En Route to Abu Dhabi - In which I pose questions I probably can't answer

I’m watching the sunrise in Amsterdam and beginning another blog-worthy adventure while 'Getting Jiggy Wit It' plays in the coffee shop.

For those of you who are new to the blog (cough cough), I shall reiterate my disclaimer: I try really hard to be objective, well-researched within the confines of state-controlled internet access, and culturally understanding when I write these, but inevitably I fail. So, just know that I’m giving it my best shot, but I’m only human and an oft-jetlagged one at that. Also, sometimes I cuss.  Sorry Grandma.

You’ve been warned.

Also, I usually write one of these pre-entries. But the rest have nice photos to break up the self-indulgent sprawl of my own internal dialogue. Feel free to skip this one altogether. Moving on:

On this auspicious morning, I am off to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. I even bought books this time to study up, not just antiquated biographies about long-dead pharaohs (ahem…trip to Egypt). So I am marginally equipped. And also incredibly interested in this particular locale.

Abu Dhabi is the single wealthiest city in the world. The world. Todo el mundo. So wealthy it bails out other wealthy cities, like Dubai.

GDP for Abu Dhabi in 2013 was $250 billion. Per Capita income is lower than I would have thought, at 50K annually. But the missing bit seems to be made up by state-dispersed benefits. 

For example: If you were a citizen of Abu Dhabi and starting a family, you could receive government housing. Not your American-standard subsidized housing unit in an apartment building called “The Heights” in a street likely called “Martin Luther King Blvd” in a neighborhood safely removed from active business centers.

No, you’d get your own contractor and architect. You would get to select from a number of floor plans and design motifs. You would get a free-standing home with a separate bedroom for every child guaranteed. And during the build, your dedicated contractor would send you text message progress updates. Depending on your status, you can even get a nice plot of land to put that house on. All free, utilities and routine maintenance included.

I’m certainly not trying to take this out of context, but we talk a lot about entitlement culture and a welfare state in the United States and sometimes I wonder what we’re really arguing about. Dependency? Lost identify? Loss of production and economic power? Influence? Hydrocarbon has made Abu Dhabi exorbitantly wealthy AND the single most generous welfare state in the developed world.

How do we reconcile the “welfare state demon” against a THRIVING economy and a country with immense global power and influence? Where’s the bad?  I have T-minus 2 weeks to answer that. Let’s see how far I get!

I have my suspicions though now.  Word is the Emirate standard of living is guaranteed by a massive immigrant class. Labor laws are weak and/or unenforced. Citizenship is impossible to get, so the high standard can be guaranteed for the smallest possible elite class of full citizens.

And we are also talking about a monarchy. Abu Dhabi is run by a single family rumored to be worth $500 billion. They own oil companies, but also telcomms, football clubs,  museums . . . basically if it’s profitable and cool, the Al Nahyan family probably has a stake in it. Power and wealth are shared as they see fit. I just flat our wonder how much personal freedom people enjoy, especially women and non-citizens.  What is the status quo and how tightly is it observed and what is the risk to non-conformers?

And at the end, what will that teach me about the way we value personal liberty? The rumor persists that, since the fall of the Arab dictatorships over the last 2ish years, that the Arab monarchies MUST follow. That people want representative government and it is only a matter of time.  That the people want to participate in government.

But do they? Would we under the same circumstances? If your people are satisfied. If their basic needs are covered and can rely and relative comfort for their children and children’s children. If they aren’t dissatisfied. If they are happy, do they still want a seat at the table? Would they really need a seat at the table?

It would be an entirely different narrative than anything I’ve ever seen before. I have major questions, and I can tell you I won’t sit from a particularly great vantage point while in UAE. 2 weeks in a five star hotel on a man-made canal surrounded by climate controlled everything and wave runners does not position me to learn much about dissatisfaction and inequity, but I’ll give it my best.