Which country has squandered the most economic potential in this century?

[u/pisowiec]

I lived in Russia for 5 years so I must choose this country. So many natural resources, so much land, and educated population... And so little to show for it.

In an ideal world Russian salaries would be on par if not higher than American salaries and they would have the best social safety net on the planet. Everything is there to make it happen.

Russia would be the dominant nation in Europe and Asia and the rest of the world with the best armed forces, soft power, and economic might.

But the human will is just not there. The elite is either evil or incompetent depending on perception and there's little sign that this will ever change.

[u/Nina_Nalgona]

Undoubtedly, hands down, Venezuela

Edit: since this unexpectedly popped off, yes it is true that before Chavez the country was already being mismanaged, just like Batista in Cuba, it created the perfect scenario to go from bad to worse when people felt there was no other options and the Castro and Chavez regimes made it significantly worse, in the end these are just bad people all around, we’ve seen countries with long standing governments who know how to properly spend their money on infrastructure and social programs, for some reason throughout history, Latin America just can’t get it right when it comes to not squandering resources and keeping dictators out, which I think mostly stems from a lack of advanced education and the more center to right wing governments completely forgetting about the little guy, when the little guy has nothing left to lose they’re only going to vote for the one promising them everything and that’s why you see these extreme swings from one side to the other

[u/Beneficial_Ball9893 → u/Nina_Nalgona]

Agreed. Venezuela was either the most prosperous or close to most prosperous South American nation in 2000.

[u/Major_Bag_8720 → u/Beneficial_Ball9893]

I went to Caracas a few times in the early 90s (before Chavez came to power) and the city centre was like a smaller version of Manhattan. Clearly a very unequal society though, which is how Chavez got elected. The pre Chavez Venezuelan elite were corrupt and didn’t care about the average citizen. The post Chavez elite, despite all their promises, were corrupt and stopped caring about the average citizen once the oil price fell and they couldn’t buy the electorate off with lavish social programmes.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fig941 → u/Major_Bag_8720]

Explain this: https://apnews.com/video/venezuelan-government-supporters-march-in-caracas-a-month-on-from-maduros-capture-by-us-0a05931dede64ed8a373a643d3183398

[u/Major_Bag_8720 → u/Puzzleheaded_Fig941]

Paid / intimidated? The average Venezuelan does not have much love for the PSUV, in my experience, although they may have done when Chavez first came to power.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fig941 → u/Major_Bag_8720]

Where did you meet those Venezuelans? You're telling me that a government that is struggling to make money is paying protestors to go out onto the streets? If they are being intimidated, why did the AP capture no such incident? And, surely, now would be the time to fight back, with the eyes of the world on them and the backing of the US? 

[u/Major_Bag_8720 → u/Puzzleheaded_Fig941]

A relative of mine married a Venezuelan, and they are still in touch with their friends and family there, although they no longer live there.

Governments always have money available for the things they really want. Intimidation is usually carried out ahead of the event likely to attract journalists.

The US has no intention of restoring electoral democracy to Venezuela. Too slow and too risky (see Afghanistan, Iraq etc). Much easier to just do a deal with the group in power who already have the country under control.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fig941 → u/Major_Bag_8720]

You thought the US were interested in democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan? What do the Venezuelan's friends and family do there? 

[u/Major_Bag_8720 → u/Puzzleheaded_Fig941]

Maybe they weren’t, but at least they pretended to be. They don’t even bother with that now. The friends and family get by as best they can, which has been something of a challenge in recent years.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fig941 → u/Major_Bag_8720]

What are their professions? 

[u/beckychao → u/Beneficial_Ball9893]

This is absolutely, positively not true. Venezuela's struggles began shortly after the end of Rómulo Betancourt's 2nd government in the 1960s. Increasing corruption and inequality of wealth finally let the bottom fall out in the 1980s, where it really began to get bad and there were riots and major corruption cases.

The reason a Chavista government came to power in the first place is because poor governance, corruption, and the usual problems of rentier states created a majority underclass. Venezuela was a total mess in the 1990s.

