How the World's Richest Country Bankrupted Itself

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How a tiny Pacific island became the world's richest country, only to lose it all.
- Contents of this video ----------------------------
0:00 The Nation that Lost Everything
4:44 A Not So Pleasant Island
7:52 A Stinky Discovery
9:30 Turning an Island into Fertilizer
13:06 The Richest Country on Earth
16:35 How to Bankrupt a Country
22:27 The Prison Colony’s Prison Colony
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Hayden Haun, Emmanuel Fredenrich, Pulaski, A Fan, robin valero
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- Sources used ---------------------------------------
restructuring.ra.kroll.com/FT...
www.theguardian.com/business/...
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/da...
www.nytimes.com/1982/03/07/ma...
Connell, J. (2006). Nauru: The first failed Pacific State? The Round Table, 95(383), 47-63. doi:10.1080/00358530500379205
devpolicy.org/nauru-riches-to...
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes...
micronesia.un.org/en/about/re...
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...
borgenproject.org/addressing-...
theconversation.com/how-the-e...
#Economics #History #Nauru #CasualScholar #EconomicHistory #NauruHistory #WorldsRichestCountry #Resource Curse

[@CasualScholar]

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[@dankuser8303]

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[@tridentOnYT]

​@@dankuser8303documents leak a lot that are classified

[@fullflow1453]

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[@ffff7164]

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[@kevinwells1800]

war thunder

[@Mark.Harrington]

I went to Nauru on a ship in 1978, delivering 1500 tonnes of fresh water and then loading 35,000 tonnes of phosphate. Four of us the boat ashore to look around and whilst walking along the road a local passed by and offered us a drive round the island. I was 20 at the time and it seemed like a paradise, now 45 years later, I'm feeling sad for Nauru.

[@Robert-hy3vv]

Why? They had all that money and wasted it away with awful socialist policies instead of investing into the development of their island and trying to decouple themselves from mining money because when the mining money ran out what happened? Oh bankrupt.

[@svenlima]

I feel pity for the people of Nauru. The elders were greedy and the children will live in poverty on a destroyed island.

[@ffff7164]

@@user-fw5pk5qp3q They should stop using “colonizer” technology.

[@Ttdogi]

Who ran the country when colonizers left? Who got the money? Stop blaming others for your failure and greed

[@marcvb3364]

Basically what is happening worldwide. It's a good insight into our futures, sadly.

[@user-fw5pk5qp3q]

@@Ttdogi I guess the world is doomed either way then... The only thing that will probably help mother earth is an asteroid that will erase us humans from existence, were all just a parasite to mother earth anyway 😔

[@davidhoward4715]

@@user-fw5pk5qp3q Yes!

[@chrisporto6716]

I remember learning about this place like 20 years ago in college when a class when it was brought up in a class discussing the rush for Guano (phosophrus ore) in the Pacific in the mid 1800s. By that time, it was thought they were going to take their sovereign wealth fund and just move off the island back then, but no one knew how badly they botched fund. Our professor basically put it like this: They sold of their own island, piece by piece, until there was virtually nothing left.

[@ROXANNE708]

Casual Scholar has a video on Bird Shit, its good!

[@rbdan]

Using a sovereign wealth fund to move everyone off the island is actually a genius plan, I wish we could have seen the geopolitical implications of that.

[@OneMoreTank]

I was thinking they could have used a portion of the profits from the phosphate to refurbish the depleted land as they went. Ships could leave with the phosphate, and instead of coming back empty, come back with topsoil. Topsoil would cost a tiny fraction of what the phosphates sold for but would have enabled them to start cultivating the land. That way they wouldn't have been dependent on outside food and would have gradually restored the tourism value of the island. That's just one idea. Regardless of the specifics, I think they really ought to have invested into developing the island rather than dumping money into foreign assets.

[@jeffbybee5207]

This would have been good and logical. However it also said the topsoil was removed before mining so where did that soil go? Lastly they said some production still occurs from "secondary deposits" is that newly deposited guano by birds still using the island?

[@kaiserwhence2468]

@@jeffbybee5207it takes millions of years for them to form

[@Algimantaz]

@@julm7744hummus?

[@Algimantaz]

Thats a good idea, unfortunately they were prolly so rich that the idea of becoming farmers, which they had never traditionally been (they’d only subsisted off of gathering nuts n breadfruit from the forest, not farming), seemed unnecessary. Why would u do hard labor many hrs a day when instead u can buy a bunch of businesses abroad and make rent from being a landlord? Its shockingly short sighted but thats the power of vast wealth

[@alexpotts6520]

Hindsight is 20-20, right?

[@KPW2137]

I still remember reading a newspaper in the early 90s about Nauru, the wealthiest nation and the wealthiest island in the world. It's insane how it changed within such a short time.

