How This Central African City Became the World’s Most Expensive

@QueenetBowie YouTube · 23/08/2022 · 👍 11409

Botswana is one of the most stable African nations despite having large diamond mines. It would be cool to see a video on them and why they were able to create a functioning government and keep it going compared to neighboring African nations

@ExBlaz3 YouTube · 23/08/2022 · 👍 4058

I don't think people realize how impressive it is to see the sheer amount of original old footage used in this video. Well done digging them up, WP!

@gouvyfam YouTube · 23/08/2022 · 👍 5707

As an Angolan I appreciate this video. The damage done by corrupt politicians is still a very big concern as most of the people still lack the bare necessities. Good work, you got me subscribed

@KurosakiNaturo YouTube · 17/11/2022 · 👍 228

I'm angolan and live in Luanda, and I'm lucky enough to currently be within the middle-class bracket that can live comfortably, but the stark contrast between poor and rich here is absolutely and glaringly enormous.

@carlosdelosrios4268 YouTube · 24/08/2022 · 👍 2400

I was an expat petroleum engineer working for Chevron in the late 90's in Angola. It was obvious back then that the dos Santos family had a corrupt strangle hold on the massive Angolan natural wealth. Every person of influence in every Angolan company remarkably had the last name dos Santos. It always struct me as tragic that a country with such incredible natural wealth, and at the time a population of only around 11 million, was subject to such extreme poverty and a life expectancy in the mid 40s. I hope Angola, like much of the developing world can overcome the crippling disease of corruption.

@mhkpt YouTube · 24/08/2022 · 👍 1294

I worked in Portugal in 2010-12 and knew many people in the alcohol business, they all talked about how Angolans, along with some Brazilians, were making up pretty much the entire luxury alcohol market. I personally saw an Angolan couple spend over €30,000 in wine and spirits while I was at a wine shop there. Angolan political elites drank Petrus and Louis XIII while Angola continued to have some of the world’s highest child mortality rates. The corruption of the José Eduardo dos Santos regime was outrageous. And I think they also had deals with Deloitte, in return for lucrative consulting contracts with Sonangol and Sonagás, Deloitte would also audit the Angolan elections, partially explaining the Dos Santos incredible margins of victory despite his naked corruption.

@grahamleiper1538 YouTube · 23/08/2022 · 👍 640

Regards Houston Express. That 747 replaced an MD11 that wasn't the most reliable. Nobody got in taxis. You have drivers. Oil companies would often have minibuses. Taxis were/are not deemed safe. Also flights were generally workers, managers and technical experts rather than executives. "Executives" get their own plane. They're not going to stand for two hours in a queue at Immigration. Now people are generally flying on scheduled airlines - from the US that's usually via Frankfurt. Things a lot better now than 20 years ago for most, but way too much money has left the country. Hopefully the elections tomorrow stay generally peaceful. First one since Dos Santos died.

@blackjackjoe7 YouTube · 26/10/2023 · 👍 38

When I was 14/15 years old, I lived in Luanda with my parents in 1966-67. My father was a diesel engineer working for Gulf Oil as part of the first crew to begin drilling off of Cabinda on a huge flotation rig. Angola was a beautiful country and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Many stories to tell about that time. It is sad what happened in the 1970s and 80s with civil war, then again the corruption of the 2010s that derailed a chance for the population to improve on their condition. I hope they can get things straightened out.

@C0n7ax YouTube · 25/08/2022 · 👍 656

Angola is mentioned prominently in: "The Looting Machine". Another example of a country whose leaders' financial success depends solely on resource extraction by multi-nationals rather than the taxation of it's citizens. This circumstance leads to the needs of the general population being completely irrelevant as their prosperity, or lack thereof, has no impact on the capacity of the corrupt to enrich themselves.

@david4396 YouTube · 23/08/2022 · 👍 702

I lived in Luanda for 4 years and this is pretty accurate, except the prices which you could get around. Also about LIS (Luanda International School) most capitals in Africa and the world have private IB schools so this isn't really very rare.