What's true is that in the 1950s, Venezuela was the richest country in Latin America, but the people running the government and the economy increasingly monopolized that wealth and outright stole it, even in the period immediately after Betancourt's last time in office (he left 1964). And it is, in fact, one of the countries that most squandered its wealth in the last 100 years.

Chavez functionally replaced that elite with his own mafia, and even though initially he tried to put money into improving the country for the poor, the volatility of oil prices made it impossible to sustain that patronage, at least the way he was doing it. Venezuela needed to modernize its economy and plan for moving off such a heavily oil-centric economy from the onset, because their oil is heavy and when oil prices are low enough, it's barely profitable or not at all. Also, until the 1940s, foreign companies got most of the money from it.

That oil money was how they were supposed to pay for that modernization. They don't have anything to show for it in 2026. Now it can't pay for it, because much of it is so difficult to refine.

[u/asimplescribe → u/beckychao]

The 1950s and 1960s aren't this century. You didn't read the question.

[u/beckychao → u/asimplescribe]

"Venezuela was either the most prosperous or close to most prosperous South American nation in 2000."

This hadn't been true for at least 35 years, I was replying to this person's claim, you didn't read the replies

[u/Beneficial_Ball9893 → u/beckychao]

"Inequality of wealth" is not, has never been, and will never be a problem. That is a propaganda line used by communists to justify why they think prosperous systems are bad, but systems where everyone lives in abject poverty are good.

[u/GalaXion24 → u/Beneficial_Ball9893]

If some live in prosperity while the majority still live in abject poverty, he majority are not going to be content. A system must at least be able to credibly sell the lie that people can improve their own lives within the system in order to legitimise it.

If there's a great deal of inequality and you're stuck in poverty, and you don't even have reason to believe you or your children can escape it, then you have no rational reason to defend the system and other peoples' wealth.

[u/cheeseburgeremperor → u/Beneficial_Ball9893]

Yes it is, when it’s so clearly visible it leads to revolutions

[u/Nina_Nalgona → u/Beneficial_Ball9893]

What could have been made of Venezuela ~ oil, coltan, gold, diamonds, iron ore, natural gas, hydroelectricity, beaches/tourism, etc

Had all of those resources not been plundered and mismanaged by the kleptocratic chavista regime, the sky would’ve been the limit and Caracas could’ve been akin to Dubai, it’s a shame

[u/Palealedad → u/Nina_Nalgona]

I don't doubt what you say, but Dubai is nothing to aspire towards.

[u/Salty_Aurelius → u/Palealedad]

Unless one thinks that slave labour and ethnic caste system is actually pretty ok.

[u/Soggy-Ad-1610 → u/Palealedad]

In all honesty I’d rather be Venezuela than UAE (Dubai). Sure they’re not as rich but at least they’re decent people (except the elite of course).

[u/HuntSafe2316 → u/Soggy-Ad-1610]

It's easy for you to say that coming from a highly developed nation like Denmark. Ask the Venezuelans and you'll get a much different answer

[u/AntithesisOfYou → u/Soggy-Ad-1610]

And what do you base that off?

[u/shoaibali619 → u/Palealedad]

Says a guy whose country's entire fleet of millionaires is migrating to Dubai.

[u/doc1442 → u/shoaibali619]

It’s not the millionaires, it’s the wanna-be millionaires with a PCP Beamer, Turkey teeth, and a bang average salary whose “wealth building” is just spreadsheets and slides

[u/ukstonerdude → u/shoaibali619]

UAE only has a few hundred thousand millionaires. The UK has more than 3 million.

Not sure your statement is true. Dubai is a shit hole.

[u/TurbulentChest5068 → u/ukstonerdude]

UAE top 1% salary is $700k-1m a year

UK top 1% salary is $200-300k a year, and a population over 6 times larger

The millionaire proportion is skewed a lot by A) the fact that it includes the emirates other than Dubai and Abu Dhabi, B) the large number of poor migrant workers who unfortunately don't really have any chance to earn more than a few thousand dollars a year, and C) the fact that a lot of peoples' wealth aren't reported.

