And you thought Greece had a problem...

[Binkie The Clown]

---SNIP---
11 million Greeks can feed themselves from their own land. 30 or 40 million Saudis are going to have to face the brutal truth that they can’t. The Saudis currently produce about 10 million barrels of oil a day, and they have to use one third of that to keep themselves alive and in the luxury they think they need. They have created an artificial existence entirely dependent on trading oil for food, and face a future of actual starvation, because there will not be sufficient surplus food energy available anywhere in the world to prevent it once the oil has gone. At current rates of growth their population is projected to reach 60 million by 2050 so between now and then a sudden and catastrophic end to the oil-excess is certain. That life-subsidy of one barrel of oil in three will rapidly disappear, with Saudi using constantly depleting oil to buy food at constantly increasing prices in a race to stay alive. Unemployable young men face a non-future where their luxurious privileges are stripped away by forces beyond their control and understanding. With the oilwells sucked dry, the US fleet will sail away from Bahrain, and discontent will manifest itself into riot. In perhaps only 10 or 15 years, Saudi Arabia as a viable nation will not have sufficient indigenous energy to prevent collapse. There will be nowhere to buy, beg, borrow or steal it from, and no oil for export. Which is where Greece is right now.

Since the oilwealth kicked in and the population exploded, Saudi now has a youth bulge in their population. 37% are under 14, 51% are under 25. Already the unemployment rate in the 16 to 29 age range is reported as 29%, possibly much higher. Of those with graduate level jobs, most have been absorbed by the public sector, with Shias being actively discriminated against by the dominant Sunnis. Jobs requiring technical skills are filled by foreign workers. Effectively this means that virtually all wages and unemployment benefits are paid out of oil revenues. This is where violent unrest will come from when the oil flow begins to dry up. Already Saudi has paid out $billions in freebies to pacify their unemployable young men, while maintaining the unreality of gasoline at 16c a liter, effectively using oil to subsidise itself.

With its oil wealth diminishing, Saudi is a ticking time bomb, split by religious factions and sectarianism, confined by repression at a medieval level and surrounded by religious zealots who see infidel industry being supported by the holy oil that rightfully belongs in the land of the prophet. Compared to that, Greece is an oasis of tranquility.



---SNIP---

The article continues with discussions of other dangerously unstable economies around the world.

[progressoid]

1. Luckily the Saudis are our allies.

[RoccoR5955]

4. Allies?

Many of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, and you call them allies?

[Javaman]

6. sarcasm. nt

[RoccoR5955]

7. I know, but am still outraged.

You DO know that there are STILL people who don't know that the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, don't you?

[panader0]

8. I don't think you'll find any of them on this board....

[DetlefK]

2. Plus, the citizens of oil-states don't pay taxes.

IIRC, the citizens of the Middle-Eastern oil-states don't pay taxes because the state has enough money. Instead they get a check with oil-money from the government. (Also helps to keep people quiet.)

One day, the oil-states will have to start levying taxes. And that's when people all of a sudden are no longer willing to accept the tyranny.

[Scuba]

3. They may go broke when the oil runs out, but at least they'll be well armed ...

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/hillary-clinton-foundation-state-arms-deals

Hillary Clinton Oversaw US Arms Deals to Clinton Foundation Donors

In 2011, the State Department cleared an enormous arms deal: Led by Boeing, a consortium of American defense contractors would deliver $29 billion worth of advanced fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, despite concerns over the kingdom's troublesome human rights record. In the years before Hillary Clinton became secretary of state, Saudi Arabia had contributed $10 million to the Clinton Foundation, and just two months before the jet deal was finalized, Boeing donated $900,000 to the Clinton Foundation, according to an International Business Times investigation released Tuesday.

The Saudi transaction is just one example of nations and companies that had donated to the Clinton Foundation seeing an increase in arms deals while Hillary Clinton oversaw the State Department. IBT found that between October 2010 and September 2012, State approved $165 billion in commercial arms sales to 20 nations that had donated to the foundation, plus another $151 billion worth of Pentagon-brokered arms deals to 16 of those countries—a 143 percent increase over the same time frame under the Bush Administration. The sales boosted the military power of authoritarian regimes such as Qatar, Algeria, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, which, like Saudi Arabia, had been criticized by the department for human rights abuses.

[FlatBaroque]

5. Let me roll out the Clinton slogan

"There has been no direct evidence tying us to this criminal activity".

[Calista241]

9. A tank doesn't go anywhere without fuel and proper maintenance. n/t

[Scuba]

10. So when the going gets tough, do you think they'll choose to feed the beast? Or the children?

[Calista241]

12. I think the coming energy crisis will cause massive upheaval worldwide.

We'll have our own issues to worry about.

[Scuba]

13. I'm sure selling arms to the Saudis will not help with any of the world's problems, including ours.

[Calista241]

14. Eh, if they want to pay us money now for something

They won't realistically be able to use given this scenario, I don't have an issue with it. They're putting Americans to work.

[Scuba]

15. If your premise that the Saudis would have to use the weapons for them to have any effect ...

... on world affairs was true this would be a far different world.

[snooper2]

11. That website is hilarious LOL