The Middle East Has Way Too Much Money

Supra_Natural · February 10, 2008

A guy in the United Arab Emirates has just spent 6, 750,000 US Dollars buying......... A License plate!

Thats right, A NUMBER PLATE for his car... Six Million Seven Hundred and fifty Thousand Dollars!

http://jalopnik.com/354141/man-buys-675000...ith-in-humanity

honestly, that is just Insane.....

Overdrive · February 10, 2008

wonder how much the no. 1 will go for? may be he gets a tax rebate for it as the proceeds go towards a good cause??

albertho · February 10, 2008

No taxes for these lucky locals ... our sweat for their luxuries.

we have to pay 60SLrupees and 'hour' for parking fees

we have to pay 50% of our earnings for rent

average electricity/water bills is around Rs10,000

housing fee to the government is 5% of rent

car registration is around Rs10,000 a year.

only thing cheap here is cars, insurance, petrol and groceries.

believe me guys, you have to live here to feel it.

Locals do crazy things with their money. Nowadays its the registration number craze. even if you own a lamborg its worthless if you dont flash a good number.

SeanD · February 10, 2008

No taxes for these lucky locals ... our sweat for their luxuries.
we have to pay 60SLrupees and 'hour' for parking fees

we have to pay 50% of our earnings for rent

average electricity/water bills is around Rs10,000

housing fee to the government is 5% of rent

car registration is around Rs10,000 a year.

only thing cheap here is cars, insurance, petrol and groceries.

believe me guys, you have to live here to feel it.

Locals do crazy things with their money. Nowadays its the registration number craze. even if you own a lamborg its worthless if you dont flash a good number.

would you say the cost of living in sri lanka is still cheaper in comparison if you are a middle class wage earner? Because lots of my friends consider migrating to middle east or to the west and others already in those areas say dont come cos the chances of you living the 'american dream' or saudi dream or watever are pretty slim..most likely youll be paying most of your earnings in tax and opportunities to rise in most jobs are lower than for locals (or so it looks like.) Id say its better to stay put in SL and face the problems and hope fot he best.

kinda looks dumb to spend so much on a number plate though..not considering what that money could have been put to use for...but i guess he has the right to do as he pleases.

Edited February 10, 2008 by SeanD

Arc Angel · February 11, 2008

wonder how much the no. 1 will go for? may be he gets a tax rebate for it as the proceeds go towards a good cause??

they interviewed this guy on cnn. he said that he "wouldn't pay over 20 million for No.1. Between 15 - 20 is my range"

can you believe this guy?!?!?!

albertho · February 11, 2008

if you are a professional then opportunity exists, but lets say if your just coming for a sales/marketing job ... then its a tough fight to survive.

pro or not, as you mentioned ... credit always goes to the whites or the locals. its a fact no matter who covers it.

i think the whole world is going through a rough patch. If opportunity exists for you out of the country, then go for it ... as i feel SL will take many years to develop. but if we all leave, who will develop it???

To open a company here you need a local sponsor, he doesnt do any work other than just sign legal documents. One parker pen and maximum of 2-3 hours of signing a year .. he gets a good 10,000$-100,000$ a year in his pocket (depending on how big the establishment is). This is from 1 company he sponsors, imagine he sponsors 20 companies at 100,000$ each !!

xXx · February 11, 2008

These Arabs do have lot of Money. Majority of the M&A's are funded by Middle Eastern sovereign-wealth funds these days. In a way credit crunch has been a blessing in disguise for them. They managed to crop up decent stakes in couple of major Banks which include both Merrill and City.

sharkster · February 11, 2008

if you are a professional then opportunity exists, but lets say if your just coming for a sales/marketing job ... then its a tough fight to survive.

i was just going to say that cos i know a few lankans who've done quite well for themselves

Edited February 11, 2008 by sharkster

Axela · February 13, 2008

i was just going to say that cos i know a few lankans who've done quite well for themselves

I don't get it.

Do you mean to say people doing Marketing/Sales jobs are not professionals.

Are you just talking about Sales Representatives or Marketing/Sales field as a whole.

I thought most of them have professional qualifications.

miniace · February 13, 2008

A guy in the United Arab Emirates has just spent 6, 750,000 US Dollars buying......... A License plate!
Thats right, A NUMBER PLATE for his car... Six Million Seven Hundred and fifty Thousand Dollars!

honestly, that is just Insane.....

Thanks for sharing!

The donkey-oil dude says that he's willing to shell out up to $20,000,000 for "1." In the UAE.

MINIACE

xXx · February 13, 2008

I don't get it.
Do you mean to say people doing Marketing/Sales jobs are not professionals.

Are you just talking about Sales Representatives or Marketing/Sales field as a whole.

I thought most of them have professional qualifications.

I think what he meant to say is there's not much money in those fields. Plus been a non specialist area it must be hard for an immigrant to get in to such a role.

Middle Eastern aren't the same old sand people they were couple of decades ago. The new generation is well educated and they are taking over all the top positions from foreigners. At least that's what I heard from my mate.

Talking about Arabs doing crazy things, some of them actually take their car with them when they go on holidays to show off to their relatives. I’m not talking about corollas or Camry’s they are LP640, Ferrari 599 etc. These fools actually pay the full import tax and other chargers when importing the car.

The Don · February 13, 2008

I think what he meant to say is there's not much money in those fields. Plus been a non specialist area it must be hard for an immigrant to get in to such a role.
Middle Eastern aren't the same old sand people they were couple of decades ago. The new generation is well educated and they are taking over all the top positions from foreigners. At least that's what I heard from my mate.

Talking about Arabs doing crazy things, some of them actually take their car with them when they go on holidays to show off to their relatives. I’m not talking about corollas or Camry’s they are LP640, Ferrari 599 etc. These fools actually pay the full import tax and other chargers when importing the car.

Believe it or not xXx when I was in uni there was a guy who used to drive a LHD Mustang with Baharain plates on it he he, what possessed him to do that God only knows !

A friend of mine made a killing tutoring 3 bods from Qatar, who were all sent here by their families that they will not be granted control of their family businesses until they achieved a formal qualification, so these bods used to pay my friend whole heaps of money to prepare them for exams and to do their assignments for them so they could get their miserable Foundation degree !!

Edited February 13, 2008 by The Don

Watchman · February 16, 2008

If i'm not mistaken the Reg Plate with just "1" was a Veyron or a Phantom. I dont remember which, but i remember seeing pics of it online. it was parked outside a hotel in the night....

Devinda_Z · February 16, 2008

...its to my understanding that the single and double digit numbers in the Dubai were held by members of the Royal family and thier relatives... :unsure: