So much for that trip to Dubai

[techweenie]

I guess I missed the moment.

I wanted to see this metropolis springing from the sand, and it looks like it may be headed for a tumble.

Very interesting (though long) story:

http://digg.com/d1oA2o

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Long but very interesting article. I forwarded it on to a friend of mine who's living in neighboring Doha (Qatar) right now for his opinion.

I always sort of figured Dubai was in for a world of hurt - kind of like the very earliest days of Las Vegas, when the original Flamingo was such a colossal failure. Same problem - built SOLELY on speculation. Nothing else. Easy fake money propped up by nothing except the expectation that there will be more of it tomorrow. Actually quite similar to the "reality shock" that's hitting our own economy right now.

Goods? Services? Actual tangible things of value? What are those? You mean we can't just leverage our way into prosperity forever?

I can't fault Sheik Mohammad's vision, only that it was realized on the backs of such an insane Ponzi scheme of speculation (much like our entire real estate market of the last 6-8 years).

I see the current economic crisis (and this extends to what's going on in Dubai and elsewhere) as a giant "no confidence" vote on the current incarnation of our economy and what we've allowed it to become - baseless wealth produced by slave labor and ultimately backed by nothing.

Very, very thought-provoking article but I'll shut up now before I launch into another rant about the short-sighted stupidity of our nation, the evil of China for destroying our manufacturing base and basically how screwed we are as a nation that we can no longer actually produce anything of value for ourselves... You've heard that enough from me.

[legion]

Good read.

[gassy]

Wow. Thanks for the link.

[the]

Good read.

Irresponsible, reckless behavior always eventually has the same ending, whether it is at the individual, household, or national level.

[9elf]

"If you get into debt and you can't pay, you go to prison. "

You would think with this law that entrepreneurial risk would be avoided, but the opposite seems to be the case.

[techweenie]

Originally Posted by 9elf

"If you get into debt and you can't pay, you go to prison. "

You would think with this law that entrepreneurial risk would be avoided, but the opposite seems to be the case.

One suspects that the law applies differently to the Emiratis than everyone else.

[nostatic]

Greed is greed. There is a reason it is considered a "deadly" sin...

[jeffgrant]

I found the comments below the article to be quite telling. Many of them, from people (ex-pats even) living there are calling it a very slanted piece.

I know a few people who have worked over there for a while, and sent them the link to get their opinions. So far 2 of them have laughed at the article.

While it has some very valid points, it seems that the author has gone out of their way to make them.

[legion]

The thing I found most disturbing was the apparently common practice of employers seizing passports of employees.

I'm sure there is a slant to the article, I wouldn't expect anything less from digg.com. There is also some previously not-widely-known truth. The question is, which is which?

[widebody911]

I'm sure there is a slant to the article, I wouldn't expect anything less from digg.com.

Digg.com didn't write the article.

[David]

Their debt is 107% of GDP?!?!? I guess we're not doing so bad in the good'ol US of A.

[Schumi]

I was very, very alarmed after reading similar articles last year about Dubai. Specifically the amount of rape that occurs per-capita. I do not remember the statistic.. but it was beyond shocking. I remember being emotionally disturbed by it.

It's not just a city build on corruption and dirty money like the early days of Las Vegas... it's a city build on a fundamentally flawed set of moral beliefs.

I'm not going to elaborate because this is not PARF, but from strictly a civilization standpoint that behavior cannot support that large of a city for very long. It will be an economic and literal wasteland in about 10 years... you watch.

[techweenie]

Originally Posted by legion

I'm sure there is a slant to the article, I wouldn't expect anything less from digg.com.

ROTFLMAO.

Digg is a linking service. They don't write anything.

[techweenie]

Originally Posted by Schumi

...It will be an economic and literal wasteland in about 10 years... you watch.

I'm betting it's more like three.

[legion]

Where did I say Digg wrote the article. But there was an editorial choice made in its selection.

[TheMentat]

Originally Posted by legion

But there was an editorial choice made in its selection.

I could be wrong, but I think Digg is simply a "ranking" tool. Readers make the editorial choice by voting.

[legion]

Originally Posted by TheMentat

I could be wrong, but I think Digg is simply a "ranking" tool. Readers make the editorial choice by voting.

Exactly. The selection reflects the bias of those who frequent Digg.

[TheMentat]

Originally Posted by legion

Exactly. The selection reflects the bias of those who frequent Digg.

Whatever... Keep Digging Chris!

[9elf]

Originally Posted by 125shifter

Their debt is 107% of GDP?!?!? I guess we're not doing so bad in the good'ol US of A.

Did the US hit 350 percent, or is this article untrue?

From here:- http://www.bostongals.com/

Iceland instantly became the only nation on earth that Americans could point to and say, “Well, at least we didn’t do that.” In the end, Icelanders amassed debts amounting to 850 percent of their G.D.P. (The debt-drowned United States has reached just 350 percent.) As absurdly big and important as Wall Street became in the U.S. economy, it never grew so large that the rest of the population could not, in a pinch, bail it out. Any one of the three Icelandic banks suffered losses too large for the nation to bear; taken together they were so ridiculously out of proportion that, within weeks of the collapse, a third of the population told pollsters that they were considering emigration.