Let me present to you 2 sceneraios of Angola 2050.

1)

Driving through the smooth streets of downtown Luanda, the sheer number of SUVs and Merecedes-Benz is incredible. Armani-clad businessmen hurry between air-conditioned chaffeaur-driven limousines and their offices on top of the numerous Starbucks, McDonalds, and Pizzu Huts that now litter the city.

At 5pm, the buzz of helicopters can be heared over the city as some of the super-rich fly off to Luanda-Sul to avoid the oppresive traffic congestion. Luanda now rivals Sao Paulo in having the most amount of helicopters in the world.

At night, a more sinister mood takes place in the city. Gangs of street youths from the notorious INFERNO favela start to take their positions in the city. Carjackings, armed robberies, and burgalries have become the flavour of the evening. Like in Brazil of old, cars are not required to stop at red lights when it is dark due to the risk of crime. Also like its trans-Atlantic lusophone cousin, you are not able to get money from most cash machines after 22:00 for your OWN SAFETY.

A world away in Luanda-Sul, a maid is preparing dinner in a multi-million dollar house. Her "master" is the Alfonso Ribeira, close friend to the president, and worth over $200 million in share options in Sonangol. The streets are heavily armed with what is a quasi-militia, funded by the elite to keep the daring thieves from the VAST slums of Luanda away.

The now infamous "Sonangol" group has now become synonymous with kleptocracy and corruption arond he world. From retail, to diamond mining, this huge comglomerate controls 50% of the economy and anyone wanting to do business in Angola better be on good terms with the government, whose senior members and their relatives all have stakes or directorships in Sonangol.

Outside the cities, the rural areas are still stuffering from the civil war decay. After a brief flury of investment in the post-war decade, government has regarded farming as a low-priority sector. Large areas of fertile land remain littered with mines and farms unable to compete with imported food. Thousands of youth leave the countryside each year to "make it" in Luanda, but end up in crime or prostitition............................




2)

After the collapse in oil prices in 2008 and the widespread development of effecient renewable energy by the USA and China, the Angolan government embarked upon a rapid process of diversification and rural development unseen in Africa before.

Billions of dollars were diverted from urban to rural development in "operation feed yourself". Against the advice of the now-defunct IMF, subsidies were rolled out to rural farmers for fertilisers, tractors and seeds. Medium-scale farms were actively encouraged, rather than large commercial or peasant smallholders, ensuring widespread wealth. The average farmer now owns 50 acres of lands and most have enough to own a car and a tractor. Angola agriculture has long surpassed the dizzy heights of pre-independence and whats more, this time its the indegenous population, rather than Portuguese commercial farmers, who are running the show. Thousands of immigrants from Congo and Zambia have flooded into Angola to work for the new food-lords of Africa who now grow an astonishing 20% of Sub-sahran food output.

Its capital, Luanda, has half the population it had during the post-war era due to this reverse migration of people to the countryside and to other cities such as Benguala and Huambo which are now both rated as having amongst the highest standards of living on the continent and both have benefitted from the governments decision to decentralise power and offer lower-tax rates for companies who choose to invest in these places rather than the capital.

During the import-substitution drive between 2010 and 2020, concessionary loans were given to Angolan businessmen to invest in food processing and labour-intensive light-industry- thus decreasing the need for imported goods. Over 200,000 jobs were created in the vast "Zona industria" on the northern outskirts of Luanda. The slums of the past have all but dissapeared and have been replaced by social housing which is mostly occupied by the new factory workers.

An anti-corruption agency, "Para a gente", with far reaching powers, was set up in 2011 and clawed back a lot of the wealth looted during the dos Santos era. The ex-president is now in exile in France, and his daughter is under house arrest in her vast mansion in central Luanda.

Outside Africa, Angolans presence is more than formidable, through the sovereign wealth fund formerly known as Sonangol, it owns significant minority or majority shares in everything from Portuguese telecom to Brazilian hotels, to gold mines in Mozambique.

The Bay of Luanda now has one of the most beautiful shorelines out of any world city. Thousads of tourists now parade upon its paths every day, they come from the USA, China and Europe. Typically, they fly into Luanda whereupon they spend a few days enjoying the restocked game reseves in the interior of the country, then head to the temperate delight of Huambo to cool off, before setting westwards to the Miami of Africa- Benguela- with its cutting-edge thriving beach culture. A sand-buggy trip to Namibe in the south is usually part of the "must-do" tourist trip.

