Is New York over the hill?

[bigbadwolf]

I know this discussion is about art and culture in the context of capitalism that ultimately polarizes the rich and the poor and is on a macro scale worse off for the entire city, or if you broaden it, for the country...

There are a couple of books out by Morris Berman: 1) The Twilight of American Culture, and 2) Dark Ages America, which take a closer look at this phenomena. Also 3) Dark Age Ahead, by Jane Jacobs. There are other people writing in like vein, but whose names I can't immediately recall. They all share a palpable sense of unease, and they find connections between USA's militarism, the ascendancy of finance capital (which is where quants make their living), and the precipitous decline of culture, education, and civilised life. I would like to discuss this but feel it's incongruous on a quant forum and fear to arouse the ire of moderators.:-ss

 

[IlyaKEightSix]

I know this discussion is about art and culture in the context of capitalism that ultimately polarizes the rich and the poor and is on a macro scale worse off for the entire city, or if you broaden it, for the country, but let's not forget another reason for the over the hill debate. Corporate sponsors also heavily influence government and that influences legislature and which in turn bolsters the need for police state. America has grown into a country where the laws are out of control and will hinder growth, originality, and creativity for the un-landed, the-uncapitalized, but aspiring. Who will simply choose to take their inner spark to other pastures where they feel more free and less unhindered and confined by not only economics but a suffocation of regulation and trip wires designed to tax you, limit you, or subject you to legal recourse for things you did not even know were "against the law".

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

As Milton Friedman has said, an economic system must be judged not by its intentions but by its results. Capitalism is the best chance for anyone to move *up* the social ladder and achieve their dreams with enough hard work, perseverance, and dedication. When everything is governed by supply and demand, everything will be where it needs to (eventually).

Know why art and culture and all that doesn't flourish?

deviantART: where ART meets application!

Look at all of the billions upon billions of pieces of art posted there.

Now how many are actually decent enough to make a living off of?

*That* is why we have very little art/culture/etc...

There is just a glut of very poor supply, and the demand for anything specific is very, VERY small.

Same applies for would-be actors, actresses, models, authors, you name it...if you're talking about culture in terms of what we're entertained by, the fact that there are absolutely no objective barriers to entry means that you have millions of would-bes and very few real deals. It's very easy to write a book, or to draw a picture, or to act, or to pose for a photo. What's NOT easy is doing it well enough that people want to pay you for it. And you're not helped by the fact that it's all opinion-based anyway.

 

[QNJob]

Ilyk86 has it right.
Michaelangelo was a serious expert in marble which was a foundation of his great work in it.
Most of the great painting masters understood pigments at least as well as the science of their times.
But modern artists just go and buy paint, and sculpture with difficult materials is a dying art.
da Vinci was centures ahead of his time in any number of ways.

It is tempting to say from all this at that art is "too easy now". I have a slightly more subtle analysis. To be a successful artist, one has to explain the work, what we call today "spinning" or "hyping" it. That has been true for centuries the old masters did their work mostly in the pay of patrons who needed reassuring that they weren't just getting a pretty picture.
All great art needs some explaining and/or has depths that reveal themselves upon consideration.
What has changed is the ratio of "explanation" to "creation" has swung hugely towards "explanation" or "bullshit" as it so often is now.
A successful artist today is not one who masters materials, who has some insight to share, and something to say, but instead is good at putting a pin on his works to the media and collectors.

That is not an American phenomenon, it is not even an issue specific to western culture. In China or Russia spin/bullshit has been necessary merely for an artist to stay alive, let alone get paid serious money.
In all countries the state pays artists, and get junk.

The worst example of this was when I worked for Old Mutual. The wives of the board of OM, a huge S.African financial firm, were given serious money to buy and encourage "Black African" art.
It was ****.
Walking through the corridors it was like looking at the art display for the local high school, but we serious price tags. The more over-valued they had been the better.
In my view this actually harmed decent S.African artists, because anyone who sees this bollocks finds it hard not to form a wholly racist view of African artists. Worse, it encouraged the useless ones who happened to be good a bullshitting to middle aged women who used to screw Old Mutual directors before they got mistresses and discovered golf.

