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When the oil runs out (or alternatives become cheaper), this will be a ghost town. Heck, the whole country will collapse. No more oil, no more slave workers. C

by rorrr 14y ago

When the oil runs out (or alternatives become cheaper), this will be a ghost town. Heck, the whole country will collapse. No more oil, no more slave workers. Can't wait.

benzofuran 14y ago
Dubai has been 'out' of oil for a while. Most of the petrochem coming out of the UAE is currently in Abu Dhabi and RAK. The whole idea of building all of this up was to serve as a middle eastern city for the post-oil economy. The success of it is another story; the western expats have been leaving in droves of late and there's not much sign of it abating. The eastern expats (Indian and Chinese) keep coming in though. A lot of us western expats have headed to greener shores; the oil boom in Azerbaijan is one draw, a lot of the build-up in Qatar at the gas fields is another, and Western Australia is also helping things along quite a bit. Wage rates for expats have fallen through the floor in the middle east as well - where one once could make a king's ransom in a year or two in the sand trap, now it's not so much the case, even in Saudi Arabia.
saljam 14y ago
Really? Of all the gulf nations, the UAE seems tome to be the most prepared to survive after oil, specifically because of Dubai. Now, it's not my favourite city, but I don't understand all the hate towards it. They've got a lot of oil money that's not going to last and they need to pivot to something else. Dubai is their attempt.
- rorrr 14y ago
  Dubai is not self sustaining, it needs a lot of money to run. It's a bunch of half-empty skyscrapers in the desert. They need to be air conditioned, water needs to be delivered and/or desalinated, sewage needs to be taken for processing by trucks. I would understand if they built something useful, something high-tech, like a CPU factory or some biotech stem cell research city. Instead they went for a caricature of Las Vegas, but with all kinds of laws against what normally is considered fun. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/04/dubai-kissing-couple-jail_n_524736.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/04/dubai-kissing-coupl... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-512815/Briton-jailed-years-Dubai-customs-cannabis-weighing-grain-sugar-shoe.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-512815/Briton-jailed... http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-12-06/news/35654144_1_dubai-police-iranian-men-three-men http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-12-06/news/35654144_1_d... http://www.nairaland.com/175589/russian-woman-arrested-dubai-drinking http://www.nairaland.com/175589/russian-woman-arrested-dubai...
  - mseebach 14y ago
    Best prepared to survive != currently self sustaining. Of all the ME petrostates, UAE is by a long shot and then some the most liberal and has the most diversified economy. It's also moving the fastest towards becoming more liberal and getting a more diversified economy. The kicker here, of course, is the meaning of being the most liberal "of all the ME petrostates" - the bar is not very high. That said, if you're married, western, well-paid, can keep your hands off your partner in public, don't routinely get obscenely drunk and don't do drugs (many, many people fall into this bucket without giving up any quality of life), you could find much worse places to live.
    - ghyhh 14y ago
      Might as well be dead
    - potatolicious 14y ago
      > "can keep your hands off your partner in public, don't routinely get obscenely drunk and don't do drugs (many, many people fall into this bucket without giving up any quality of life)" In my experience, the number of people who actually live this lifestyle without giving up any quality of life is a far, far, far smaller number than the number of people who apparently live this lifestyle without giving up any quality of life. The greatest myth of modern Western society is that freaks are actually uncommon.
      - mseebach 14y ago
        I didn't say that you can't be a freak. The list I made is actually quite exhaustive (OK, add "don't criticize the royal family and/or islam" and "don't proselyte").
    - rorrr 14y ago
      > Of all the ME petrostates, UAE is by a long shot and then some the most liberal and has the most diversified economy Being the best among the worst is not exactly a good indicator. Dubai doesn't have a very diversified economy - 90% of exports is oil.

by rorrr 14y ago

When the oil runs out (or alternatives become cheaper), this will be a ghost town. Heck, the whole country will collapse. No more oil, no more slave workers. Can't wait.

benzofuran 14y ago

Dubai has been 'out' of oil for a while. Most of the petrochem coming out of the UAE is currently in Abu Dhabi and RAK. The whole idea of building all of this up was to serve as a middle eastern city for the post-oil economy. The success of it is another story; the western expats have been leaving in droves of late and there's not much sign of it abating. The eastern expats (Indian and Chinese) keep coming in though. A lot of us western expats have headed to greener shores; the oil boom in Azerbaijan is one draw, a lot of the build-up in Qatar at the gas fields is another, and Western Australia is also helping things along quite a bit. Wage rates for expats have fallen through the floor in the middle east as well - where one once could make a king's ransom in a year or two in the sand trap, now it's not so much the case, even in Saudi Arabia.

saljam 14y ago

Really? Of all the gulf nations, the UAE seems tome to be the most prepared to survive after oil, specifically because of Dubai. Now, it's not my favourite city, but I don't understand all the hate towards it. They've got a lot of oil money that's not going to last and they need to pivot to something else. Dubai is their attempt.

rorrr 14y ago
Dubai is not self sustaining, it needs a lot of money to run. It's a bunch of half-empty skyscrapers in the desert. They need to be air conditioned, water needs to be delivered and/or desalinated, sewage needs to be taken for processing by trucks. I would understand if they built something useful, something high-tech, like a CPU factory or some biotech stem cell research city. Instead they went for a caricature of Las Vegas, but with all kinds of laws against what normally is considered fun. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/04/dubai-kissing-couple-jail_n_524736.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/04/dubai-kissing-coupl... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-512815/Briton-jailed-years-Dubai-customs-cannabis-weighing-grain-sugar-shoe.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-512815/Briton-jailed... http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-12-06/news/35654144_1_dubai-police-iranian-men-three-men http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-12-06/news/35654144_1_d... http://www.nairaland.com/175589/russian-woman-arrested-dubai-drinking http://www.nairaland.com/175589/russian-woman-arrested-dubai...
- mseebach 14y ago
  Best prepared to survive != currently self sustaining. Of all the ME petrostates, UAE is by a long shot and then some the most liberal and has the most diversified economy. It's also moving the fastest towards becoming more liberal and getting a more diversified economy. The kicker here, of course, is the meaning of being the most liberal "of all the ME petrostates" - the bar is not very high. That said, if you're married, western, well-paid, can keep your hands off your partner in public, don't routinely get obscenely drunk and don't do drugs (many, many people fall into this bucket without giving up any quality of life), you could find much worse places to live.
  - ghyhh 14y ago
    Might as well be dead
  - potatolicious 14y ago
    > "can keep your hands off your partner in public, don't routinely get obscenely drunk and don't do drugs (many, many people fall into this bucket without giving up any quality of life)" In my experience, the number of people who actually live this lifestyle without giving up any quality of life is a far, far, far smaller number than the number of people who apparently live this lifestyle without giving up any quality of life. The greatest myth of modern Western society is that freaks are actually uncommon.
    - mseebach 14y ago
      I didn't say that you can't be a freak. The list I made is actually quite exhaustive (OK, add "don't criticize the royal family and/or islam" and "don't proselyte").
  - rorrr 14y ago
    > Of all the ME petrostates, UAE is by a long shot and then some the most liberal and has the most diversified economy Being the best among the worst is not exactly a good indicator. Dubai doesn't have a very diversified economy - 90% of exports is oil.