[@kerrryschultz2904]

Easter Island all over again.

[@davidnelson7407]

I lived in Palau in the early 1980s and went to school in Singapore. One time, the school scheduled a flight on Air Nauru. My dad told them, "Absolutely not!" It was well known that you could get stranded or have very delayed flights if you flew on Air Nauru. One time the president's wife forgot her purse and the plane turned around and went back to get it when they were nearly to their destination. I sure would have been ticked off to almost be to my destination only to be turned around and flown back to where I started. Thank you for a great overview of the history of Nauru.

[@dasi2957]

Oh that’s interesting. Where were y’all flying too though? Cuz I’m singaporean and there’s no flights that Air Nauru serves from SG?

[@davidnelson7407]

IIRC, it was from Manila to Guam or Palau to Guam. Back then there was no direct flight from Manila to Palau so I had to go through Guam and Manila or Japan then to/from Singapore.

[@vladimirrashkovsky6274]

Imagine letting your wife abuse your power as president to turn around a plane because she forgot her purse. Figures he can’t manage a marriage let alone a country.

[@maddog6397]

​@@vladimirrashkovsky6274very well said

[@inkbold8511]

@vladimirrashkovsky6274 incel much?

[@paragkale1159]

I remember reading in the mid 1970s about Nauru being the richest country in the world. It was with its investments that a phosphate refining plant was set up in Paradip on the east coast of India. A few years later I read that Nauru is running out of phosphate and has decided to demolish the president's official residence so that it could be mined from the grounds below. I also read of wasteful habits of the government that had crippled the economy. The writing was on the wall. It was just a matter of time before the once prosperous nation became bankrupt. It is truly a moral lesson to all humanity.

[@kf510]

once "prosphaterous" nation

[@danduarte7010]

Joe Biden seems to be turning America into another Naru!😮

[@JohnSchuetz-js7lk]

You may not realize this, but this story is playing out in real time again in a certain country. The hand that feeds it is eating it.

[@raditts]

"In the end, the government of Nauru learned absolutely nothing from their mistakes."

[@gcolombelli]

No different from other governments, then...

[@lamh5265]

In the United States there has been advise given by predecessors. For example, George Washington advised, paraphrased, don't get entangled in business with foreign governments. The early Jeffereson held a red light to Islam and chose to study it abstractly via books because he did not understand it. Many on the left wanted to send Africans back to Africa after slavery or to a carribean Island for resettlement. Who knows why humans can not listen and accept a hold and be better prepared for the consequences. Miles Davis said in playing Jazz improvisation, "it is not about the "wrong" note you play, but about the one you play next that is important". Sometimes, there are too many unskilled thinkers involved in a decision, manipulating the aftermath, which leads to negative outcomes, mistakes, veering off course, or derailments, and miscalculations ect. Sometimes, "they" don't know the next step. "Their" lack of knowledge is a mistake, not the project.

[@chriscarey1478]

It's a shame no one had the foresight to include in the mining contract a clause to require the developers to import top soil to restore the land as they worked, run those ships loaded both ways. Perhaps they couldn't restore all, but much could have been put back to gardens/farms/Forrest.

[@RUHappyATM]

But where are you going to get fresh water? Desal plants? That would require energy, NO?

[@randompersonyoudontknow5763]

@@RUHappyATM They could've plant native plants, and some native plants are edible so they could've done a large focus on environmental tourism after post phosphate economy while also having a steady of edible food

[@ShinyaMerveilles66]

given that phosphate mining kicked off in the early 1900s, and effectively the last time such a contract couldve been made was at independence, which still pre-dates the modern environmental movements........ mightve been a good idea but nobody back then thought that far ahead

[@TexRex6352]

When I heard the intro saying this used to be the world's richest country but it was also a tiny island I asked myself "Is this about bird poop island." 8 minutes later: "Yeah, it's bird poop island."

[@beveG]

After writing 120 pages on Nauru's economy. I'll have a few comments here. 1- great video, always a pleasure to see someone tackling this unbelievable subject 2- population displacement was always an idea in the colonial mind. Many official studies states that after the phosphate mining, the island would probably be too destroyed to live on. You can find these kind of statements from the 1920's to the independance. To be fair, the colonial inheritance is huge in Nauru economic history. The social structure of the island wasn't prepared for colonial extractivism, and colonial powers (mainly Australia) never planned to leave an habitable island as it was "too costly". My thesis final point is that colonial powers and their absence of economic diversification are the original flaw. 3- Nauruans actually never went to school, if you're paid for living, why bother ? Most Nauruans were employed by the government, as in Saudi Arabia. But they also never worked the phosphate themselves. Most skilled labor was Australian, and cheap work was imported in the form of fidjians or philippinos. Because of that, Nauruans never really learned by doing. At the crises the population was too unskilled to get any job outside of Nauru. 4- an other interesting point is that Nauru is now the leading country sponsoring deep sea mining in the CCZ. They already asked the ISA for authorization, that is technically approved after the end of the 2 year rule last July. The rent economy mining is still in the minds of nauruans, because that's what they did for the last century. When you look at it, Nauru's economic history is a lock in, in rent economics. When phosphate rent disappeared, they looked for finance rent, then human rent, and now deep sea mining. And this lock in is born because of the Australian colonial power. 5- last but not least, Nauru is archetypal case of a natural resources mono economy, an ecocide and a state failure, but you can find most of their mistakes in a lot of countries such as Saudi Arabia, Brazil, East Timor, Algeria, Russia and even Norway ! Don't blame Nauruans too harshly. Thanks to those who read all of this, and once again thanks for the video !