 

[bigbadwolf]

A successful artist today is not one who masters materials, who has some insight to share, and something to say, but instead is good at putting a pin on his works to the media and collectors.

The art of the past depended on aristocratic or church patronage, was designed for a select clientele, and existed in an era that moved to a different tempo. Today we have a mass market, not distinguished for its taste. We have kitsch, pop art: Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Reproductions of works taken out of their original cultural and historical contexts. A symptom of our modernity -- and most particularly American modernity. And in the mass market of our "Late Capitalism," commercial pressure and the pursuit of fleeting fame exert inexorable pressure on the would-be-artist to produce whatever will sell, regardless of any inherent merit. Everything is surface glitter. And our patience and attention span are not what they used to be.

 

[bigbadwolf]

Interesting piece in today's FT on what's been happening to cities like London and Seattle. Mutatis mutandis, it applies with equal vigor to NYC:

My London was far seedier than it is now - an immense honeycomb of relatively inexpensive flats and bedsits, mostly contained by the perimeter of the Circle Line. It was a place where immigrants and the impecunious young could still afford to live within walking distance of Hyde Park Corner, quarrying out nooks and crannies for themselves in Victorian houses originally designed for large families and their servants.... I see that a rather poky-looking one-bedroom flat on Redcliffe Square is now on the market for a cool half-million pounds, which would put it impossibly beyond the reach of nearly all the characters I knew when I was there.

The inevitable consequence is that diversity is being driven from the central city to its remote peripheries - a trend that is reflected in metropolitan areas around the world. Here in Seattle, for instance, to find good Indian, Chinese or Korean restaurants one now has to make a 20-mile drive into the suburbs, which is where immigrants, along with artists, students, freelance writers and other natural denizens of the soft city are increasingly moving because they can't afford the alpine rents of downtown. The densely populated inner-urban honeycomb - what Henry James, writing of London, once called "the most complete compendium in the world" - has become so expensively reconstructed, so tarted-up, that only people with a merchant banker's income will soon be able to live there, outside of the steadily diminishing supply of low-rent public housing.

 

[doug reich]

BBW, here's something you'll be interested to see: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ayg4qgY5.VQc&refer=home

