dubai

[kunjuppu]

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Showcase: Dubai’s Improbable Tale - Lens Blog - NYTimes.com

this above set of slides is from today's new york times. of particular interest to me was #7.

it shows a set of unpaid workers from a labour camp appropriately called sonapur (land of gold?). these guys look like from india or pakistan or bangladesh.

recently there was a malayalam movie about the life of these workers, some of whom even sacrifice their annual visit to india, in order to save the money, so that family in india can live well. apparently, all of it, comes to ill end, as one life is sacrificed for the well being of many.

incidentally, in the slides, all the good living appears to be for the whites. the browns just do the hard and dirty work (note the sewage tankers at the end).

from what i gather, the TB professionals are not affected, as these have neither the inclination nor the moolah to indulge in such flippant stuff. good for them.

when i was young, dubai was the port of origin of the arab dhows, sail driven slow boats, smuggling in gold, and smuggling out silver (for the western photographic industry).

times, they have changed.

 

[RVR]

United Arab Emirates is a conglomeration seven independent states ruled by different rulers. Dubai ruler doesn't have petroleum resources. Abudhabi controls 8% of world oil resources. Now only Abudhabi can bail out Dubai ruler from ruins. Today I read an article about Dubai in the Hindu Businessline.

The Hindu Business Line : Dubai: From growth to crisis

Abu Dhabi may become a prime city in UAE

The major surprise is Dubai ruler has openly said that his Government will not bail out the troubled company `Dubai World' . Now market forces have to operate and `Dubai World' has to find a suitable partner to get out of the problems.

Bollywood, sportsmen and several others have high stakes in Dubai. If Dubai is not bailed out, lot of people will loose their shirts.

Let us wait and see

All the best

 

[C RAVI]

Sri Kujuppu ji,

The points that you have highlighted about the plight of laborers in labor camps are all absolutely correct.

When I think of these laborers, I get disturbed emotionally and I had to hold my tears.

On Fridays we could find huge crowd in an area called NAIF in Deira Dubai and in Bur Dubai. The crowd of people are laborers who all get a chance of coming out of their camps and get into these shopping areas on every Friday by way of Free Transportation by the company. They all would be dropped in the morning and would be taken back in the evening. They should be present themselves at the right time in a designated place for the transport. If they miss it out they have to spend their money to get back to their camps through other available public transport system.

On one Friday, I found 4 Bangladeshi laborers in a small cafeteria, discussing something very seriously before making their order. By their discussions and having found them calculating the cash available with them I could find that they were trying to pool available money with them. By asking them I could discover that they were planing to by 4 cups of tea and just 1 plate of Pakoda. The total cost for this would be only 7 Dirhams. There were running short of 4 Dirhams.

I told them to order what they want and promised them that I would pay for them the whole bill. I informed the shopkeeper as well. But much to my surprise 1 of them told me that - "Sir, thank you for your help. But I am sorry to say that we would not be accepting your money. We four friends have decided not to have anything to eat/drink by the mercy of others in a foreign land. Otherwise we would lose our dignity". Before I could react they all shook my hand and left the cafeteria.

I was shocked to note such a statement and was speechless.


Here we can see that rich people would become richer and poor people remain poor. No one bothers for them.

I wish the Dubai Government should allow these workers to make use of Dubai Bus Free of Cost. These laborers should be issued with a specific identity card by Road and Transport Authority (RTA), Dubai that would allow them to use public transport free of cost when ever they need to travel.

These laborers were extremely exploited by the company as well and are deprived of many privileges.

These people away from their home country, away from their family are suffering for many years. The money they earn in hard ways is send to their family to feed them, prosper them. But the life of these people seems to be Zero.

Their suffering, their sacrifice are all only for their family. They feel happy by seeing their family members happy. Where is their personal life? What fruits are they enjoying out of their struggle?

 

[SuryaKasyapa]

Sri Kujuppu ji,

Here we can see that rich people would become richer and poor people remain poor. No one bothers for them.

Is it the starting show of ugly face of unbridled capitalism? God Forbid! If things go at the present way and pace, I am afraid India also may face such situation. There are at times some politicians (in ruling and opposition) throwing caution to winds against sane reminders from some corners. They sing adulations to certain other countries, who themselves are not able to manage their own economy, but dictate terms to others.But our copy cats are more loyal to them, to blindly adulate and emulate them.