[@clivematthews95]

Saudi Arabia could learn a thing or two here. Thank you for the further additional information

[@beveG]

@@clivematthews95 so many countries could. Saudi Arabia is trying to artificially boost their nationals employment by creating a "local personnel requirement" for big companies. They also tried to produce agricultural goods back in the early 2010's, but gave up on it in 2016 due to water costs. They're investing a lot in public image to try to get tourism going, and they also hold the biggest sovereign fund in the world. If you're pessimistic concerning the world energy transition, Saudi Arabia also produces the cheapest marketable oil in the world, so their rent is here to stay a few additional decades. If you're looking for countries that should learn fast, I'll point at East Timor, Algeria, Russia, Equatorial Guinea or Ecuador.

[@RUHappyATM]

I agree. Further, i would add that there's not much arable land to sustain the population.

[@samgrillo1]

Thanks for sharing this, it was a very interesting reading

[@astramilitarum876]

Great point! But Russia and learning is two things that rarely stood together in a sentence.

[@Centristlol]

I often wonder why countries like Nauru even bothered with independence. The writing was surely on the wall that phosphate was a poisoned well.

[@deidresable]

It was colonial plan to weaken them by independence dream then enter corporate greed. We see it in that area like papua new guniea, timor leste, bougenville and vanuatu

[@gaiuszeno1331]

​@@deidresableit was their corporation and theit greed

[@deidresable]

@@gaiuszeno1331 It was done by austrialia govt to let their company enter by selling freedoom and demoncrazy because the government have an image to maintain

[@bobbatons1720]

@@deidresable Oh again it' the colonisers. YTou people... You screw up big but still it's the Whites the root of your problems.

[@Occone10413]

@@deidresable So even when they dig the literal hole themselves, it gets twisted as a "the white man did it" story. lol

[@nimblehuman]

I went to International School Manila in the 1980's. Right next to our school in Makati was a skyscraper called the Pacific Star, whose logo was the same bright star as on the flag of Nauru. We used to joke that one could arguably fit all Nauruans in that one tower. I remember seeing the arc welders high up in the tower while it was under construction.

[@itsROMPERS...]

The sad cycle is that some people are in a rich country and think, "it won't hurt them if i skim some off this off", then when things go bad people think, "this place is screwed no matter what i do, so i might as well get rich off them. Besides if i don't rob them, someone else will." And so goes the world.

[@kallebirgersson710]

The polar opposite to how Norway manages its oil revenue

[@MagicMike_101]

Norway and Canada are rare examples of good use of natural resources for society, not power, leading to bankruptcy.

[@parag_Parag]

This is because both nations saw systematic development of wealth... Not overnight greed... You'll use pencil as responsible if you buy it with hard earn money... Rather than easy coming...African nations are poor and Norway and Canada is rich for the same reason...

[@schoolofgrowthhacking]

@@parag_Parag Population of Norway = 5 million Population of Democratic Republic of Congo = 96 million Birth control plays a big role, poor countries have too many mouths to feed

[@_.13_]

​@MagicMike_101 I don't think you're educated about Canada's resources n how it handles it, if you we're you wouldn't make that statement bro

[@MagicMike_101]

@@_.13_ Oh, if you don't think like me, I will belittle you and say I am right. I hope you have a nice day.

[@johnl5316]

Phosphate is a key ingredient in fertilizer and is also found in animal feed supplements, food preservatives and industrial products. Florida produces the most phosphate any state - half of all production in the U.S.

[@SamuelLanghorn]

thank you for the profound geological insight.

[@alexlents4689]

I knew it was only a matter of time before you covered this. I’ve been captivated by it ever since I found out about it. It’s legit The Lorax in real life. It’s just fascinating to see a once so prosperous country sink so unbelievably low as inhumane detention camps and providing offshore banking for terrorist organizations (seriously, one of the groups who took advantage of the ridiculously lax offshore banking regulations in the 90’s was literally al-Qaeda) just for a few quick bucks. I do feel for the people stuck there, it’s not their fault their government is so irresponsible and corrupt. I’m sure most kids there today have never had a single ounce of fresh food in their entire lives. The resource curse is real. Also gotta say, the thumbnail for this video is a big step up from your previous ones. Keep it up!