U.A.E. Takes Over Mortgage Lenders Amlak, Tamweel (Update4)
By Haris Anwar and Shaji Mathew
Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Amlak Finance PJSC and Tamweel PJSC, Dubai's two-largest mortgage lenders, will be taken over by a government-owned bank as the global financial crisis squeezed their access to credit and slowed the regional property market.
Amlak and Tamweel, whose stocks have fallen more than 80 percent this year, will "merge under" Abu Dhabi's state- owned Real Estate Bank, the United Arab Emirates' Ministry of Finance said late yesterday in a statement. The transaction has the "blessing" of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al- Maktoum. No terms were disclosed, though the deal will be based on "international best practices," the statement said.
"It seems to be a direct federal intervention to support the struggling entities," said Dubai-based Raj Madha, senior banking analyst at EFG-Hermes Holding SAE, the largest Arab investment bank by market value. "The move will provide substantial federal support to these lenders and access to cheap funding."
Dubai residential property prices have surged fourfold in the last five years, fueled by borrowing, high oil prices and as foreigners were for the first time allowed to own property in the emirate. That bubble now appears to be bursting. Dubai and Abu Dhabi house prices fell for the first time in October, after credit markets seized up, banks tightened mortgage criteria and developers started to scale back projects, according to HSBC Holdings Plc.
'Not Sustainable'
Amlak and Tamweel's "business plans are not sustainable and have to be changed," Nasser bin Hassan Al Shaikh, Amlak's chairman said Nov. 19. The mortgage industry "as a business model has been challenged all over the world." Amlak and Tamweel in October said they started "exploratory discussions" about a possible merger. Both mortgage lenders had also applied to the central bank for a banking license.
Dubai, home to the world's tallest building and man-made palm-tree shaped islands, may be the most vulnerable place in the Persian Gulf to lower crude prices as real-estate and debt financing pose risks, Citigroup Inc. said Nov. 18. Dubai may need help from Abu Dhabi and the U.A.E. to fund a surge in borrowing, according to Moody's Investors Service.
"Usually, when companies merge it doesn't come with a government guarantee," Eckart Woertz, chief economist at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, wrote in an e-mail. "It shows some kind of support from Abu Dhabi that they're ready to put their weight behind it."
Cheap Funding
Amlak, the U.A.E.'s biggest mortgage lender by market value, said Nov. 19 it temporarily suspended offering new home loans. HSBC Holdings Plc and Lloyds TSB Group Plc, two of the largest U.K. banks operating in the U.A.E., said Nov. 11 they would tighten mortgage lending criteria in the Gulf state.
Borrowers from Dubai have lost access to cheap international funding this year as the perceived risk of Dubai companies as measured by default swaps rose. Credit-default swap contracts covering the debt of Dubai Holding LLC, the emirate's holding company, were last quoted at 1,100 basis points on Nov. 21, according to CMA Datavision prices. That compares with 245 basis points in March. The increase signals a decline in the perception of credit quality.
Amlak borrowed $381 million in Islamic loans this year, while it suspended a bond offering citing market conditions. Tamweel raised about $600 million this year by selling Islamic bonds, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
'Funding Needs'
The merger is an "example of U.A.E. authorities coming together and addressing short-term funding needs as well as long term structural challenges faced by the mortgage market," said Mohieddine Kronfol, who helps manage about $1 billion in assets at Algebra Capital Ltd. in Dubai.
In Kuwait, the government is taking steps to recapitalize Gulf Bank KSC after the lender last week reported 375 million dinars ($1.4 billion) of losses in derivatives trading.
Amlak and Tamweel shares were suspended from trading in Dubai today, pending the announcement of merger details. Amlak has a market value of 1.53 billion dirhams ($417 million) after its shares sank 80 percent this year. Tamweel, whose stock has tumbled 86 percent, has a market value of 990 million dirhams.
"This a very positive development for their share prices," said Madha. "The government may also decide to delist the two lenders by buying the existing shares at a better price." The Dubai Financial Market General Index has dropped 68 percent since the beginning of the year.
Real Estate Bank
Dubai property prices, including villas and apartments, fell 4 percent in the month to October, while in Abu Dhabi they declined 5 percent, according to HSBC. Outstanding mortgage loans in the U.A.E. almost doubled in the year through June as property prices soared to a record. Mortgage loans leaped 92 percent to 87.6 billion dirhams ($23.8 billion), compared with annual growth of 55 percent in March, according to the central bank.
Real Estate Bank, a unit of the U.A.E. Ministry of Finance, was formed in 1999 to "support real estate and provide housing for U.A.E. nationals through Sheik Zayed housing program" and currently has more than 7,000 customers, the Finance Ministry's statement said.
The new company will serve as the "cornerstone" of the mortgage market, which has "significant growth potential," an unidentified Ministry of Finance official said in the announcement of the transaction. The combination will "further strengthen investor confidence in the financial and property sectors in the U.A.E.," Tamweel Chairman Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed bin Saqer al-Nehayan said.
The planned merger comes a year after the combination of Dubai's two biggest banks that created Emirates NBD PJSC, now the biggest Gulf Arab lender by assets. That merger, spurred by Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed, was meant to take on competition from the local units of Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc.

 

[charlesdwright]

I'm not sure I want to get started on this.

What's meant by "over the hill?" -- that place where the hot money isn't?

There's a lot more to a culture than that. Thankfully.

But as for the culture itself, unfortunately, bad money drives out good. There is a moral corollary to that.

You'll just have to read between the lines.

The thing about America is this: it's not just another place. Like Israel, it's more than a mass of land with citizens, and citizenship doesn't make one an American, nor does lack of citizenship make one not an American. In fact, Americans who aren't citizens yet often come here to become citizens. You either get it or you don't. And if you do, it doesn't matter where the happening place is. Once you see her beauty, nothing else can captivate.

