Aside from enough oil to run the Mid-east a good fight, as served up by a pipeline so poorly maintained they leak an Exxon Valdez Disaster's worth all over the ground every year.
Russian oil, though plentiful, is at a very early stage of development. It faces numerous daunting engineering challenges in getting it out and getting it to market, not the least of which is building long pipelines through the tundra.
That's one interpretation. Personally, I prefer the old joke about the official news release detailing the astounding, 60th straight year of bad weather impacting the Soviet crops.
The USSR has far less arable land than the US, a much more severe climate, and less modern machinery. But if you prefer jokes, okay.
Therein lies the error in your worldview. What's "limited wealth"? In free countries, wealth is essentially unlimited for all practical reasons.
I strongly contest that statement. Americans have benefitted much from our cropland, our rich mineral resources, our vast forests, our habitable spaces, our low population density, our climate... so very many things. Iceland is free, but they don't have many of those things. Accordingly, you rarely hear of "Icelandic Billionaires". They call the US "The Land of Opportunity" for a reason, you know.
There's a reason scenes like that Robin Williams movie where he, as a Soviet defector, stands crying at the huge selection of things in a supermarket. And it ain't just to stroke American egos.
Yes, the movie was "Moscow on the Hudson", and it was quite good. But the movie didn't really explore the reasons why Russia has shortages, and I think you are oversimplifying the reasons.
Note that totalitarianism is rearing its ugly head again. They may not be communist, but on the "freedom vs. statism" axis, they never strayed far from that position. Things are going exactly according to that political theory. I wish people would pay attention to it. In most other realms, such wildly successful theories work, but not politics, nor religion. Note that.
I am noting it. I'm noting that Democracy had a chance to succeed in Russia and strong popular support, yet it hasn't caught on there like we hoped it would. Perhaps the reasons are more complex than just the system of government.
Umm, McDonald's is the US plan. Get people jealous of all our stuff, such that they want it, and in go the companies to provide it.
I think the international media, which lavishly displays western opulance, had a lot to do with the overthrow of the USSR. But you can't sell Big Macs to people who have no money. I think that reality is settling in with the Russian people.
One of the first financial success stories in Russia after the collapse was some kid who started importing CDs from the West and opened a little shop in the back of the official government music store.
Yes, I'm sure that there are isolated success stories. But if Best Buy moved in, the kid would be out of business. He would no longer have his niche. Feel-good stories are heartwarming, but where is that kid today?
Every time you see that happen, that is the US winning. That is freedom itself winning.
No doubt the US is doing much better than Russia. You ascribe it to freedom alone. I think there may be many reasons, one big one of which is abundance. Communism works better in places where it is imperative for people to share or else they will perish. Capitalism works better where there are big prizes to be won. The Mayflower Compact is essentially a communist document. At that time, they needed to share to survive.
