Newser Staff from Newser Website
The handouts Saudi King Abdullah is granting to his people are nothing compared to the handouts his family's thousands of princes and princesses have received over the past two decades.
In this September 10, 2010 file photo, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud
performs Eid al-Fitr prayers
to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
American diplomatic cables recently released by WikiLeaks detail the royal welfare program, which has cost the country an estimated $2 billion per year and has angered many Saudis.
The royal patronage system doled out, in the mid-1990s, $800 per month even to,
Sons of modern Saudi Arabia's founder, on the
other hand, received up to $270,000 per month,
Reuters reports.
Despite all this, the cable notes, there are few "super-rich" Saudi princes, as they are,
Resentment has already pushed King Abdullah to
institute some reforms - like no longer paying for the cell phones of
thousands of princes and princesses.
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