[@picketf]

there is fresh food in the supermarket: fruit, bananas, pineapple cost is exorbitant at $30 a piece but that's that... Since almost all food is imported energy dense food is just more economic to transport and consume. That's why everything is deep fried there. $500'000'000 for housing 22 occupants isn't that bad of a deal. Glad they stopped offshore banking though - now it's just an australian bank operating there

[@zotriczaoh7098]

@@picketf A bit like the UK's Rwanda scheme then. Sadly, not being as wealthy as Autralia, we have only spent £240mn so far but at £50mn per year I expect to make some gains. We can also have a competition to see which government can extract the most poltical benefit whilst sending the fewest possible people to their respective new 'homes' overseas.

[@NFR_Agartala]

Nauru should not have rejected the Australian proposal to relocate its entire population to Curtis island 30 times larger and just 12 kms off the coast of a major economy like Australia 🤦‍♂️

[@TheRezro]

That is not the point. Most of them still profit from illicit activities.

[@ramunasgudauskas7582]

sell your motherland for cash? This is beyond ridiculous. It would be insane if they agreed.

[@NFR_Agartala]

@@ramunasgudauskas7582 nobody wants to even buy their motherland!

[@LordInquisitor701]

That’s the most idiotic idea ever sell your home land for cash, so Australia could just annex it Then relocated on the island to be at the mercy of the Australian government the same governmental that was responsible for their trouble

[@NFR_Agartala]

@@LordInquisitor701 they are already at the mercy of Australian government thru financial aids.

[@Oof-DahReviews-bf4hv]

A prime example of what happens when you see a country get an excessive influx of cash without the properly trained and built infrastructure. They would have been better off getting their people trained and rewarding them with high marks/education. Also, they should have tapered back on the export of phosphate immediately (after full ownership) and started to fix their scared land to prepare for proper agriculture. This way they would still have fertilizer, better agriculture, educated people to manage their assets abroad, and finally a home worthy of coming back to.

[@andrew3203]

You're talking about people providing safe banking for Al-Qaeda and the Mafia. Do those seem like the kind of people that would care about an island? They got rich stealing the investments funds, and selling passports to criminals and terrorists.

[@larryc1616]

Like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain. Once fossil fuels are no longer needed, those lazy oil rich nations will go back looking like Yemen and Afghanistan

[@shauncameron8390]

@@larryc1616 They'll look like Jordan at best.

[@Roel93]

Holy crap! This story is biblical. Nauruans lived in heaven for decades and they could have kept living in heaven for eternity if it wasn't for a handful of corrupt and selfish people. I feel like there is an important lesson in this. Don't let infinite wealth lul you to sleep. Always be on the lookout for evil and don't turn a blind eye to corruption just because "things are going relatively well". I see this in my own country (Belgium) too. We are so mismanaged, we face bankruptcy but people have been playing it down, not worrying when our politicians are clearly lunatics. People in decadent societies are completely and absolutely insane! It's like they don't want a future for their people and offspring.

[@Jack-he8jv]

their houses look like huts, no cars, no major infrastructure, why is anyone calling them rich?

[@RUHappyATM]

People tend not to worry about the future during good times.

[@picketf]

all the wealth means nothing if everyone is worth about the same. That's why government officials stole so much in Nauru. It's human nature to be compensated for work and effort. If you feel more important then you start to feel entitled and that means you expect to earn many times more than every other person. Specially in a society where most don't even have to work. Europeans became complacent after conquering and exploiting the world so after new territories suddenly became "equal" or better in economic output the corruption started to become a trend throughout EU member States. It's hard to grow productivity without exploitation and the economy anywhere in the world is parasitic and unsustainable if there is no exploitation or population growth. The only other thing that can grow the economy is innovation (a ground breaking idea) that is computer technology & artificial intelligence in our time.

[@Properway0]

Oh yeah! This is so similar to our situation in Russia, when (even before the war) people said “well, yes, corruption, but it exists in all countries, we live normally, why complain.” In the end, we have what we have. Corruption and war

[@Roel93]

@@Properway0 Exactly! Just because it's shittier elsewhere doesn't mean we needn't improve here.

[@foxyninjaa]

This feels like when you mess up a game of Tropico

[@pontusborg7642]

"Funny" thing about the pacific solution: While its not often the oceanic route is taken by smugglers, this solutionen created a deterrant to refugees. When people suddenly get sent into whats pretty much a prison, their life at home doesnt seem like a crisis at all.

