*Is it just me, or is the Meltdown particularly tough on *cars*?
It seems like abandoned cars are catching it even worse than the
abandoned real-estate.
*Curse of Oil, man. 24 months ago they were just absolutely
swimming in riches. And what were they supposed to do with it,
except build huge weird heaps in their own country? Were they supposed to buy
stock in Merrill Lynch?
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/the_gulf/article5663618.ece
For many expatriate workers in Dubai it was the ultimate symbol of their tax-free wealth: a luxurious car that few could have afforded on the money they earned at home.
Now, faced with crippling debts as a result of their high living and Dubai’s fading fortunes, many expatriates are abandoning their cars at the airport and fleeing home rather than risk jail for defaulting on loans.
Police have found more than 3,000 cars outside Dubai’s international airport in recent months. Most of the cars – four-wheel drives, saloons and “a few” Mercedes – had keys left in the ignition.
Some had used-to-the-limit credit cards in the glove box. Others had notes of apology attached to the windscreen. (((Remember that huge line of cars fleeing Kuwait in the first Gulf War? "Highway of death," they called that? Stolen civilian cars crammed with Kuwaiti loot, Iraqi raiders trying to get back to Baghdad, skies roiling with oil fires and somewhere above the oily murk, A-10 tankbuster aircraft with infrared targeting screens. Tough place for cars, the Gulf. I wonder how many Ballardian swimming pools are emptied in this vicinity right now.)))
Related Links
* With no oil, desert economy is built on shifting sand
* Dubai millionaires' beach becomes cesspool
* Dubai lifts veil of secrecy to assuage fears
“Every day we find more and more cars,” said one senior airport security official, who did not want to be named. “Christmas was the worst – we found more than two dozen on a single day.”
When the market collapsed and the emirate’s once-booming economy started to slow down, many expatriates were left owning several homes and unable to pay the mortgages without credit.
“There were a lot of people living the high life, investing in real estate and a lifestyle they couldn’t afford,” one senior banker said. (((I hate it when people say this. Of course they could afford it THEN. They were expats in freakin' Dubai, they didn't go there to eat cold macaroni. Nobody can afford ANY lifestyle in a major financial crisis... it's like chiding people in Weimar Germany for not packing their banknotes more neatly into their wheelbarrows. Can this "senior banker" afford his lifestyle now? Can this reporter "afford his lifestyle"?)))
Under Sharia, which prevails in Dubai, the punishment for defaulting on a debt is severe. Bouncing a check, for example, is punishable with jail. Those who flee the emirate are known as skips.
The abandoned cars underscore a worrying trend. Five years ago the Emir, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, embarked on an ambitious plan to transform Dubai into a hub for business and tourism. A building boom fuelled double-digit growth, with thousands of Westerners arriving every day, eager to cash in on the emirate’s promise of easy living and wealth.... (((As opposed to the thousands of Westerners who flock to ashrams promising hardship and poverty, I reckon.)))
*Rem Koolhaas's Beijing skyscraper just caught on fire. Man, that takes the cake.
