As is the case with all arab muslim countries. In their mindset, the "Kuffar" will produce for them everything they need, thus they produce nothing of material or cultural value themselves, and it shows. Even the means to extract the oil they get so rich on was provided to them by the west.
He may be. People who take care of themselves are living extraordinarily long lives. He was born in 1930 which places him in the Silent Generation. Tens of millions of them around. And the generation before them? The GI or Greatest Generation? To be part of that generation you’d have to be 96 and a half or older but while they’re dying out fast you’d be amazed how many of them are actually still with us. Plenty of folks over 100.
You need to look up actual inventions. The greatest of many things came from the country called Africa. But people would rather call it Egypt. Because that is not Africa...
To me, this is also happening in America. The foreigners come here and become doctors, engineers, IT professionals, etc while Americans want government subsidies and think becoming a social media influencer begging for likes is actually hard work.
I have tutored the children of immigrants from various Asian countries, especially the children of immigrants from India. Those Indian parents, and others as well, really push their kids to do well academically. They enroll them in multiple after-school tutoring clubs to focus on different subjects, including math and writing - no frivolous subjects for them. They are tiger moms and dads. The parents simply expect their children to become doctors.
Also among Social Peers in schools. Have watched children of single parent or mixed households do very well, even if their own parents weren't pushing them, but the pull of other Asian students seriousness about education was contagious in order to stay in peer group.
how you dare??? don't you know that americans are exceptional, white folk is superior to everyone else? they bring civilization everywhere, even if they have to kill a couple of tens of millions on the way, it's just for our own good so reconsider your ridiculous assumption
This is so true. South Korea is a great example. It has zero natural resources and the economy was none existent after decades of colonization and civil war. When the Korean War ended in 1953, South Korea was the poorest county in the world (GDP of less than $1,000 per capita), with hundreds of thousands of people dying of hunger. The ONLY resource they had were human capital, and the entire nation made a commitment to become successful. Fast forward 6 decades, and now the nation of 50M people with landsize that of 1/6th of Texas has the14th largest economy in the world.
So exact and so true.. I have many many times almost said VerBatim what you have written here…. Also used the same example as an argument against communism as the North would in theory have the exact same cultural starting point.
For _life_ . Yes, this is what is missing in the video. If you invest the money, like the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, you pay others to work for you. So much money no Arab has to ever work again.
Most Kuwaitis work as well, making enough money that the family can afford to invest in having a household in Europe or North America as well….. meaning they have an escape plan (something 99.9% of Americans don’t even understand as all of our eggs are placed in one basket).
Yup, America is so smart that after we liberate Kuwait from Saddam, our people are destitute, have no jobs, have to pay exhorbitant fees for medical coverage, are taxed to death, with millions of fentanyl addicts, our manufacturing base eroded to non-existence. Way to be successful, America. Kuwaitis have a higher standard of living and live more comfortable lives while we are in a miserable state of existence.
I've worked in Kuwait, and they do have some good Kuwaiti engineers working on their own oil projects now. Forget the stereotypes. Despite that, it's not clear how somewhere like Kuwait would survive in a few decades time when either oil runs out or we ban fossil fuels into oblivion. I guess the hope is that like Qatar, they can live off Sovereign Wealth funds. This kind of long-term rent-seeking is a third way that Sowell doesn't mention. Consumption or investing in human capital aren't the only alternatives for these places. Saudi is a bit different, however, because the national population is much higher (than Kuwait or Qatar) at about 20 million and growing.
Same applies to DEI you can't obtain the intelligence, work ethic, experience or honesty of merit based hiring by suppressing the opportunities of the most talented.
@@Alfred-cz7my it's called the internet, and it's free and open to everyone. if you're failing in 2024 with the library of alexandria at your fingertips, nobody can help you.
@@Alfred-cz7myyou mean build back better from the bottom up and the middle out? There is big problem with that thinking. There is nothing at the bottom to grow from!
@@Alfred-cz7my Is this account a "troll" or a 'bot'? Dr. Sowell's own life refutes your statement. A few quotes from his biography: "born into a family of black sharecroppers in North Carolina in 1930", "Grew up in Harlem", "did not graduate from high school". Sounds like "poor and middle class", and without "resources". Yet he developed his own human capital. May I recommend you read one or more of his books; you'll become wiser as you develop your human capital..
Having worked in KSA, I saw the sheer lack of mental and physical effort by young Saudi staff. An absence of critical thought and a tendency to 'outsource' challenging tasks was prominent. Without the social safety net provided by oil these young men have no future.
@@drmwpn Lol the US is under the process of signing a defense treaty with Saudi. Also, Iran is probably gonna collapse soon, everyone in the country hates Islam and its only a matter of time until they turn on Khomeni. When that happens Israel and Saudi will just prop up rebels in that region to keep Iran destabilized for another 50 years
“My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a Mercedes, I ride a Rolls Royce, my son rides a Land Rover, and my grandson is going to ride a Land Rover too, but my great-grandson is going to be forced to ride a camel again.” Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
yep, theyve already got the "renewable future" sorted out. they know its inevitable. its the rest of the world running around pretending that they can have infinite "growth" and "progress", trying their best to ignore the elephant in the room that will suffer:)
Spot on, i can see here in the UK thousands happy to stay at home on benefits as they are better off than working and generating own capital. Major reform of benefits required urgently.
Sowell is wrong. The economy in Uganda did not collapse after Indians left for England. It simply reverted to its original human capital - black hunters and gatherers. The problem with all these economists is that they cornered themselves into belief that all races have the same IQ.
He's a crack pot, most of us are mature enough to see through the bs. He gets very simple things about history wrong. He's not popular because he's not correct and doesn't produce any true novel revelations.
True enough. The fear is that serfdom, in all but name, will return. After all, if the metaphorical goose is en-serfed, well, they will continue to lay eggs because - well, it's alive, isn't it? Humans will be treated the same way. And things will collapse... Again.
One of my afghan interpreters told me a story about his family. He said that they were living in a refugee camp in Pakistan after fleeing the taliban. He told me that they had lived better than most in Afghanistan before fleeing and that he wanted to find work when they were living in the refugee camp. He said that his father told him no, that he would instead get an education, and of all things learn English. He said that his father told him that he could be the richest man but if he lost everything, and didn’t have an education and a skill, he would always be poor. I respected this interpreter because he was very smart, he spoke almost perfect english, and he had skills. He showed me pictures of his family and how he was able to rebuild once he was able to come back to his country. I teach my children and now my grandchildren these same values, and this video brought back this memory. I honestly hope that my good Afghan friend was able to continue living safely in Afghanistan after we withdrew from there. Just thought I would share this story.
So basically you are one of the yankees who graped Afghan kids in the mountainous wilderness. Or were you one of the coke plant guardians? I am curious what value did you add to the afghans? Was it worth the price?
On the contrary whoever came up with that was pretty dumb. In nature, even in a park, animals are free to take/find what they need to sustain life. People in, let's say, the Amazon jungle are also free to take what they need from nature to survive and thrive. In "Civilised" society the individual cannot take what he needs for survival because everything is either owned or controlled either by "The Capitalist" or by the State and so the individual is not free like the animals in the Park or the Indians in the Amazon. (and no, I am not a communist)
As a Saudi citizen, what Dr. Sowell stated "Was" true about 30-40 years ago, what's actually happening now is quite the opposite of what he is saying, Saudi citizens are gradually occupying more jobs than ever before, Doctors, teachers, engineers, IT techs, mechanics, electricians, barristas, cashiers, etc. We still have a long way to go but such changes don't happen overnight. BTW that goes for both genders.
That’s still wrong, you’re only saying that because you committed appeal to authority. Majority of saudis do not have proper work in the sense that that they don’t work typical 9-5 jobs, they are obliged to work at whatever time they need, plus they are have been the bonus and the sovereign fund as their financial support. While there are saudis who do work more in business and engineering, many Saudi do poorly in their academic work and there’s barely any saudis who work in the medical field, those who obtain a Saudi citizenship but yet also work in medicine tend to be immigrants coming from Pakistan, Jordan, Palestine, etc. Also there are no Saudis who work as IT techs or electricians, and definitely not cashiers, especially the fact that they are funded by oil money with sovereign fund and economic benefits from social welfare programs. So this is an ignorant comment you have provided. According to PISA 2018, students in Saudi Arabia consistently scored lower than in reading, mathematics and science compared to OECD countries and lower in mathematics and science compared to other participating countries in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA)1 that participated in PISA. Saudi Arabia has definitely made improvements, especially in the past 2 decades. However they are still behind by being a genuine productive society that is dependent and logically, that wouldn’t happen in the future or at least our life times.
South Africa being destroyed by Black Economic Empowerment.Incompetent and poor work ethic has replaced competent and productive people.Corruption and crime has become the norm!
that will be what happens to the west... all western nations... first the usa will be californicated with kamala harris as president for 8 years followed by a.o.c. for 8 years. once a.o.c. is in office, the usa will become like the uk - no firearms in private hands and no 1st amendment either. finally, in a.o.c's 1st term the usa will become south africa. that is the progression.
@@spartacuschrist6089 Actually, only a few areas and not all of SA are doing ok, not well. You must reside in a functioning Western Cape municipality to think that SA is doing well. Maybe now there has been mostly uninterrupted electricity supply for a few months you've been lulled into a false sense of "well being". Read the latest Auditor General's reports on the state of local and metro municipalities to know the levels of ineptitude, possible fraud and corruption. The SA economy's growth rate is hovering around 1%. South Africa recorded a Government Debt to GDP of 72.2% of the country's GDP in 2023. There are alleged criminals allowed to sit in parliament! However, in the context of this YT discussion, the introduction and use of The Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD Grant) is contributing, together with poor govt economic policies, to the continued high levels of unemployment and subsequent poverty. Btw - Racism is very much still an issue in SA!!
