Zimbabwe to use gold coins as tender to reduce use of US dollars
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You haven't spent a lot of time in Africa.
No, not a lot. Only been to two countries. Both poor as hell. Djibouti and Tunisia. What I did find were people doing things that we take for granted with junk and scrap, that I would have never imagined or thought possible. Most of Djibouti chews on a mildly narcotic plant root, but if I was born there and lived there, it would be depressing as hell. Tunisia was a bit more advanced, but they actually have resources, whereas Djibouti has nothing except one port. No other resources. About the saddest place I have ever seen.
I haven't been to Mediterranean Africa, but travelled through Senegal, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ethiopia, Zambia, South Africa, and Namibia. I only spent 15 years on cooperative projects throughout the continent and admit this is only a tiny snapshot in time. We can talk geopolitical, cultural, tribal and geographic reasons for the socioeconomic status of Africa all day long, but the only semi-advanced infrastructure I saw over the course of 15 years is the result of foreign aid and foreign investment. Most of the neocolonial resources have long been overgrown and are in disrepair or have been nationalized and require continuing aid input to maintain operations.
I loved the time I spent throughout Africa and I met some amazing people. I got to work with their top scientists in my discipline, but spent more time out in the rural, mud hut regions. Regardless of the educational level, I was forever dumbfounded by the utter inability of most of the people to discern cause and effect, actions and consequences. Definitely not an IQ measure, but more of an inability to work toward medium and long term goals that THEY defined as important.
Introduction of gold coins might actually help adjust that seeming lack of delayed gratification behavior, yet ironically, the gold standard is primarily a European based construct.
You have far more experience than I do. I guess I must must be a glass half full kind of guy. I tend to believe that most people are good and most people are relatively intelligent. I could be wrong. Lord knows that the more I see of the average American and their knowledge of history, geography, political structure of different types of government, and well... Pretty much everything that doesn't have to do with pop culture. I hate to think that the human race is actually getting dumber, but perhaps it is a matter of priorities. There are extraordinary people with incredible minds. I have met a couple, but I have to admit, they are relatively rare. I run into a lot more average minds. I'm not a genius, but I at least attempt to do most everything myself. Except for writing code, it bores me to tears and I hate it with a passion.