To borrow from Brazil- "Se houvesse paraiso na terra, seria nao muito longe daqui". And in Angola, there is surely paradise.

Goossh,:ohno: how about searching for some news and projects instead? I have never see you doing it.

Goossh,:ohno: how about searching for some news and projects instead? I have never see you doing it.it maybe true what you've written matt, but let's face the facts that in angola not everything goes well; if you knew how to speak portuguese and read some of our private newspapers or even sites on internet, you'd be able to understand popa a little better;i just want to see if they really deserve the trust of this pacific people who voted for them in the last elections

Agostinho, Matthias somente quer ouvir noticias de edificios e shoppings para os ricos!

Agostinho, Matthias somente quer ouvir noticias de edificios e shoppings para os ricos!já dei conta, não é que ele faça isto por maldade, mas deve também saber ver a realidade

This is all really silly. How can anyone with a straight face realistically predict what will happen in over 40 years time? It would be a lot more interesting to see where the country is in a 10-15 year time frame. Also, the whole reverse migration to the rural areas is not going to happen. The greatest migrational pattern of human history in the 20th and 21st century is the migration from rural areas to urban ones. It tends to be a sign of development, as wealthier countries have a higher proportion of urban residents. Your economic vision is a tad marxist and old fashion. Opportunity, capital, wealth and economic activity for the future global economy won't be centered around agriculture but technology. And to a smaller extent manufacturing which has to a large degree left the developed world.

Ele perdeu mesmo o tempo dele a escrever isso??? Não deve ter mais nada que fazes esse gajo. Que tal parar de pensar no futuro e viver o presente? Nem sabemos se estaremos vivos amanhã quanto mais daqui a 40 anos...

Ele perdeu mesmo o tempo dele a escrever isso??? Não deve ter mais nada que fazes esse gajo. Que tal parar de pensar no futuro e viver o presente? Nem sabemos se estaremos vivos amanhã quanto mais daqui a 40 anos...
realmente ele foi longe demais :lol::lol::lol::lol:

Alex, this is just some tongue-in-cheek look at some extremes of scenarios what could happen in Angola. Africa is WAY to volatile to predict what is going to happen in the next year, look at pre-election Kenya, never mind in 40 years. This could be Angola 2015, 2025, 2035, 2045, 2100. Its all irrelavent. The purpse was to stimulate debate about what path Angola should embark upon from now to ensure continued prosperity for all. Perhaps my worry that Angola is becoming an African Brazil- Lusophone, violent, and unequal- is what bothered you?

Me thinks you've been living in the States for far too long, which part of my analysis is "Marxist" exactly? Government subsidies to farmers?....oops...wait a minute...thats what they do in the capitalist USA, and in Europe for that matter.

For you to think that a country can somehow leapfrog the stage of food sufficiency to go into technology is a little amusing to be honest and I would like you to furnish me with some examples of nations which have managed to achieve this whilst importing most of their food.

You remind me of Nkrumahs "Development Plans" for Ghana which he envisaged Ghana would become an industrial country and set upon building steel mills, dams etc and completely ignored agriculture which almost collapsed under his rule. Next door in Ivory Coast, they focused on agriculture- the result was one of the lowest rural poverty rates in Africa and the surpluses of the farms, apart from helping balance the fiscal sheets, helped the subsequent formation of agro-processing and secondary industries in the urban areas. Within 20 years Ivory Coast was more industralised than Ghana, despite agriculture being the number one priority post-independence. Ditto for Kenya.

I would read up on some economic history of the UK and the Lowland nations over the last half-millenia, the worlds first "developed" nations. There was what can be regarded as an agricultural revolution in the 18th century- better seeds, better techniques such as crop rotation and concurrent use of nitrogen fixing plants- which lead to increase yields and output- the resultant accumulation of capital by the land Lords was reinvested in steel mills, coal mines, cotton mills and more tragically, colonialism and slave-trading.

This had a profound effect on the demographic status quo of the nation-

1) There was a population boom

2) After the initial rise in agriculture labour, continued improved technology made farming actually LESS labour intensive.

So how did this contribute to industralisation?

