North America's Future is Reflected in South America's Past
500 years of history, combined with recent events, create a compelling cautionary tale and explanatory framework for the Venezuelan takeover and invasion.
Neoextractivism: America's Southern Future
The 500-year pattern of imperial resource extraction is repeating
500 Years of Extraction
- Spanish colonial forces extracted 80% of world's silver supply from South America (1545-1800)
- 8 million indigenous laborers died in Potosí mines under forced labor (mita) system
- By 1600, Potosí was larger than London, Paris, or Madrid, population 160,000
- The pattern: extract resources, suppress populations, ship wealth to imperial centers
The American Wealth Transfer
- In 2023 alone: $3.9 trillion transferred upward, enough to give every worker a $32,000 raise
- Bottom 90% share of income fell from 67% (1975) to 47% (2019)
- Top 1% share doubled from 9% to 22% of all taxable income
- If growth remained equitable, median household income would be double what it is today
The Compliance Machine
- American Dream (house, car, 2.5 kids) now economically impossible for majority
- Marketers sell granular pleasures: Doritos, Coke, Ozempic as substitutes for prosperity
- Education became debt-accumulation: credentials plus six-figure obligations
- Default setting: sheepdog compliance, small monthly payments, five-times-over car loans
Venezuela: The New Extraction Target
- Venezuela holds 17-18% of global oil reserves, more than Saudi Arabia (267B barrels)
- Current production: only 1 million barrels/day (was 3.5 million in 1990s)
- U.S. Gulf Coast refineries were built specifically to process Venezuelan heavy crude
- Rebuilding infrastructure would require $100-180 billion over 10-15 years
The Cultural Destination
- South America: centuries of extraction created deep institutional distrust, subversion culture
- When every institution extracts, populations learn to evade, not participate
- American defiant spirit still exists, but resignation/domination model erodes it yearly
- The choice: recognize extraction and refuse it, or become post-extraction survivors
The Connecting Thread
The colonial powers of Spain and Portugal perfected a model in South America: identify resource-rich regions, install extractive infrastructure, suppress indigenous populations through forced labor, and ship raw materials to imperial centers. This model operated for three centuries and left a cultural residue: populations that deeply distrust institutions, evade official channels, and assume every system is designed to exploit them.
Americans are being trained for the same outcome. The marketing machine that once sold the American Dream now sells resignation: small consumer pleasures, crushing debt presented as manageable monthly payments, and compliance with conditions any reasonable person would reject. The $79 trillion transferred upward since 1975 is domestic extraction by different means.
The turn toward Venezuela signals that domestic extraction has reached its limits. The question is whether Americans retain enough of their defiant, norm-rejecting spirit to recognize extraction and refuse it. If they do, the South American cultural fate is avoidable. If they do not, they will join their southern neighbors in the post-extraction condition: surviving rather than thriving, distrusting rather than participating.
Please Complete our Reader Survey if you have constructive feedback!
It's at this link and takes only a few minutes to complete!
Author
As a progressive strategist and organization builder, my passion lies in unlocking the potential of great people to thrive in a crowded landscape. LUD does just that.
Sign up for Lift Up Democracy newsletters.
Stay up to date with curated collection of our top stories.