[@BrettonFerguson]

They should have bought some dirt. Every ship that came in to get phosphates should have first loaded up with fill dirt. It wouldn't need to be perfect potting soil like you buy at the store, just regular cheap fill dirt. Fill the gaps between the coral with cheap dirt. When that is full, then bring in a a layer of topsoil, or compost to make topsoil. If they had done this for the last 20 years, by the time they ran out of phosphates, they could at least have grown food on the island.

[@debbiethomas2622]

Unfortunately, the concept of land reclamation or restoration has only been barely a concept, much less enacted upon in the last few years, and barely at that in first world countries. It takes more than just bringing more soil to an area. Also, in the government and big business eyes, "there's no profit in it..." It takes time and quite a bit of resources for the bare minimums of vegetative habitat to be restored, and man, for the most part, unfortunately, doesn't have the patience for that.

[@itsROMPERS...]

Top soil with any value is much more expensive and rare than you might think.

[@BrettonFerguson]

@@itsROMPERS... Fill dirt, not top soil. I know exactly how much it costs. I used to work construction. The biggest expense would be shipping it. So it would be economically difficult now. However, if they had done this back when they were selling the phosphates, they had empty ships coming to their island already. Loading some dirt before coming wouldn't have cost much extra. Especially not compared to the cost of doing it now when no ships are coming. They could have covered this with an inch of topsoil, or composted to make topsoil, or just left it for nature to grow. Plant some trees. It would be better than rock. Something would grow. This would transform the soil over 20 to 30 years. Just look at Mount St. Hellens. They said it would take 200 years for the soil to recover and plants to grow. But things started growing immediately. In 20 years everything was covered in forest. I'm not saying it would have perfect soil to grow anything. It wouldn't be Eden. They might have to try different types of trees to see which grow best. Try different grasses. Then different crops. I read about a small island off of Ireland. originally It was all stone with zero soil. But some Irish moved out there a few hundred years ago. They arraigned the stones to slow erosion. Then shoveled buckets of sand from the ocean and covered the island with sand. Then collected tons of seaweed and mixed it with the sand. It was extremely salty, but they made topsoil. All the rain Ireland gets probably helped wash some salt out of the soil, but to this day it is salty. Anyway they got some salt tolerant grass from Holland and planted it there. Then they got a type of goat who could eat the grass. They also found a type of potato that would grow there. And planted Barley. Many things still won't grow there, but some things will. If they give up and move to Australia, even if given a reservation of their own, they will lose their culture and identity. In 200 years they will be like any other Australian. Maybe they could build a hotel on the beach. Invite tourists. Whatever they do they should have started 40+ years ago. Instead of the governor buying himself a Lamborghini.

[@BrettonFerguson]

@@debbiethomas2622 They would have had to force the companies to cooperate. Like how they got 5% of the profits. They should have got more, but that's another topic. They should have negotiated another 5% goes toward buying soil. Shipping would have been almost free back then because they had hundreds of empty ships coming to their island every month. Then put dirt where there is none. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would help. Put minimum of 5 feet so trees can grow. Better than just exposed rock.

[@itsROMPERS...]

@@BrettonFerguson right, I know, I didn't say it was impossible, but the people that were commenting that they should have just gotten dirt made it seem like it would be cheap and easy, but as you and I both know, it wouldn't have been. Possible, but not cheap and not easy.

[@me0101001000]

First Josh Brett, and now you. You've both done great work to cover this island's plights from different angles. Well done!

[@ROXANNE708]

Great comment! 🙂

[@yutakago1736]

The moral of the story is that wealth build on bird poo will not last long. However, wealth build on human talent will last longer.

[@casidoll9534]

Love the content! Beautifully written, clear concise information and great voice! Subscribed!

[@tkyap2524]

This vlog can be turned into a textbook on how not to ruin what had been good.

[@reddwarfer999]

An economy rich in bird shit went to rat shit.

[@edgarsnake2857]

What a story! That was a real roller coaster. Great video. Thanks.

[@iamsheel]

Now I understand what a dissident ment when he said "our country will go the way of Nauru"

[@here_we_go_again2571]

If the ocean levels rise; the island will revert to nature (the areas above and as well as below water). It will be the domain of the birds again. Perhaps the people of Narau should make a pact with Australia to relocate to Australia when that time arrives.

[@fackeyutub-emael6545]

Guano is some powerful fertilizer. It can burn your roots. Only a couple of oncues is too much.

[@icylemur2258]

This video was definitely the best you made, it really shows how everything can collapse if you don’t have a plan, can you make a video about the Vatican City next time. 👍

[@kushemchang3957]

My son you have grown so much...keep it up🔥🔥🔥

[@brontewcat]

That was excellent. As an Australian I knew some of this, but this gives me much better overview of the history. I think Australia has a moral obligation to economically support Nauru, but not through detaining asylum seekers.