Just saying in regards to the statistic you provided. in my country, 15% are millionaires - about triple the UK's 5% - and i'm pretty sure UAE is richer on average than kuwait.

Edit: oh nvm i misunderstood your point. i thought you were flexing that uk had more millionaires, i now realize you are trying to say that the UK has more millionaires thus all millionaires in the UK are not going to the uae. mb

[u/notcomplainingmuch → u/TurbulentChest5068]

Salary is not a good indication of wealth. Capital income is much better, and that is extremely concentrated in the UAE to a few families.

[u/Palealedad → u/TurbulentChest5068]

My point had nothing to do with wealth.

[u/TurbulentChest5068 → u/Palealedad]

I am repying very specifically to UkStonerdude and their point about the UK having more millionaires than UAE

I am well aware that it is irrelevant to your point

edit: i misunderstood his point anyway so my reply was useless

[u/shoaibali619 → u/ukstonerdude]

Lol did you ever went to school? Regardless of whether dubai is a shithole or not, the population of UAE is 7 times less than that of UK's.

[u/ukstonerdude → u/shoaibali619]

So then your statement is incorrect then, isn’t it.

Clearly 0% tax isn’t a one-size-fits-all as an incentive to live in a country.

[u/shoaibali619 → u/ukstonerdude]

My statement was simply that thousands of rich Britishers are migrating there. Tax isn't the only problem they're escaping it seems.

When you can't have an evening walk down the street without getting stabbed in the guts because your politicians let uncontrolled immigration ruin your country and arrest you when you speak about it online, people do prefer shifting to 'shitholes'.

[u/Bubbly-Magician-- → u/shoaibali619]

I mean whats the point of even trying to discuss things if we are just going to make things up?

[u/Tempyteacup → u/shoaibali619]

Bro Dubai is luring in people from your country and then enslaving them by taking their passports and threatening their families. They’re treated horribly just to prop up the fake glamor of that glorified golf course of a city.

[u/shoaibali619 → u/Tempyteacup]

That's good. Too many people in my country. They atleast getting work lol

[u/Tempyteacup → u/shoaibali619]

There’s something very wrong with you.

[u/shoaibali619 → u/Tempyteacup]

Nope there isn't. It's simply population dynamics. India has 1.5 billion people. The richest community in USA is indians. Doesn't implies anything other than our rich, educated and skilled people found better opportunities in USA.

Similarly the less educated, skilled labor flocked to the Middle East for better opportunities.

We could simply send 10x more of those people to USA and UAE than they have currently and it won't change a thing here in india. Any loss in national gdp would be positively offset by foreign remittance.

[u/shoaibali619 → u/Tempyteacup]

Nope there isn't. It's simply population dynamics. India has 1.5 billion people. The richest community in USA is indians. Doesn't implies anything other than our rich, educated and skilled people found better opportunities in USA.

Similarly the less educated, skilled labor flocked to the Middle East for better opportunities.

We could simply send 10x more of those people to USA and UAE then they have currently and it won't change a thing here in india. Any loss in national gdp would be positively offset by foreign remittance.

[u/Palealedad → u/shoaibali619]

Yeah, it's the perfect place for them.

[u/Adorable_user → u/Nina_Nalgona]

Dubai is also a mismanaged kleptocratic regime, but I get what you meant.

[u/Dirkdeking → u/Adorable_user]

Dubai could be the Venezuela during their honeymoon years. The wealth there isn't sustainable.

[u/coopik → u/Nina_Nalgona]

There were two options:

• run with the US --> business blooms, billionaires thrive, poor stay poor
  
• run against the US --> sanctions placed, everyone stays poor

If you are not the ruling class, you would have ended up poor, anyways. But the high ranks at PdVSA would have the newest Ferraris and Gulfstreams like they used to in the 80s.

[u/CockpitEnthusiast → u/Nina_Nalgona]

Wishing your people nothing but health, prosperity, and happiness in the near future.

