Can't Arab countries become wealthy without oil?

[Boner_Jones]

I was watching tv tonight... and on the news they showed these figures about per capita GDP.

Kuwait is highest at $43,000.

Then Saudi Arabia... $17,000.

But they've got oil.

Egypt doesn't have oil... and was near the bottom... $2200. Even when they get $1.5 billion from us every year!

Do Arabs have anything else going for them besides oil?

[Think Different]

If it weren't for the sheer damn luck of their sitting on oil, most of those "Arab" countries would still be living in tents in the desert. The smart ones are looking past the oil days and have invested their money in the stock market and are getting into the financial business. I've always said that those countries today can't even build a functioning bicycle yet they send their best and brightest to study science, engineering, medicine, etc in the West, so they can go back to their home countries and use their knowledge to blow up the "infidels".

In a nutshell, I see no plus-side to the Muslim/Arab "culture". It is a contagion, plain and simple.

[Rock]

I was watching tv tonight... and on the news they showed these figures about per capita GDP.

Kuwait is highest at $43,000.

Then Saudi Arabia... $17,000.

But they've got oil.

Egypt doesn't have oil... and was near the bottom... $2200. Even when they get $1.5 billion from us every year!

Do Arabs have anything else going for them besides oil?

Having a big amount of a valuable commodity like oil is a detriment to the rest of a country's economy because it puts extreme appreciation pressure on local currency which boosts imports and destroys export competitiveness. It becomes a vicious cycle. To learn more about this concept, read about Dutch disease.

But that can still be OK for the general population of a country if 2 conditions are met:

1. The country tends towards socialism (ie oil wealth is shared fairly evenly).

2. There is enough oil wealth and income generate relative to the population (per head) so that the industrial and service sectors is not so important (icing on the cake).

[odbo]

Don't get too caught up in GDP. In European history, wealthy nations only became wealthy because wealthy families moved there. It has nothing to do with the people. I think the wealthiest average citizen is in Qatar now. As for Saudi Arabia, the scum who run that country are complete puppets of US & Israel and I'm sure they enjoy the usual.. paedophilia & child sacrifice. Holding Arabs back is a necessary part of the plan. Stupid arabs will be one of the justifications for WWIII where Israel will come out as the dominant nation on earth, at least that's what the plan has always been.

When Iranians want to call someone stupid they say "Are you Arab?". When Arabs want to do the same they say "Are you Indian?"


btw the 'arab' station al jazeera is another zionist tool

[Boner_Jones]

Wow that guy was harsh.... but sometimes ragging on your people is good when you know your own people suck in some ways.... maybe if there were more guys like him in America where everyone whines and protests everytime they get "offended" our society wouldnt be so politically correct. Are you saying Israel controls the arab tv station?

I forgot Yemen was on the list.. it was near the bottom like Egypt. I dont think yemen has oil either, does it?

Funny... asian countries (japan, Korea) don't have oil but they're modern and developed.

Egypt gets 1.5B dollars from us every year, second highest in the world and they are not wealthy. If youre a leader of your country for 30 years and your economy sucks what good are you? I'm glad the egyptians kicked out their president

I just had a thought... I was watching the crowds in egypt on tv and... can you imagine if the same thing happened in America? Cause I know people here are angry and... i don't know, I don't think it's impossible given how bad things are, how unhappy and miserable everyone seems to be... everyones talking about "oh egypt should be a democracy" and "now they can have free elections just like us" but... we're a democracy and we have free elections but... everything seems so shitty... maybe the tipping point is just up ahead?

[Rock]

Wow that guy was harsh.... but sometimes ragging on your people is good when you know your own people suck in some ways.... maybe if there were more guys like him in America where everyone whines and protests everytime they get "offended" our society wouldnt be so politically correct. Are you saying Israel controls the arab tv station?

I forgot Yemen was on the list.. it was near the bottom like Egypt. I dont think yemen has oil either, does it?

Funny... asian countries (japan, Korea) don't have oil but they're modern and developed.

Egypt gets 1.5B dollars from us every year, second highest in the world and they are not wealthy. If youre a leader of your country for 30 years and your economy sucks what good are you? I'm glad the egyptians kicked out their president

Regarding developed Asia, they used gov supported export model and accumulated wealth over time. As I mentioned in earlier post, abundant oil can hinder rest of economy. Consider Norway vs. Sweden.

Mubarak may have accumulated more wealth than Bill Gates thanks ultimately to US taxpayer. Democracy is OK for countries we like. Otherwise, we prefer strongmen who oppress the local people.

As I've said before, the Internet (and social networking) can make for dramatic change to a country and its culture. Over half the population in Egypt is under 25. US is losing control of Arab world.

[ladislav]

As most countries in the " South" the people do not have the advantage of millennia of harsh climate to create iron discipline and propel the technology. They also did not have the Renaissance or the Reformation. They are not inferior intellectually but are too mired in tradition and self satisfaction. They think they know everything and are always right. This is bringing their downfall.
America is following down the same path. All knowing, always right.

[momopi]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age

[Boner_Jones]

I was watching tv tonight... and on the news they showed these figures about per capita GDP.

Kuwait is highest at $43,000.

Then Saudi Arabia... $17,000.

But they've got oil.

Egypt doesn't have oil... and was near the bottom... $2200. Even when they get $1.5 billion from us every year!

Do Arabs have anything else going for them besides oil?

Having a big amount of a valuable commodity like oil is a detriment to the rest of a country's economy because it puts extreme appreciation pressure on local currency which boosts imports and destroys export competitiveness. It becomes a vicious cycle. To learn more about this concept, read about Dutch disease.

But that can still be OK for the general population of a country if 2 conditions are met:

1. The country tends towards socialism (ie oil wealth is shared fairly evenly).

2. There is enough oil wealth and income generate relative to the population (per head) so that the industrial and service sectors is not so important (icing on the cake).

yeah but Egypt doesn't have oil... or yemen... so couldn't they be like the developed Asian countries?

[Adama]

Don't get too caught up in GDP. In European history, wealthy nations only became wealthy because wealthy families moved there. It has nothing to do with the people. I think the wealthiest average citizen is in Qatar now. As for Saudi Arabia, the scum who run that country are complete puppets of US & Israel and I'm sure they enjoy the usual.. paedophilia & child sacrifice. Holding Arabs back is a necessary part of the plan. Stupid arabs will be one of the justifications for WWIII where Israel will come out as the dominant nation on earth, at least that's what the plan has always been.

btw the 'arab' station al jazeera is another zionist tool

Yep.

[Adama]

I was watching tv tonight... and on the news they showed these figures about per capita GDP.

Kuwait is highest at $43,000.

Then Saudi Arabia... $17,000.

But they've got oil.

Egypt doesn't have oil... and was near the bottom... $2200. Even when they get $1.5 billion from us every year!

Do Arabs have anything else going for them besides oil?

How is GDP per capita calculated? Is there a median income available anywhere? Cause if 2 citizens make $1 Billion a year while the rest make $1.00 a year, will that skew the per capita results? I think it would.

Make the calculations. For the United States: $14,330,000,000,000 divided by 304,500,000 [people] equals $47,060. For Pakistan: $160,900,000,000 divided by 172,800,000 equals $931. This comparison reveals that the real GDP per capita of the United States is 50.5 times that of Pakistan.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5139900_calcula ... apita.html

So the GDP per capita doesn't tell you much about what the average citizen makes cause the extremely rich (the outliers) will skew the results. Perhaps median income would be a better indicator.