Dubai debt plea sends fear around world

[Sheilbh]

You mean borrowing money and using slave labour to build a giant holiday theme park for the ultra-wealthy in the middle of a desert in the middle east was a bad idea? 

Oh it's not for the ultra-wealthy.  Bits and pieces of it are but you can have relatively affordable holidays there.  It is, however, for the ultra-vulgar.  The sheer lack of taste is almost as unforgivable as the dreadful living conditions of the imported labour

[Neil]

Dubai is the closest thing we have to paradise on earth.

Unless you're a construction worker from Bangladesh whose passport has been confiscated by his employers and is living in almost full slavery and terrible work safety conditions. Or a debtor who has to flee the country leaving everything behind or be sentenced to jail, as there's no concept of bankruptcy. Or a Filipino maid whose patrons keep her as an indentured servant, unable to leave. Or a local fisherman who has seen his trade and way of life ruined by the rapid pollution of the sea due to the untreated sewage of a population that has multiplied by several orders of magnitude without the proper infrastructures to sustain it. Or if you're just a normal human being with a modicum of brain cells able to see through the mirage and see that it's an unsustainable nightmare, and a tiny speck of heart to realize that everything in Dubai is built around false hopes, poor planning and the toil and suffering of hundreds of thousands of people.

Bangledeshis are expendable.  They spawn like blowflies, so why not use them up?

While a lack of bankruptcy laws has a chilling effect on commerce, Dubai isn't a real country in terms of business anyways.  And people who can't pay their debts deserve to lose everything.

Filipino maids?  How gauche.  I can't imagine wanting one enough to keep it.

The fisherman would be out of business at some point anyways.  The Spanish won't be satisfied until every living thing in the oceans is dead.

At any rate, you can't build something great without sacrificing people.  You might whine and snivel, but back when the nations of the West were great, we operated in the same way.

[Neil]

so basically, it's a lot like Hong Kong but with Muslims instead of Han Chinese?

I'd say that it's even worse, as HK still keeps a warped sense of democracy, while Dubai never had it.

Democracy is not inherently moral.

[Neil]

You mean borrowing money and using slave labour to build a giant holiday theme park for the ultra-wealthy in the middle of a desert in the middle east was a bad idea? 

Actually, evidence would seem that it isn't.  Las Vegas is still doing alright.

[Martinus]

What has Abu Dhabi decided not to loan them any money anymore?

English please.

[The Larch]

While a lack of bankruptcy laws has a chilling effect on commerce, Dubai isn't a real country in terms of business anyways.

Well, that's exactly what they wanted to be and what they were aiming for.

[Warspite]

If you think about it carefully, the collapse of the Dubai experiment should not be celebrated by anyone in the West.

I wonder how long before Abu Dhabi steps into this whole mess.

[Grey Fox]

What? As Abu Dhabi decided not to loan them any money anymore?

English please.

better?

[Martinus]

If you think about it carefully, the collapse of the Dubai experiment should not be celebrated by anyone in the West.

I wonder how long before Abu Dhabi steps into this whole mess.

And who is celebrating?

[Ed Anger]

  It is, however, for the ultra-vulgar.  The sheer lack of taste is almost as unforgivable as the dreadful living conditions of the imported labour

Burnt Orange furniture?

[Warspite]

If you think about it carefully, the collapse of the Dubai experiment should not be celebrated by anyone in the West.

I wonder how long before Abu Dhabi steps into this whole mess.

And who is celebrating?

Caliga was planning on laughing his ass off, he said. So people like that.

Simon Jones also penned what was virtually a celebratory piece taking great delight in Dubai's difficulties in the Guardian.

[Faeelin]

Can ya link to the Guardian piece?

[Eddie Teach]

You mean borrowing money and using slave labour to build a giant holiday theme park for the ultra-wealthy in the middle of a desert in the middle east was a bad idea? 

Actually, evidence would seem that it isn't.  Las Vegas is still doing alright.

Las Vegas is pretty cheap. 20 dollar rooms, 3 dollar buffets, etc. Plus it's close enough to LA for weekend trips.

[Josephus]

Dubai is the closest thing we have to paradise on earth.

Unless you're a construction worker from Bangladesh whose passport has been confiscated by his employers and is living in almost full slavery and terrible work safety conditions. Or a debtor who has to flee the country leaving everything behind or be sentenced to jail, as there's no concept of bankruptcy. Or a Filipino maid whose patrons keep her as an indentured servant, unable to leave.

Most people on this forum, I've learned, don't give a shit. It's the Blessed Free Market at work. Nobody's forcing them to work there. Etc. Etc.

[Warspite]

Can ya link to the Guardian piece?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/20/dubai-decline-middle-east