Someone once said we could divide all the money in the World equally among inhabitants of the Earth and within five years five percent of the people will control ninety-five percent of the money.
Under capitalism yes…it’s like the game of monopoly. One person ends up with everything. In my mid-60’s 3rd generation wealth and I’ve seen the expansion of wealth people over the past 10-15 years like never before. A young man just bought the estate 4 down from mine by selling an algorithm to some Wall Street Broker…that’s it. He’s set for life I understand. Was well educated but never had a “job” yet my wealth has grown over 20 times from when my trust started at 25…and I did nothing to earn a dime of it. It was all equity and bond trading, a few deaths along the way. For the life of me, these poorly educated working class people who win the lottery, then broke in less than 5 years is stunning to me🤔
Thomas Sowell is a king!!! I am always amazed by his intelligence as much as I am about his soul!!! Thank god he wrote so many books! He is truly a gift to us all!
@@cobra8888that's why on paper the Saudi military looks formidable, in reality they are lazy . I hope they invest in there future because a collapse there would be terrible for the world
I seem to recall that the Roman Empire finally collapsed because the slaves and foreign workers did the work and the Romans became idle and effete. That was what we were taught at school, many years ago.
As an expat living in Saudi Arabia I was about to call you out on the assertion that half the population is foreign, but I checked and was surprised to see it is 41%. In mitigation, for UAE that figure is almost 90%, which is much more extreme
You probably have a bias, you think expat you think white dudes from America. The majority of foreigners in Saudi are cheap labor from India and other 3rd world countries. Who do you think built those skyscrapers in 110F? Lol
Same with Qatar, but both Qatar and the UAE have built their economies on knowledge and being excellent places to do business, far better foundations than natural resources. Dubai is so pro business they even deal with Russia and aren't ashamed to do so. The Telegram app (whose founder has been arrested) was developed and started up in Dubai.
@@scottwebb4722 you have to play by their rules though, anything that challenges the status quo(monarchy absolute power) will not be tolerated. Also anything deemed unislamic will not be entertained. Its a police surveillance state of the highest order
Really? That's not my experience. It's hard to find a bigger welfare state than Denmark, based on the unemployment benefits, etc., yet people are very eager to get jobs. I'm currently unemployed, and the people I meet in the system are quite desperate to get out of it and get a normal job, to become less dependent. It's more a question of mindset in the population, I think, as well as the country as a whole, rather than the size of the welfare state.
@@MrAstrojensen Denmark is expensive as hell, and the weather has imprinted the "need to work to survive" mindset in people for thousands of years; it's different in the south; "I'm currently unemployed, and the people I meet in the system are quite desperate to get out of it " - yeah, maybe also because you don't meet in the system the people who are not striving to get out of it; welfare state still has a corrosive effect, even in Denmark, if you look at its effects over longer stretches of time
I love Thomas Sowell. Whenever this guy speaks, tons of wisdom comes out. He definitely has the human capital that he speaks of. He inspires me to continue to develop my own human capital. If you are given wealth (material capital)but don't use it, or your time to develop human capital, your material capital will eventually run out and you will have nothing. Develop your human capital so you can sustain or learn how to create material capital. With no human capital, (no skills, lack of useful knowledge, no business knowledge, no work ethic, no interest in something productive, etc.) your ability to survive or strive will run out and you will eventually become poor and hopeless. Hope comes from taking some sort of initiative to do something to give yourself hope.
Ask yourself who offshored all manufacturing from the US. Hint. It wasn't under a democrat president. But you won't care about the facts and will just delude yourself.
It is said, and I have seen this happen a few times, that a family's wealth only survives three generations. The first generation creates the wealth. The second generation experienced how difficult it was to create the wealth so it preserves it, however it raises the third generation in a way that the third generation doesn't have to experience the pain and suffering of the first generation. The third generation loses the wealth. It is a generalization but the principle scales to a nation and this is what we're seeing in the Western democracies. Few people remember the pain and suffering of the early-mid 20th century so the wealth is being squandered on idiotic nonsense. It's why there is an opioid crisis... life is so easy and comfortable now so why do we need such powerful pain killers?
That did not happen in my family. We've been middle position for over 100 years, but my kids are the end of my line. No brothers, cousins or uncles with the same last name, and I fathered only girls. The End.
Good points. I literally saw an advertisement here on UA-cam, of a young woman talking about needing a therapist because life was so difficult after college trying to make important life decisions. This woman was young, healthy, not impoverished, and suffered no severe loss like the death of a loved one or other personal tragedy. Yet she said she needed a therapist. WTF?
To expand upon your line of thinking, we have millennials and younger people owning 30 or 40 pairs of sneakers and thousands of dollars of tattoos on their bodies but claim they can’t afford a house. Or are willing to spend two or $3000 a month on rent, which is ridiculously stupid
Ignorance is weakness... My younger brother "engaged" Life... Still has his first water bill from nearly 50 years ago... Cash running out of his ears!! I partied🎉.... So I "had" to be content with living on other people's couches till my 30s😮
0:46 Human capital is the ability to create the material things that constitute wealth. So profound and fundamental for all societies and governments to comprehend, respect and embrace.
Could not agree more. Human capital is more important than anything to a society. We are currently destroying it as fast as we can - See Oregon - no requirement to read or do math to graduate from High School..... What are they learning?
@@BG_USAIt is dangerous because the system has failed the country. Rules and laws make it easy for unfair distribution of wealth. It's a very normal cycle in any system. When the crime rate rises then the system is about to break.... South Africa is ahead=>. Sometimes you have to break things before you build something new.
@@lugebeatzz8747 - The “unfair distribution of wealth” was during Apartheid prior to its end in the early 1990’s. Now that the wealth has been redistributed to the majority Black population, the country is a violent cesspool or rapes, robbery, carjackings, and murder. The South African Whites have had their farms, lands, and businesses taken away and given to the local Black Africans who can’t and won’t do anything productive for themselves.
As one of the presenters on MEMRI TV stated: we produce NOTHING! Not even a sewing needle. Nothing. Even the traditional Arab headgear is made in London. Most, if not all labour in SA and the UAE are imported and returned to their home countries when the job - building, for example - is completed. All airports are staffed with European technicians, as none of the natives is willing or able to learn all the various aspects of maintenance - planes, computer systems, etc.
The Netherlands had a similar problem in the 1970s due to their natural gas reserves. Google the economic term "Dutch Disease" In a nutshell, over-reliance on a single resource- especially a natural resource- can cause widespread decline in all other sectors of the economy.
Yep, they want to pay “western“ pilots a phenomenal amount to come over to that crap part of the world to fly the planes they purchased from “western“ companies. They offered me $40,000/month way back in 2004 to fly. NO amount of money is worth going to an Islamic country; let alone the 120 degree daytime temperature.
@@RaoulLeDegueu Doesn't matter, my point Saudi had it same time, just because you stop it earlier that does not make you better or more ethical, matter fact the worst slavery in history was in Europe and America, that's why the black Americans still traumatized by it till to day, you can't name group of slavery ancestors from Saudi Arabia that they still had the same problem the Americans have
@@hassanabdullahsaleem9325no the Saudi's still have slaves. American women are kidnapped taken to Mexico and sold to Saudi's they have entire brothels full of western kidnapped women.
When you are on benefits you are literally discouraged from making too much money because you can lose your benefits. You have to somehow make the jump from depending on the state to self sufficiency without losing everything you have. This is a terrible system and is very demotivating. It is a system of slavery imo.
Surviving is not thriving, it's merely existing. Anyone worth their salt on welfare will work their way OFF welfare in short order. The ones that stay on it for life are deadbeats. They'll be deadbeats whether they have welfare or not.
@@karthikeyanm.v8381 Sowell didn't mention percapita income he said the collapse of Saudi Arabia was imminent that was 27 years ago and just to correct you Saudi percapita income is around 33K (nominal).
27 years is just about right for making a huge shift away from Saudi foreign oil. The USA is now producing domestically, AND (Tesla) Electric vehicles will be dominating everything starting in 2025
@@zeecee9479 Vehicles only account for 20% of oil use. Also, the CEO of Tesla is a literal n*tz*, I dont think a lot of people will want to support that company
It's a clip from 1997. I wonder what imminent means, is it more than 27 years? If someone googles the developments in Saudi will know that it's far away from collapsing. Yet, those with "Human Capital" made education impossible for their people while Saudi is investing in their citizens education. Dragging Saudi into this is a terrible example.
I agree that SA is a bad example on one level. That is that oil is not going away anytime soon. The residents of SA will be rich for a long time. However in the future they will not be as rich as today and as the wealth gradually diminishes the country as a whole will need to work harder and get smarter or as Mr. Sowell said there will be a collapse. So what Sowell said is not wrong. The people who run SA are quite aware and know the truth of this situation that they are in. Weather they can change their society is yet to be revealed.
As Rockefeller said we need to educate more factory workers not more thinkers. So keep them always needing big brother’s help and the workers will stay docile.
Makes more sense indeed. Emphasize more productivity and the dexterity of "skills" set. Running away from the works and efforts 💪 associated with the ✋ hands has destroyed many a society.
John Rockefeller worked his way up from poverty to become the world's first billionaire. There aren't many exceptional men in history that could accomplish that.
