Dubai's economy slowing

[Mistel]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/world/middleeast/12dubai.html

I had always thought it seemed like a bad idea to base an economy on shopping.

"With Dubai’s economy in free fall, newspapers have reported that more than 3,000 cars sit abandoned in the parking lot at the Dubai Airport, left by fleeing, debt-ridden foreigners (who could in fact be imprisoned if they failed to pay their bills)."

[cmac2012]

60 Minutes had a piece interviewing someone, maybe the pres. the Amir, whatever, in one of the man-made island communities. They were walking down a street and it looked like a ghost town. Even then, a couple of years ago.

[compress ignite]

Their economy is based on Petroleum.

If everybody in the US: took the Bus,Metro,Train or rode a bike to work for
2 weeks Dubai would collapse financially.

Is not that where Haliburton moved it's corporate headquarters?

[TylerH860]

Originally Posted by compress ignite

Their economy is based on Petroleum.

If everybody in the US: took the Bus,Metro,Train or rode a bike to work for
2 weeks Dubai would collapse financially.

Is not that where Haliburton moved it's corporate headquarters?

I've read that they're trying to diversify their economy, knowing that oil is finite, and trying to become the vacation destination of the world.

[Mistel]

Sorry, the article dissappeared.

Dubai gets about 6% of it's GDP from oil. I am sure the US gets a bigger % of it's GDP from oil.

For years I had read about Dubai and wondered how they can base an economy on tax free shopping and real estate speculation. They would have done better to attract manufacturing to have a stable economy. I am sure the fall will be spectacular. The article mentioned you could be thrown in debtors prison if you don't pay your car loan, or any loan I guess. That is why people are leaving there cars at the airport and fleeing back home.

Here's another one

http://www.dubaiexpatblog.com/expats-dumping-cars-flying-back-home-to-dodge-credit-crunch.html

The country actually reminds me of those "Flip this house" type of programs. The formula is, buy a cheap house, hire a bunch of immigrants willing to work cheap, sell house for a huge profit. It worked for a while.

In Dubai it is, promise Indians good jobs, pay them slave wages to build glass palaces, sell palaces to rich foreigners who don't understand harsh middle east laws.

"Moreover, the names of people who owe money to the banks are listed in the system and they wouldn’t be able to leave the country until they settle their debts. Their names will remain in the system until the banks request removal of their names from the blacklist. In order to tackle such issues, police patrols have been increased and undercover policemen have been deployed."

[Pete Geither]

Humm,,, shopping, real estate speculation, "flip this house",,,, sounds familiar leading to a failing economy.

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by TylerH860

I've read that they're trying to diversify their economy, knowing that oil is finite, and trying to become the vacation destination of the world.

that makes so much sense. So they want to not relay as heavily on oil and a little more on tourism. Maybe they should take notes on how central FL does during economic down turns and the tourism. It's not so hot right now.

[Kuan]

Dang! The number of billionaires in this world must be going down.