Opinion from a regional source... always good to have some non-US perspective:

http://www.zawya.com/story/In_a_rest...emailmarketing

Saudi Arabia: In a restless realm

Saudi Arabia's absolute monarchy watched the demise of its close ally, President Hosni Mubarak, with alarm. The Al Sauds had sought to avoid this dramatic moment of change in the Arab world, even pleading with their American friends to save the Egyptian despot's regime.

Eighteen months on, however, the conservative rulers of the world's largest oil producer and the biggest Arab economy are learning to adapt...
My personal sense is that addressing discontent by distributing money will work, at least for a while. Saudi Arabia is not Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, or Syria: a quite large percentage of the population is materially comfortable enough to have a stake in the status quo, and the very strong fear of instability still trumps the widespread dislike for the regime. How long that lasts is anybody's guess.