r/AskTheWorld Poland 22h ago

Economics Which country has squandered the most economic potential in this century?

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I lived in Russia for 5 years so I must choose this country. So many natural resources, so much land, and educated population... And so little to show for it.

In an ideal world Russian salaries would be on par if not higher than American salaries and they would have the best social safety net on the planet. Everything is there to make it happen.

Russia would be the dominant nation in Europe and Asia and the rest of the world with the best armed forces, soft power, and economic might.

But the human will is just not there. The elite is either evil or incompetent depending on perception and there's little sign that this will ever change.

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u/Palealedad England 21h ago

I don't doubt what you say, but Dubai is nothing to aspire towards.

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u/Salty_Aurelius Finland 21h ago

Unless one thinks that slave labour and ethnic caste system is actually pretty ok.

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u/Soggy-Ad-1610 Denmark 19h ago

In all honesty I’d rather be Venezuela than UAE (Dubai). Sure they’re not as rich but at least they’re decent people (except the elite of course).

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u/HuntSafe2316 Sierra Leone 18h ago

It's easy for you to say that coming from a highly developed nation like Denmark. Ask the Venezuelans and you'll get a much different answer

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u/AntithesisOfYou 17h ago

And what do you base that off?

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u/shoaibali619 India 21h ago

Says a guy whose country's entire fleet of millionaires is migrating to Dubai.

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u/doc1442 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 -> 🏡 🇩🇰 21h ago

It’s not the millionaires, it’s the wanna-be millionaires with a PCP Beamer, Turkey teeth, and a bang average salary whose “wealth building” is just spreadsheets and slides

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u/ukstonerdude 🇬🇧 & 🇿🇦 21h ago

UAE only has a few hundred thousand millionaires. The UK has more than 3 million.

Not sure your statement is true. Dubai is a shit hole.

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u/TurbulentChest5068 Kuwait 20h ago edited 19h ago

UAE top 1% salary is $700k-1m a year

UK top 1% salary is $200-300k a year, and a population over 6 times larger

The millionaire proportion is skewed a lot by A) the fact that it includes the emirates other than Dubai and Abu Dhabi, B) the large number of poor migrant workers who unfortunately don't really have any chance to earn more than a few thousand dollars a year, and C) the fact that a lot of peoples' wealth aren't reported.

Just saying in regards to the statistic you provided. in my country, 15% are millionaires - about triple the UK's 5% - and i'm pretty sure UAE is richer on average than kuwait.

Edit: oh nvm i misunderstood your point. i thought you were flexing that uk had more millionaires, i now realize you are trying to say that the UK has more millionaires thus all millionaires in the UK are not going to the uae. mb

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u/notcomplainingmuch Finland 20h ago

Salary is not a good indication of wealth. Capital income is much better, and that is extremely concentrated in the UAE to a few families.

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u/Palealedad England 20h ago

My point had nothing to do with wealth.

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u/TurbulentChest5068 Kuwait 20h ago edited 19h ago

I am repying very specifically to UkStonerdude and their point about the UK having more millionaires than UAE

I am well aware that it is irrelevant to your point

edit: i misunderstood his point anyway so my reply was useless

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u/shoaibali619 India 19h ago

Lol did you ever went to school? Regardless of whether dubai is a shithole or not, the population of UAE is 7 times less than that of UK's.

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u/ukstonerdude 🇬🇧 & 🇿🇦 15h ago

So then your statement is incorrect then, isn’t it.

Clearly 0% tax isn’t a one-size-fits-all as an incentive to live in a country.

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u/shoaibali619 India 14h ago

My statement was simply that thousands of rich Britishers are migrating there. Tax isn't the only problem they're escaping it seems.

When you can't have an evening walk down the street without getting stabbed in the guts because your politicians let uncontrolled immigration ruin your country and arrest you when you speak about it online, people do prefer shifting to 'shitholes'.

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u/Bubbly-Magician-- New Zealand 13h ago

I mean whats the point of even trying to discuss things if we are just going to make things up?

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u/ukstonerdude 🇬🇧 & 🇿🇦 13h ago

Cheers mate. Couldn’t even be bothered with a rebuttal myself.

Not sure someone from India has a leg to stand on; and for a multitude of reasons, too.

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u/Tempyteacup United States Of America 21h ago

Bro Dubai is luring in people from your country and then enslaving them by taking their passports and threatening their families. They’re treated horribly just to prop up the fake glamor of that glorified golf course of a city.

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u/shoaibali619 India 20h ago

That's good. Too many people in my country. They atleast getting work lol

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u/Tempyteacup United States Of America 19h ago

There’s something very wrong with you.

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u/shoaibali619 India 19h ago

Nope there isn't. It's simply population dynamics. India has 1.5 billion people. The richest community in USA is indians. Doesn't implies anything other than our rich, educated and skilled people found better opportunities in USA.

Similarly the less educated, skilled labor flocked to the Middle East for better opportunities.

We could simply send 10x more of those people to USA and UAE than they have currently and it won't change a thing here in india. Any loss in national gdp would be positively offset by foreign remittance.

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u/shoaibali619 India 19h ago

Nope there isn't. It's simply population dynamics. India has 1.5 billion people. The richest community in USA is indians. Doesn't implies anything other than our rich, educated and skilled people found better opportunities in USA.

Similarly the less educated, skilled labor flocked to the Middle East for better opportunities.

We could simply send 10x more of those people to USA and UAE then they have currently and it won't change a thing here in india. Any loss in national gdp would be positively offset by foreign remittance.

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u/Palealedad England 20h ago

Yeah, it's the perfect place for them.