The issues underlying protests in the Egypt, Jordan, and parts of the Middle East are in many cases economic. The countries that aren't oil-rich have high unemployment, rapidly growing populations of young people, a vast gulf between rich and poor, and autocratic regimes that enrich small elites at the expense of economic opportunity for everyone. When global prices for food and fuel rise, they feel pain, despite government subsidies. The oil-rich states differ mainly by having oil, which allows them to subsidize their people more generously.