[@ROXANNE708]

Another amazing video! Great work! 👏🏻

[@jeremytaylor3532]

The area that has been mined out could be leveled and covered with harvested sea kelp several feet thick, which would then compost itself into soil. Also a secondary business could be to accept any compostable plant waste from industrial food processor plants, such as orange or banana peels. This could all be spead over the desolate lands. In a decade they would be fertile. This has been done in other places. And it has worked. Australia could benefit by shipping tons of green bin garbage to compost there instead of running its own composting operation.

[@Adam_Johns]

Of course the Irish guy introduced beer!

[@zacharyhenderson2902]

This is the second or third video that's been recommended to me just today about Nauru. What's going on with that little island?

[@viveka2994]

They're planning something big...

[@jamesmarchetti3286]

I found this video very interesting and after checking your videos list I liked and Subscribed !!!

[@PerpetualPrograstinator]

The secondary arc of that plane is so tragic and hilarious at the same time.

[@ALaughingMan]

Great video mate, well written and good pase. Brilliant execution, you had my attention from start to finish. This has earned you a like and a sub :)

[@Algimantaz]

And a comment!

[@ALaughingMan]

@@Algimantaz Oh yes good point hahah!

[@swazzercool9060]

Enjoyed this, love this original content. Most other geopolitical channels just copy each other and make the same videos

[@poetryflynn3712]

This channel just copies all the others...this has been done before...

[@boijone8440]

the worlds first abundance economy, and they failed this horribly.... our future is bleak indeed.

[@189643478]

It's a known fact that when money is easily earned that it is thrown out through doors and windows...

[@chimagamer4157]

reminds one of mouse utopia

[@skbachoti]

Well presented!

[@RUHappyATM]

A small country without many professionals. Suddenly becoming rich. What could go wrong? Edit: Interest earnings on that 10 billion would be around 400 mils PA. (assume 4% per annum) Divided by 10K citizens, that's 40K per person per year, each man/woman/child. Yup, that's mismanagement. Now I read that it is a sponsor for the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ).

[@Trija204]

I hope everything improves in Nauru 🇳🇷 the people there deserve better.

[@mugiseyebrows]

Their future depends on them

[@chad3232132]

I recall reading up on Nauru several years back and watching some quality videos about it. It really is a tragic story. Such immense wealth on such a tiny island really could have provided the people of Nauru with a high quality of life for generations after after the resource was exhausted. But as with so many other nations where one resource is responsible for creating all the wealth, this story had a tragic ending. In too many cases, the resource curse is a real thing.

[@ktrimbach5771]

Not just a wasted resource - the Love of money.

[@DonnaCsuti-ji2dd]

Not only did they kill many of the people and left the people with no natural food source, they also destroyed an essential breeding ground for sea birds and decimated the many rare plants etc on the island. Truly an environmental and human disaster. So inexcusable and sad.

[@nicholasharvey1232]

This sounds like a textbook example of the resource curse.

[@bigsmiler5101]

At the start of this, we heard about the plot of Sam Bankman-Freid and Effective Altruism. Then we get the history of Nauru up to the present AND WE NEVER AGAIN HEAR ABOUT SAM. Ummm, THAT would've been an interesting video. I mean, like, HUH?

[@ChineseKiwi]

Nauru House is still the name for the building the Nauru government 'invested' in here in Melbourne, Australia. That legacy.

[@boomie54]

This should be a lesson for us all. The earth is an island and it's heading in the same diredtion.

[@stevenr8606]

🙄 I thought people knew⁉️ In Hawai'i the NAURU TOWER was built from funds, sells from guano [bird 💩] 😮 from Nauru .Which is a tiny island country in Micronesia, northeast of Australia.

[@rubberroast1598]

All the citizens of Dubai might want to watch this video.

[@shauncameron8390]

I fear for the future of the Persian Gulf.

[@bitbucketcynic]

That which cannot continue forever will end a lot sooner than you think.

[@tigerscott2966]

Amazing work...thanks.

[@Chance-ry1hq]

From the title of this video, I thought they were talking about the USA.

[@idabthereforeiam7479]

Did this inspire the story of Farcry 1? I mean.... Tropical island, genetic engineering, underground bunker. ?

[@hdfwk4wjj69wjvi8]

This just happened over the last five years?...

[@brenda44414]

There are so many ways to farm that don't envolve harming our earth. All of this is just sad to me

[@loveanimal9444]

It's really good seeing a documentary about the Philippines

[@unformedeight]

Your fun fact of the day: nauru means laughter in finnish

[@oBseSsIoNPC]

Wow, just wow. What a great example for what happens when you are handed wealth so easily. The people of Nauru clearly never had a chance to develop properly with education and be more proficient, to make better choices with their investments. Corruption and bad advice...phew that hits hard. They went about all wrong anyway with making their own life's way to easy and let the gvmt pay for everything. Anyway, I hope nature finds a way to restore the island sometime in the future.

