Friday 24 April 2009

Outsourcing Culture

What does Saudi Arabia have? Oil and culture. That is all. And as everyone and their grandma are trying to make oil obsolete, culture in Saudi is getting battered from a number of fronts.

First, you got those who are trying to erase it, go down any uptown street or up any downtown slum and you are greeted (not really, more like shocked) with an array of subcultures based on what popular western genre was available. But mostly rap/hip hop for the boys and teenie soaps for the girls. It is quite distressful when dealing with someone who doesn't even have a grasp of their own identity, their ever changing personality are entirely dependant on whatever free time they had last night to shoot up another rap CD or episode of 90210.

The other problem is with those who are outsourcing culture, one example is the importing of the Shumaq (red-white checkered head scarf) from the UK, and blatantly advertising it as the "Original English Shumaq". One far out example is this belly dancing video from Japan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk3kIvJlAiQ

If this goes on, once the oil runs out, Saudi cities, void of local culture would resemble broken down malls.

And that concludes the post for today, sayonara, adios, and goodbye.

Monday 20 April 2009

Jobs Galaore!!!!

Kind of sad really that %20 of Saudis are dirt poor. And by that I mean living on less then $250 a month. Families of 7 crammed into a 2 bed apartment. And all they get is a big fat "GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS & GET A JOB!!!" from the officials.

Where?

In the US, they complain about outsourcing and immigrants stealing jobs. In Saudi, outsourcing is the default because all the country is, is a giant retail outlet, no production at all. Even the ever omnipotent oil is being refined off shore.

And Jobs? yeah right. Of a population of 26 Million, 12 Million are foreigners. And to put things into perspective, all 12 million are here to work, have jobs. while the barely majority citizens cant find work even with a university degree.

Sure now and then, you get a newspaper article happily announcing another government initiative or huge project that will generate 1000's of jobs. But what the article doesn't specify, is that out every 1000, only 10 are reserved for Saudis (of the highest qualifications I may add).

So its no wonder foreigners love to read Saudi papers, they are probably scoping out future career prospects. All the while the government keeps shooting down any proposal for minimum wage or unemployment benefits.

Monday 13 April 2009

All Saudis are Rich

There is this misconception that all Saudis are rich, and that they are required by law to be overcharged on anything up and beyond the normal price, especially in Syria or Egypt.

But let get this out of the way right now, not all Saudis have an oil well in their cramped apartments.

But they do have opportunity.
Lets take a look shall we:

Saubi is a typical Saudi, bank account never exceeds $2000.
- So in 2003 he went out and invested all his money in a real estate scheme advertised in the paper, he got %150 in 12 months.
- In 2004 he goes and places his $5000 in the Saudi stock market which is at 5400 points. 2 years later on February 25th, 2006. The market is at 20634. He sells his shares for a total of $20000.
- He then goes and buys gold stock with a price of $530 per ounce. Which he sells 2 years later for $40000 on October 2007

So you see, in 5 years. Saubi made 20 times his original investment with only 4 days of actual work.
The day he signed into the real estate scheme
The day he signed out of the real estate scheme and subscribed to the banks stock investment fund
The day he signed out of the fund and bought the gold stock
The day he sold his gold stock

To say the least, Saubi does not exist. And all Saudis are not in fact, rich. %99 of investment channels in SA are just Ponzi/Pyramid schemes that drain the life out of the population.
To put things into perspective, A Saudi with $40000 in 2003 who chose to invest his money in the most promising and guaranteed aspects ended up with $2000 in 2007.