Supporters of rentier spending

The true squanderers of the national wealth raise the slogan of fighting corruption in order to justify the continuation of their actions. They also demand rationalization of government spending, blaming the government’s “irresponsible spending” and “waste of public funds” as the main or only reason for the looming budget deficit. I have written so much about the allegation of corruption that repeating what I said one again is no longer appropriate. I am sure however that I will eventually find myself forced to write about the subject one more time because there are people who continue to make corruption claims in order to justify their control over the national wealth.

Rationalization, just like fighting corruption, is a big lie that does not provide an actual solution for the imminent budget deficit. Ever since the 1970s and until

The true solution to avoid the forthcoming deficit is to find alternative sources of income other than oil. Anything else would be delaying the issue - not a radical solution that can be relied on for years and cen

turies to come.

today, the government has failed to implement one project. Furthermore, it did not spend on anything but salaries and allowances. Spending on development stopped due to the drop in oil prices and local opposition to developmental projects. After the increase in oil prices in recent years, the only form of spending that we saw was increased payrolls and allowances. If the proposed rationalization calls are targeting that type of spending, this would be good. But the fact remains that even that would fall short of providing an effective solution.

The true solution to avoid the forthcoming deficit is to find alternative sources of income other than oil. Anything else would be delaying the issue - not a radical solution that can be relied on for years and centuries to come. The supposed rationalization, just like fighting alleged corruption, is not a solution, because in reality there is nothing that can be rationalized. Kuwait is forced to spend on necessities due to a lack of productivity. The only form of money waste is that which is spent on unemployment or underemployment.

Meanwhile, the actual productive citizens, just like expatriates, barely receive a salary that they deserve. It is unfair to force productive citizens into more deprivation for the benefit of supporters of rentier spending who are at the same time opponents of the spirit of work and productivity. —Al-Qabas