Once upon a time, in the middle of a desert, in a religiously conservative town, some enterprising eastern gentlemen set up a modern day Gomorrah. Spiced with alcohol, gambling, and sex, this Mormon town was transformed into the successfully sinful city of Las Vegas.
A half century later, halfway across the world, in a religiously conservative area, once again in the desert, some enterprising, oil-rich, Middle-Eastern gentlemen, set up a similar venue, aside from the wink-wink, nod-nod of the authorities, without the alcohol, gambling, and sex. What could possibly go wrong?
Dubai World, in the conspicuously consumptive emirate of Dubai, has created a virtual Disney World on steroids. Over the last decade they have created a Louvre in the desert, sea worlds, built Palm Islands, had tennis courts in the sky, and indoor snow adventures. In the midst of a global recession, they lavishly, (an understatement), opened the world’s tallest skyscraper. What could possibly go wrong?
This little dust speck managed to drag in huge resources from around the world in their building frenzy. They imported labor and construction resources that would make even American infrastructure investment pale in comparison. Even China’s current boom is hard pressed to keep up. In this little sheikdom, Ozymandias lives again. What could possibly go wrong?
In the process they have come up a little short on servicing some $60 billion in debt. Dubai, that little emirate in the middle of nowhere, says it’s not their problem. Like energy companies, who create little shell companies for their nuclear plants in case they, ya know, melt down, Dubai has Dubai World. So many banks, many US, may be on the hook for the debt. Once again, the American taxpayer may get stuck with the bill.
Twenty-five years from now, on the desert shores of the Persian Gulf, a young Mel Gibson wannabe may be seen riding through the folly of a concentration of wealth gone, once again, very bad. Capitalists beware. Bank CEOs beware. Greedy executives beware. You may think you are indispensable. But beware! Ozymandias is here!
