Actually, this report should be celebrated but for the completely different reasons that this wannabe boy king could be the last in House of Saud to rule the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula.
Usually when an inexperienced, reckless and spoiled brat succeeds in a corrupt and undemocratic political system, it's likely the final chapter of that system because the new power holder/grabber would wreck the house beyond repair thinking that he's instituting reforms when he's really undoing all the hard work done by his tyrannical but savvy predecessors to keep things together.
Kudos to Mohammad Salman and I wish him all luck in his endeavor and that he outperforms the likes of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi or King Farook of Egypt in destroying monarchy in their respective lands.
Also, it's very intriguing that there was not a single political item on his "reformist" agenda and yet Bloomberg managed to portray him as some kind of a visionary man that will emancipate women by finally granting them the right to own and drive cars as in other neighboring reactionary countries like Qatar, and restructuring the economy away from fluctuating oil revenues to another rent-seeking investment banking venture to finance the lavish lifestyle of their family, House of Saud.
I guess those IB fees and pending privatization deals do make wonders to Bloomberg's editorial policy. Money talks, bullshit walks indeed.
It's difficult to see it that way because being young or old is not really the criteria for the Saudi leaders. It's the opposite for this man, because the education is the biggest factor. The previous king hasn't even completed high school, and he was just... way too simple and knew nothing about politics. This guy got a bachelor's degree in politics and he's already received super positively in Saudi Arabia from both the religious and non-religious, especially because they have already seen a lot of positive changes done by him in the past few years.
> it's likely the final chapter of that system because the new power holder/grabber would wreck the house beyond repair thinking that he's instituting reforms when he's really undoing all the hard work done by his tyrannical but savvy predecessors to keep things together.
This. For example, every post-Stalin U.S.S.R leader. The watering down started with Kruschev [1] and culminated in Glasnost. What followed was the period of humiliation, poverty and looting at "the end of history" ie the 90's.
This is key to understanding the popularity of Putin.
While they talk a sharp game of Western education, do not be fooled. I am continually shocked when I meet someone who was educated at Cambridge, but he (and she!) tell me that a women's status in Saudi Arabia is right. Or that a barbaric punishment is proper and correct as it is written in the Quran.
Many of the Saudis who would take a different opinion on women's rights etc, do not live in KSA.
tl;dr: They plan to launch the world's largest sovereign wealth fund ($2 trillion in assets) via an IPO for 5% of Aramco, and diversify into nonpetroleum assets.
I guess this signals interesting times ahead for tech, biotech, and clean energy entrepreneurs in S.A.
This article has be to read next to the articles about SA and 9/11, and Obama veto.
This is pure bullshit.
SA have the same system of the Catholic Church and the European kingdoms during middle age, they protect each other.
This family has been the cause of so much destruction and pain in the region and beyond. What do they do? Export Wahabism to a lot of Muslim countries, and that is the mother of Taliban, ISIS and many other terror groups.
Was a recent article about how the government used to employ nearly everybody on good wages, now with the demise of government jobs and the reality that the golden pay day from oil is not infinite and more volatile in today's economic and environmental awareness climate. The need to invest in alternative industries is paramount. The country has invested lots into education and with that many highly qualified people who have no goverment jobs find the public sector in that country very spartan. The drive to change that and produce TAX revenue outside of oil is the key factor here. Sure the country has other issues, but they are totaly diferent topics and some may see this as PR spin, but isn't any goverment touched or provate company annoucement PR one way or another.
Way I see it is a step in the right direction for the country and a good move, let us not lambaste it upon other area's and surely some praise for the good moves as well as lambasting the bad moves should be equally viewed. This is a good move, nothing to do with other issues and if anything only touches those other issues in a way that helps address them at the core.
After all people without money and jobs are people with time to ponder alternative avenues of life choices with some seeing them as the only way, that is how many get drawn down the darker paths of life. This helps prevent that.
Another way to view this is - what harm can come from this initiative and with that I have nothing to add. So it is a good thing.
I actually think this is good news for them. Aside from the self-promotion and the dick-size contest that is typical of the region's princes, laying money for investments away from oil is going to force them to change. They can't really expect free trade without also free flow of people, and ideas. For a society that essentially keeps its citizens in the infantile stage this will be quite a shock. Bringing the relative openness of dubai to SA sounds quite revolutionary for their standards.