[@Crypto-Tourism-Trade]

Thanks. Awesome Video!

[@666millsy13]

Australia should never have even built that detention centre there, and we also have one at Christmas island and we also had one on an island of Papua new Guinea. As Australia is a signatory to the international convention on refugees, it has a duty of care, and no refugee should have ever been forced away. The construction of all three detention centres cost far more than budgeted. The construction companies and the security companies used had records of corruption, there were strong rumours of visas for sale, and the minister responsible used his power to give a visa to a new Zealander who had convicted of violent crimes and drug convictions, and was in one those detention centres waiting to be deported back to New Zealand. And Nauru detention is still being maintained, even though it has no inmates. The whole history was one of corruption, human rights abuse, with journalists not allowed and those that were , were gagged under threat of imprisonment if they spoke up. And it does nothing for Nauru, as it is just a false hope, it has never been a viable option for Australia, but then we are a very currupt country. It is just hidden fairly well. And is confined to the government, intelligence services and big busdines. A bit of cold, hard truth, but we are entirely controlled by what the US Intel/ military tell us to do

[@ohgiesel]

From a penal colony to the richest country in the world then back to a penal colony

[@brianregan5053]

Nauru’s fate is that of the global population in general.

[@goodwood-rc4nx]

the late Alan Whicker went there and filmed he suggested in the late 70s this was going to happen as cannot depend on a finite resource

[@chadbrownlee3144]

Wow, that's a sad story. They had every opportunity to transition smoothly, bad investments and greed destroyed it and now later generations have to suffer.

[@mattPartey]

This was 1 of the most interesting stories ive heard in a while. Its a real cautionary tale of, watching the company you keep and try and live as Conservative as possible. The main thing he is they where ill advised not by accident as most of the advisors had none of the Nauru peoples best interests and the for front. That being said the leadership should have never have sold out its principles at its core and remembered the devil they had always dealt with in the past never changed. The irony in the story is the first 1 that came was plain example of who they are 😂, he literally came killed people and said it was the natives fault.

[@rubberroast1598]

Hate to say it, but when it gained its independence , it was a victory for their human rights and entitlement, which was great, but they also didnt have the skillset to properly govern themselves and the businesses with such a huge financial treasure. It's like those lottery winners who lose it all within years. they paid their citizens to be leisurely and no one felt need to put in work or education to develop skillsets. Sadly, even here in the west many citizens are living off the system and are also de-incentivised to work and better themselves.

[@vincent_hall]

Underground genetics lab in the Pacific? Sounds like a Peter James book I read.

[@242bleek]

Economies based on harvesting non renewable natural resources is never a good plan. Doing it on a tiny island is just dumb. The leaders could have made it work for them but greed wins at the end of the day.

[@latinhero1818]

This sounds like a mouse utopia experiment applied to a human level.

[@johnl5316]

15:56 "frozen meat from Australia was cheaper than Australia itself." I am sure that Australia cost more than frozen meat. Aussies would be insulted to hear that buying meat was cheaper than buying Australia (which is not for sale)

[@CasualScholar]

😂

[@VinnyNajera-zn7th]

What can I say about this island country I really hope this country never suffers again and these people do not deserve death of obesity.

[@emilys8999]

Great video!

[@randomguy2108]

Heyyy just realised these channels and videos really do be using random videos, 2:02 is in Malaysia hahaha, just a fun observation

[@JeffBilkins]

Sure, they use stock video libraries so i guess this is what comes up for something like 'obese asian islander'. Usable footage from actual Nauru is probably limited.

[@randomguy2108]

@@JeffBilkins True, but kinda funny that obese asian islander is a Malaysian of all places hahah

[@perolden]

Not a word about Bankman-Free's role in making Nauru poorer, because he did not, a false start makes you doubt the other 'facts'. Had he presented Bankman-Free's plans in the end, it would have been more believeable

[@itsROMPERS...]

Bankman-FRIED (pronounced "freed"), not "Bankman-Free".

[@perolden]

@@itsROMPERS... Well, you understood who I meant, and so did the majority of others,so your correction is meningless, and adds nothing. I don't care what his name is.

[@itsROMPERS...]

@@perolden I didn't say you were bad or what you were saying was wrong. I was just advising you on his actual name so you'd know it. Next time you talk about him you'll know his real name, so no one mean can make fun of you, which was something I wasn't doing. Relax, buddy, it's all good!

[@perolden]

@@itsROMPERS... I am still not interested in his name, real or not

[@itsROMPERS...]

