Middle East: Where the Money Is

Kuwait, a hot and dusty Arab sheikdom, last week became the 111th member of the United Nations—but did not enter, as so many others do, as an underprivileged nation. With $480 million pouring into their coffers each year from Kuwait's gushing oil wells, the 322,000 residents of the Connecticut-sized country on the Persian Gulf have a per capita income of $2,200, one of the world's highest. Kuwait collects almost no taxes, spends ten times more per capita than Britain on such welfare state services as medical care and education for its citizens....

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