Not so vast as our failure

Few people seem to recall that the U.S. was the Saudi Arabia of the world at one time producing more oil than any other country. At the beginning of the last century the U.S. was the greatest oil exporter in the world. 7 out of 8 barrels of oil used in the first and second world wars were U.S. oil barrels. The sale and use of oil is in large part how the U.S. became so rich and powerful. For decades the U.S. was the largest creditor nation in the world. U.S. money, “sound as the dollar”, flooded into countries all over the world as investment capital and at home it allowed the U.S. to fund the greatest investment in pure research, technological advancement and military power that the world has ever seen.
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