 

[bigbadwolf]

BBW, here's something you'll be interested to see: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ayg4qgY5.VQc&refer=home

A brother-in-law of mine (living in Dubai) decided to become a Dubai real estate broker a few months back. But he's now decided to pack it in: simply not a viable proposition anymore. Dubai has been one immense gamble all along. I think it'll flop. Oh, I just remembered -- didn't they inaugurate a new $1.5bn hotel in Dubai a few days back with a $20m party? Kylie Minpgue was paid $3m for her presence. I would not like to be one of the owners. Here's the link.

 

[Sanket Patel]

An old (Dec 07) but still fairly relevant article from the Wall Street Journal:

DECEMBER 14, 2007
Dubai's Debt Cloud
By CHIP CUMMINS
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Dubai is on a spending spree, and financial analysts are starting to wonder about the amount of debt the city-state is racking up.

Its oil production is dwindling, and its debt load is four times the average among other Persian Gulf states. Credit-rating companies are asking for more information to determine how sound the government really is.

"From published documents, it is difficult to get a picture of the complete financial situation," said Standard & Poor's analyst Farouk Soussa. "The transparency isn't good."

One of seven emirates making up the United Arab Emirates, Dubai, like other Middle East governments, has been on a deal-making binge. Companies owned or backed by the government have signed agreements or made plays for billions of dollars in assets this year, including stakes in American and European stock exchanges, a Las Vegas casino operator and, most recently, a chunk of Sony Corp. Part of Dubai's deal-making is financed by debt.

At the same time, other Dubai entities have launched expansion plans relying on public borrowing. Nakheel, a government-controlled company building a giant, palm-tree-shaped island development, placed $750 million in bonds this month to finance its plans. Government-owned Jebel Ali Free Zone recently listed 7.5 billion dirham ($2 billion) of bonds.

Demanding Dubai Data
Moody's Investors Service, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's Ratings Services are handing out credit ratings to many of these government-backed companies, and they are starting to ask for more disclosure from the emirate, which they assume will bail out the companies if they get into a jam.

"The rapid economic development of Dubai is certainly being accompanied by increased levels of leverage from companies that are closely associated with the government," said Tristan Cooper, a Moody's analyst in Dubai. "Without a clearer picture of the overall financial position of the central government and the broader public sector," investors could become more cautious.

The situation highlights a broader issue. Many of the world's governments and the companies they control are notoriously opaque, especially in the Middle East. But big regional investors like Qatar, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi (also part of the U.A.E.) have big hydrocarbon reserves to back up their deals. Production can be relatively easy to estimate from public figures. Dubai's reserves have been shrinking for years.

Dubai also has taken a more-complex approach to investing overseas. Most other deal-making countries have used massive investment authorities to pursue their deals. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, for instance, bought a $7.5 billion stake in Citigroup Inc. last month. In contrast, Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, has entrusted a cadre of lieutenants to run his own and his government's business interests. They often compete with one another and hunt for deals independently, but they all ultimately answer to Sheik Mohammed.

The government association has helped a handful of Dubai corporate entities get high credit ratings. The assumption is that Sheikh Mohammed or his government will come to the rescue in a pinch. And if Dubai gets overextended, analysts expect the emirate's much-richer cousins in Abu Dhabi will lend a hand. Abu Dhabi is the capital of the U.A.E., and its ruler is the country's president. Sheikh Mohammed is prime minister.

Moody's recently gave one of its highest corporate ratings, A1, to government-controlled DIFC Investments LLC. DIFC owns a stake in Borse Dubai, the holding company that recently agreed to acquire Nordic exchange OMX AB for some $4.9 billion. The complex deal aims to eventually give Dubai a stake of nearly 20% in Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. In a ratings note, Moody's said the rating reflects "the credit support the Government of Dubai is likely to provide in a distress situation."

This year, S&P rated Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group LLC single-A-plus, citing "strong implicit support from the Emirate of Dubai." Sheikh Mohammed owns the entity's parent, Dubai Holding. A Dubai Holding subsidiary recently bought the Sony stake.