I once read that if all the wealth in the USA was taken from everyone and then evenly distributed among the population that in two generations most of the families that had the wealth would have it again and most of the families that were once poor would be poor again. (this, btw, is a run-on sentence)
It is a combination of many factors especially education but I have seen this exact thing happen with my own eyes. A family wins the lottery or a massive lawsuit in just 10 years of time 70 to 80 % of them were broke again and in the case of the educated ones they invested their money in stocks , bonds , housing and businesses over time they were far more successful…..
@@brokenwrench404Biggest factor is education. Look at the UK now without its colonies, most of the top positions in the country are taken by people from ultra wealthy schools such as Eton. The system is based on wealth not merit. 20 PM’s from one school(Eton) is, in an age when education is vital, bringing the UK down.
A sincere thank you for providing life support to my faith in humanity. It has become so rare to hear someone speak sense rooted in knowledge that they worked for and logik and do so calmly without "destroying" any perceived foes. All the best to you Mr. Sowell. We germans better heed the message in this video if we are to maintain our wealth.
same holds true for socialism / communism, the Government provides and the people have NO incentive to do better, to create new things, the motivation to do better / to create is taken away ! that is why it always will fail
My family was one of those forced out of Uganda after 3 generations 52 years ago this very month. We are one of those Gujarati families. The first 10 years was brutal in the US. My dad's youngest brother got drafted to fight in Vietnam.
@@Hun_Uinaq Yo fue a estudiar medicina en Cost Rica por 5 anos, aprendio espanol. Mucho respeto por mi hermanos y hermanas latinos que me apoyaron siempre. ningún obstáculo le impida su sueno Americano
Not only between their ears. More importantly the incentive, the desire to become better than the current situation. Goods or services without effort (work) have little to no value. Human Capital is the desire for progress by those who create the actual path of progress. I.e. Entrepreneurs.
Ya, it's almost like thinking about food to eat doesn't make it magically appear, and a house does not get built just with "intellect"! I get so sick of the elevation and idolization of "intellectuals" that don't have to get their hands dirty, and are paid waaaay more than manual laborers that keep the world and modern societies running. Good luck living in a house in NYC or any other city in the US today, with no running water, electricity, or sewage available. Good thing we have people willing to do manual labor, get dirty, and work with their hands or we'd all be dead! Too bad they are looked down upon and not "idolized" like the intellectuals. I wonder what life will be like in the future when all we have are the STEM students and intellectuals, since the "lesser trades" are looked down upon!
Hi 🤔. It seems that most socialist don't seem to understand the need for any incentive. It's as if businesses and wealth are just going to always be there. The risks, the innovation and hard work are somebody's else's responsibly. They just want to cash in on it all afterwards.🤑
@@brendamaggio9189 maybe, but idolizing "the worker" leads to communist failure. Every time. It's always about supply and demand. If there's a large number of uneducated workers, labor will be cheap. If there's not, labor costs go up. America allows hundreds of thousands of uneducated laborers to come in every year so labor will always be cheap here. Saudi Arabia imports uneducated foreigners to work for them, but they will have to go back eventually. They don't allow most to stay, only those with specific skill sets. Don't idolize uneducated laborers. The world is full of them. Idolize those that make a success of the opportunity they're given and break out of the laborer life.
@@brendamaggio9189 well there is a place for ALL. Just as when we speak of the Body of Christ with each of us as members. We are not all "eyes" or "hands" - because an eye, or a head or a hand - by itself can do nothing. but all members together to form a body can accomplish great things.
My brother once said that if you take all the money in the world and divide it equally among all the people, within a year the people who originally had it will mostly have it again -- because they know what to do with money.
@@L46C3 That seems implicit in the proposition but yes, that is so. What I like about capitalism or free enterprise is that people are free to find their most efficient and profitable use of their talents and abilities. Not everybody succeeds but more wealth is created by this approach and people are much better off.
There are many types of redistribution. Giving people money for nothing actually destroys human capital - but subsidizing education and health care increases a country's human capital.
And infrastructure building enables entrepreneurs to produce their goods and services far easier. So, if a government wants to reduce poverty, it should build infrastructure.
Not necessarily because the government handout of “ free” Medical care for all and “ free “ education does not mean taxes wouldn’t keep going up or that you get good medical care we have the 😮teachers Union are not for real Education but have become and forced to teach lies as truth! They are simply propaganda tools for a tyranny you won’t like!So communism, socialism and globalism cannot make ppl equal! If a student does not want to learn but would rather go out and play basketball 🏀 thinking he will be the greatest players of all time- the odds are against him….. if you are so ignorant not to know that 70% of property Owners are Taxed every year to pay for schools. There is no such thing as a free lunch! Shallow thinking that those two “ freebies are free, you just do not know how the world works.
@@sharpsam25 That shouldn't be a factor. In order for our country to survive we must stop finding ways to divide and unite for the betterment of the whole.
@@ethanadams8165How is a man (Trump) who created a great economy, protected the boarder, secured jobs and neutralised Iran and North Korea a buffoon? I guess you must love illegals, high crime, massive inflation and government control.
Lived in Saudi for a year and a half. Totally correct. Most of the population doesn’t think they need to work and believe in buying, bribing, or blackmailing for results. It’s endemic. I got shook down or dealt with more serious corruption every two weeks almost like clockwork. And that means when it comes to do real work they can’t do it.
Who wants to work anymore? people go to their jobs making little money when a random influencer teen or w****e on Instagram buying mansions and luxury cars
Australia is in the same situation as Saudi Arabia. A big mineral sandpit with little long term investment in education, technology and high value production.
Can listen to this fella for hours. An incredibly smart, unpretentious, down to earth straight talking man. They don't come along very often....we are lucky to be able to witness it.
My step father started knocking the "human capitol" out from between my ears starting at age 5. Woke up on my back wondering why the treetops and clouds were spinning in a circle while he was kicking me in the head screaming at me to get up off my back and get back to work unloading the truck. Before my 18th birthday I had suffered dozens of concussions at his guiding hand. And he wondered out loud why I couldn't think straight while growing up. Us boomers had it pretty rough.
@@noway905 sir ,I don't say that you had an easy life. But feeling sorry for yourself doesn't put you in a right mindset where you can actually improve your circumstances by taking personal responsibility
I suffered multiple concussions as a child too, but none from an abusive parent or relative. I don't blame anyone but myself for my failures in life and I don't blame the concussions either. In your case, it sounds like you didn't have a supportive father in your life. Mental and physical abuse doesn't help anyone to succeed in life. Overcoming that early abuse isn't always possible either. _Life isn't fair and then you die._ That's something us Gen X'ers also learned.
he was right in principle, and didn't put a date on his prediction; he's predicting the collapse of Saudi Arabia's economy once the oil is gone, which hasn't yet happened; of course this could be avoided through wise policies, but this still doesn't invalidate what Sowell is saying here
Wait so 27 years is too long to predict the collapse of a nation? Like someone who predicted Rome would collapse in 200 AD and would be laughed at in 227 AD for being wrong. Yet Rome was well on its way to total collapse by then.
Glad to hear Sowell make this point. So we can now end all tax breaks for billionaires and wealthy corporations because their superior "human capital" means they will replace that money with more of the product of their genius.
China's collapse is imminent, Russia's collapse is imminent, Saudi Arabia's collapse is imminent... They are making these claims to compensate the fact they couldn't predict the collapse of USSR.
I've explained this to my socialist friends multiple times but they just don't want to listen, understand, or acknowledge that you need to teach a man to fish for himself not give him a fish. I ask them, okay once 1 year has gone by and there are no more billionaires to steal from where is the money going to come from?
Billionaires to ..steal... from? All wealth is created by labor and the public sector which gives the rich credit , subsidies, high tech and saves them when they fail ...
Try telling them not to worry about what someone else has. Go out into the greatest country on earth and make something of yourself. If you can't make it in America, you can't make it anywhere.
Fisherman don't manufacture boats genius, companies do. I didn't know fisherman could invent their own engines, batteries, and sonar equipment. This nation is filled to the brim with Mor$ons.....
I find this all scary. People have developed their skills into finding ways to live off the government. Please don't tell me they haven't because I see it every day.
Great interview! Another example: After Israel left Gaza, the Arabs ruined the complete place within short time instead of maintaining machines, buildings etc. (o.k. much of this was because of genocidal phantasies against the Jews and this irrational religious hate). Another great example: while eastern Germany was soviet dominated and fell to agony (they buildet and sold the same crap car "Trabant" for 40 years, and you had to wait up to 10 years to be able to get one), western Germany was prosperous.
From limited resources. Capitalism can't sustain itself forever. Once the supply dwindle there will be an incentive to cut down the demand demand as well. It's good for few but terrible for the rest
Nearly 70 years ago (circa 1955 -57), I read in a 'Punch' magazine a story about American oil executives visiting an Arab country seeking to clinch an oil deal with some Arabs. They met in a large tent with prominent Arab leaders and sat down to a large feast with many different dishes. As the discussion continued, they came to the sheep's eyeball, and desperately wanting to progress matters, the Americans had to accept this delicacy with good grace. The Arab Leader wanted to know why oil was so important to the Americans, when the Arabs had useless tons of it - what the Arabs needed was the ever-precious water! The Americans clinched the deal when they told the Arabs that if they sold the Americans their oil, they'd be able to buy all the water they wanted!
True but with one EXTREMELY IMPORTANT POINT YOU FAILED TO MENTION. WE VIA HENRY KISSINGER DEMANDED THE CONDITION THAT THEIR OIL ALWAYS & FOREVER MUST BE TRADED IN US DOLLARS. THIS INSURED THE DOLLARS LONG ROLE AS THE WORLDS RESERVE CURRENCY.
