Funny you mention Switzerland because they have some of the highest skilled labor in the world.
The Gulf countries have more than enough expertise to manage and run their wealth for the foreseeable future. To say they’ll be poor again without oil is simply ignorant of the facts and probably related to the point I made above.
I wanted to reply "But Sheikh Mohammed himself said so!" but then trying to back up my claim I realized it's false. [0] It's amazing how many false things we take for granted just because they align with our world-view (and make a good story).
[O] https://factcheck.afp.com/sheikh-mohammed-did-not-say-great-...
It's not possible to run a functioning country (which SA undeniably is) without a large number of people who are at least somewhat competent, at least somewhat hardworking, and at least somewhat loyal to the country. You may be able to rely on cheap migrant workers for the hard physical labor, but not for the planning and administration that makes the whole thing work.
The oil money printer can hide a lot of problems. A small percentage of somewhat competent people aren't guaranteed to be able to provide for a huge number of useless freeloaders if the gravy train stops. Look at Venezuela for a somewhat similar situation.
But I wouldn’t somehow think it’s accurate or acceptable to claim Greeks are all lazy and rude.
There are all kinds of promises when times are good, that change as soon as the economic winds change. This project is more evidence of that.
This project was a side project and always has been. Its success or lack thereof has very little to do with the overall financial position of the country.
Yes, this is how you compare populations.