Mystery Investments?
The trouble with these corporate ratings is that without more disclosure, it is difficult to evaluate the financial soundness of these entities and the government backing them. As its oil supplies dwindle, Dubai has diversified its economy into financial services, tourism and real-estate development, among other pursuits. Those revenue streams and their underlying assets are difficult to pin down without access to government books.

In an emailed response to questions, a Dubai government spokesman said the emirate's debt load is "very moderate" by international standards, and the debt raised by Dubai entities "has all been in their capacity as leading international players that are successfully expanding in a number of profitable markets." He said Dubai is in the process of obtaining a rating on its sovereign, or government, debt. Such a rating gauges a government's ability to pay back its borrowing, and it is used to price publicly sold debt.

S&P credit analysts estimate Dubai's debt, relative to gross domestic product, is about 42%. Compared with the U.S., where gross debt stands at more than 60% of GDP, according to the International Monetary Fund, that isn't bad. But in Abu Dhabi, debt is equal to just 2.9% of GDP.

Analysts think Dubai's assets, including real estate, aviation and tourism interests and taxes, far outweigh its debt, but they would like to know more.

Of course, credit-rating companies have another motivation: In most cases, they are paid to rate the creditworthiness of firms and governments, and the big three firms are eager for clients like the government of Dubai.

 

[doug reich]

Apropos of the previous post, here is one from bloomberg.

Dubai Faces Curb on Money-Hub Ambitions After Bailout (Update1)
Email | Print | A A A


By Henry Meyer
Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- A $10 billion bailout from neighbor Abu Dhabi threatens to cost Dubai its autonomy and the free- wheeling economic system that helped establish it as the Middle East's main business hub.
The financial help comes as the sheikhdom, one of seven within the United Arab Emirates along with Abu Dhabi, is struggling with damage to its international reputation after an Israeli tennis player was refused a visa for the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships it hosts.
Abu Dhabi, which pumps more than 90 percent of the U.A.E.'s oil and has long objected to its neighbor's debt-fueled expansion, has the means to rein in Dubai. The smaller emirate accumulated $80 billion in debt to build real estate projects, including the world's tallest building, while Abu Dhabi amassed one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds.
"Abu Dhabi is lending its credibility to Dubai," said Eckart Woertz, an economist at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, an independent research institute. "Most likely this comes with strings attached, with a price tag. Before, Dubai was dependent on international banks. Now it's dependent on Abu Dhabi."
The bailout, in the form of the Central Bank of the U.A.E.'s $10 billion purchase of Dubai bonds on Feb. 22, sparked the largest rally in Dubai shares in three months. Abu Dhabi is the richest of the U.A.E.'s constituent emirates and effectively controls the central bank.
Oil Slump
Dubai's real estate boom, fueled by low interest rates, petrodollars and investment from international companies seeking to tap Persian Gulf wealth, came to a halt last year as the price of Dubai oil fell to about $37 a barrel at year-end from about $90 a year earlier. Moody's Investors Service said on Feb. 12 that it may downgrade banks and government-owned companies in Dubai if Abu Dhabi didn't lend its support.
Real estate prices in Dubai have fallen 25 percent from their September peak, Morgan Stanley said in a Feb. 2 report. The decline comes as the price of oil has plummeted and scarce global credit forced investors to dump assets in emerging markets. The emirate may have to refinance $15 billion this year in maturing loans and bonds, according to Moody's.
Government-owned real estate developer Nakheel PJSC has had to revise plans for its Waterfront project, which was expected to house 1.5 million people. The company has enough funding for 700 villas, compared with the 10,000 originally planned, according to Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, chairman of Dubai World, which owns Nakheel.
Regional Hub
Dubai built its role as a regional hub by creating special zones for financial services and media, where many local restrictions didn't apply, and building dozens of luxury hotels, the biggest port in the Middle East and the world's largest man- made islands. It also hosted leading tennis tournaments and organized high-profile golfing and rugby championships as well as the Dubai World Cup, the world's richest horse race.
"We'll never see the city getting so far ahead of itself" again, said Christopher Davidson, author of the 2008 book "Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success." "There will be a lot more discreet control over what Dubai can do. Abu Dhabi now has considerable leverage."
Abu Dhabi, whose sovereign wealth fund had $328 billion in assets at the end of 2008, according to a study by economists at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, may now move to buy stakes in Dubai companies controlled by ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Woertz said. Among them: Emirates, the biggest Arab airline, Dubai's international airport and the Jebel Ali port.
'Envy and Contempt'
"Abu Dhabi has looked toward Dubai with a mixture of envy and contempt, a bit like old money usually thinks about nouveaux riches and their daredevil business approaches," Woertz said.
The ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, is president of the U.A.E.; the prime minister is Dubai's Sheikh Mohammed. The seven sheikhdoms in the U.A.E. share a common foreign and security policy and are autonomous in domestic affairs.
Dubai's vulnerability was heightened in recent months after missteps that harmed its image as a place where capital rather than ideology or politics rules.
The U.A.E. government is imposing restrictions on the media and last week moved to bar companies from firing local employees. Dubai authorities were the driving force behind both decisions, Davidson said.
Visa Denied
The outcry over the U.A.E.'s Feb. 14 decision to deny Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer a visa for the Dubai WTA Tour tournament came two days before a ban on a book with a homosexual character at a festival of literature sponsored by Emirates. The visa wasn't approved after Dubai refused to endorse her application, Davidson said.
The U.A.E. granted a visa to another Israeli player, Andy Ram, for the men's ATP Tour tournament in Dubai this week after facing the threat of losing its role as host of the championship next year. U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat, approached the U.A.E. ambassador in Washington over the issue. Defending champion Andy Roddick also pulled out of the men's tour in protest at Peer's treatment.
"Dubai has spent hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars on burnishing an excellent image as very open and willing to play by international rules and standards, and sports has led the way," WTA Chairman Larry Scott said in a phone interview from St. Petersburg, Florida. "The decision not to allow Peer in put a lot of terrific investments and efforts at risk. It has potential effects and ripple effects that go beyond the world of sport."
To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Meyer in Dubai at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: February 24, 2009 03:31 EST

