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#7
Dubai
The irony of overspending Arab multi-billionaires
Dubai is a country not mired in oil. It’s more of a trading, tourist, and financial post for its richer neighbors in the United Arab Emirates.
The adventures of Dubai World – the government’s real estate company – is comparable to, well, an Arab multi-billionaire on a shopping spree in Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, or Fifth Avenue in New York, i.e. when you don’t have cash on hand you can always call someone to pay your bills. That's because you know you have the assets to back it up.
What the heck? It’s just $60 billion. It’s not as if the oil wells are all going to dry up in the immediate future. It’s not as if all the infrastructure projects in this desert country will be repossessed. It’s not as if the mortgage company is going to foreclose (sorry, America).
Overspending is not a word created in the oil fields of the Arab world. It is a term used by the West to determine, depending on the perspective, a deficiency of resources.
Just how dumb would you feel when you’re some of the richest people in human history? It’s not even close to being awkward. But for the sake of the greater part of the global population, we can always dream of being dumb and filthy rich at the same time.
In the context of history, when all is said and done, and even more humungous amounts of wealth are created in the future (apologies to those who don’t understand free-market capitalism), the problem of Dubai will just be reminisced with the a shrug of the shoulders.
It’s good to be, err, dumb in Dubai.
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