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"My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, and my grandson is going to ride a camel". Sheikh Rashid b
by iLemming 6mo ago
"My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, and my grandson is going to ride a camel". Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the former Emir of Dubai.
- RobRivera 6mo agoIts a fun line, but the volume of money they have and the way its managed says they are looking at retaining that wealth somehow
- bluGill 6mo agoMoney retrained means nothing when cheap oil is gone. Cars are only a thing because we have volumes and energy for large supply chains and scale. A rich person can afford a model-T level car, but large parts of what makes a luxury car are things that they won't be able to get at any price without modern industry that is built on distributed wealth for many people. All the electronics - needs industry. Precision manufacturing - depends on precision electronics. You can't even rebuild a current design if someone thinks to print out the blueprints. Of course who knows how to end of oil will happen. Best case is a switch to renewables (or fission...) in which case there will be more than enough expensive oil for a few rich people to drive expensive gas cars if they want to. There are lots of other options as well, only time will tell. (and a nod here to the replies who suggest this was never actually said)
- nine_k 6mo agoPetromonarchies invest a lot into alternative asset classes: semiconductor industry, logistics and shipping, power electric machines, biomedical development, etc. Renewables are in the list, too.
- bluGill 6mo agoMost of those are things that depend on cheap energy [mostly oil] today. Only renewables do not, and it is questionable if we will transition fast enough to not collapse society for lack of energy (though this is looking good)
- bawolff 6mo agoWell yes, that is because they have heard the line and took it as a warning. However just because they are trying doesn't mean they will succeed. Their attempts at diversification still seem very reliant on oil money, and its far from clear that they will eventually be able to stand on their own.
- the_mitsuhiko 6mo agoMoney solves a lot, but not everything. At the end of the day it's still a country in a desert. Unfortunately that entire region is a repeating history of temporary wealth and stability that gives way to instability. When that happens the underlying constraints can quickly reassert themselves. Just luck at the history of Kuwait.
- post-it 6mo agoRetaining wealth is the easy part, retaining political power is hard. They don't want to be regular jetsetting billionaires, they want to rule their own domain. And in order to do that, they need to figure out how to make people want to keep living there.
- bpt3 6mo agoThe point of the line is not that they aren't going to try, it's an acknowledgement of the extreme challenge in diversifying in the short term and incentivizing the next generations who are very, very comfortable with the status quo to build other income streams in the long term.
- tsoukase 6mo agoTheir whole investment castle is built on sand (pun intended) and when oil even remotely starts to fade out as a commodity, it will crumble instantly. Panic will ensue and corruption will be rampant in order to continue the lavish consumerism. Everything will be sold for pennies. The difficult thing is not to make money once, it's to keep them afterwards.
- winter_blue 6mo agoA sovereign wealth fund with over $1 trillion USD (so with over $1 million per Emirati citizen) which invests heavily in U.S. equities will be sold for pennies? So U.S. equities will be sold for pennies? Are you predicting a U.S. stock market crash bigger than the Great Depression, when oil runs out?
- RobRivera 6mo agoHhmmmm, Could be a sell off if it isn't managed...measured buy-backs scaled over a timeline that maybe offers them an opportunity to invest in other commodities may be preferable. Actually now that I think about it...I should probably keep a pulse on ME holdings about 2 or so decades from now
- WatchDog 6mo agoForeign assets are only as good as your alliance with those foreign nations. When you lose your only bargaining chip(oil), things start to look dicey.
- winter_blue 6mo agoYou're implying that the U.S. securities worth hundreds of billions held by a nation will be under threat of theft (by the U.S. government itself?) because the nation doesn't "have bargaining chips"? So the U.S. will begin to rob and plunder the bank accounts of countries that don't have a bargaining chip? Is that where the U.S. heading? The daylight roberry of the bank accounts of foreigners?
- thewileyone 6mo agoThe 3 generation cycle has proven to be true in the past but families are smarter today.
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- gnfargbl 6mo agoWhere is the Land Rover supposed to sit on this scale? There are current Land Rovers with market positioning suggesting they're "better" than Mercedes, and there are historic Land Rovers which were arguably not much better than camels.
- iLemming 6mo agoThat's a quote. You may want to ask Sheikh Mohammed (current ruler of Dubai) for why his dad was mocking him for his choice of a car. I just posted the quote - felt relevant.
- nine_k 6mo agoTo my mind, it's still an automobile, but not a posh one. It's like "I wear a suit with a necktie, but my son wears fatigues".
- Grimburger 6mo agoOnly a little bit of time in the ME but the Land Rover is likely considered higher status. Camels are cool still.
- oniony 6mo agoAnd where is the Jaecoo?
- forinti 6mo agoI've heard mechanics can send their kids to college servicing Land Rovers.
- traderj0e 6mo agoWould say Land Rover is considered more expensive than Mercedes
- numpad0 6mo agolike off-road capable, albeit still luxurious?
- instagraham 6mo agoI get the sentiment but this is not a real quote https://factcheck.afp.com/sheikh-mohammed-did-not-say-great-grandson-will-be-back-camel-2014-interview https://factcheck.afp.com/sheikh-mohammed-did-not-say-great-... It would be quite out of character for him to say this
- advisedwang 6mo agoThat fact check says Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum didn't say it, but does say it is also attributed to Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, and doesn't debunk that --- which is what the comment you are responding to claimed.