3) Increased population, led to increased demand for clothes and other material products, industries- funded by those who had made profts from farming- were set up to supply this, people moved from the country to the cities to work in the industries, as farming became more and more technology dependent.

There is an obvious dichotomy between this paradigm of industralisation and population dynamics and what we see in many African nations in that there is a rural-urban drift WITHOUT concurrent job creation. The population in Accra, for example, has doubled in the last 10 years- where are the jobs to go with that? Where are the labour-intensive factories like the steel factory in my native Glasgow, largest of its kind in the world, which employed 50,000 alone in the late Victorian-era. Where are the "dark satanic mills" to quote William Blake, of Northern England, which employed thousands as they churned out clothes for the newly-affluent populace?

More recently, India's current economic boom has happened on the back of the well-known "green revolution" of past decades in which she became self-sufficient in feeding her massive population. From Europe to Australia to USA, every industralised country in the world (except for those unable to- eg Singapore, and maybe Japan) has been able to largely feed its population before completing industralisation.

FYI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Agricultural_Revolution

Regards

Agostinho, I am well aware of what goes wrong in Angola but many things have changed for the better when compared to where Angola was in 1999...Popa1980 doesn´t want to see this and this is very annoying

Has nobody ever noticed that Popa never made an effort to look for Angola´s progress made

1.)
show any pictures (this is first of all a construction thread)

2.) show me where Popa1980 contributed in a positive way by placing news showing Angola´s progress. All I see is that he is keen on tearing things apart I still vividly remember the countless discussions that we had with Popa1980 about agriculture, that´s why I opened an agriculture thread for Angola...

3.) He says that I am only showing high buildings, shoppings etc ...hello, this page is dedicated to construction. It is called skyscrapercity!!!

The fact that he is applauded for this thread while I am spitten upon makes me wonder if it was really worth putting my time and energy into into it and searching like mad for projects in order to portray one of Africa ´s promising countries that is trying hard to shed it gruesome past and advance to a new age...:ohno:will it be without difficulty and setbacks ? No, but things are changing... we should concentrate on this especially in a forum that it about change and progress.

Portraying the bad side is so easy, if you want me to do it, I could open 40 or more threads dedicated to it.

Popa makes a projection what will happen in more than 40 years.

Look at countries such as Spain, Portugal, Greece or even your lovely UK where it stood more than 40 years ago?

Look at the world order 40 years ago?

Look at Turkey 40 years ago and now absorbing so much investments and modernizing with such a pace!

Look at Asia and South America 40 years ago?

What was the Middle East like 40 years ago?

What about South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore etc. 40 years ago?

What will give you the assurance that your lovely UK will be the same "care-free" place that it is now? Are you GOD? More than 40 years are two generations, lot´s could happen, especially in a world where things change so rapidly.

Ele perdeu mesmo o tempo dele a escrever isso??? Não deve ter mais nada que fazes esse gajo. Que tal parar de pensar no futuro e viver o presente? Nem sabemos se estaremos vivos amanhã quanto mais daqui a 40 anos...

:yes:

Matt, did you actually read what I posted to Alex, this was just some random scenearios of just some of the thousands of possibilities which Angola could turn. The year is irrelevant really- 2015, 2020, 2025. As I said, I was just praising Kenya one year ago before the trouble started, Africa is volatile- for all you know Nigeria may implode eventually and split into different nations. It was meant to stimulate INTELLIGENT debate about how the economic policies of the Angolan government NOW will affect the future.

There are enough people on SSC to just copy and paste pictures and articles but obviously have no understanding of economics or its history, which is fair enough since this is not an economics forum. I enjoy giving a more evidence-based, in-depth, albeit pessimistic, critique. I know it sounds very condascending but there it is....

Alex, this is just some tongue-in-cheek look at some extremes of scenarios what could happen in Angola. Africa is WAY to volatile to predict what is going to happen in the next year, look at pre-election Kenya, never mind in 40 years. This could be Angola 2015, 2025, 2035, 2045, 2100. Its all irrelavent. The purpse was to stimulate debate about what path Angola should embark upon from now to ensure continued prosperity for all. Perhaps my worry that Angola is becoming an African Brazil- Lusophone, violent, and unequal- is what bothered you?