 

[doug reich]

Also, since I am very near the end of The Power Broker, I appreciate its thesis that Robert Moses played a big role in the decline of New York as a livable city (and, through his leadership, other cities as well) by fostering ghettoization and crushing mass transit projects. I find this a more compelling narrative than Evil Paradises, which to me only draws a straight line from what is a bad situation today out into the future.

 

[bigbadwolf]

Also, since I am very near the end of The Power Broker, I appreciate its thesis that Robert Moses played a big role in the decline of New York as a livable city (and, through his leadership, other cities as well) by fostering ghettoization and crushing mass transit projects. I find this a more compelling narrative than Evil Paradises, which to me only draws a straight line from what is a bad situation today out into the future.

Many people blame Bob Moses for what he did to New York. I don't have access to my (personal) library at the moment, but an interesting idea would be to put him in context. He only adversely affected NYC; yet postwar suburbanisation and road development affected the whole country, and was one of the principal economic drivers of postwar "growth" (along with the military complex), and driven by oil, automobile, and construction interests that lay at the core of the postwar US economy.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

It seems like only yesterday when Dominic and I were battling over London vs. New York smackdown - QuantNetwork - Financial Engineering Forum

Now, it seems every where from small village to big city is going down hill but the loss of finance job hits London much harder than it does New York (I think I saw an analysis done on this issue recently). It wouldn't surprise me if those up and coming "future power centers" go belly up before NYC does.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

A brother-in-law of mine (living in Dubai) decided to become a Dubai real estate broker a few months back. But he's now decided to pack it in: simply not a viable proposition anymore. Dubai has been one immense gamble all along. I think it'll flop. Oh, I just remembered -- didn't they inaugurate a new $1.5bn hotel in Dubai a few days back with a $20m party? Kylie Minpgue was paid $3m for her presence. I would not like to be one of the owners. Here's the link.

