Between those who are perceptive and those who are inattentive regarding our country’s economic direction, this nation is administered by institutional poles whose shortcomings in their work, plans, and achievements we can almost affirm in most cases. They have grown accustomed to legislative deficiencies they may have no desire to correct: naïve pursuit of many opinion-makers and decision-makers, or support for those who offer praise through flattery whenever it serves their interests and secures the continuity of their survival and benefit — as I personally see it according to my principles, not necessarily as they see themselves.

We had once chosen to assume good faith in the way those poles handled administrative and financial affairs. The public, meanwhile, moved from offering veiled advice, to frank advice, to rude advice, and then to conduct that transgressed the rights of those poles under the cover of legislative shortcomings approved by laws that may, in one way or another — and in a deeply troubling fashion — stand outside logic and accepted norms. Yet our certainty has only grown, day after day, that these poles are the last to listen to the opinions of those who love this land. Given what our moral responsibility requires, and what our conscience accepts — a conscience that regards the public interest and social responsibility as the two foundations upon which our opinions and actions stand, according to public norms — our address in this series is directed not only to those poles, but also to the ordinary sons and daughters of this nation.

In an era that adopted Kuwait Vision 2035, “New Kuwait,” I present a series of articles, published every Sunday, that explains to each one of us who lacks a clear understanding of the real economy the magnitude of the wrongdoing visible in the eyes of most of those who offered misleading advice to that group regarding Kuwait’s economic affairs. This series draws upon the views of leading figures in economics and management in Kuwait and neighboring countries. “Kuwait of Sustainability” is the title of this series, which began last Sunday and aspires, by its conclusion, to raise the level of public economic awareness toward a new consciousness: one that pushes its holders to identify the sources of dysfunction and recognize who caused them among those poles that dared to announce their vision of “New Kuwait,” and that supported those who took flattery as their path whenever it served their limited ambitions — ambitions that build the wealth of influential individuals, not the wealth of a nation praised for the professionalism of its administration and its service to all.

The rentier nature of the Kuwaiti economy, which rests on a sales-based income source — oil — whose revenues constitute nearly 90% of total revenues, is the image of Kuwait we see today: a pattern of domestic consumption of imports that contradicts all the rules of macroeconomics taught in introductory university courses. Oil is an asset that differs from cash not in kind, but in the ease with which it can be liquidated in exchange for other products and services. In principle, then, the Kuwaiti economy is built upon a treasury containing an exhaustible asset, one that may at any moment face depletion or the threat of declining scarcity.

The question, then, is this: if those poles truly possess a vision embodied in the objectives of “New Kuwait,” what are the objectives that end the dilemma of the Kuwaiti economy’s dependence on the rent generated by a sales-based source of income? I am not among those waiting for an answer today; I have waited long enough through previous articles. And if there is a naïve answer, I doubt there is enough time to burden you with refuting it. If this economy is built on a rentier source of income, and if “New Kuwait” creates no change in this regard, then where is the economic achievement?

Within the bounds of an opinion formed under legislative shortcomings, the true economic achievement is what will be represented by our vision here, which we have named “Kuwait of Sustainability.” It sets out a genuine vision for a genuine Kuwaiti economy, built on objectives whose realization requires radical macroeconomic reforms. These reforms, in turn, absorb the obstacles of microeconomics and financial-administrative corruption, and expose the mechanisms of the unreal democracy witnessed in local politics. It is a vision we do not aspire to present only to those poles, but to every citizen anxious about the future of their children and grandchildren. A vision that raises the ambition of every powerless citizen by supplying them with knowledge and empowering them with means and argument in opinion before every leader or flattering climber, thereby achieving a new public awareness and diminishing, in their eyes, the stature of leadership tools whose lack of professionalism we have long lamented in previous years.

In the name of Allah, we begin...

How does public awareness of economic sustainability affect Kuwait?

Its effect appears in how costs, incentives, and resources are managed, and in Kuwait's ability to turn decisions into sustainable value. The direct context is to “Kuwait of Sustainability,” challenging rentier economics and calling for deeper public awareness of true economic reform.

Why is policy design connected to the factor of cost?

Policies fail when they ignore incentives, costs, and expected behavior; good intentions cannot compensate for flawed design. This makes cost an important test that separates temporary treatment from capacity that can endure.

Why is reform and slogans connected to the factor of cost?

Real reform defines the problem, cost, metric, timeline, and responsibility, while a slogan relies on general language that does not change incentives. This makes cost an important test that separates temporary treatment from capacity that can endure.