Oman and the other gulf states are in a much better position since they’re smaller, have good relations with Iran and are generally diversifying faster.
Like UAE Qatar Kuwait Bahrain ? UAE has achieved this goal ahead of all GCC or Gulf states MBZ is the best Gulf Arab monarch while MBS is the most promising if he’s able to diversify his economy and keep the region stable
A welfare state develops a handout mentality among the masses. No one "sees why" they should do anything because the state will give it to them. I worked at a university in Saudi Arabia from 2010 to 2012, and even at the university there was already a handout mentality. Saudi "professors", many of whom plagiarised work to obtain PhDs or paid others to do the work for them, only taught 5 hours a week, while foreign professors had to do more than double that. Foreign lecturers worked 15 hours a week (locals 8). Administrative workers would get to work at 9, gather together and have long breakfasts together, get working at 10.30 and leave for prayer at 11.30, return at 2, have tea at 3 and be gone before 4. Getting anything done was impossible. Admin assistants were paid more than foreign lecturers and had to have at least 2 international vacations a year because "working is very stressful". I was blown away by how things worked at every corner. I met men on the street who were "not working at the moment" but driving big, new 4x4s, with other cars at home... home being a triple-storey house. They received subsidies for every child they had, education and medical aid are free and there are many other "claims" that can be made. I saw similar situations in the UAE.
I worked in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia for more than a decade. Due to so-called Saudization, thousands of skilled foreign workers, like myself, are laid off or their contracts not renewed to make way for the ever increasing Saudi labour force and to reduce unemployment among the Saudi youth, who make up more than 60% of the population. The problem is that most of the Saudis who replace expats are not as industrious, so much so that even Saudi employers complain about their laziness. Productivity slumps. Customer service deteriorates. I witnessed this first hand.
As is the case with all arab muslim countries.
In their mindset, the "Kuffar" will produce for them everything they need, thus they produce nothing of material or cultural value themselves, and it shows. Even the means to extract the oil they get so rich on was provided to them by the west.
Spoken like someone who has never visited anywhere in the Middle East.
Total BS, these arab nations are all puppets for the US.
Nothing of material of cultural ..value ? this is worse than pure ignorance ..
@@dsgio7254 Enlighten me.
@@Fernoll Turkey ..produces nothing of material and cultural value ? Just to start ..
It makes me sad knowing the great Dr. Sowell can't be with us in coming decades. He's in his mid-90s now. We should cherish him while we have him.
And we are all born at the right time...0
He may be. People who take care of themselves are living extraordinarily long lives. He was born in 1930 which places him in the Silent Generation. Tens of millions of them around. And the generation before them? The GI or Greatest Generation? To be part of that generation you’d have to be 96 and a half or older but while they’re dying out fast you’d be amazed how many of them are actually still with us. Plenty of folks over 100.
Maybe so. However, I doubt that many of them are writing books.
@@domingodelgado5945or giving interviews.
This man does NOT look his age.
I think Thomas Stowell is one of the greatest.Americsns
one of the greatest minds of our age.
A national treasure 🇺🇸
Lol 😂
No doubt!!
Hardly
This man is 94 years old! Incredible. Thank you for what you do sir!
Is this video actually from this very year of 2024?? If so, indeed that's impressive!
@@fernandoxavier5688my thoughts.. I don’t think it is. 🤷🏽
@@Dogatemyhomework927 If it's from 2023 or 22 it would still be impressive, IMO. He doesn't appear to be more than 80!
Same age as my doctor. Still going strong.
Thomas Sowell is an American treasure and one of the greatest Americans of the last 150 years.
@@dondrechsler5446 shows you how shitty the quality of people is in the US.....
@@RichFinn-ue2yw are you like a moron or what good god.
same thing happened in africa, when they killed off and forced out all the dutch farmers, who actually knew how to do things
its like they think the lowest IQs in the world can somehow make a sewage system.
Afrikaans
You need to look up actual inventions. The greatest of many things came from the country called Africa. But people would rather call it Egypt. Because that is not Africa...
@@rafaelgonzalez4175Africa is NOT a country. it's a continent 😂.
@@rafaelgonzalez4175Africa was originally 2 countries: Niger and Nigeria
To me, this is also happening in America. The foreigners come here and become doctors, engineers, IT professionals, etc while Americans want government subsidies and think becoming a social media influencer begging for likes is actually hard work.
💯true
I have tutored the children of immigrants from various Asian countries, especially the children of immigrants from India. Those Indian parents, and others as well, really push their kids to do well academically. They enroll them in multiple after-school tutoring clubs to focus on different subjects, including math and writing - no frivolous subjects for them. They are tiger moms and dads. The parents simply expect their children to become doctors.
Agreed. Don't forget, Americans are also entitled world travelers, just like Agent 007 Mr. James Bond!
Also among Social Peers in schools.
Have watched children of single parent or mixed households do very well, even if their own parents weren't pushing them, but the pull of other Asian students seriousness about education was contagious in order to stay in peer group.
how you dare???
don't you know that americans are exceptional, white folk is superior to everyone else? they bring civilization everywhere, even if they have to kill a couple of tens of millions on the way, it's just for our own good
so reconsider your ridiculous assumption
This is so true. South Korea is a great example. It has zero natural resources and the economy was none existent after decades of colonization and civil war. When the Korean War ended in 1953, South Korea was the poorest county in the world (GDP of less than $1,000 per capita), with hundreds of thousands of people dying of hunger. The ONLY resource they had were human capital, and the entire nation made a commitment to become successful. Fast forward 6 decades, and now the nation of 50M people with landsize that of 1/6th of Texas has the14th largest economy in the world.
Work ethic which Americans no longer have
its the usa that made skorea rich , just as how the usa made china rich
up to 1970's North and South Korea had same GDP
@@user-xg2vy3ri6rnot necessarily the Mexicans are replenishing that drive. There is no better ally to the US than Mexicans not Mexico but Mexicans
So exact and so true.. I have many many times almost said VerBatim what you have written here…. Also used the same example as an argument against communism as the North would in theory have the exact same cultural starting point.
One of the best times of my life was driving across country listening to nothing but Thomas Sowell for 3 days straight
Never heard of him before...
@@Guillermo-ym5yn Then maybe you dont need to
I've learned a ton from him ♡
@@devinligtelyn404 i've only heard a couple of pounds from him
Yes! Wasn’t him the entire trip from PHX to MKE, but more than a few of his longer ones was on my playlist.
Kuwait is another example.
3.3 million foreigners do almost all the work and the 1.5 million citizens are given oil money for life.
For _life_ . Yes, this is what is missing in the video. If you invest the money, like the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, you pay others to work for you. So much money no Arab has to ever work again.
Most Kuwaitis work as well, making enough money that the family can afford to invest in having a household in Europe or North America as well….. meaning they have an escape plan (something 99.9% of Americans don’t even understand as all of our eggs are placed in one basket).
Most kuwait citizens have diabetes
Yup, America is so smart that after we liberate Kuwait from Saddam, our people are destitute, have no jobs, have to pay exhorbitant fees for medical coverage, are taxed to death, with millions of fentanyl addicts, our manufacturing base eroded to non-existence. Way to be successful, America. Kuwaitis have a higher standard of living and live more comfortable lives while we are in a miserable state of existence.
I've worked in Kuwait, and they do have some good Kuwaiti engineers working on their own oil projects now. Forget the stereotypes. Despite that, it's not clear how somewhere like Kuwait would survive in a few decades time when either oil runs out or we ban fossil fuels into oblivion. I guess the hope is that like Qatar, they can live off Sovereign Wealth funds. This kind of long-term rent-seeking is a third way that Sowell doesn't mention. Consumption or investing in human capital aren't the only alternatives for these places. Saudi is a bit different, however, because the national population is much higher (than Kuwait or Qatar) at about 20 million and growing.
Same applies to DEI you can't obtain the intelligence, work ethic, experience or honesty of merit based hiring by suppressing the opportunities of the most talented.
Also, reveling in Diversity of Appearance, whilst disdaining Diversity of Thought, only means you'll never again learn anything.
That's the point tho. You want to bring down anyone that is hard to control.
@@intheredcold9216 You want to control? Get a puppet show, and mind your business.
Best way to get party loyalists in charge though.
Why would anyone want that?
'Human capital is what is between your ears.' Damn bro that line was hard . And awesome.
Poor and middle class need resources to develop human capital. He is a greedy fraud
The only person who’d call Sowell a greedy fraud is a Marxist and Marxists only know how to destroy not build.
@@Alfred-cz7my it's called the internet, and it's free and open to everyone. if you're failing in 2024 with the library of alexandria at your fingertips, nobody can help you.
@@Alfred-cz7myyou mean build back better from the bottom up and the middle out? There is big problem with that thinking. There is nothing at the bottom to grow from!
@@Alfred-cz7my Is this account a "troll" or a 'bot'? Dr. Sowell's own life refutes your statement. A few quotes from his biography: "born into a family of black sharecroppers in North Carolina in 1930", "Grew up in Harlem", "did not graduate from high school". Sounds like "poor and middle class", and without "resources". Yet he developed his own human capital. May I recommend you read one or more of his books; you'll become wiser as you develop your human capital..
Having worked in KSA, I saw the sheer lack of mental and physical effort by young Saudi staff. An absence of critical thought and a tendency to 'outsource' challenging tasks was prominent. Without the social safety net provided by oil these young men have no future.
