Thursday, February 12, 2009

Good-bye Dubai




I read somewhere that The New York Times declared Dubai to be 2008's must-see vacation spot. How things have changed in just the past few months.

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). Some are said to have maxed-out credit cards inside and notes of apology taped to the windshield.

The government says the real number is much lower. But the stories contain at least a grain of truth: jobless people here lose their work visas and then must leave the country within a month. That in turn reduces spending, creates housing vacancies and lowers real estate prices, in a downward spiral that has left parts of Dubai — once hailed as the economic superpower of the Middle East — looking like a ghost town.
Gee, maybe they need some tax cuts. [Yes, that was sarcasm.] Read the whole story, it's fascinating.

As I understand it, the towers pictured above are not completed yet. I wonder if they ever will be.


4 comments:

troutay said...

hundreds of years from now, they will be like abandoned Aztec ruins.

sad, so sad

Reamus said...

Cranes stand idle I read and the town ios emptying as fast as my gas tank.

Welcome back,by the way. Doubt we'll do a screenplay. Just toys for my idle mind!Thanks for stopping by.

Jeannelle said...

Sounds like Dubai is as artificial and unreal as that photo looks.

Sempringham said...

troutay, not to play "Can You Top My Pessimism?", but I hope there's somebody still around to find the ruins.

If any reader doesn't know what Reamus's screenplay comment is about, make sure you read "Ninety Days in Margaritaville," accessible through my Blog List. Reamus paints a great word picture. I think he has the pilot for an update of Ensign O'Toole and Me.

Jeannelle: I get the impression it's a kind of Las Vegas or Atlantic City for the Middle East. I'd like to see it, but I doubt I'd like to stay there.