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merry_prankster
Joined: 25 Mar 2010
Posts: 27
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elmoro
Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Posts: 58
Location: The Emerald City
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 Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 12:27 pm Post subject: |
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and this is what comes to mind .... i'm in a youtube mood, what can i say
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0rc_XzxiTg
of course the funniest part is when he says, "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." 
btw, i watched season 1, ep 1 of the beverly hillbillies. oh, the resemblances. 
elmoro
THE HORROR, THE HORROR! |
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Gus Barkley
Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Posts: 78
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| Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 2:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Starve the federal institutions to save money for the Abu Dhabi emirate based institutions? So much for the "United" in United Arab Emirates. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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It is really difficult to come up with much sympathy for a country that has one of the largest incomes in the world per capita.
Waste? Really?
Tell the water company to cut the budget. Perhaps if they sent out realistic bills so its citizens understood the real costs of massive gardens in a desert. Same with electric bills for those giant cavernous villas... with the ACs blasting and half the doors and windows open. Raising petrol prices to average international levels may show them that they don't need a dozen cars and spend all day on the road... cruising...
And what if each of their Ministries cut the workers that are not really producing. Oops... that would mess up Emiritization when most of them were sent home.
And what about the costs of creating islands on which to build clones of world museums... or giant mosques that will hold the entire Emirati population on Friday... or fake western universities.
Yes... must cut the education costs. Let's first cut the management numbers by at least two thirds. That would fix HCT overnight... But, they will do it the easy way. They will hire fewer teachers, try to skimp on salaries and benefits, and increase class sizes. That will make it all better.
VS |
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helenl
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Posts: 1202
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| Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:58 pm Post subject: |
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Must say that they seem to be learning the worst knee jerk reactions of the West. Cut education budgets. But education is where the focus has to be long term. Set real objectives and expectations (not the glitz and glamour extravaganzas as we've seen at the Emirates Palace et al).
I've long advocated OK, free education for the first try, if they fail once, second chance. After that - start collecting tuition. That will separate many of the prima donnas (or mama's boys) from those that want to sincerely succeed.
But that's not the face that is to be shown to the world. Let's give'em a pseudo show with no substance to support it (eh Tubby) |
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2buckets
Joined: 14 Dec 2010
Posts: 515
Location: Middle East
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| Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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I'd be worried about my my final "payout".
Look for a renegotiation of that. It's easy to "save" money on the backs of foreign contract workers, and politically attractive to sell to the emiratis. |
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eha
Joined: 26 May 2005
Posts: 355
Location: ME
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| Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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'Must say that they seem to be learning the worst [knee jerk re] actions of the West'
They always did. .. and that's what's been wrong with their systems right from the beginning... |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 12:29 am Post subject: |
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| eha wrote: |
'Must say that they seem to be learning the worst [knee jerk re] actions of the West'
They always did. .. and that's what's been wrong with their systems right from the beginning... |
They learned it from the Western hacks that they hired to set it all up...
VS |
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celticbutterfly
Joined: 13 Jul 2009
Posts: 41
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| Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 7:55 am Post subject: |
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| veiledsentiments wrote: |
It is really difficult to come up with much sympathy for a country that has one of the largest incomes in the world per capita.
Waste? Really?
Tell the water company to cut the budget. Perhaps if they sent out realistic bills so its citizens understood the real costs of massive gardens in a desert. Same with electric bills for those giant cavernous villas... with the ACs blasting and half the doors and windows open. Raising petrol prices to average international levels may show them that they don't need a dozen cars and spend all day on the road... cruising...
And what if each of their Ministries cut the workers that are not really producing. Oops... that would mess up Emiritization when most of them were sent home.
And what about the costs of creating islands on which to build clones of world museums... or giant mosques that will hold the entire Emirati population on Friday... or fake western universities.
Yes... must cut the education costs. Let's first cut the management numbers by at least two thirds. That would fix HCT overnight... But, they will do it the easy way. They will hire fewer teachers, try to skimp on salaries and benefits, and increase class sizes. That will make it all better.
VS |
For once, VS, even though you haven't been here for who knows how long, you've hit the nail squarely on the head. I completely agree, but nothing whatsoever will change in those areas. Bring on them running out of oil FAST - that will be the only thing that halts the uber-extravagent lifestyle. |
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Sheikh N Bake
Joined: 26 Apr 2007
Posts: 1307
Location: Dis ting of ours
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| Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 12:18 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="celticbutterfly"]
| veiledsentiments wrote: |
For once, VS, even though you haven't been here for who knows how long, you've hit the nail squarely on the head. I completely agree, but nothing whatsoever will change in those areas. Bring on them running out of oil FAST - that will be the only thing that halts the uber-extravagent lifestyle. |
Me too.
And Helen1's comment. I agree that charging tuition fees is not as draconian--even in Britain--as it might seem to the coddled socialist masses. If you take the state university I went to in Pennsylvania, for example, state residents pay about $6000 a year in tuition fees and $6,000 for room and board for two semesters. That means nine months' living expenses with a college education thrown in for $12,000 a year. Is that such a backbreaking horrible imposition? What does an independent adult spend for nine months' living expenses without a university education? Furthermore, the poor folks like me still got a free ride through government grants, state and federal. OK, you may say "Well I wonder which jerkwater college HE went to." Uhm...good question, but I guess if my school was good enough for US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, former first woman governor of New Hampshire; General Tommy Franks (got his MS there) and best-selling suspense write Dean Koontz, I guess it was good enough for me.
Poor babies in Britain, aw, they have to pay for something! |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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| celticbutterfly wrote: |
| For once, VS, even though you haven't been here for who knows how long, you've hit the nail squarely on the head. |
Only once? I am often surprised at how liittle has changed there in the basics like this and won't, as you say, until the oil runs out. From my many friends still spread around the Gulf, the most common thread is how things have deteriorated for us in education because of the rising numbers of students.
Oman, back in my time there ("the olden days"), had a policy that if university graduates did not use the degree they were 'given' for free, they had to repay the government. It seems a very sensible policy... for all these countries to adopt. But, I don't see it happening.
Anyone know if Oman still has this policy? Even when I was there, I never saw or heard it mentioned as a policy in the media - at least in English. I was told this by my students, who at that time were majoring in teaching English. I can't recall how many years - not a huge number... maybe 5? - that they were required to teach. They felt that it was fair. (can't you hear the Emirati students whinging if this was adopted there?) That has been one of the biggest changes, what unrealistic expectations Gulf students have of what they deserve for just being born...
VS |
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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| Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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Dear veiledsentiments,
I know that at the IPA in Saudi, employees who got an MA and/or a PhD in the States were required to put in at least so many years (I believe it was five) working for the IPA upon their return before they could transfer to any other public institution or private company.
I don't know if that was government policy for ALL employees in government jobs, but that seems likely.
However, this policy could always be trumped - by wasta.
Regards,
John |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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uaeobserver
Joined: 05 Feb 2007
Posts: 236
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| Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:48 am Post subject: |
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The jewels on the Christmas tree are on loan......
The tree is "worth" millions ---- but didn't cost that much.
Just clever marketing. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 4:06 am Post subject: |
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| uaeobserver wrote: |
| The jewels on the Christmas tree are on loan...... |
That's what she said...
VS |
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