They might have a future as second-class citizens in a Greater Iran once the U.S. finally wises up and leaves the region for good.
safety net is no future, only hardship can make them change
@@drmwpn Lol the US is under the process of signing a defense treaty with Saudi. Also, Iran is probably gonna collapse soon, everyone in the country hates Islam and its only a matter of time until they turn on Khomeni. When that happens Israel and Saudi will just prop up rebels in that region to keep Iran destabilized for another 50 years
No Renaissance
And Still you are working for them not for your india,, pajeeet
“My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a Mercedes, I ride a Rolls Royce, my son rides a Land Rover, and my grandson is going to ride a Land Rover too, but my great-grandson is going to be forced to ride a camel again.” Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
The grandson should have bought a Land Cruiser to hand down to the great grandson, they last!
@@chele-chele he is referring to the eventual lack of oil for his car....
yep, theyve already got the "renewable future" sorted out. they know its inevitable. its the rest of the world running around pretending that they can have infinite "growth" and "progress", trying their best to ignore the elephant in the room that will suffer:)
@@TheRahsofthe is making a joke - remember those ??
@@shantishanti1949 using your brain.. remember that... blur like sotong ???
Thomas Sowell is pure wisdom
Spot on, i can see here in the UK thousands happy to stay at home on benefits as they are better off than working and generating own capital. Major reform of benefits required urgently.
To become wise, one must acquire knowledge. Then one must apply/use
that knowledge to demonstrate wisdom. Dr Sowell has done this in spades.
Sowell is wrong. The economy in Uganda did not collapse after Indians left for England. It simply reverted to its original human capital - black hunters and gatherers. The problem with all these economists is that they cornered themselves into belief that all races have the same IQ.
So they regressed
How wonderful to love and respect a man for his intellectual ability and not the color of his forehead.
Why would his forehead colour deserve respect?
That's how America should be color blind, unfortunately we have politicians who thrives on racism
Again, Thomas Sowell hits the nail on the head. It will be a sorry lose when he is gone. It is a shame he doesn't have more views.
Hopefully dr sowell is writing another book as we speak
He's a crack pot, most of us are mature enough to see through the bs. He gets very simple things about history wrong. He's not popular because he's not correct and doesn't produce any true novel revelations.
Thank goodness he's written plenty of books.
Loss not lose.
@@colleenobrien8212 Noted. Thank you.
Golden eggs only come from a living goose
True enough.
The fear is that serfdom, in all but name, will return.
After all, if the metaphorical goose is en-serfed, well, they will continue to lay eggs because - well, it's alive, isn't it?
Humans will be treated the same way.
And things will collapse... Again.
@@TheMaleRei
Serfdom never left
Golden eggs also come from attaching your saved capital to those living geese as income producing investments.
A female goose. But women in Saudi Arabia are allowed to contribute very little.
@@Tchild2 that is why they bought the lpg.
One of my afghan interpreters told me a story about his family. He said that they were living in a refugee camp in Pakistan after fleeing the taliban. He told me that they had lived better than most in Afghanistan before fleeing and that he wanted to find work when they were living in the refugee camp. He said that his father told him no, that he would instead get an education, and of all things learn English. He said that his father told him that he could be the richest man but if he lost everything, and didn’t have an education and a skill, he would always be poor. I respected this interpreter because he was very smart, he spoke almost perfect english, and he had skills. He showed me pictures of his family and how he was able to rebuild once he was able to come back to his country. I teach my children and now my grandchildren these same values, and this video brought back this memory. I honestly hope that my good Afghan friend was able to continue living safely in Afghanistan after we withdrew from there. Just thought I would share this story.
So basically you are one of the yankees who graped Afghan kids in the mountainous wilderness. Or were you one of the coke plant guardians? I am curious what value did you add to the afghans? Was it worth the price?
Thank you for sharing
I agree, prophet Muhammed said god guarantees to whoever acquires a profession or a skill to never be poor.
@silver10188 The Prophet also liked to marry and have sex with children. That's not somebody to pay attention to, or quote. Do better
Stop chatting out of your arse
If Thomas Sowell says it, I believe it!
Trust but verify!
I agree. He's accurate and thoughtful on a wide array of subjects. Brilliant man. Young people can learn from him.
Well he said this in 1997 and Saudi Arabia hasn't collapsed.
@@andy-wn1hq the oil pumps are still delivering
@@andy-wn1hq He didn't say anything about Saudi Arabia collapsing. That's a video description click baiting you.
There's a reason we have signs in parks that say "don't feed the animals".
Great wisdom in a few words.
On the contrary whoever came up with that was pretty dumb. In nature, even in a park, animals are free to take/find what they need to sustain life. People in, let's say, the Amazon jungle are also free to take what they need from nature to survive and thrive. In "Civilised" society the individual cannot take what he needs for survival because everything is either owned or controlled either by "The Capitalist" or by the State and so the individual is not free like the animals in the Park or the Indians in the Amazon. (and no, I am not a communist)
@@fredgillespie5855 Although you are correct, you missed the point. The point is about dependancy.
You're beyond wrong. And yes you're a communist.
@@fredgillespie5855 The flaw in your argument is that the individual is often and I'd argue most of the time, "The Capitalist".
As a Saudi citizen, what Dr. Sowell stated "Was" true about 30-40 years ago, what's actually happening now is quite the opposite of what he is saying, Saudi citizens are gradually occupying more jobs than ever before, Doctors, teachers, engineers, IT techs, mechanics, electricians, barristas, cashiers, etc.
We still have a long way to go but such changes don't happen overnight.
BTW that goes for both genders.
That's because Saudi Arabia is finally realizing it can't live off of foreign migrant labor forever
Yes exactly, Saudi is completely different now
That’s still wrong, you’re only saying that because you committed appeal to authority. Majority of saudis do not have proper work in the sense that that they don’t work typical 9-5 jobs, they are obliged to work at whatever time they need, plus they are have been the bonus and the sovereign fund as their financial support. While there are saudis who do work more in business and engineering, many Saudi do poorly in their academic work and there’s barely any saudis who work in the medical field, those who obtain a Saudi citizenship but yet also work in medicine tend to be immigrants coming from Pakistan, Jordan, Palestine, etc. Also there are no Saudis who work as IT techs or electricians, and definitely not cashiers, especially the fact that they are funded by oil money with sovereign fund and economic benefits from social welfare programs. So this is an ignorant comment you have provided. According to PISA 2018, students in Saudi Arabia consistently scored lower than in reading, mathematics and science compared to OECD countries and lower in mathematics and science compared to other participating countries in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA)1 that participated in PISA. Saudi Arabia has definitely made improvements, especially in the past 2 decades. However they are still behind by being a genuine productive society that is dependent and logically, that wouldn’t happen in the future or at least our life times.
@@coldflame999not much, but they made some key improvements
@@shauncameron8390They still do, but they have made improvements
South Africa being destroyed by Black Economic Empowerment.Incompetent and poor work ethic has replaced competent and productive people.Corruption and crime has become the norm!
I have no fear from South Africa being a member of BRICS. They cannot
even keep their lights on.
that will be what happens to the west... all western nations... first the usa will be californicated with kamala harris as president for 8 years followed by a.o.c. for 8 years. once a.o.c. is in office, the usa will become like the uk - no firearms in private hands and no 1st amendment either. finally, in a.o.c's 1st term the usa will become south africa. that is the progression.
@@spartacuschrist6089 Actually, only a few areas and not all of SA are doing ok, not well. You must reside in a functioning Western Cape municipality to think that SA is doing well. Maybe now there has been mostly uninterrupted electricity supply for a few months you've been lulled into a false sense of "well being". Read the latest Auditor General's reports on the state of local and metro municipalities to know the levels of ineptitude, possible fraud and corruption. The SA economy's growth rate is hovering around 1%. South Africa recorded a Government Debt to GDP of 72.2% of the country's GDP in 2023. There are alleged criminals allowed to sit in parliament! However, in the context of this YT discussion, the introduction and use of The Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD Grant) is contributing, together with poor govt economic policies, to the continued high levels of unemployment and subsequent poverty. Btw - Racism is very much still an issue in SA!!
@@spartacuschrist6089they have blackouts and brown outs normally... their infrastructure is falling apart. Unemployment is insanely high.
@@spartacuschrist6089 SA is falling apart, thank cultural Marxism for that.
This guy has every right to settle down and keep to himself. But here he is, in his 90s spreading his knowledge. That is dedication to society.
this guy put things i already knew into words i couldn't articulate.
YES! Many of us know it, but could never be as eloquent as he is!!
Someone once said we could divide all the money in the World equally among inhabitants of the Earth and within five years five percent of the people will control ninety-five percent of the money.
@@767driver We would all be equally poor.
Under capitalism yes…it’s like the game of monopoly. One person ends up with everything. In my mid-60’s 3rd generation wealth and I’ve seen the expansion of wealth people over the past 10-15 years like never before. A young man just bought the estate 4 down from mine by selling an algorithm to some Wall Street Broker…that’s it. He’s set for life I understand. Was well educated but never had a “job” yet my wealth has grown over 20 times from when my trust started at 25…and I did nothing to earn a dime of it. It was all equity and bond trading, a few deaths along the way. For the life of me, these poorly educated working class people who win the lottery, then broke in less than 5 years is stunning to me🤔
They own the production. And the funnels, and the media. And the.....
@@767driver The game of Monopoly is capitalism on steroids…someone ends up with all the money…fair and square so…
I think it was Warren Buffet. He said it's the way the system is designed. All wealth flows upwards.
