But road transportation is waaay more expensive than water transportation—up to 10x more
These increases in transportation costs seem like not a big deal, but the impact is massive
Because here's the key: doubling transportation costs can reduce wealth by 90%:
• If you 2x transportation costs, you divide by 4x your potential markets
• But network effects grow with the square of nodes. 4^2=16
Doubling transportation costs can reduce trade potential by 16x!
A 16x reduction is a 94% reduction in wealth
Of course, the full 16x is not achieved in reality, and also now transportation costs are low enough that they aren't an obstacle to all types of trade
But the impact on trade is massive, and hidden: You don't know how much trade never happened because transportation costs were too high!
So you should be irate when you hear that the productivity of "Other transportation and support activities"—which includes marine cargo handling—has declined by 29%
(source: )
The most outrageous part is not the rent-seeking behavior of asking for a 77% increase in salaries—an ask they can only do because they have a monopoly
The worst part is that they're blocking automation. Every industry automates to make everything cheaper and get more business. But when you have a monopoly, you don't care. You abuse it.
The worst part is they should be looking forward to it, because, as they say, the work is back-breaking!
The worst part is that it would be better for longshoremen over the long term!
More productivity➡️Cheaper service➡️More business!
It should be a national mandate to allow port automation
Lebanon could be rich, but it's chaotic. Why?
Geography, which is reflected on its flag
You can understand it with just these maps:
🧵
Here's the population density in the Middle East
Lebanon is in the small region of the Levant, surrounded by 4 traditional superpowers: 1. Asia Minor—now Turkey 2. Mesopotamia—now mostly Iraq 3. Persia—now Iran 4. Egypt 5. And also has sea access for Mediterranean superpowers
1. Because 🇱🇧Lebanon is in the middle of these superpowers, they vie for its control 2. Because🇱🇧is smaller, it can't fully assert its independence
Conflict between 🇲🇽Mexico and 🇪🇸Spain, because 🇪🇸 hasn't apologized for its invasion of 🇲🇽 500 years ago
Here's what happened, and why this is ignorant and hypocritical:
1. When the 🇪🇸 arrived to Central America, the Aztecs were in the middle of a brutal conquest (green below)
Ppl don't realize how recent this had been before the arrival of the 🇪🇸
• Tenochtitlan was formed less than 200y earlier
• The 1st king of the Mexica was crowned just 150y earlier
• The Aztec Triple Alliance formed less than 100y earlier
This was not the 1st wave of conquests & massacres in the region. They'd been at it for thousands of years
And the Aztecs were not particularly kind. Tenochtitlan displayed walls of skulls from its enemies
Their rise includes killing & skinning the daughter of an allied king!
Massive floods across the Western world. What pattern do you see?
1. Massive floods in Vienna, carrying cars and everything else on its path.
The Danube is mostly embanked, no floodplains
2. Budapest is underwater
The city is also built on the Danube's floodplain. In fact, most of the Danube has embankments, and the floodplains and dams upstream are not enough to absorb all the water
3. Flood disaster in Głuchołazy, Poland, worst one in 100 years. Why? Because the river is fully embanked, has no floodplains anymore, and goes through the middle of the city
One event made these things possible:
Roman civilization
Industrial Revolution
The oil wealth of Arab countries
Russia's invasions
The Mongol Empire
Globalization
Southern Europe richer than Northern Africa
And more
What was it?
The death of an ocean
I'm super excited about this! AFAIK, nobody has put all these facts together. You're learning about it here 1st!
To understand what happened, we need to start in this region of the world. Do you notice something special?
1. SEAS
It has plenty of huge inland seas! Notice how we can't find such seas anywhere else in the world*
The Mediterranean, Black, Azov, Caspian, Aral and Red Seas (and the Persian Gulf) are all in the same area, either cut off from oceans or connected by very narrow passes.
I've been banging my head on a pbm and I need help, Twitter
Why are there huge dunes on some coasts and not others?
You have dunes like these ones in the Namib desert in Namibia. Why? How do they form? Why only here?
I'll update this thread as I get answers!
Apparently strong, dry winds blow from the interior towards the Atlantic ocean, accumulating the sand. As it accumulates, it blows or falls into the ocean, creating these huge slopes. OK.
You can even see these dunes in the satellite
The obvious question becomes: Why just there and not elsewhere on the Namib desert coast?