Quoted for truth

Showcase: Dubais Improbable Tale - Lens Blog - NYTimes.com

 

[bigbadwolf]

Quoted for truth

Showcase: Dubais Improbable Tale - Lens Blog - NYTimes.com

The more I read about it, the more I think it was a lunatic idea by a megalomaniac who was raised on tales from "The Arabian Nights." Per capital energy consumption is 250% higher than the USA -- itself no laggard. All Dubai's fresh water has to be shipped in -- and it's reportedly costing more than oil. This was a "city of sand," and the rationale behind its development was flawed and not thought out at all. But that's what happens in autocracies and despotisms. In the Pacific Islands they used to have cargo cults:

Cargo cult activity in the Pacific region increased significantly during and immediately after World War II, when large amounts of manpower and materials were brought in by the Japanese and American combatants, and this was observed by the residents of these regions. When the war ended, the military bases were closed and the flow of goods and materials ceased. In an attempt to attract further deliveries of goods, followers of the cults engaged in ritualistic practices such as building crude imitation landing strips, aircraft and radio equipment, and mimicking the behaviour that they had observed of the military personnel operating them.

In like manner the Sheikh Al-Maktoum thought that by building a number of high-rises he would have a modern city. Doesn't work like that. And everything had to be the highest, biggest, fastest -- regardless of commercial viability.

 

[GoIllini]

Also, IMO, it's in the middle east, and it's not Israel. How many Jewish people will never step foot there? Quite a few, I'd think.

Obviously the real problem is that many Evangelical Christians would have trouble going to the UAE.

 

[IlyaKEightSix]

Dubai?

BYE BYE!

And frankly, I think the same thing is going to happen to China. Too much copycat, and when they hit their wall, they'll hit it hard.

 

[bigbadwolf]

An essay at Counterpunch that echoes my sentiments:

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The usual press and TV description of these projects is lunatic. Which is of course true to some extent since they are projects that came to the beloved ruler of the realm in a dream sleeping under the stars or some such. The rulers' minions then went out to draw up a plan and then hustle for the money to make it all happen. Right away. It's just great to be a ruler!!

[/SIZE][/FONT]

I suppose that building a gigantic indoor snow skiing facility in a desert sheikdom as the outdoors bake away at 120 degrees Fahrenheit (And that is in the shade if you can find any) has got to be a fabulously profitable idea. Wonder what the lift ticket costs. One has to wonder if the motive for building the world's tallest building in such an inhospitable environment (Just think of the cooling costs) was profitability or plain megalomania.


Dubai had gone hog wild with unimaginably expensive and downright silly investments in dream city real estate projects which are now turning out to be the mirage one could see shimmering over the sand dunes all along. The warning signals have been there for years and pointed out by the few commentators that did not have to fear imprisonment since they did not actually live or do business in Dubai.


The Dubai World and Nakheel Sukuk is by far worse than any garden variety western junk bond. The purpose of this bond was to raise money for some of the most gaudy not to say laughable and absurd projects imaginable. Everyone of these projects started as a "vision" or dream in the mind of its megalomaniac uneducated ruler (Apparently he never finished school).

And another essay at Counterpunch that also has its merits:

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But just as hired British urban planners rejected radial, organic development opting instead for the construction of one long road in the desert with skyscrapers on either side (it just leads to traffic jams because people get farther and farther from each other on the Sheikh Zayed Road), McKinsey told Dubai to invest in property, tourism and a stock market. I could tell when I interviewed Kito de Boer, McKinsey’s Middle East Director, that he saw my questions about the viability of friction-less capitalism as symptomatic of my lack of an MBA. I obviously just didn’t have the makings of a McKinsey Man. [/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]At the moment, international corporate media is as quick to damn Dubai as it was to laud it. Except that the Dubai story isn’t the story of Ozymandian arrogance in the desert. It is the same story that has been played out in country after country, around the world. Developing nations were advised by the same investment companies that are driving capitalism into the abyss in New York that there can only ever be one mode of development. Those same companies ignored the histories of places, ignored reality when silly plans for stock exchanges foundered, when legal codes of property ownership failed to be drawn up.

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