Thomas Sowell is a king!!! I am always amazed by his intelligence as much as I am about his soul!!! Thank god he wrote so many books! He is truly a gift to us all!
They have foreigners do 99% of work there.
I believe the percentage is higher.
@@jimarcher5255 100%?
No. Due to Saudization, the number of foreign workers have decreased in the past decade. Saudi know what they are doing.
@@alluringbliss4165 Yes 100% of all non-bullshit work
@@cobra8888that's why on paper the Saudi military looks formidable, in reality they are lazy . I hope they invest in there future because a collapse there would be terrible for the world
We need more people with insight like Mr. Sowell.
I seem to recall that the Roman Empire finally collapsed because the slaves and foreign workers did the work and the Romans became idle and effete. That was what we were taught at school, many years ago.
The Roman Empire never collapsed it was just rebranded to become The Holy Roman Empire.
@citrusblue9367 Yes, I know, but that was a different Power base.
@@CitrusBlue9367 It absolutely collapsed.
As an expat living in Saudi Arabia I was about to call you out on the assertion that half the population is foreign, but I checked and was surprised to see it is 41%. In mitigation, for UAE that figure is almost 90%, which is much more extreme
You probably have a bias, you think expat you think white dudes from America. The majority of foreigners in Saudi are cheap labor from India and other 3rd world countries. Who do you think built those skyscrapers in 110F? Lol
Same with Qatar, but both Qatar and the UAE have built their economies on knowledge and being excellent places to do business, far better foundations than natural resources. Dubai is so pro business they even deal with Russia and aren't ashamed to do so. The Telegram app (whose founder has been arrested) was developed and started up in Dubai.
@@scottwebb4722 you have to play by their rules though, anything that challenges the status quo(monarchy absolute power) will not be tolerated. Also anything deemed unislamic will not be entertained. Its a police surveillance state of the highest order
Kuwait was very much the same when I worked there in 2009. I never met so many people from different parts of the world in one place, before or since.
Lol unislamic.. As if everything in dubai is islamic bruh@@knossostellel-amarna8502
The bigger the welfare state, the bigger the dependency, the weaker the human capital.
Succinct
Even honest Russians admit this.
Really? That's not my experience. It's hard to find a bigger welfare state than Denmark, based on the unemployment benefits, etc., yet people are very eager to get jobs. I'm currently unemployed, and the people I meet in the system are quite desperate to get out of it and get a normal job, to become less dependent. It's more a question of mindset in the population, I think, as well as the country as a whole, rather than the size of the welfare state.
@@MrAstrojensen Denmark is expensive as hell, and the weather has imprinted the "need to work to survive" mindset in people for thousands of years; it's different in the south;
"I'm currently unemployed, and the people I meet in the system are quite desperate to get out of it " - yeah, maybe also because you don't meet in the system the people who are not striving to get out of it;
welfare state still has a corrosive effect, even in Denmark, if you look at its effects over longer stretches of time
I love Thomas Sowell. Whenever this guy speaks, tons of wisdom comes out. He definitely has the human capital that he speaks of. He inspires me to continue to develop my own human capital. If you are given wealth (material capital)but don't use it, or your time to develop human capital, your material capital will eventually run out and you will have nothing. Develop your human capital so you can sustain or learn how to create material capital. With no human capital, (no skills, lack of useful knowledge, no business knowledge, no work ethic, no interest in something productive, etc.) your ability to survive or strive will run out and you will eventually become poor and hopeless. Hope comes from taking some sort of initiative to do something to give yourself hope.
The ability to distil seemingly complex economics into its basic moving parts, strong in Dr Sowell is.
Haha…yoda
Such WISDOM NOT BEING LISTENED TO.
We are failing, listening to DEMOCRATS.
you left out the "n" it's demoncrats
Dems are thieves. They want to take from US, We the People, and give it all to the illegals. Shameful and criminal, IMO.
There’s this old saying. If you're not a Democrat at 20 you have no heart. If you're still a Democrat at 30 you have no brain.
Ask yourself who offshored all manufacturing from the US. Hint. It wasn't under a democrat president. But you won't care about the facts and will just delude yourself.
You still think voting makes a difference lol if you trust the government you dont know history
I wish this man would run for some type of office. He and his kind are exactly the type of men and women that should lead our nation.
Honest people don't last in politics
It is said, and I have seen this happen a few times, that a family's wealth only survives three generations. The first generation creates the wealth. The second generation experienced how difficult it was to create the wealth so it preserves it, however it raises the third generation in a way that the third generation doesn't have to experience the pain and suffering of the first generation. The third generation loses the wealth.
It is a generalization but the principle scales to a nation and this is what we're seeing in the Western democracies. Few people remember the pain and suffering of the early-mid 20th century so the wealth is being squandered on idiotic nonsense. It's why there is an opioid crisis... life is so easy and comfortable now so why do we need such powerful pain killers?
That did not happen in my family.
We've been middle position for over 100 years, but my kids are the end of my line.
No brothers, cousins or uncles with the same last name, and I fathered only girls.
The End.
Good points. I literally saw an advertisement here on UA-cam, of a young woman talking about needing a therapist because life was so difficult after college trying to make important life decisions. This woman was young, healthy, not impoverished, and suffered no severe loss like the death of a loved one or other personal tragedy. Yet she said she needed a therapist. WTF?
To expand upon your line of thinking, we have millennials and younger people owning 30 or 40 pairs of sneakers and thousands of dollars of tattoos on their bodies but claim they can’t afford a house. Or are willing to spend two or $3000 a month on rent, which is ridiculously stupid
@@Todd-o8nwe all gotta go sometime😅
Ignorance is weakness...
My younger brother "engaged"
Life... Still has his first water bill from nearly 50 years ago... Cash running out of his ears!!
I partied🎉.... So I "had" to be content with living on other people's couches till my 30s😮
Same thing happend in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) where they kicked the white farmers of their lands and thus created a famine.
100% it was once known as the bread basket of africa.Mugabe wrecked the country,the people should have worked with the white farmers.
0:46 Human capital is the ability to create the material things that constitute wealth. So profound and fundamental for all societies and governments to comprehend, respect and embrace.
Could not agree more. Human capital is more important than anything to a society. We are currently destroying it as fast as we can - See Oregon - no requirement to read or do math to graduate from High School..... What are they learning?
how to be pot smoking hippies!
Communism.
Propaganda.
Great American this man is .☘️❤️
He explains why when people see a sign 'Wet Paint' they have to touch it to check!
My brother lives in Bogata Columbia. He was shocked to see how little people want to work. They’ve lost all desire to achieve. So well is correct
Susan you are right ✅️ where are you writing from
Same as South Africa --. People are told a pack of lies ,sadly they believe it-- respect to Thomas Sowell
You beat me to it. South Africa was once very prosperous and safe. Now, it is arguably one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
Fast becoming a 'failed state'--whitey made it into something but he was kicked out! Alas!
@@BG_USA indeed, so dangerous that close encounters with the wildlife and even the locals can be deadly.
@@BG_USAIt is dangerous because the system has failed the country. Rules and laws make it easy for unfair distribution of wealth.
It's a very normal cycle in any system. When the crime rate rises then the system is about to break....
South Africa is ahead=>. Sometimes you have to break things before you build something new.
@@lugebeatzz8747 - The “unfair distribution of wealth” was during Apartheid prior to its end in the early 1990’s. Now that the wealth has been redistributed to the majority Black population, the country is a violent cesspool or rapes, robbery, carjackings, and murder. The South African Whites have had their farms, lands, and businesses taken away and given to the local Black Africans who can’t and won’t do anything productive for themselves.
i've just discovered both these men and am quite thankful for it
Watch some Milton Freedman debates. He is equal to Thomas.
“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
G. Michael Hopf
As one of the presenters on MEMRI TV stated: we produce NOTHING! Not even a sewing needle. Nothing. Even the traditional Arab headgear is made in London.
Most, if not all labour in SA and the UAE are imported and returned to their home countries when the job - building, for example - is completed.
All airports are staffed with European technicians, as none of the natives is willing or able to learn all the various aspects of maintenance - planes, computer systems, etc.
Did you watch this Memri TV clip on youtube? I'd very much like to see it.
The Netherlands had a similar problem in the 1970s due to their natural gas reserves. Google the economic term "Dutch Disease"
In a nutshell, over-reliance on a single resource- especially a natural resource- can cause widespread decline in all other sectors of the economy.
@@bobprivate8575 I think there are many examples of this globally and is more commonly referred to as the 'resource curse'.
Yep, they want to pay “western“ pilots a phenomenal amount to come over to that crap part of the world to fly the planes they purchased from “western“ companies.
They offered me $40,000/month way back in 2004 to fly. NO amount of money is worth going to an Islamic country; let alone the 120 degree daytime temperature.
That sure puts them in a vulnerable position.
This man is a bank of knowledge
Before the Saudis had oil revenue they had slaves. That was their capital.
So they had, in the most literal sense, human capitol.
Yeah the same time when slavery was in America and England 150 years ago
@@hassanabdullahsaleem9325 Saoud stop slavery in the years 60's, the European stop it 150 years sooner
@@RaoulLeDegueu Doesn't matter, my point Saudi had it same time, just because you stop it earlier that does not make you better or more ethical, matter fact the worst slavery in history was in Europe and America, that's why the black Americans still traumatized by it till to day, you can't name group of slavery ancestors from Saudi Arabia that they still had the same problem the Americans have
@@hassanabdullahsaleem9325no the Saudi's still have slaves. American women are kidnapped taken to Mexico and sold to Saudi's they have entire brothels full of western kidnapped women.
