Saudi king announces new benefits

[RandySF]

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has announced a series of benefits for citizens amounting to $10.7 billion, as he returned to the country after he spent three months abroad for health treatment, state television reported.

The steps, announced on Wednesday, include funding to offset high inflation and to aid young unemployed people and Saudi citizens studying abroad, as well the writing off some loans.

The move comes as governments in the region scramble to deal with pro-democracy uprisings sparked by youth unemployment and political repression.

As part of the Saudi scheme, state employees will see their incomes increase by 15 per cent, and additional cash has also been made available for housing loans.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/2011223105328424268.html

[gateley]

1. Wow -- even the Rulers of the World are getting concerned! Excellent! nt

[Kurmudgeon]

2. Hey King, you haven't seen your relative Osama, have you? He's been such a little scamp.

[Starry Messenger]

3. This is another effect of protesting and rebellion that I rarely see mentioned.

Countries will feel the pressure from radicalized movements outside their own borders and will go left to appease their citizens in hopes it won't happen there. That's (roughly) why Northern European countries shifted to a strongly Keynsian economy--the pressure of being near the USSR.

[HEyHEY]

4. Friends with benefits?