Relevant joke: A young Saudi prince studying abroad receives a call from his father asking him if everything is alright. He tells his dad that he is feeling ashamed that everyday he goes to college in his brand new Lamborghini while all the other students take the train. His father replies: "I understand your shame son, take this 50 million dollars and buy yourself a train".
The article mixes up the plans to diversify from oil production with all the talk about helping the worse-off. These are two separate issues, and changing one won't magically help the other.
Right now, Saudi has a huge income from oil. If they divest well, they could have a huge income from investments. In either case, the lot of the poor in Saudi Arabia doesn't change. Unless they change how they allocate the money, the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.
It is sort of linked. The working class and middle class will have a better access to meaningful and diverse jobs in diversified free economy compared to a rent seeking one. It will also be in the state's best interest to educate more people for these kinds of jobs in order to grow the economy and keep them off welfare, crime, and violent opposition.
The current global trend is for the rich to get much richer and the poor to get slightly richer. This is a simple factual metric. It is unprecedented in history and continues despite the narrative of liberalism that the poor are getting poorer.
the open court yard looks nice with arbian themed decoration.. Look closer and there is a f-ing lazy boy recliner in front of the TV.. LOL it's like a college apartment...
I see them collapsing before they get better. They are pretending to be stronger and more important than they actually are. Their army is corrupted and can be beaten by ragtag rebels from Yemen.
The only thing aside from oil that they have is Mecca and Hajj.
Do they need anything more than oil? Many here pretend to be ready to crusade to save SA women, or install democracy or anything, but are they willing to impose a trade embargo to SA? Obvious answer is no.
I've always hoped the Saudis would take all their money and make the peninsula green.
https://goo.gl/maps/8XXa4zSxHAL2 They've already got this massive farming operation in the middle of the desert. With 2 trillion they could desalinate so much water. Pricing is something like 1000 gallons of seawater for a few dollars, $2 trillion could desalinate a millionth of the ocean.
surely, saudi arabia is already working partly as an investment in activities other than oil. Do we have a measure of how well those investments have worked so far ?
i mean, investing requires skill, and you can get burned if you're not really smart and knowledgeable and agile. All things in which many states ( not just oil states) are not very famous for.
Saudi Arabia recently signed a licensed-production deal with Antonov of Ukraine. The first batch of transport aircraft will go to the air force but it's a huge step for a country that has traditionally outsourced everything to do with aviation.
Wikipedia says there are an estimated 268 billion barrels in Saudi Aramco's proven oil reserves, with maybe 90 billion more undiscovered. It produces somewhere between 3 and 4 billion barrels annually. If a barrel of oil is worth about $50, then the total value of Aramco is about $18 trillion. We can put a discount on that for time, but you might also want to consider that oil will get more difficult to pump out of the ground and price should increase faster than inflation. CPI is pegged to the price of oil, so all this stuff gets complicated.
What's odd is that they are talking about selling the stake when oil prices are near record lows. The other worrying point is that if Saudi is selling their oil production, why on earth would you want to be a buyer?
[+] [-] gotchange|10 years ago|reply
Usually when an inexperienced, reckless and spoiled brat succeeds in a corrupt and undemocratic political system, it's likely the final chapter of that system because the new power holder/grabber would wreck the house beyond repair thinking that he's instituting reforms when he's really undoing all the hard work done by his tyrannical but savvy predecessors to keep things together.
Kudos to Mohammad Salman and I wish him all luck in his endeavor and that he outperforms the likes of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi or King Farook of Egypt in destroying monarchy in their respective lands.
Also, it's very intriguing that there was not a single political item on his "reformist" agenda and yet Bloomberg managed to portray him as some kind of a visionary man that will emancipate women by finally granting them the right to own and drive cars as in other neighboring reactionary countries like Qatar, and restructuring the economy away from fluctuating oil revenues to another rent-seeking investment banking venture to finance the lavish lifestyle of their family, House of Saud.
I guess those IB fees and pending privatization deals do make wonders to Bloomberg's editorial policy. Money talks, bullshit walks indeed.
