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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>I guess those IB fees and pending privatization deals do make wonders to Bloomberg's editorial policy. Money talks, bullshit walks indeed.
Here's something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime: "The men spoke for an hour about the de facto alliance of Israel and Saudi Arabia..."<p>I went through the article, hoping to discover how the prince got his education.<p>* "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."<p>* "His mother, through her staff, organized DAILY extracurricular courses and field trips and brought in INTELLECTUALS for three-hour discussions."<p>'<p>His mother's practice of matching intellectuals with her kids supports John Holt's theories of proper child education.
The Royal family can diversify, but the Saudi people still have little to offer the world economy after such a long dependence.<p><a href="http://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/explore/tree_map/export/sau/all/show/2014/" rel="nofollow">http://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/explore/tree_map/export/sau/all...</a>
Planet Money has an excellent episode on this topic from a few weeks ago: <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/02/03/465476188/episode-681-the-oil-kingdom" rel="nofollow">http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/02/03/465476188/episo...</a>
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.<p>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.
Saudi Arabia's problems are an indication that Islam is a bigger problem for Muslims themselves than it is for anyone else.<p>Innovation and technology just doesn't thrive in an illiberal society.
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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>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.
It is hilarious that rather than let women drive, the Saudis are building a billion dollar rail system to get around the problem.<p>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.
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.<p>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.
They could start by ending domestic oil subsidies. Saudi Arabia uses a huge amount of oil and people pay a fraction of the real cost at the pump.
<a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2012/04/oil" rel="nofollow">http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2012/04/oil</a>
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.<p>The only thing aside from oil that they have is Mecca and Hajj.
I've always hoped the Saudis would take all their money and make the peninsula green.<p><a href="https://goo.gl/maps/8XXa4zSxHAL2" rel="nofollow">https://goo.gl/maps/8XXa4zSxHAL2</a> 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 ?<p>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.
Skimmed through it, saved it for later reading. It's pretty interesting to see such drastic plans for change in SA. As an Arab Muslim, I truly hope they follow through. It could push several other oil-dependent countries in the region to follow suit.
Is it difficult for Saudi to adopt/customize <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Norway" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Nor...</a>
PR?
[edit] SA have been in the press lately for another reason. [Saudi Threat to Sell U.S. Assets Could Hurt, but Mostly the Saudis](<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/business/international/saudi-threat-to-sell-us-assetscould-hurt-but-mostly-the-saudis.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/business/international/sau...</a>)<p>Is there another side to their story?
[The Real House of Saud](<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmSRWXCosxc" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmSRWXCosxc</a>) Abby Martin, (formerly with RT) conducts an expose.
PR fluff piece. He's working 16 hours a day to make the world a better place? Gosh, what a saint ... I wonder how much the Saudi-Arabia's PR agency had to pay to get it into a mainstream publication. See also: <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html</a><p>No meaningful questions of 'marginal' topics like the pointless the Yemen war, the support of ISIS and other unsavoury organisations. And exactly why does the interview accept him has head of state at all? Why should the House of Saud govern, and not be replaced by a democracy?