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Source: http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/12/saudi-arabia-royalty-oil-opinions-columnists-ilan-berman.html
Saudi Arabia's House of Cards
(Forbes) Ilan Berman - Saudi Arabia is living on borrowed time. Since the oil boom of the 1970s, per capita income in Saudi Arabia has constricted precipitously, falling from $28,000 in the early 1980s to below $7,000 in 2001. In other words, average Saudis have experienced a devastating reversal of economic fortune, even as the royal cohort that rules over them has become more numerous, indulgent and bloated. Glaring disparities continue to persist, perpetuating a seething, impoverished underclass.