Dubai is sick: Our SUV's are funding this!

[Phil Hellmuth]

http://realestate.theemiratesnetwork.com/developments/images/palm_jumeirah.jpg

http://realestate.theemiratesnetwork.com/developments/dubai/images/fairmont_palm_residence.jpg

http://realestate.theemiratesnetwork.com/developments/dubai/images/palm_trump_international_hotel_and_tower.jpg

http://realestate.theemiratesnetwork.com/developments/dubai/palm_jumeirah.php

[Buddy Holly]

The entire middle east is like that. It's insane.

I believe Kuwait is building a underwater hotel.

[Bob Lanier]

The "entire middle east" is not exactly like that, nor is the characterization of "SUVs" causing luxury resorts for extremely rich tourists and even richer dilettantes entirely accurate. But, Dubai can be an entertaining place.

[Buddy Holly]

Um, yes, all the big population areas in the middle east are building huge projects like those and it's with all the oil money they have.

If you actually knew what they were building, your head would explode.

[Bob Lanier]

I submit to your superior knowledge. I certainly wouldn't want my head to explode.

[Buddy Holly]

Figure of speech numnuts.

But seriously, the crap they're building (pretty much so they can create a new economy because they're smart enough to know oil will only last for so long) is pretty fucking insane.

[Buddy Holly]

For instance:

This is being built in Mecca.

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/5796/1lu5.jpg
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1732/mecca2cq.jpg
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1025/makkahcitycircle226sf.jpg
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1025/makkahcitycircle35kn.jpg
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/2816/makkahwestgate11sm.jpg
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1025/makkahwestgate30ov.jpg

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Good deal on the Mecca project, we need an aiming point for a nuke in about 20 years.

[ObiwanGinobili]

Dubai is building another "vacation island" that is shaped like a globe of the world. As far as I know the australia island and parts of South America were purchased before construction even began.
If you got a few hundred mill to spare you might be able to get you a peice of India or north america....

[mcornelio]

well just to let you know.... there building an artificial island kind of like the one in the first post here in the dominican republic... no oil money involved... just lots of drug money probably.... there would be more in the US if it wasnt for damn laws and property taxes and permits all the other bullshit that the goverment wants. i think its a cool idea... nothing wrong with flaunting it if you have it. its better they spend it on real estate than AK-47s and Land Mines :rolleyes

[1Parker1]

So...If the USA had the same funds coming from oil reserves, what do you think our government would spend all that money on?

[mcornelio]

Probably new suburbans for everybody... :lol

[CubanMustGo]

So...If the USA had the same funds coming from oil reserves, what do you think our government would spend all that money on?

Given the current govt's past performance, tax cuts for the wealthy.

[Extra Stout]

So...If the USA had the same funds coming from oil reserves, what do you think our government would spend all that money on?
1) The wealthiest 4,000 families would be made exempt from all taxes.

2) Plenty of pork barrel spending on things like ten-lane superhighways from Mobile to Muscle Shoals.

3) More subsidies for Fortune 500 companies

4) "Fact-finding" trips to Hawaii, Las Vegas, and Europe

5) Congressional pay raises

6) New buildings for K Street lobbyists made entirely of marble and precious metals

7) Strippers and hookers

8) Re-election funds for incumbents

[1Parker1]

:lol Exactly my point.

[flipcritic]

How ignorant are you guys? Oil only accounts for 6% for Dubai's GDP. Much of their money comes from tourism, the IT industry, and real estate.

Stop hatin on them just because it's doing well. Not all Middle Eastern countries rely entirely on oil. They've veered away from it and have succeeded. Name another Middle Eastern country that has done the same.

[cheguevara]

Arabs save a lot of money cause they don't have to spend a penny on the wifey :smokin


shit, I'd be rich too

[flipcritic]

Honestly guys. Have you ever been to Dubai? It's pretty much like Monte Carlo (only much more hot and spacious). It's beautiful. And no, women are not limited there by the backward Sharia laws of their neighbor states. It's the one country in the Middle East that is almost free of the inflexible conservative Islamic culture that permeates Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, and any other state that relies heavily on oil.

Dubai ain't got the oil the others have. So they actually have to rely on hard work and innovation to drive their country forward. Hard to believe but that's what they are. No oil for the government to oppress their citizens. Having little oil is pretty much the best thing that's happened for them.

[1Parker1]

How ignorant are you guys? Oil only accounts for 6% for Dubai's GDP. Much of their money comes from tourism, the IT industry, and real estate.

Stop hatin on them just because it's doing well. Not all Middle Eastern countries rely entirely on oil. They've veered away from it and have succeeded. Name another Middle Eastern country that has done the same.

He's right.


Dubai is the most populous and second largest emirate (in terms of size) in the federation after Abu Dhabi. Dubai is distinct from other members of the UAE in that revenues from oil account for only 6% of its gross domestic product. A majority of the emirate's revenues are from the Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZ) [1] and now, increasingly, from tourism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai

[cheguevara]

How ignorant are you guys? Oil only accounts for 6% for Dubai's GDP. Much of their money comes from tourism, the IT industry, and real estate.

Stop hatin on them just because it's doing well. Not all Middle Eastern countries rely entirely on oil. They've veered away from it and have succeeded. Name another Middle Eastern country that has done the same.

Not that it matters, but probably most of those hotels are built by private companies correct?

and the owners of those companies most likely got rich off the oil.

[slayermin]

I believe many of the world's rich and famous bought homes on the man-made island so it's not exactly a bad investment.

[scott]

Dubai is also building "Falcon City"... look it up, it's cool shit.

Some of you would prefer the entire middle east just be a series of dirt huts... sorry if they have economic progress as a goal.

[scott]

Not that it matters, but probably most of those hotels are built by private companies correct?

and the owners of those companies most likely got rich off the oil.

Ah yes... I remember the big Hilton/Marriott oil boom of the 1980s... :rolleyes

[T Park]

Given the current govt's past performance, tax cuts for the wealthy.



My buddy makes 20 grand a year working for Hertz, and he got a tax cut.

So is he wealthy?

Guess so...

[Buddy Holly]

How ignorant are you guys? Oil only accounts for 6% for Dubai's GDP. Much of their money comes from tourism, the IT industry, and real estate.

Stop hatin on them just because it's doing well. Not all Middle Eastern countries rely entirely on oil. They've veered away from it and have succeeded. Name another Middle Eastern country that has done the same.

Numnuts, it isn't the city that is building these things, but theoil rich Princes' wjp are funding all these projects... with what? The money they gotten from oil.

[Buddy Holly]

Ah yes... I remember the big Hilton/Marriott oil boom of the 1980s... :rolleyes

When did Hilton/Marriott become developers of major projects? They're just the name attached to whatever hotel is bult by whatever developer. They just run the hotels not build or finance them. Most if not all those extravagant developments are funded by the Saudi royal family.

[LaMarcus Bryant]

I would not fuck with mr NSync when it comes to urrrrban development--whether it be local or foreign.

That mecca stuff looks pretty tight, its a shame it'll be nuked shortly after completion.

[flipcritic]

Numnuts, it isn't the city that is building these things, but theoil rich Princes' wjp are funding all these projects... with what? The money they gotten from oil.

Thanks for the clarification. I probably associated your earlier comments with the thread title. Dubai law does allow foreigners to control property, and this has spurred heavy construction. How much of that can be attributed to the oil royalty is something I don't know, it could be small. But yes, it could be a lot