Me thinks you've been living in the States for far too long, which part of my analysis is "Marxist" exactly? Government subsidies to farmers?....oops...wait a minute...thats what they do in the capitalist USA, and in Europe for that matter.

For you to think that a country can somehow leapfrog the stage of food sufficiency to go into technology is a little amusing to be honest and I would like you to furnish me with some examples of nations which have managed to achieve this whilst importing most of their food.

You remind me of Nkrumahs "Development Plans" for Ghana which he envisaged Ghana would become an industrial country and set upon building steel mills, dams etc and completely ignored agriculture which almost collapsed under his rule. Next door in Ivory Coast, they focused on agriculture- the result was one of the lowest rural poverty rates in Africa and the surpluses of the farms, apart from helping balance the fiscal sheets, helped the subsequent formation of agro-processing and secondary industries in the urban areas. Within 20 years Ivory Coast was more industralised than Ghana, despite agriculture being the number one priority post-independence. Ditto for Kenya.

I would read up on some economic history of the UK and the Lowland nations over the last half-millenia, the worlds first "developed" nations. There was what can be regarded as an agricultural revolution in the 18th century- better seeds, better techniques such as crop rotation and concurrent use of nitrogen fixing plants- which lead to increase yields and output- the resultant accumulation of capital by the land Lords was reinvested in steel mills, coal mines, cotton mills and more tragically, colonialism and slave-trading.

This had a profound effect on the demographic status quo of the nation-

1) There was a population boom

2) After the initial rise in agriculture labour, continued improved technology made farming actually LESS labour intensive.

So how did this contribute to industralisation?

3) Increased population, led to increased demand for clothes and other material products, industries- funded by those who had made profts from farming- were set up to supply this, people moved from the country to the cities to work in the industries, as farming became more and more technology dependent.

There is an obvious dichotomy between this paradigm of industralisation and population dynamics and what we see in many African nations in that there is a rural-urban drift WITHOUT concurrent job creation. The population in Accra, for example, has doubled in the last 10 years- where are the jobs to go with that? Where are the labour-intensive factories like the steel factory in my native Glasgow, largest of its kind in the world, which employed 50,000 alone in the late Victorian-era. Where are the "dark satanic mills" to quote William Blake, of Northern England, which employed thousands as they churned out clothes for the newly-affluent populace?

More recently, India's current economic boom has happened on the back of the well-known "green revolution" of past decades in which she became self-sufficient in feeding her massive population. From Europe to Australia to USA, every industralised country in the world (except for those unable to- eg Singapore, and maybe Japan) has been able to largely feed its population before completing industralisation.

FYI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Agricultural_Revolution

Regards

Well I do think their is a major difference in predicting or evaluating scenarios over a 10-15 year time frame in than 40 year one. Regarding your constant back slaps at Brazil. What can I say, you obviously have a negative point of view (you constantly talk bad about it) but I did find it interesting how you equated a bad future path for Angola has one looking more like Brazil. You put a big emphasis on agriculture, well give me more than 5 countries on the planet that are greater agricultural powers than Brazil? Brazil has already been able to feed itself and become a major global exporter. We've used agriculture to become energy independent (i.e ethanol). All this while not becoming a commodity based economy. Embraer is the third largest aircraft manufacturer, this year we passed France to be the world's 6th largest auto manufacturer. Despite the U.S being our largest customer for our products they only account for 14% of our total exports. This is diversification. So your comment really doesn't put things into perspective, I won't even go on with urban development and standards of living that are comparatively much better off than 95% of the continent. If

Angola can reach our state of development in 10 years that would be awesome and I hope they get there. You also of course neglect that inequality is on the decline (unlike most emerging nations where economic booms are accompanied with increased inequality). Or that the murder rate is on the decline (70% in Sao Paulo over the space of a couple of years). Brazil is far far far from being a role model and I've been very critical but I'd like to put things into perspective. Inshallah Ghana may some day reach that status.

I've only lived in the States for 4 months. Every farmer having 50 acres of land is kind of marxist, that kind of land distribution can be quite detrimental in fact. And I've always been against most government subsidies to begin with, much more for farmers.

Thats not amusing, never said that one has to ignore agriculture. But whats amusing is a prediction or a "need" for reverse migration. It's not going to happen, it goes against the basic human trend of the last 100 years. The jobs are in the cities, not rural areas. Capital and social mobility lies in urban areas. This is pretty universal throughout much of the planet. Hence your ideas of going "back to the farms" is a backward one.