I feel many times that we are using somebody,s solutions for our special problems.

Greed and rush to earn quick money rules over reason and logic.

 

[kunjuppu]

Is it the starting show of ugly face of unbridled capitalism? God Forbid! If things go at the present way and pace, I am afraid India also may face such situation. There are at times some politicians (in ruling and opposition) throwing caution to winds against sane reminders from some corners. They sing adulations to certain other countries, who themselves are not able to manage their own economy, but dictate terms to others.But our copy cats are more loyal to them, to blindly adulate and emulate them.

I feel many times that we are using somebody,s solutions for our special problems.

Greed and rush to earn quick money rules over reason and logic.

surya,

couple of queries.

- dubai world is sponsored by the dubai government. i am not sure if this is unbridled CAPITALISM. i agree it is unbridled something, but definitely not capitalism. maybe unbridled greed?

- your quote 'They sing adulations to certain other countries, who themselves are not able to manage their own economy, but dictate terms to others.But our copy cats are more loyal to them, to blindly adulate and emulate them.' can you please explain this? who? what? when? how?

thank you.

 

[sapthajihva]

the aggressive pace of accumulating wealth producing segments in foreign countries without a proper balancing of risk could probably be the factor behind dubai's fall...

dubai, being less dependent on oil had to depend on other means to flourish in the long run. as mentioned in one of the articles, it sought to divert the central focus to itself through acquisitions... central focus either by way of head offices/factories for the MEA or as a rerouting centre (re-exports).

the practices adopted to achieve the effects were not stable to sustain a healthy market environment, as they would lose their competitiveness, if they were to do so.

such an effort requires heavy investment (there could be bilateral investments too) into dubai... finance companies, trading inst., construction giants et al engaged in active business, albeit, on shaky fundamentals. the shine was so bright that no one bothered about the foundation. the bubble was ready to burst.

the us crisis proved just the needle prick it needed. not wanting to lose face, dubai govt. pumped in some money. but the disaster was too overwhelming, too telling on the businesses, for the govt. to stop it easily. then again, it would prove conclusively that the fundamentals were not alright in the first instance. so while secret funding arrangements were discussed, they sought to show face to the world by going ahead with the projects (including the fireworks show). since it was only a cascading effect, sooner or later, it was bound to turnaround, they thought. (in this context, govt. => sheikh)

to their dismay, money markets have been tight around the world, and the situation has not been improving. things are at a standstill.

i have a feeling that it might be external pressure that dubai has come out with such an announcement, ie., a repayment rest. it has to, in the same breath, announce as to how it is going to repay the $60 bn after the 6 month period. i am afraid, that it could pose serious ramifications for the market in general...

i am personally of the opinion, that if things dont get better for dubai, then sooner or later, abu dhabi might just chip in to take over the reins... because, the spillout effects of the dubai markets would definitely affect abu dhabi too... many people in the us and europe see the ME as one market with little distinction between auh or dxb...

 

[KRS]

Just my two cents. The ruler of Dubai is close to both US political parties. USA has a stake in seeing that Dubai does not go under. And the whole deal is the size of AIG only.

This is why the US stock markets have rebounded after a preliminary scare.

Regards,
KRS

 

[C RAVI]

Just my two cents. The ruler of Dubai is close to both US political parties. USA has a stake in seeing that Dubai does not go under. And the whole deal is the size of AIG only.

This is why the US stock markets have rebounded after a preliminary scare.

Regards,
KRS

Sri KRS ji, absolutely true.

But all here in Dubai, both locals and expatriates are of the opinion (as per some valid information) that Abu Dhabi would take control of Dubai and Administer as per their strategy to protect the interest of United Arab Emirates as a whole. And all are wishing to happen so.

 

[RVR]

Abu Dhabi bails out Dubai

Abu Dhabi bails out Dubai with 10 billion US $ package.

Abu Dhabi gives Dubai $10 bln in surprise bailout

All the best

 

[venkatpasupathy]

Shri Kunjappu,
Yes it is unbridled greed indeed and it has nothing to do with capitalism or socialism. It was the same kind of greed that did the global economy in. Venkat