Why does Israel prosper while the Arab world does not? (ancient, European)

[Pruzhany]

United States taxpayer dollars.

You do know that this .0008 cents per dolllar spent in the budget?

Israel is the unofficial 51st welfare state.

Would you like to try that again. Afganistan got $118.6 Billion and Iraq $49.3 Billion. Do you really see it actually going DOWN to the Israel level anytime in the next 20 years.

And FYI the $3 Billion Israel gets from the US is not aid of any kind. Its part of the treaty the US bartered between Israel and Egypt in order for Egypt to get back the Sinai it lost to Israel during a past war. Did you expect Egypt to actually pay Israel to get its land back?

Citation, please.

How would you know what quiet is without knowing what noise is?

Five billion U.S. dollars to that Jewish state every year from the White House...! What else you want me to say?

Get a new calculator. How does $3B turn into $5B? Is this a new type of fuzzy math?

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by sam321

Five billion U.S. dollars to that Jewish state every year from the White House...! What else you want me to say?

First, it's less than three billion. Bother getting your facts right.

Second, Egypt gets from $1.75-$2.0 billion a year at the same time. How come their country remains such a complete mess? What's more, if it weren't for the presence of oil, the entirety of the Arab world, from the Fertile Crescent to the coast of Morocco, would still be a little regarded backwater. Once the dependence on oil ends, it will revert back to that.

A society is only as strong as its foundational beliefs. Arab countries are uniformly a mess. They have been a mess since the fall of the Caliphate in the 14th century. And, until they make basic changes in how they view government, work, science, civil rights, property rights, etc. etc., they will remain a mess.

[jonaos]

Jews are God's chosen people. Thus God favors them and it is why they are so successful despite being in the Middle East - And surrounded by hostile neighbors who would like to see them eliminated.

Non Jews in the grand scheme of things, matter not as much as the Jewish state does. That includes Arab nations.

[Dd714]

I think people are overstating the contribution of US aid to the Israeli economy. Most of that aid is for military spending rather than to build up their economy or infrastructure. Take the military spending away (or, the need for it, i.e. - Arab aggression) and the Israeli economy will still be there.

Plus, US aid was matched by the Soviet Union to the Arab countries during the cold war, so none of that can explain why one country flourished and others are still in 3rd world nation status even with vast oil and mineral wealth of most of the arab states (while Israel has none).

The difference I think is the Jewish culture itself - it's a culture that values education and learning, and values a strong work ethic. It may also seem old fashion to also observe this - but the institution of democracy and free enterprise also allowed the economy to fourish, as opposed to the monarchy/dictatorships of most of the Arab states.

[kovert]

Originally Posted by jmusmc85

This could fall into a number of categories, but figured history buffs would understand more. So why is the quality of life in Israel better than most (of the world also) even though it is in a bad neighborhood with neighbors trying to destory them at every turn?

Interesting question.

But I think it is somewhat vague in the way the question is structured.

I take it by prosperous, you mean Israel is of 1st world status like the industrial nations of western Europe, Japan, Canada, etc.

I don't know of Israel's exact statistical figures (like standard of living), but usually on international comparison lists I don't see it listed on the level of western Europe or even places like Taiwan. It would be interesting to see where Israel ranks in regard to 2nd tier nations like South Korea and Singapore.

2ndly Arab world is kind of vague. Do you mean the oil rich peninsular states? I remember reading about one oil state that has created an artificial island, and another which is constructing some impressive works of architecture.

I don't know if there are any reliable stats on them but I would consider the oil states as prosperous. Now when it comes to income inequality among the citizenry and the treatment of guest workers that is another factor to be added to the equation.

The Islamic oil states that don't **** off the US seem to do better than those that do, those that don't have any lucrative natural resource and/or clashes with western multi-national money interests will get billed as poor and in need of "immediate humanitarian intervention" by the media,........., and the military.

[Currency Pair Crocodile]

In the words of Dominic Lapierre and Larry Collins:

"The Arab world systematically got rid of people within itself who can put reason above passion, and always paved the way for those who believe in bullets, rather than diplomacy"

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by sam321

Five billion U.S. dollars to that Jewish state every year from the White House...! What else you want me to say?

Well, $5-billion is about 4% of Israel's GDP. Not a lot, but not insignificant either. Over a thousand dollars per Israeli, or maybe $5,000 per household, which will buy a lot of knishes. From us, it comes to about $50 per household, which, depending on how you look at it, could be 15 gallons of milk or gas, or the sales tax on on a 30-inch TV.

Over the past 40 years, the USA has given about ten times more peace-time aid to Israel than any third world country. During the entire Bush administration, the US contributed about $2 billion to the global fight against AIDS, and $40-billion in aid to Israel.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Well, $5-billion is about 4% of Israel's GDP. Not a lot, but not insignificant either. Over a thousand dollars per Israeli, or maybe $5,000 per household, which will buy a lot of knishes. From us, it comes to about $50 per household, which, depending on how you look at it, could be 15 gallons of milk or gas, or the sales tax on on a 30-inch TV.

Over the past 40 years, the USA has given about ten times more peace-time aid to Israel than any third world country.

The actual figure is less than $3 billion.

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

The actual figure is less than $3 billion.

OK, I was going by the submitted post. Adjust my figures accordingly. $3,000 per Israeli family. Fifteen times as much as we gave to combat AIDS.

We gave Israel 3-billion, and all of Sub-Saharan Africa less than $5-billion. Including Togo, which got $81,000. That's 1.6 cents per person to help out the Togolese, where the per capita GDP is $1500. We gave them two pennies each, and asked for change. While each Israeli family got enough to buy a reliable used car, every year.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by jtur88

OK, I was going by the submitted post. Adjust my figures accordingly. $3,000 per Israeli family. Fifteen times as much as we gave to combat AIDS.

We gave Israel 3-billion, and all of Sub-Saharan Africa less than $5-billion. Including Togo, which got $81,000. That's 1.6 cents per person to help out the Togolese, where the per capita GDP is $1500. We gave them two pennies each, and asked for change. While each Israeli family got enough to buy a reliable used car.

So? It still has nothing to do with the comparison between a successful society and an unsuccessful one. After all, you can look at the oceans of money that have sloshed through Arab coffers to realize that massive infusions of cash are not a prescription for success. And while the Israelis have built a country that is likely to remain stable and grow, the Arab societies have awful economic prospects, repressive societies, and a host of other ills.

And, since 2004, the President's Emergency Relief Plan for AIDS Relief has allocated over $30 billion to Africa. Not exactly small potatoes.