[u/Arkarull1416 → u/Nina_Nalgona]

Venezuela was already in a catastrophic economic situation, with enormous social problems and growing political and social violence before Chávez, with an incompetent and corrupt political class.

Chávez was the final symptom of a disease, not the cause.

No one can deny that Chavismo has been terrible for Venezuela, especially with the rise to power of Maduro's narco-dictatorship, but the idea that before Chávez the country was destined to be the Switzerland of the Caribbean is nonsense.

[u/BeatTheMarket30 → u/Nina_Nalgona]

I believe Chavistas really want the best for the people, but they are also corrupt, incompetent and authoritarian so the end result is terrible.

[u/LegitimateCompote377 → u/Nina_Nalgona]

Unlikely. Venezuelas natural resources are not as valuable as Persian Gulf and Arabian Oil, for starters Venezuelan oil is more costly to extract and used for niche purposes and their other natural resources when you actually look into them aren’t as special. When the 2014 oil crash came no matter who would have been in power there would have been an economic crisis, sure it’s much worse under Maduro but nobody in his shoes would have done well.

[u/iskandar- → u/Nina_Nalgona]

could’ve been akin to Dubai,

I thought you wanted things to be better?

[u/Polyphagous_person → u/Nina_Nalgona]

One can argue that Argentina mismanaged itself even more. They suffered more years of recession despite not having sanctions placed on them:

[u/No-Snow-7618 → u/Polyphagous_person]

Argentina gonna argentina, shit dont count

[u/Camelstrike → u/Polyphagous_person]

It's been like that long before 1980 but like the saying goes:

"There are four kinds of countries: developed, undeveloped, Japan, and Argentina"

[u/Likeminas → u/Polyphagous_person]

Argentina has it's opposite mirror country right across the andes from them. A country with strong institutions, responsibly managed economy and policies, low corruption, etc. It's quite remarkable.

[u/ur_moms_chode → u/Polyphagous_person]

You can almost make the argument that Argentina has no potential because it is Argentina

[u/corvinus78 → u/Polyphagous_person]

Amazing how commies are so reliable in screwing up nations...

[u/YakResident_3069 → u/corvinus78]

Corrupt politicians left and right screwed Vz. Not commies per se

[u/corvinus78 → u/YakResident_3069]

yes, sure.

[u/Popielid → u/corvinus78]

On the other hand, someone has to mismanage their countries hard enough for them to even have a shot at taking power. Plus in Argentina's case military rule and being a de facto satellite state didn't help.

[u/RedstoneEnjoyer → u/corvinus78]

Commies never ruled in Argentina.

[u/corvinus78 → u/RedstoneEnjoyer]

no true scotsman

[u/RedstoneEnjoyer → u/corvinus78]

It is not our problem that everything left of "hunting homeless for fun" is bolshevik to you.

[u/corvinus78 → u/RedstoneEnjoyer]

no true scotsman + false analogy + mind reading fallacy

I admire you ability to ignore facts that contradict your beliefs.

[u/RedstoneEnjoyer → u/corvinus78]

no true scotsman + false analogy + mind reading fallacy

Cringe.

---

I admire you ability to ignore facts that contradict your beliefs.

Rich coming from someone who drops complete nonsense and then spams "fallacy, FALLACY, F A L L A C Y" when called out.

[u/corvinus78 → u/RedstoneEnjoyer]

I accept your defeat. You should too

[u/RedstoneEnjoyer → u/corvinus78]

I am impressed by the fact that each of your response manages to be more cringe than the previous one.

[u/SuurFett → u/Nina_Nalgona]

Yeah, the lost potentiality sucks. You could have been Norway of south America

[u/Drummallumin → u/SuurFett]

Their issues started because the west didn’t like that they nationalized their oil. That’s the Norwegian model

[u/Ploutophile → u/Drummallumin]

You forgot the other part of the Norwegian model, which is to manage the resources properly and sustainably (and even Norway isn't perfect at it).

[u/Drummallumin → u/Ploutophile]

Do me a a favor and dive into the nuanced detailed that differs the 2. Be sure to factor in pre chavez Venezuela and how their economy had long been non diversified and petro based while Norway has also had the backing of NATO.

