The Curse of the Black Gold

Pedestrian: Economic Prosperity: A Hurdle to Democratic Reform.

I think the Gulf region is the only place where you will find men in their prime “hanging out” at shopping malls during the day when all around the world, men of that age are at work.

This is the only place in the world where, if you step into a shopping mall in the middle of the day, you will be faced with the weird sight of young and middle aged men, in their long white robes – dishdashas - roaming around the mall, sitting around at Starbucks … in short, doing nothing.

Apparently nobody is in a hurry to get back to work.

Yup. They gained almost all their wealth by chance since it doesn't take any skill to be born in a land that is floating on oil. Their mentality is largely the one that has persisted for over a millennium. That's why after a quarter-century of amassing wealth, we still don't see Arabs managing their own oil infrastructure! They, collectively, simply have no desire to learn and be productive people.

What they are good at is sugarcoating their intellectual emptiness and civilizational void with spectacularly grotesque projects.

Not only is the emirates trying to outdo itself in towers – to a point where it’s even difficult to keep up with what they’re building today and how high it’s going to be – they are outdoing themselves in everything … What’s the deal with Abu Dhabi’s “Green City”? 22 BILLION dollars is going to be spent on creating it. And more than a haven for the environment, it seems just another vacation resort for those whose salaries go above 6 digits. More than that, not a single one of these projects are led or engineered by Arabs. Most often times, it is a British or American architectural firm doing the work.

Of course.

When the oil runs out or when the West finds another source of energy, the Middle Easterners will be in a grand world of pain.

Comments

[Jim C.]

I don't know about that. The money they already have is invested in various things, such as loans, owning companies' stock, and certainly outright part-ownership of companies. The money they have on deposit in banks is similarly invested by the banks.

I'd like to think they're so stupid as to just spend it on luxuries for themselves. But I doubt that.

[Isaac Schrödinger]

Many can live on the interest, but for how long? (Funny how they're not fundamentalist about the no-to-interest aspect of Islam.) Remember that the large quantity of wealth is concentrated in small hands -- the royalty. The benefits of the regular Arabs are dependent on the price of oil and the generosity of the royalty.

That benevolence will be in short supply when the oil runs out. I think as a society they'll suffer but many individual Arabs won't be affected much.

[Saul Wall]

It seems to be that before Islam turned the Arab people into privateers and imperialistic exploiters they were trading, transporting and herding to make a living (i.e. they were as productive as the land allowed).

It is hard to say exactly what changes will occur as oil becomes undependable in both price and supply but I suspect that the status quo is off the table. The rulers do seem to be trying to diversify their economy and that might just save the nation though not likely the royal system and the entitlement of oil wealth and afternoons at the mall.

[Harry]

Does the phrase "Phallic Symbol" apply here to this tower construction?

[Isaac Schrödinger]

"The rulers do seem to be trying to diversify their economy and that might just save the nation though not likely the royal system and the entitlement of oil wealth and afternoons at the mall."

They just might have to work for a living. *Gasp!*

[Pedestrian]

"They gained almost all their wealth by chance since it doesn't take any skill to be born in a land that is floating on oil. "

I wouldn't agree with that entirely. There are many regions of the world that have oil and low population rates ... There has been a level of planning and wisdom put into this ...