will just simply squander it and end up right back to square one. Much of our poverty is of our own making.
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  155. How so? They're not in power. Just the once Russian-backed MPLA.
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  156. Except Angola is not really a democracy and it got its model from Russia and China. If anything, it got to see the benefits of revolution just like in North Korea, Ethiopia and (insert Eastern European country).
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  157. No. Try the KGB.
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  158. Wrong! Angola was destroyed by Marxist-Leninists who rebranded themselves as social democrats after winning the independence war with help from Cuba and Russia/USSR.
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  159.  @ipoopeveryday  <at the hands of imperialist powers.> Like China?
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  160.  @ipoopeveryday  Your feelings don't make any sense to me either. The reality of it is Angola is yet another socialist casualty.
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  161. He won.
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  162. Jose Eduardo died a peaceful death.
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  163. And even if it was evenly distributed, some will still have more than others as some are wise and others are just plain foolish.
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  164. Courtesy of China.
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  165. Not really. The US doesn't have a 40% poverty rate like Angola as it's at 11.4%.
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  166. What good ones? Aside from Seretse Khama of Botswana, the so-called good ones were Soviet-supported.
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  167. Angola is yet another communist turned kleptocratic regime.
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  168. It is. And Angola is no exception.
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  169. <With that being said, I would love to hear your thoughts in how a ruling party who self claims as "marxist leninist", turned how to be so elite centered.> Simple. Angola is yet another case of Marxist-Leninists becoming exactly what they fought against. You know the saying: Meet the new boss. Same as the old one.
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  170.  @Meatdevil  But Angola is yet another case of yesterday's liberators becoming tomorrow's oppressors.
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  171. LOL. Like in North Korea?
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  172. It would have still happened anyway. Angolan politicians have agency.
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  173. No. Pride is.
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  174. Angola is anything but capitalist.
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  175.  @caleb--  And Angola isn't even capitalist anyway.
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  176. The MPLA elites are the rich.
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  177. LOL. Not with the high infant mortality rate it has.
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  178. Simple. Look what happened to Tunisia once the money ran out no longer able to take of the people.
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  179. But pride is the cause of greed.
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  180. Benevolent = clout-chasing megalomaniacal personality cult.
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  181. Because the people are every bit as corrupt as the governments they elect.
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  182.  @ConsumerWatchdogUK  Not in Angola. Hardly anyone pays income tax. That's why the government don't feel beholden to the people.
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  183. Angola already had a communist revolution and won.
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  184.  @pango-y8j  Ethiopia and Liberia were never colonized yet they're every bit as badly off.
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  185. In Angola's case, namely their one-time Soviet-backed liberators.
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  186. Angola is a product of Russian/Soviet imperialism.
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  187. Botswana didn't miss the capitalist boat.
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  188. And was backed by the USSR and Cuba during Angola's successful fight for independence.
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  189.  @tobiaspoop  The same ones happily living off of the colonizer's social assistance?
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  190. Not for as long as the MPLA is still in charge.
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  191. Not in Angola's case. It's between the average person and the politically well-connected.
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  192.  @duongkuac1077  Elected by an ignorant and gullible populace.
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  193. In the form of kleptocracy disguised as social democracy where governments are elected to enrich themselves at the people's expense.
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  194. Angola is not a free-market country.
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  195. But Angola is socialist. And socialism has consistently produced the 1% and the 99%. The 1% being the government, family and friends. The 99% being everyone else.
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  196.  @stephefw7601  LOL. I hate to break it to you, but socialism has classes as it always becomes what it seeks to eliminate. And Angola is no exception. Yesterday's revolutionaries, liberators and freedom-fighters = tomorrow's oligarchs, oppressors and colonizers good at leading armies and masses but lousy at running economies and countries with the poor and working class still being the poor and working class.
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  197. Angola is not capitalist. So the latter.
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  198.  @nunyabiznes33  Thanks to the French colonizers.
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  199. How about the whole MPLA party?
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  200. Except in Angola, there isn't much capitalism going on.
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  201.  @billedifier8584  Isabel is a Westerner. She was born in the then-USSR and was raised in the UK.
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  202. Yet Botswana and Rwanda found a way.
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  203. But modern-day Angola is a Russian invention.