Agriculture is the first stage of development. Theirs no denying that. But true wealth isn't generated from it, instead it's mainly a source to sustain a population. That is my point! Japan did not become what it is today because of agriculture, it had to with their efforts and investments in human capital and manufacturing.

Well again lets look back at England, it wasn't the agricultural revolution that led it to become a major power but the industrial one. It also made agriculture a lot more efficient, with the use and mass production of new mechanisms. Thats where wealth is generated.

And look at India, one of the best examples of rural-urban migration. No jobs, chronic poverty and no opportunity. Thats the reality of rural India. People are starving to death has they used to, but it's not as if it can be compared to the opportunities in the cities. It's the IT sector thats it's engine for growth. This is the 21st century Popa, but not 1820. Just like comparing the U.S South to the North, one was being sustained by it's large agriculture and the other was growing rich.

Countries need to focus on various sectors, specialization is good but it can't be concentrated in the same area. Chile did a rather good job in this regard. Angola needs to move away from an oil based economy, focus on food production, focus on manufacturing. And with it's cheap wages why not IT? It's a lot more expensive to hire an Indian now in days than any African. Of course training and technology are patient and long term investments.

Agostinho, I am well aware of what goes wrong in Angola but many things have changed for the better when compared to where Angola was in 1999...Popa1980 doesn´t want to see this and this is very annoying

Has nobody ever noticed that Popa never made an effort to look for Angola´s progress made

1.)
show any pictures (this is first of all a construction thread)

2.) show me where Popa1980 contributed in a positive way by placing news showing Angola´s progress. All I see is that he is keen on tearing things apart I still vividly remember the countless discussions that we had with Popa1980 about agriculture, that´s why I opened an agriculture thread for Angola...

3.) He says that I am only showing high buildings, shoppings etc ...hello, this page is dedicated to construction. It is called skyscrapercity!!!

The fact that he is applauded for this thread while I am spitten upon makes me wonder if it was really worth putting my time and energy into into it and searching like mad for projects in order to portray one of Africa ´s promising countries that is trying hard to shed it gruesome past and advance to a new age...:ohno:will it be without difficulty and setbacks ? No, but things are changing... we should concentrate on this especially in a forum that it about change and progress.

Portraying the bad side is so easy, if you want me to do it, I could open 40 or more threads dedicated to it.

Popa makes a projection what will happen in more than 40 years.

Look at countries such as Spain, Portugal, Greece or even your lovely UK where it stood more than 40 years ago?

Look at the world order 40 years ago?

Look at Turkey 40 years ago and now absorbing so much investments and modernizing with such a pace!

Look at Asia and South America 40 years ago?

What was the Middle East like 40 years ago?

What about South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore etc. 40 years ago?

What will give you the assurance that your lovely UK will be the same "care-free" place that it is now? Are you GOD? More than 40 years are two generations, lot´s could happen, especially in a world where things change so rapidly.

:applause:

Matt, did you actually read what I posted to Alex, this was just some random scenearios of just some of the thousands of possibilities which Angola could turn. The year is irrelevant really- 2015, 2020, 2025. As I said, I was just praising Kenya one year ago before the trouble started, Africa is volatile- for all you know Nigeria may implode eventually and split into different nations. It was meant to stimulate INTELLIGENT debate about how the economic policies of the Angolan government NOW will affect the future.

There are enough people on SSC to just copy and paste pictures and articles but obviously have no understanding of economics or its history, which is fair enough since this is not an economics forum. I enjoy giving a more evidence-based, in-depth, albeit pessimistic, critique. I know it sounds very condascending but there it is...

The usual :blahblah::blahblah::blahblah:

Scenario 1 is certainly bad. IMO too much luxury development will result in this scenario. Angola does not need luxury shopping malls, luxury condos and this crap. It needs a strong civil society with a strong middle class. When this is accomplished, then there is space for luxury development. Gated communities should be illegal by law. People living in such unit will isolate themselves from society and will just look at their own benefit.

Scenario 1 is certainly bad. IMO too much luxury development will result in this scenario. Angola does not need luxury shopping malls, luxury condos and this crap. It needs a strong civil society with a strong middle class. When this is accomplished, then there is space for luxury development. Gated communities should be illegal by law. People living in such unit will isolate themselves from society and will just look at their own benefit.

