Arab Nations Lag Behind Rest of The World

[JStone]

Washington Post: Arab nations lag behind rest of world economically, despite oil and natural gas Arab nations lag behind rest of world economically, despite oil and natural gas

Amid a massive shift in the politics of the Arab world, the countries of the region are now confronting an economic challenge that is just as steep: how to engage with a global economy that in many ways has passed them by.

The nations of the Arab Middle East sit atop perhaps half of the planet's oil and a third of its natural gas reserves, yet the economies of the region are among the most stagnant.

Hundreds of billions of dollars in hydrocarbon wealth and other receipts - for instance, in the case of Egypt, revenue from the Suez Canal and U.S. foreign aid - have propped up undemocratic governments and subsidized swollen public sectors. But little has been done to create globally competitive economies or employment for a burgeoning number of young adults.

The reasons for this poor record are varied, including repeated wars with Israel and each other, widespread corruption and the overwhelming presence of ruling cliques in the economy.

"We are at a crossroads in terms of governance, but also at a crossroads in terms of the economic agenda," said Tarik Yousef, head of the Dubai School of Government and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Like other scholars, he noted that many other parts of the developing world have sped ahead of the Middle East.

Economists cite a long list of statistics that point to chronic under-performance, sometimes masked by the flow of oil and other wealth but corrosive in the long run.

Even if Arab countries begin to energize their economies, they are late to the global competition and will face a tough battle vying for international capital and business. It is a world in which China has staked its place as the global manufacturing hub, other developing countries from Malaysia to Brazil have established themselves as international players, and modern logistics have made the Middle East's proximity to Europe less of an advantage.

 

[High_Gravity]

The problem is they don't spend their money right, things like quality of life, education, jobs etc. are not high on their priority lists, The Arab world is a strange place in that regard. I have been to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on deployment with the Military and I have seen some beautiful places like shopping malls, restaurants, etc. that were very nice and well kept, but than I saw large swaths of those countries that were total utter shit holes, there is trash all over the freeways, dogs running loose in the streets, third country nationals from India and Bangladesh living in 1 bedroom apartments that should be condemned with 20 or 30 people in each one, these are problems they could very easily fix with their money but they don't want to, and they are content with it.

 

[JStone]

The problem is they don't spend their money right, things like quality of life, education, jobs etc. are not high on their priority lists, The Arab world is a strange place in that regard. I have been to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on deployment with the Military and I have seen some beautiful places like shopping malls, restaurants, etc. that were very nice and well kept, but than I saw large swaths of those countries that were total utter shit holes, there is trash all over the freeways, dogs running loose in the streets, third country nationals from India and Bangladesh living in 1 bedroom apartments that should be condemned with 20 or 30 people in each one, these are problems they could very easily fix with their money but they don't want to, and they are content with it.

The saudi royal family has 10,000 members with a penchant for expensive cars, jewels, suits, gambling junkets, ski chalets and prostitutes. Prince Bandar has a $100 million place in Colorado for sale

 

[High_Gravity]

The problem is they don't spend their money right, things like quality of life, education, jobs etc. are not high on their priority lists, The Arab world is a strange place in that regard. I have been to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on deployment with the Military and I have seen some beautiful places like shopping malls, restaurants, etc. that were very nice and well kept, but than I saw large swaths of those countries that were total utter shit holes, there is trash all over the freeways, dogs running loose in the streets, third country nationals from India and Bangladesh living in 1 bedroom apartments that should be condemned with 20 or 30 people in each one, these are problems they could very easily fix with their money but they don't want to, and they are content with it.

The saudi royal family has 10,000 members with a penchant for expensive cars, jewels, suits, gambling junkets, ski chalets and prostitutes. Prince Bandar has a $100 million place in Colorado for sale

They have all that, yet large swaths of their country is a third world shit hole with sky rocketing illiteracy rates.

 

[JStone]

The problem is they don't spend their money right, things like quality of life, education, jobs etc. are not high on their priority lists, The Arab world is a strange place in that regard. I have been to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on deployment with the Military and I have seen some beautiful places like shopping malls, restaurants, etc. that were very nice and well kept, but than I saw large swaths of those countries that were total utter shit holes, there is trash all over the freeways, dogs running loose in the streets, third country nationals from India and Bangladesh living in 1 bedroom apartments that should be condemned with 20 or 30 people in each one, these are problems they could very easily fix with their money but they don't want to, and they are content with it.

The saudi royal family has 10,000 members with a penchant for expensive cars, jewels, suits, gambling junkets, ski chalets and prostitutes. Prince Bandar has a $100 million place in Colorado for sale

They have all that, yet large swaths of their country is a third world shit hole with sky rocketing illiteracy rates.

Thomas Friedman remarked once that oil has been a curse for the Arab world as it has made them lazy. He said the Arabs obsess on the Israelis while the Israelis are too busy doing business deals to waste their time on the Arabs.

 

[High_Gravity]

The saudi royal family has 10,000 members with a penchant for expensive cars, jewels, suits, gambling junkets, ski chalets and prostitutes. Prince Bandar has a $100 million place in Colorado for sale

They have all that, yet large swaths of their country is a third world shit hole with sky rocketing illiteracy rates.

Thomas Friedman remarked once that oil has been a curse for the Arab world as it has made them lazy. He said the Arabs obsess on the Israelis while the Israelis are too busy doing business deals to waste their time on the Arabs.

Even the Arab countries without oil like Yemen and Lebanon are third world shit holes with mind blowing illiteracy rates.

 

[JStone]

They have all that, yet large swaths of their country is a third world shit hole with sky rocketing illiteracy rates.

Thomas Friedman remarked once that oil has been a curse for the Arab world as it has made them lazy. He said the Arabs obsess on the Israelis while the Israelis are too busy doing business deals to waste their time on the Arabs.

Even the Arab countries without oil like Yemen and Lebanon are third world shit holes with mind blowing illiteracy rates.

An old arab islime adage is that the mind is like a donkey and when you enter the house of allah you leave the donkey outside. Another one is knowledge is infidelity.

When education, democracy and freedom are viewed as some kind of Western threat, how can there be any hope for them?

 

[High_Gravity]

Thomas Friedman remarked once that oil has been a curse for the Arab world as it has made them lazy. He said the Arabs obsess on the Israelis while the Israelis are too busy doing business deals to waste their time on the Arabs.

Even the Arab countries without oil like Yemen and Lebanon are third world shit holes with mind blowing illiteracy rates.

An old arab islime adage is that the mind is like a donkey and when you enter the house of allah you leave the donkey outside. Another one is knowledge is infidelity.

When education, democracy and freedom are viewed as some kind of Western threat, how can there be any hope for them?

I think you just nailed it right there.