Liquids Reevaluated

If someone wants to get rich quick they dream of striking oil. Possession of this vital substance is a quick path to riches. It is also a quick path to influence. Not all of the oil-rich nations are world superpowers but no one can expect to go against them for very long without suffering severe economic consequences no one wants to be responsible for.

The problem is that for many centuries the world survived without oil. There were no engines that needed it. Furthermore there are greater and greater efforts by the environmentally-conscious to reduce our dependence on oil. One day we will find alternatives to the black gold and possession of oil will be no more valuable than possession of ointment or turnips.

The way to get rich is to be far-sighted. In the tiny African state of Equatorial Guinea abundant beds of an entirely different liquid have been discovered. If you want to make a fast buck and maintain that wealth forever get there now. It is time to exploit before someone exploits you.

It all happened in February when a small farmer called Joseph Njongwe was digging his patch of land. His spade broke through the layer of dry soil and suddenly sank further than it ever had before. He pulled it out and discovered it was wet with some dirty liquid. He assumed he had hit on an underground spring and rejoiced that his wretched soil would now be fertile. Digging further he soon lost his spade. The spring was big enough to absorb it. He called in experts from the capital to help him. Then the government itself stepped in and dispossessed Mr. Njongwe. He was given a house in Bicoco and all the land for a five kilometre radius was cordoned off. Mr. Njongwe had not discovered a spring. He had discovered the first recorded naturally occurring blood lake.

The Equatorial Guinea government has kept the existence of the lake secret until now. It has only come to light because the government has been bought off. A group of private investors led by the notorious Sir Mark Thatcher has secured the rights to the bed. They are offering shares in it at enormously inflated prices. But in their haste to acquire the rights to the bed they have been caught out in the contract. The Equatorian government has specified the limits of the bed. Neither Sir Mark Thatcher or his fellow investors know that they have been short changed. The blood beds reach far further than the contract states and cover an area twelve times larger than Equatorial Guinea itself. They spread under both land and sea. As no government has a monopoly on the blood lake the whole area is up for grabs. Take your bucket and spade now and catch the first available flight. Unimagined riches await the successful exploiters. It is the Gold Rush all over again.

It is easy to see why blood is far more valuable than oil. Nothing which runs on oil or anything else can be made to work without blood. Without enough of the red stuff to keep people alive nothing can operate. With unlimited blood people can live forever and be healthy forever. They can swap blood to get the right mix and new strains can be developed to make people more efficient at different economic functions. With unlimited blood you can also have unlimited energy. Who needs cars when we can all run at high speed to wherever we want to go? The ownership of blood is the ownership of the whole economic system of the planet and we all now have the chance to be a part of that.

The blood lake centred on Equatorial Guinea has come about as the result of its unfortunate history. In the 1970's dictator Francisco Macias Nguema allegedly massacred three-quarters of his country's population and some governments that followed had equally unsavoury reputations. The shed blood had to go somewhere. This much is understood but the dimensions of the lake have also caused a few more questions to be asked. Why does it spread into Cameroon and Gabon? What has been going on there? And why under the sea? The current theory is that the ships and men lost in the Bermuda Triangle were kidnapped by mermaids and towed to the Equatorian coast where they were done away with by local sea life. No one has seen one of those fat and deadly fish because they would not live to tell anyone if they had. Suddenly this forgotten corner of Africa has become the centre of international interest.

Go to Equatorial Guinea now and you can both rule the world and buy it many times over. Or you could start prospecting at home. The Bloody Meadow at Tewkesbury took its name from the men killed there in a mediaeval battle and the River Avon at Evesham still has its Dead Man's Dump for the same reason. Are there viable blood beds there? Or is France still the best bet? Several noble English families owe their position to possessions stolen from the French in raids during the Hundred Years War. Somewhere in the safes of their grand houses is the record of exactly where they stole their wealth from and how many French people they killed to get it. What is the betting that these families will increase their existing wealth by exploiting the blood beds they created? As always those who have are always best placed to take advantage of new ways of having. But when blood replaces oil as the most valuable commodity of all there will be little left for the have-nots to complain about. If we all have more blood than we will ever need all possessions will become worthless. Finally we will all be equal. All we will need to do is exist to be the wealthiest people who ever existed.