@@perolden yeah you are, you're just trying to look cool. Just get over it man.

[@HiggsBoson2149]

This is like the three generations story of the rise and fall of a wealthy family. The first generation works constantly so their children will have a better life. Unfortunately the parents spend so much time working they neglect to teach their children the value of hard work and self reliance. But indeed the second generation are well off, live the life of luxury, and don't have to work at all. But by the third generation there is nothing left, and they are impoverished. And the cycle begins again.

[@lynemac2539]

This sounds like the inspiration for the movie Club Paradise, with Peter O'Toole, Robin Williams, Twiggy, and lots of other great comic actors.

[@yourpcmd]

Who else thought this video was about the US?

[@firstnamesurname8531]

Literally nobody

[@deadringer-cultofdeathratt8813]

@@firstnamesurname8531right

[@katieandkevinsears7724]

It all seemed so easy for them. They forgot they needed to put work into maintaining prosperity.

[@EXIAGN-]

I remember a Greek story "A man eat him self due to overwhelming hunger".

[@MoempfLP]

2:30 This part is very misleading: Nauru didn't have the highest gdp per person in 1975 9:02 Guano contains phosphates not pure phosphorus!

[@eag8999]

I must have missed the part where he explained how tax havens were unethical

[@RUHappyATM]

Poor people usually don't give a shite about ethics.

[@classic.cameras]

Gotta say to this "No Other Country" as I look outside in Canada. In Canada every citizen could drive whatever the most expensive car is available would we be like Nauru. There are so much riches in this country it boggles the mind. Then again, Canada is beautiful and I would rather not see it stripped for Bird Crap like Nauru did. So...

[@andrew3203]

Nauru is 1 millionth the size of Canada. So it will take a million years to strip the entire Canada.

[@user-qd7rd1nd6q]

The gist of the story is structurally sound. A lot of the graphics aren't from Nauru. I worked there for a few years recently and still have a lot of Nauruan friends.

[@ktrimbach5771]

Fantastic presentation! I never heard of this. “The LOVE of money is the root of all Evil.” If they would try to live sustainably - live within their means - they might survive. Otherwise, they will be subject to abject penury. Such a sad tale.

[@justskip4595]

Nauru = Laughter in Finnish. When things are looking grim, we tend to say Nauru on kaukana = Laughter is far away. There's some dark humor to be found in those. Unfortunate has been the history of the people at Nauru since regular contact with the outside world started.

[@xcoder1122]

And this is what will happen to the middle east, when their oil runs out or when the world stops using oil the way it does today (e.g. when most transportation and industries in the world are electric and electricity is not produced out of oil or gas). They also spend billions after billions on completely nonsense projects, like building artificial islands that will never pay off, building huge ghost cities where nobody really lives, and building a lot of infrastructure that is only sustainable if you keep pumping huge amount of money into them year after year, instead of doing anything really productive with all their money.

[@andrew3203]

They are also renting famous Instagram models to have 'various acts' with their camel. it only costs about 30k dollars, so why not?

[@plamens2120]

Can we draw a parallel between the situation of the earth as a whole and the island of Nauru?

[@brianestoll]

No

[@faithsrvtrip8768]

No.

[@Kevn37]

Not yet

[@holdupits420]

No

[@shauncameron8390]

No. Not many countries over-relied on natural resources and mismanaged their wealth like Nauru.

[@pooransingh1882]

This is a classic case of easy come easy go. Natural resources must be managed with care.

[@crybabylebongo]

This will happen to the middle east, they are are also extremely dependent on natural resources

[@alexlents4689]

True, but most of them are focusing hard on diversifying into tourism and finance. They would still be hit really hard if the oil ran out today, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world like Nauru.

[@shauncameron8390]

And foreign labor as locals are in position to pick up the slack.

[@dnapolren]

Sudden riches to a country is like a lottery win..

[@nuagor]

This feels like someone's world building script in a novel.

[@rendergartenarts]

Wasn't the phosphate also used for geopolymeric concrete?

[@magnuszerum9177]

If they had invested in conservative dividend bearing stocks they would be fine. They could be gradually rebuilding their islands ecology and hobby farming.

[@SenorTucano]

‘If’

[@andrew3203]

They wanted to steal that money for themselves. Those 'bad' investments were deliberate, as to wash the money away through bad sales and whatnot.

[@magnuszerum9177]

@@andrew3203 it is an ugly tale of theft, sloth, and ignorance for sure.

[@ristube3319]

18:00 I never saw the Russian writing at the bottom of an American $100 bill before!

[@JoeRogansForehead]

This is the desert countries when oil goes by

[@ukqwerty999]

Saudi was one of the poorest countries in the world not so long ago, so yes you are probably right, it is coming.

[@shauncameron8390]

And the foreign migrants stop seeking work there.