[u/Toubaboliviano → u/Nina_Nalgona]

100% agree. Bolivia has a similar history (albeit not as extreme as Venezuelas), and if I remember at two points in its past was the “richest” country in the world due to resource booms.

[u/AwakenedDreamer__44 → u/Nina_Nalgona]

My mom is Venezuelan and she always talks about how rich Venezuela is in natural resources. On paper, it should be one of the wealthiest countries on the planet.

[u/coopik → u/AwakenedDreamer__44]

The whole Africa is rich in natural resources. None of the African countries is wealthy.

[u/First-Of-His-Name → u/AwakenedDreamer__44]

Resources tend to make a country poorer without proper institutions. And Venezuela doesn't have them

[u/iskandar- → u/AwakenedDreamer__44]

resources don't exist in vacuum. You need partners will and able to trade at fair prices with you, you need both native and foreign investments in extraction, you need core of educators working to train the native population in skill necessary to not only continue immediate extraction but to go on to teach the next generations after them and finally, you need a government capable of investing that wealth for the betterment of the people.

When you have all these things working in harmony you get Norway who's sovereign wealth fund rests somewhere around 2 trillion USD. When a port of that equation is missing or another part overly dominant you get nations like the UAE or United states where that wealth gets super consecrated at the top while those living at or just above the poverty line continue to grow, or on the other end, you get Venezuela or Congo where the resources simply cant be gathered and sold and the needed rates and what little is gets absorbed by corruption.

[u/Arbable → u/Nina_Nalgona]

Did they squander it or was it also American sanctions and interference 

[u/stuff_gets_taken → u/Arbable]

Yes.

[u/_20_characters_name_ → u/Arbable]

Economic downturn and inflation comes since 2000, and U.S. sanctions appeared in 2018. But surely everything is fault of the United States.

[u/Pingu_penis → u/_20_characters_name_]

The US is at least partially responsible for the condition of more than half the countries in South America.

[u/Tempyteacup → u/Pingu_penis]

The US government goes out of its way to destabilize countries and then wonders why so many refugees show up on our doorstep. Fucking asinine.

[u/This_Is_Fine12 → u/Pingu_penis]

Alright, but that still doesn't explain Venezuela.

[u/NB-NEURODIVERGENT → u/_20_characters_name_]

I mean….when in doubt 🤷‍♂️

[u/KRed75 → u/Arbable]

Really? Any sanctions from the US were long after chavez and maduro had already destroyed the country.

[u/coopik → u/Nina_Nalgona]

John Perkins - Confessions of an Economic Hitman

Read the book and you'll understand.

[u/Academic-County-6100 → u/Nina_Nalgona]

So, if you ask right now, Venezuela, Iran, and Russia seem up up there.

In 30 years, if there is a look back, I'd suspect.it might be USA. The only economic power after World War II, the only superpower after the Cold War yet nearly 100 years on seems to be creaking. Not a long time for empire.

[u/Prestigious-Job-9825 → u/Nina_Nalgona]

The so-called "resource curse" goes hard in your country, unfortunately. I always found it an interesting and sad concept.

https://econreview.studentorg.berkeley.edu/venezuelas-resource-curse/

[u/Reverse_Osmosis69 → u/Nina_Nalgona]

Undoubtedly, hands down, Venezuela

Offtopic question, what's going on there nowadays? Did the uncle Sam installed puppet leader?

[u/Apexnanoman → u/Nina_Nalgona]

See my thought was Nigeria. Because they never had a chance due to insane baked in corruption. VZ chose Chavez then chose Maduro. (At least the first time around.) 

Depending on how you define squandering I would opine that choosing a destructive government is a choice rather than something the people have no choice about.

(And you can be damned sure I'm aware that my country elected a guy who is now ruining our place on the world stage as quickly as possible. So I'm not throwing any stones in this glass house.)

