The Empty Sky Of Dubai

The construction boom town of Dubai, where 200 fantastically tall skyscrapers have been started in the last five years, is emptying out of foreigners who fear being sent to debtors prison for defaulting on their home loans.

With Dubai’s economy in free fall, newspapers have reported that more than 3,000 cars sit abandoned in the parking lot at the Dubai Airport, left by fleeing, debt-ridden foreigners (who could in fact be imprisoned if they failed to pay their bills). No one knows how bad things have become, though it is clear that tens of thousands have left, real estate prices have crashed and scores of Dubai’s major construction projects have been suspended or canceled. But with the government unwilling to provide data, rumors are bound to flourish, damaging confidence and further undermining the economy.

The United Arab Emirates are drafting a law making it a crime to damage the country's reputation or economy by writing about the crisis. (And you thought things are bad here. At least we get to bitch about things.) As a huge fan of skyscrapers, I've been thinking lately that I'd like to visit Dubai to see these all these 150+ story buildings currently going up. Not to mention the revolving skyscraper. Now you have to wonder if they'll even be finished.

RELATED: Last month the 162-story Burj Dubai passed the Sears Tower as the building with the most floors in the world. The 108-story Sears Tower only held the honor from 2001 after the destruction of the WTC. The title of "world's tallest building" has been rather contentious - folks argue about whether the buildings should be ranked by number of floors, by height from ground to top of roof, or by height from ground to top of spire. The Burj Dubai has rendered that argument moot as it is almost 1000 feet taller than its closest rivals and is the tallest freestanding structure on Earth.