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  204. No. It's just Marxists being Marxists.
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  205. Plenty. That 1% account for 80% of all taxes paid that keeps the economy afloat for one while the bottom 50% account for 3% at best.
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  206. But Angola is socialist and is run by socialists.
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  207. And especially power.
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  208.  @blueciffer1653  1) Yes it is. 2) Typical tankie response. 3) Not really. This is what communism have consistently produced in the name of "the people." Communists becoming the capitalists they fought against.
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  209. Don't hold your breath. Dos Santos may be gone (rest in peace), but the party he co-founded that the new president is the leader of is still in power.
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  210.  @robertmartin6800  <Ghana, Zimbabwe, a> Thanks to Marxists like Nkrumah and Mugabe.
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  211. It's funny indeed. Communism co-opts and becomes what it accuses capitalism, monarchy and feudalism of under the guise of eliminating them.
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  212. Unfortunately, the MPLA got re-elected.
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  213. One problem, though. Communists run Angola.
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  214. Yet Botswana is still one of the most stable and wealthiest countries in Africa unlike its neighbors who adopted Marxism and became all but complete basket-cases.
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  215. Like Irving in the New Brunswick?
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  216. Politics is the most lucrative profession in most 3rd world countries.
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  217. Angola was the OG slave empire. And Portugal was the first country to get the Slave Trade off the ground and do business with Angola.
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  218. Well, there was Mongolia that was built by the Soviet Union. Cuba was built by the very same USA it's at war with.
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  219.  @Guirolon  But it was the US that got Cuba its independence. <Only Caribbean Cuba will mourn the Russians. Just for some background, Cuba is not even considered “Latin America”… we consider them “The Caribbean or African culture”, > Only because Cuba had slavery and one of the last to abolish it with Brazil being the absolute last.
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  220. Socialism worse.
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  221. So did the USSR and Cuba.
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  222. What capitalism? Angola got its model from Russia.
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  223. <natural resources dont propel people out of poverty because they become privatized instead of becoming nationalized.> To the benefit and control of family, friends and acquaintances of the government as is the case with most 2nd and 3rd world resource-rich countries which are a lot more socialist than you think.
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  224.  @Augusto9588  While Portugal would have been another Moldova without EU membership and subsidies.
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  225. San Jose is in Silicon Valley.
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  226.  @nateb9768  California = leftist policies coming home to roost.
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  227. Portugal is a basket-case and a has-been just like its neighbor Spain.
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  228. Actually, its proper name is socialism as the liberators run the show and the people got taken for fools.
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  229.  @AndrewKyr92  LOL. There's hardly anything free-market about Angola.
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  230. Yet Angola is run by socialists.
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  231.  @lordeisschrank  Angola is run by socialists. Capitalism barely exists at all there.
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  232. Namely government officials, family friends and acquaintances.
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  233. But Angola is yet another socialist "success" story.
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  234. Since when did Dos Santos care about the peopel?
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  235. Greed is not going anywhere as average people are every bit as greedy.
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  236. You mean the Chinese.
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  237. Kleptocracy 101.
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  238. And China in Angola's case.
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  239. Pride is the #1 problem with humanity.
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  240. Because local puppet politicians still have agency and are in charge. They're not helpless.
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  241. LOL. Angola is hardly capitalist yet here you are blaming capitalism for Angola's current state of affairs. If anything, this is socialism being everything it accuses capitalism of and then some.
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  242. But the ruling MPLA is a relic of Soviet imperialism.
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  243. Who interestingly got their model from Russia.
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  244. Practiced by Marxists.
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  245. Hun Sen = one of Pol Pot's henchmen.
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  246. Vietnam hasn't been under sanctions since the early 80's. North Korea's sanctions are warranted as Kim Jong-Un cares more about nuking South Korea and Japan than developing an economy worthy of the Juche name. Sri Lanka is a Chinese Debt Trap casualty. Cuba hasn't been the same since the Soviet collapse and the subsequent loss of aid to cover for an economy Castro destroyed.
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  247. But I like how they dismayed Castro when they decided to ditch communism for social democracy.
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  248.  @heidirabenau511  Cambodia Somalia
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  249. Jose Eduardo is dead.
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