[+] [-] sLm|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] willholloway|10 years ago|reply
This. For example, every post-Stalin U.S.S.R leader. The watering down started with Kruschev [1] and culminated in Glasnost. What followed was the period of humiliation, poverty and looting at "the end of history" ie the 90's.
This is key to understanding the popularity of Putin.
[+] [-] sakri|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vezycash|10 years ago|reply
I went through the article, hoping to discover how the prince got his education.
* "His father is an avid reader, and he liked to assign his children one book per week, and then quiz them to see who’d read it."
* "His mother, through her staff, organized DAILY extracurricular courses and field trips and brought in INTELLECTUALS for three-hour discussions."
'
His mother's practice of matching intellectuals with her kids supports John Holt's theories of proper child education.
[+] [-] brynx97|10 years ago|reply
Many of the Saudis who would take a different opinion on women's rights etc, do not live in KSA.
[+] [-] chris_wot|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] return0|10 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_bin_Salman_Al_Saud
[+] [-] cheriot|10 years ago|reply
http://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/explore/tree_map/export/sau/all...
[+] [-] davidhariri|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] noobie|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joeyspn|10 years ago|reply
I guess this signals interesting times ahead for tech, biotech, and clean energy entrepreneurs in S.A.
[+] [-] bayesian_horse|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] venomsnake|10 years ago|reply
Look at the corruption that EU projects have ...
[+] [-] azazqadir|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] etaty|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bayesian_horse|10 years ago|reply
Innovation and technology just doesn't thrive in an illiberal society.
[+] [-] alanwatts|10 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_the_medieval_Islami...
[+] [-] geon|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] actionwords|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] asamm|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Zenst|10 years ago|reply
Way I see it is a step in the right direction for the country and a good move, let us not lambaste it upon other area's and surely some praise for the good moves as well as lambasting the bad moves should be equally viewed. This is a good move, nothing to do with other issues and if anything only touches those other issues in a way that helps address them at the core.
After all people without money and jobs are people with time to ponder alternative avenues of life choices with some seeing them as the only way, that is how many get drawn down the darker paths of life. This helps prevent that.
Another way to view this is - what harm can come from this initiative and with that I have nothing to add. So it is a good thing.
[+] [-] return0|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ck2|10 years ago|reply
Now fathers will teach their daughters, oh you don't have to drive (or even be allowed to ride a bicycle) because you can just take the train.
[+] [-] 21|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 1024core|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Retric|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joosters|10 years ago|reply
Right now, Saudi has a huge income from oil. If they divest well, they could have a huge income from investments. In either case, the lot of the poor in Saudi Arabia doesn't change. Unless they change how they allocate the money, the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.
[+] [-] baltcode|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oldmanjay|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] surfmike|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jordache|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] desireco42|10 years ago|reply
The only thing aside from oil that they have is Mecca and Hajj.
[+] [-] return0|10 years ago|reply
Do they need anything more than oil? Many here pretend to be ready to crusade to save SA women, or install democracy or anything, but are they willing to impose a trade embargo to SA? Obvious answer is no.
[+] [-] undersuit|10 years ago|reply
https://goo.gl/maps/8XXa4zSxHAL2 They've already got this massive farming operation in the middle of the desert. With 2 trillion they could desalinate so much water. Pricing is something like 1000 gallons of seawater for a few dollars, $2 trillion could desalinate a millionth of the ocean.
[+] [-] bsaul|10 years ago|reply
i mean, investing requires skill, and you can get burned if you're not really smart and knowledgeable and agile. All things in which many states ( not just oil states) are not very famous for.
[+] [-] dingaling|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] azazqadir|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aerodog|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] msellout|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joeyspn|10 years ago|reply
"Based simply on its oil reserves and using a conservative valuation of roughly $10 per barrel, Aramco could be worth more than $2.5 trillion." [0]
Then:
- $45/barrel (current price) --> roughly $11.25 trillion
- $100/barrel --> $22.5 trillion
etc
Thing is, where will the barrel price go? Any major or minor [1] event can move the price up or down.
[0] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-07/too-big-to...
[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilan...
[+] [-] joosters|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] welder|10 years ago|reply
[1] http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/02/03/465476188/episo...
[+] [-] dwaxe|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 100timesthis|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rkrzr|10 years ago|reply
What could possibly go wrong?