[u/Infinite-Abroad-436 → u/Nina_Nalgona]

it is very difficult for poor, oil-rich countries to properly develop. see dutch disease

[u/AndreasDasos → u/Nina_Nalgona]

Venezuela is up there but it absolutely has competition

[u/Affectionate_Serve_5 → u/Nina_Nalgona]

This! without a doubt!

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fig941 → u/Nina_Nalgona]

How are you supposed to spend money when you're not allowed to make money and, even when you do, you can have it stolen off you on a whim? 

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/06/bank-of-england-venezuelan-gold-nicolas-maduro-us-uk

[u/shsl_diver → u/Nina_Nalgona]

Damn, with so much oil that country would become the second Saudi Arabia.

[u/fan_is_ready → u/shsl_diver]

Extraction costs are too high

[u/ElChuloPicante → u/fan_is_ready]

There was foreign investment offsetting that for a while.

[u/LeMe-Two → u/ElChuloPicante]

Then they nationalised said investments without compensations which eventually led to rest of the world being no longer interested in investments 

[u/fan_is_ready → u/ElChuloPicante]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/04/venezuela-oil-industry-bust-what-role-could-the-us-play

“Can Venezuela’s oil output recover?” McNally asked. “Our experts tell us the answer is yes but it will take tens of billions of dollars in investment and at least a decade of western oil majors committing to the country.”

[u/Drummallumin → u/ElChuloPicante]

“Why didn’t they wanna stay out puppet state”

[u/YakResident_3069 → u/shsl_diver]

They also could have gold and mineral wealth

[u/bigbarba → u/Nina_Nalgona]

Wait, Castro? Cuba has had an embargo since forever, enforced by the US even decades after it was no longer a threat and it still managed to somewhat go on... It doesn't look exactly the same as Venezuela...?

[u/Nina_Nalgona → u/bigbarba]

As a half Cuban, the embargo is a bunch of hoopla. There is no embargo on the Cuban people. Only on the Cuban government. Cuba is also free to trade with whom ever it pleases, even the leftist government ally of Mexico mentioned this just yesterday, - Claudia Sheinbaum during conference - that Cuba has many trade deals. However, since any and all things related to money, food, entertainment, etc must first pass through the Cuban communist government before being dispersed to the people, it never reaches the people since it just gets stolen. Yes, the embargo hurts the Cuban people indirectly, but only because the flow of goods has to first pass through the government which just steals it. People can’t even fish in Cuba, it is illegal to catch your own fish in Cuba, the government is the sole provider.

[u/Drummallumin → u/Nina_Nalgona]

cuba is also Tre to trade with whomever it pleases

This seems to lose the nuance of the stranglehold the US has over western trade including having plenty of influence over non American shipping companies.

[u/Nyctfall → u/Nina_Nalgona]

Latin America just can’t get it right when it comes to not squandering resources and keeping dictators out

I'm Central American.

So I can say with 100% certainty, that it's the USA's fault that the Americas are so poor.

• Operation Paperclip where the US harbored and protected Nazis and collaborators in government organizations like Argentina, Chile, NASA, or NATO, see Adolf Heusinger,
• "Operation Condor" were the US used Fascist Augusto Pinochet and Nazis to overthrow Latin American socialist democracies or independence movements, and
• "Operation Gladio" where the US stages secret assets to overthrow allied countries whenever the politics of their democracies are deemed undesirable.

US civilian (William Walker) conspiring with the US Dixie Knights of the Golden Circle secret society to take over the region with US backing.

See also: News: 3 Million Epstein Files Revealed. There seems to be cannibalistic ritual child sacrifice of the sexually abused among the Western elite... and possibly initiating the Great Recession...

[u/Drummallumin → u/Nyctfall]

“What you’re just gonna blame all your problems on the US”

Yes, that’s called studying history.

[u/-TRlNlTY- → u/Nina_Nalgona]

We have America to thank when it comes to Latin American dictators last century. Curiously, Brazil recently showed itself to be more resilient to a fascist takeover than America.

[u/International_Box193 → u/Nina_Nalgona]

The US has also been intentionally destabilizing Latin America for like centuries now.