[lvl102]

Think about the fact that education is pretty much free there. They even pay for Western institutions to set up satellite campuses. You’d think they should have the most educated and skilled labor in the world. At some point, you have to realize it’s cultural: they don’t want to work.

Funny you mention Switzerland because they have some of the highest skilled labor in the world.

[keiferski]

You’re generalizing nearly 20 million people in Saudi Arabia alone. How this is even an acceptable thing to say on HN is beyond me.

The Gulf countries have more than enough expertise to manage and run their wealth for the foreseeable future. To say they’ll be poor again without oil is simply ignorant of the facts and probably related to the point I made above.

[benterix]

> To say they’ll be poor again without oil is simply ignorant

I wanted to reply "But Sheikh Mohammed himself said so!" but then trying to back up my claim I realized it's false. [0] It's amazing how many false things we take for granted just because they align with our world-view (and make a good story).

[O] https://factcheck.afp.com/sheikh-mohammed-did-not-say-great-...

[oefrha]

I won’t comment on culture but it is a fact that the majority of working Saudis work in bullshit government jobs where they basically collect paychecks for free, and actual labor is overwhelmingly performed by cheap migrant workers, no? Or is my information out of date? That’s an arrangement you can’t find anywhere outside the Gulf, to my knowledge.

[brazzy]

You have a bunch of weasel words there that are doing some heavy lifting: "majority", "actual" and "overwhelmingly".

It's not possible to run a functioning country (which SA undeniably is) without a large number of people who are at least somewhat competent, at least somewhat hardworking, and at least somewhat loyal to the country. You may be able to rely on cheap migrant workers for the hard physical labor, but not for the planning and administration that makes the whole thing work.

[oefrha]

According to https://money.cnn.com/2016/10/20/news/saudi-government-worke..., 70% of employed Saudis work for the government, and according to their civil service minister, "many" of them don't even work an hour a day. If you think they're structured like any other country and I'm merely singling them out with "weasel words" we can't possibly have a discussion.

The oil money printer can hide a lot of problems. A small percentage of somewhat competent people aren't guaranteed to be able to provide for a huge number of useless freeloaders if the gravy train stops. Look at Venezuela for a somewhat similar situation.

[lvl102]

You’re right. It’s a gross generalization. But it is based on my personal and professional experience.

[keiferski]

Yeah, and I went to Greece, a country with a population half the size of Saudi Arabia, a few years ago and got bad service everywhere. The economic data is also not good.

But I wouldn’t somehow think it’s accurate or acceptable to claim Greeks are all lazy and rude.

[itsoktocry]

>The Gulf countries have more than enough expertise to manage and run their wealth for the foreseeable future

There are all kinds of promises when times are good, that change as soon as the economic winds change. This project is more evidence of that.

[keiferski]

If the collective financial portfolio of the Gulf countries goes away, you’ll have much larger problems to worry about.

This project was a side project and always has been. Its success or lack thereof has very little to do with the overall financial position of the country.

[itsoktocry]

>You’re generalizing nearly 20 million people in Saudi Arabia alone

Yes, this is how you compare populations.

[zaphirplane]

How so ? How is hating 20 million people for your view of their government reasonable