Thomas Sowell is the greatest socioeconomic mind that has ever existed.
Milton Freedmen?
When you are on benefits you are literally discouraged from making too much money because you can lose your benefits.
You have to somehow make the jump from depending on the state to self sufficiency without losing everything you have.
This is a terrible system and is very demotivating. It is a system of slavery imo.
That's why they rarely increase the dole here. It is difficult to survive on and I agree with it. It's supposed to be hard to live on.
You are absolutely correct. It is political slavery.
Surviving is not thriving, it's merely existing. Anyone worth their salt on welfare will work their way OFF welfare in short order.
The ones that stay on it for life are deadbeats. They'll be deadbeats whether they have welfare or not.
Hence, "we will own nothing and be happy".
pffffft !
This interview is from 1997. Saudis are doing just fine economically speaking.
Saudis are acting like they are getting desperate. One ridiculous project after another.
Check percapita income for last 10 years it is now like 25k it is now upper middle class economy
@@karthikeyanm.v8381 Sowell didn't mention percapita income he said the collapse of Saudi Arabia was imminent that was 27 years ago and just to correct you Saudi percapita income is around 33K (nominal).
27 years is just about right for making a huge shift away from Saudi foreign oil. The USA is now producing domestically, AND (Tesla) Electric vehicles will be dominating everything starting in 2025
@@zeecee9479 Vehicles only account for 20% of oil use. Also, the CEO of Tesla is a literal n*tz*, I dont think a lot of people will want to support that company
It's a clip from 1997. I wonder what imminent means, is it more than 27 years? If someone googles the developments in Saudi will know that it's far away from collapsing. Yet, those with "Human Capital" made education impossible for their people while Saudi is investing in their citizens education. Dragging Saudi into this is a terrible example.
I agree that SA is a bad example on one level. That is that oil is not going away anytime soon. The residents of SA will be rich for a long time. However in the future they will not be as rich as today and as the wealth gradually diminishes the country as a whole will need to work harder and get smarter or as Mr. Sowell said there will be a collapse. So what Sowell said is not wrong. The people who run SA are quite aware and know the truth of this situation that they are in. Weather they can change their society is yet to be revealed.
As Rockefeller said we need to educate more factory workers not more thinkers. So keep them always needing big brother’s help and the workers will stay docile.
Makes more sense indeed. Emphasize more productivity and the dexterity of "skills" set. Running away from the works and efforts 💪 associated with the ✋ hands has destroyed many a society.
I think you mangled the quote. The second sentence contradicts the first sentence.
John Rockefeller worked his way up from poverty to become the world's first billionaire. There aren't many exceptional men in history that could accomplish that.
Nasty thought….not a nice person!
@@montanausa329 John Rockefeller worked his way up from poverty to become the world's first billionaire.
How do people not know this?
I once read that if all the wealth in the USA was taken from everyone and then evenly distributed among the population that in two generations
most of the families that had the wealth would have it again and most of the families that were once poor would be poor again. (this, btw, is a run-on sentence)
there are poor people and broke people. the poor people will always be poor, the broke people will figure out how not to be broke.
Just like lotto winners ending up poor after a few years. Spent it all and invested nothing
It is a combination of many factors especially education but I have seen this exact thing happen with my own eyes. A family wins the lottery or a massive lawsuit in just 10 years of time 70 to 80 % of them were broke again and in the case of the educated ones they invested their money in stocks , bonds , housing and businesses over time they were far more successful…..
Jesus said the poor will be with you always…Matt 26.11
@@brokenwrench404Biggest factor is education. Look at the UK now without its colonies, most of the top positions in the country are taken by people from ultra wealthy schools such as Eton. The system is based on wealth not merit. 20 PM’s from one school(Eton) is, in an age when education is vital, bringing the UK down.
A sincere thank you for providing life support to my faith in humanity. It has become so rare to hear someone speak sense rooted in knowledge that they worked for and logik and do so calmly without "destroying" any perceived foes. All the best to you Mr. Sowell. We germans better heed the message in this video if we are to maintain our wealth.
same holds true for socialism / communism, the Government provides and the people have NO incentive to do better, to create new things, the motivation to do better / to create is taken away !
that is why it always will fail
It is actually much worse. Socialist/communist government will punish you if you do better.
They want to destroy human creativity.
Is that why China is prospering and making progress at breakneck speed, while we're stagnating?
@@VirginiaShores-x4k Dude relax
@@Darkmatter321Chinese are not doing well the 1% at the top are
My family was one of those forced out of Uganda after 3 generations 52 years ago this very month. We are one of those Gujarati families. The first 10 years was brutal in the US. My dad's youngest brother got drafted to fight in Vietnam.
And now you own hotels. 😆 much respect to the Gujarati from a Latino. You guys are some of the greatest entrepreneurs on earth.
@@Hun_Uinaq Yo fue a estudiar medicina en Cost Rica por 5 anos, aprendio espanol. Mucho respeto por mi hermanos y hermanas latinos que me apoyaron siempre. ningún obstáculo le impida su sueno Americano
@@silentvoiceinthedark5665 ¡excelente trabajo! Su español sigue siendo muy bueno. Un saludo caluroso. 👍🏼
Give the man a fish or teach a man to fish analogy… I’m glad he tells the truth.
Great slogan for a coffee mug: "I'm a Sowell Man". Okay, someone get to work on this.
👍 big
Not only between their ears. More importantly the incentive, the desire to become better than the current situation. Goods or services without effort (work) have little to no value. Human Capital is the desire for progress by those who create the actual path of progress. I.e. Entrepreneurs.
Exactly!
Ya, it's almost like thinking about food to eat doesn't make it magically appear, and a house does not get built just with "intellect"! I get so sick of the elevation and idolization of "intellectuals" that don't have to get their hands dirty, and are paid waaaay more than manual laborers that keep the world and modern societies running. Good luck living in a house in NYC or any other city in the US today, with no running water, electricity, or sewage available.
Good thing we have people willing to do manual labor, get dirty, and work with their hands or we'd all be dead! Too bad they are looked down upon and not "idolized" like the intellectuals. I wonder what life will be like in the future when all we have are the STEM students and intellectuals, since the "lesser trades" are looked down upon!
Hi 🤔.
It seems that most socialist don't seem to understand the need for any incentive. It's as if businesses and wealth are just going to always be there. The risks, the innovation and hard work are somebody's else's responsibly. They just want to cash in on it all afterwards.🤑
@@brendamaggio9189 maybe, but idolizing "the worker" leads to communist failure.
Every time.
It's always about supply and demand. If there's a large number of uneducated workers, labor will be cheap. If there's not, labor costs go up.
America allows hundreds of thousands of uneducated laborers to come in every year so labor will always be cheap here.
Saudi Arabia imports uneducated foreigners to work for them, but they will have to go back eventually. They don't allow most to stay, only those with specific skill sets.
Don't idolize uneducated laborers. The world is full of them. Idolize those that make a success of the opportunity they're given and break out of the laborer life.
@@brendamaggio9189 well there is a place for ALL. Just as when we speak of the Body of Christ with each of us as members. We are not all "eyes" or "hands" - because an eye, or a head or a hand - by itself can do nothing. but all members together to form a body can accomplish great things.
Love this man. So brilliant and easy to listen to. ❤
How are you susan
He’s a genius T.S.👍🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
It's mostly common sense.
My brother once said that if you take all the money in the world and divide it equally among all the people, within a year the people who originally had it will mostly have it again -- because they know what to do with money.
I would add to that that there would be a percentage of people who had nothing in the end. Because they have no human capital.
@@L46C3 That seems implicit in the proposition but yes, that is so. What I like about capitalism or free enterprise is that people are free to find their most efficient and profitable use of their talents and abilities. Not everybody succeeds but more wealth is created by this approach and people are much better off.
That's not from your brother
So greed is good?
What about the ruthless criminally inclined? Or are they the same people?
Thanks for all your insights Dr.Sowell. I always learn so much. 🙏🇺🇸
How are you doing
There are many types of redistribution. Giving people money for nothing actually destroys human capital - but subsidizing education and health care increases a country's human capital.
Yep, and that's what they do in parts of Scandinavia.
And infrastructure building enables entrepreneurs to produce their goods and services far easier. So, if a government wants to reduce poverty, it should build infrastructure.
Not necessarily because the government handout of “ free” Medical care for all and “ free “ education does not mean taxes wouldn’t keep going up or that you get good medical care we have the 😮teachers Union are not for real Education but have become and forced to teach lies as truth! They are simply propaganda tools for a tyranny you won’t like!So communism, socialism and globalism cannot make ppl equal! If a student does not want to learn but would rather go out and play basketball 🏀 thinking he will be the greatest players of all time- the odds are against him….. if you are so ignorant not to know that 70% of property Owners are Taxed every year to pay for schools. There is no such thing as a free lunch! Shallow thinking that those two “ freebies are free, you just do not know how the world works.
Trump should ask Sowell to be his economic advisor.
He’s 94 now
Why in the world would Sowell subject himself to that buffoon.
@@sharpsam25 That shouldn't be a factor. In order for our country to survive we must stop finding ways to divide and unite for the betterment of the whole.
@@ethanadams8165 Sowell is a smarter man than you
@@ethanadams8165How is a man (Trump) who created a great economy, protected the boarder, secured jobs and neutralised Iran and North Korea a buffoon?
I guess you must love illegals, high crime, massive inflation and government control.
One of the greatest minds of the 20th & 21st centuries. Brilliant.
