Beware of Social Scientists Who May Be Marxists

In the July 16 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, Saleem H. Ali reviews two books.

The first book is entitled, "The Race For What's Left" by Michael Klare. He considers the subject in the concept of what social science research has developed as the "resource curse". This broad ranging theory suggests that mineral wealth has negative effects on countries possessing such mineral wealth. He uses diamonds and colombium/tantalum ore as examples for fueling conflict in Central Africa.This is not always the case, as I am reminded of the discovery that vanadium strengthens steel and that the first significant vanadium mine was in the high reaches of Peru. There is no record of internal conflict.

Even so, we cannot dispute the fact that the nature of man is to seize whenever possible the assets of another person. We see this in legal cases challenging wills, in civil wars for control of government, the stealing of production know-how, etc. While all of those ancillary matters are regrettable, it makes no sense to consider that the basic material should somehow be declared of no value so that there is no contest.

Klare also points out that mineral resource capture cannot be accomplished without use of energy. So what? That is the cost of doing business. It comes in only as a factor for judgment in determining the value of a project.
Klare finally reveals himself as an environmental Marxist by suggesting that the wealth of a producer should be confiscated by high taxation, so that this wealth can be better distributed across the population.

The second book is entitled "The Oil Curse" by Michael Ross. Ross has support from from nonprofit organizations Oxfam and Revenue Watch, of which the latter is an activity of George Soros. There's no indication that these organizations promote wealth distribution in the traditional Marxist sense, but the involvement of George Soros justifies keeping a watchful eye.

Ross's book tends to be rather abstract, as indicated by the fact that the "curse" results from oil's scale, source, stability, and secrecy. My feeble mind finds difficulty in connecting these attributes to some negative conclusion. For example, he somehow tries to relate these attributes to women's rights in the Middle East.

The most interesting aspect is that reviewer Ali seemed to have a general negative attitude, similar to mine, 
toward both of these books. I thought this surprising, since C&EN writers generally have leftist leanings. It all became clear when I noticed at the end that Ali is director of the Center for Social Responsibility for Mining at the University of Queensland in Australia, and therefore is not a direct part of the C&EN culture.