Young Saudis See Cushy Jobs Vanish Along With Nation’s Oil Wealth

I'm not impressed by Saudi Arabia son. Besides the absolutely rampant racism and religious fundamentalism, the terrorism problem is big here. Then again what do you expect? I have seen the university syllabus and have interviewed Saudis and worked with them. The syllabus of most of the Saudi universities is shit. Teachers are shite. Atrocious. For a rich country to have such shitty university is a travesty. 

With some honourable exceptions, they are spectacularly unsuited for modern life. Professional middle class jobs or vocational jobs are simply out of the question. Entrepreneurship is minuscule. So what can you do with quarter of a million Saudis who enter the job market? Some wrenching changes are in train. And unfortunately you and I will see a large proportion of these young Saudis swelling the ranks of the jehadis. 
This will cause us problems. And the steps the Saudis are taking by embarking on two wars is very bad. A giant country like USA finds it difficult to wage war properly. Saudi Arabia will pay very heavily for its Yemeni and Syrian mistakes. And us as well.

Not good

Love

Baba



Young Saudis See Cushy Jobs Vanish Along With Nation's Oil Wealth
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/world/middleeast/young-saudis-see-cushy-jobs-vanish-along-with-nations-oil-wealth.html
(via Instapaper)

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Saudi men leaving a mosque in Riyadh last year. For decades, the royal family has used the kingdom's immense oil wealth to lavish benefits on its people, including free education and medical care, generous energy subsidies and well-paid government jobs. Tomas Munita for The New York Times

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — In pressed white robes and clutching crisp résumés, young Saudi men packed a massive hall at a university in the capital city this month to wait in long lines to pitch themselves to employers.
It was one of three job fairs in Riyadh in two weeks, and the high attendance was fueled in part by fear among the younger generation of what a future of cheap oil will mean in a country where oil is everything.
For decades, the royal family has used the kingdom's immense oil wealth to lavish benefits on its people, including free education and medical care, generous energy subsidies and well-paid (and often undemanding) government jobs. No one paid taxes, and if political rights were not part of the equation, that was fine with most people.
But the drop in oil prices to below $30 a barrel from more than $100 a barrel in June 2014 means that the old math no longer works. Low oil prices have knocked a chunk out of the government budget and now pose a threat to the unwritten social contract that has long underpinned life in the kingdom, the Arab world's largest economy and a key American ally.