Out of curiosity, what are the long term (10, 15, 20 years from now) effects of this rapid growth? I work in the construction industry and I can't keep track of the amount of people I've heard leaving the States to go work in Dubai. I was watching an episode of House Hunters International the other day and it featured two episodes of couples looking at condos. I've never seen so many high rise condos in one location. It also seemed like for every two high rise buildings built there was at least one currently under construction. I am under the impression that a majority of the work force over there is construction and construction related industries.

It just seems odd to me. I get the impression of a balloon being filled with air. At some point, like the tech revolution we witnessed a decade ago, it's going to burst. We, in the US, had a similar housing boom over the last two/three decades, but we are now paying dearly for it. Dubai's rapid growth puts the US's housing expansion to shame. Burj Khalifa, the largest building in Dubai (and the world), remains largely vacant based off the last article I read.