Lived in Saudi for a year and a half. Totally correct. Most of the population doesn’t think they need to work and believe in buying, bribing, or blackmailing for results. It’s endemic. I got shook down or dealt with more serious corruption every two weeks almost like clockwork. And that means when it comes to do real work they can’t do it.
Who wants to work anymore? people go to their jobs making little money when a random influencer teen or w****e on Instagram buying mansions and luxury cars
Yes, human capital is by far more important. God gave us a good brain. It is important to develop and use our God given gifts.
Only some people have a good brain. We are not equal in the brain department.
May God bless mister Thomas !!
Thank you !
Australia is in the same situation as Saudi Arabia. A big mineral sandpit with little long term investment in education, technology and high value production.
And oligopolies to stifle competition
Boy, what a national treasure.
Can listen to this fella for hours. An incredibly smart, unpretentious, down to earth straight talking man. They don't come along very often....we are lucky to be able to witness it.
My step father started knocking the "human capitol" out from between my ears starting at age 5. Woke up on my back wondering why the treetops and clouds were spinning in a circle while he was kicking me in the head screaming at me to get up off my back and get back to work unloading the truck. Before my 18th birthday I had suffered dozens of concussions at his guiding hand. And he wondered out loud why I couldn't think straight while growing up. Us boomers had it pretty rough.
You need to get rid of Victim mentality
@@chachenaki_kichenancha
You need to eat 💩!
@@chachenaki_kichenancha
You need to walk a mile in my shoes little boy.
@@noway905 sir ,I don't say that you had an easy life. But feeling sorry for yourself doesn't put you in a right mindset where you can actually improve your circumstances by taking personal responsibility
I suffered multiple concussions as a child too, but none from an abusive parent or relative.
I don't blame anyone but myself for my failures in life and I don't blame the concussions either.
In your case, it sounds like you didn't have a supportive father in your life. Mental and physical abuse doesn't help anyone to succeed in life. Overcoming that early abuse isn't always possible either.
_Life isn't fair and then you die._
That's something us Gen X'ers also learned.
I'd be interested in a video on "The Great Reset"
This makes 100% sense. Thank you for posting this. I hope people learn from it.
So this interview is from 1997 and the collapse of Saudi Arabia is imminent and here we are 27 years later.
I like Sowell but he blew it on this
In the enormity of time 30 odd years in nothing. That day is coming to them nevertheless as their society has not changed in any big way..
he was right in principle, and didn't put a date on his prediction;
he's predicting the collapse of Saudi Arabia's economy once the oil is gone, which hasn't yet happened;
of course this could be avoided through wise policies, but this still doesn't invalidate what Sowell is saying here
Wait so 27 years is too long to predict the collapse of a nation? Like someone who predicted Rome would collapse in 200 AD and would be laughed at in 227 AD for being wrong. Yet Rome was well on its way to total collapse by then.
Just 2 more weeks!
This man should be head of the dept of education
idea > human capital > logistics > materiale > idea
Glad to hear Sowell make this point. So we can now end all tax breaks for billionaires and wealthy corporations because their superior "human capital" means they will replace that money with more of the product of their genius.
See if deletes. All wealth comes from the ground, old proverb. Food, iron, wood, energy.
So rare to find quality content around this country thank you for sharing ❤
This is why I've always thought reparations will do nothing. You'll see fancy cars and other crap bought and no change in human capability.
Here's an old one, there are makers and takers.
Thomas Sowell is an American treasure.
"Saudi Arabia's collapse is imminent"
.....says a clip from 1997.
_"Imminent"_ it's not the same for a government as a human being.
end of life is imminent... yet many people live into their 80's. show me a human alive today who has lived over 150 years?
@@Allan_aka_RocKITEman then use proper english - "inevitable" is the correct word.
China's collapse is imminent, Russia's collapse is imminent, Saudi Arabia's collapse is imminent... They are making these claims to compensate the fact they couldn't predict the collapse of USSR.
@@metroplex3k>>> When I was in high school DINOSAURS were still a threat...🤭
I've explained this to my socialist friends multiple times but they just don't want to listen, understand, or acknowledge that you need to teach a man to fish for himself not give him a fish. I ask them, okay once 1 year has gone by and there are no more billionaires to steal from where is the money going to come from?
Billionaires to ..steal... from? All wealth is created by labor and the public sector which gives the rich credit , subsidies, high tech and saves them when they fail ...
Ur setting up a straw man.
@@Onewildandcrazyguy Dont all the money come from labor and public funded high tech and credit and subsidies ?
Try telling them not to worry about what someone else has. Go out into the greatest country on earth and make something of yourself.
If you can't make it in America, you can't make it anywhere.
Billionaires money are created by labor and public funded high tech and public subsidies .. Who is naif here ?
What a wise man with a Library full of wise words !
History keeps repeating itself😮
Brian Dawson Edinburgh Scotland 😎
"Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll start producing bass boats and sell them to other fisherman."
Fisherman don't manufacture boats genius, companies do. I didn't know fisherman could invent their own engines, batteries, and sonar equipment. This nation is filled to the brim with Mor$ons.....
I find this all scary. People have developed their skills into finding ways to live off the government. Please don't tell me they haven't because I see it every day.
Totally true, the wealth is in peoples brains!
Thanks for sharing ❤
Great interview! Another example: After Israel left Gaza, the Arabs ruined the complete place within short time instead of maintaining machines, buildings etc. (o.k. much of this was because of genocidal phantasies against the Jews and this irrational religious hate). Another great example: while eastern Germany was soviet dominated and fell to agony (they buildet and sold the same crap car "Trabant" for 40 years, and you had to wait up to 10 years to be able to get one), western Germany was prosperous.
And here I thought it was the blockade placed on Gaza by "Israel" 🙄
What a crap comment. A hasbara.
The Israelis have a blockade since they left. How do you get materials into Gaza when the Israelis don't allow it?
Farting nonsense based on fake news
Wealth is created.
From limited resources. Capitalism can't sustain itself forever. Once the supply dwindle there will be an incentive to cut down the demand demand as well. It's good for few but terrible for the rest
@@mutamirmukhzani1240 capitalism isn't reliant on "limited resources".
This man’s insights know no boundaries.
Nearly 70 years ago (circa 1955 -57), I read in a 'Punch' magazine a story about American oil executives visiting an Arab country seeking to clinch an oil deal with some Arabs.
They met in a large tent with prominent Arab leaders and sat down to a large feast with many different dishes. As the discussion continued, they came to the sheep's eyeball, and desperately wanting to progress matters, the Americans had to accept this delicacy with good grace.
The Arab Leader wanted to know why oil was so important to the Americans, when the Arabs had useless tons of it - what the Arabs needed was the ever-precious water!
The Americans clinched the deal when they told the Arabs that if they sold the Americans their oil, they'd be able to buy all the water they wanted!
True but with one EXTREMELY IMPORTANT POINT YOU FAILED TO MENTION. WE VIA HENRY KISSINGER DEMANDED THE CONDITION THAT THEIR OIL ALWAYS & FOREVER MUST BE TRADED IN US DOLLARS. THIS INSURED THE DOLLARS LONG ROLE AS THE WORLDS RESERVE CURRENCY.
@@markfrancis3072that was in he early 70’s. The meeting he described happened 20 some odd years earlier
Was that deceitful or clever?
Friendship based on deceits won't last.
@@markfrancis3072 I can't report that as I have to stick what was actually in the Punch article.
@@kchuk1965 Yes. Plus I was living in Ireland at the time and had no access to any information regarding Kissinger.
Denmark is a "velfærdsstat" and we are absoluttely developing the human capital....
How are you doing
Back to the desert on the camel !
Yeah but Iran is technologically advanced.
Saudi collapsing, will guarantee Persian hegemony for thousands of years.
Tread carefully.
Oman and the other gulf states are in a much better position since they’re smaller, have good relations with Iran and are generally diversifying faster.
Like UAE Qatar Kuwait Bahrain ?
UAE has achieved this goal ahead of all GCC or Gulf states
MBZ is the best Gulf Arab monarch while MBS is the most promising if he’s able to diversify his economy and keep the region stable
A welfare state develops a handout mentality among the masses. No one "sees why" they should do anything because the state will give it to them. I worked at a university in Saudi Arabia from 2010 to 2012, and even at the university there was already a handout mentality. Saudi "professors", many of whom plagiarised work to obtain PhDs or paid others to do the work for them, only taught 5 hours a week, while foreign professors had to do more than double that. Foreign lecturers worked 15 hours a week (locals 8). Administrative workers would get to work at 9, gather together and have long breakfasts together, get working at 10.30 and leave for prayer at 11.30, return at 2, have tea at 3 and be gone before 4. Getting anything done was impossible. Admin assistants were paid more than foreign lecturers and had to have at least 2 international vacations a year because "working is very stressful". I was blown away by how things worked at every corner.
I met men on the street who were "not working at the moment" but driving big, new 4x4s, with other cars at home... home being a triple-storey house. They received subsidies for every child they had, education and medical aid are free and there are many other "claims" that can be made. I saw similar situations in the UAE.
I worked in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia for more than a decade. Due to so-called Saudization, thousands of skilled foreign workers, like myself, are laid off or their contracts not renewed to make way for the ever increasing Saudi labour force and to reduce unemployment among the Saudi youth, who make up more than 60% of the population. The problem is that most of the Saudis who replace expats are not as industrious, so much so that even Saudi employers complain about their laziness. Productivity slumps. Customer service deteriorates. I witnessed this first hand.