Just to be annoying I strongly disagree.

Why should Western countries freely embark upon consumerism and materialistic development and Africa should make the right decision and keep it simple.

Yes your point is 100% correct, but why aren't countries like America, UK etc doing the right thing?, they surely have that strong Civil society, but they are still polarized when it comes to socio economics and gated communities are everywhere.

Africa will develop at the expense of the Developed world and so will India and China.

Just to be annoying I strongly disagree.

Why should Western countries freely embark upon consumerism and materialistic development and Africa should make the right decision and keep it simple.

Yes your point is 100% correct, but why aren't countries like America, UK etc doing the right thing?, they surely have that strong Civil society, but they are still polarized when it comes to socio economics and gated communities are everywhere.

Africa will develop at the expense of the Developed world and so will India and China.

Might be true for America or UK but not in Europe. Don't know a single gated community in Germany for example. And luxury shopping malls are also very rare. Most shops and malls cater the normal population with average incomes. Same in Australia where most shopping malls are just for normal people reflecting the average income.

I don't say Angola shouldn't have luxury shopping malls etc. It just weird to have them in a country at such high concentrations where still a large part of the population lives in severe poverty. This inequality will lead to dangerous tensions and crime. People who live a luxury live in a poor country have obviously lost touch with reality. The government should look that managers and politicans don't have too high incomes compared to the average population.

Just to be annoying I strongly disagree.

Why should Western countries freely embark upon consumerism and materialistic development and Africa should make the right decision and keep it simple.

Yes your point is 100% correct, but why aren't countries like America, UK etc doing the right thing?, they surely have that strong Civil society, but they are still polarized when it comes to socio economics and gated communities are everywhere.

Africa will develop at the expense of the Developed world and so will India and China.

Tbite, You hit the nail on its head, and speak out of my soul! I couldn´t agree more once again!:applause::applause::applause:

Moreover, if some says that Angola is only building shopping malls and luxury housing only shows me that he doesn´t even taken an effort to read alll the news that are daily updated by Crash2010 and others. It´s just ridiculous and so full of double standards...:ohno:

...not to speak of all the employment "the entertainment/lifestyle industry" (one sector AMONG others) would generate for the population....(direct and indirect jobs)

In case Goshio, it has escaped your notice Angola is building not just malls (Luanda currenty has one single mall that was completed two years ago! since then no other new mall opened , so much for your "luxury" development)...but there are 1 MILLION social housing units under costruction.

Anyway, the very same people that love to bash Dubai will just move on ....

Agreed! I think people just love to bash african countries. No one take effort to read development news about the country. And yes, there are also luxury projects in Angola and I love them all.
Why should angolan travel to Europe just to feel what is "living large"?

btw, I don't think that malls are luxury things :dunno:
The largest dp store in Europe is in Berlin (KaDeWe) and has a lot of luxury stands as well.

Skytrax, very well said!:cheers:

I guess people will never be fully satisfied. Finally we see some positive construction developments in this part of the world and there they are again, the negative remarks. Off course, not everyone will benefit as much as others. But that's hardly a reason to disapprove of the current developments.

I guess people will never be fully satisfied. Finally we see some positive construction developments in this part of the world and there they are again, the negative remarks. Off course, not everyone will benefit as much as others. But that's hardly a reason to disapprove of the current developments.

:cheers:

In case Goshio, it has escaped your notice Angola is building not just malls (Luanda currenty has one single mall that was completed two years ago! since then no other new mall opened , so much for your "luxury" development)...but there are 1 MILLION social housing units under costruction.

....


That's good. That's why I am optimistic. Don't know why you think that I bashed Angola?

Just pointed out that too much luxury development in a poor country is dangerous. It will tear apart society. Furthermore, the oil belongs to every single Angolan. Currently a rich elite lives high life and wastes Angolas assets. They are not rich because they worked hard, they are rich because they have the right friends. Driving a BMW for 100,000$ or living in 20,000$/month luxury flat is in my opinion a sin and a punch in the face of the average Angolan. Especially in a country were still not everybody has access to clear drinking water and the school system is still under construction. Why no modesty? Why doing the second step before the first? Hope you see this problem as well and do not consider it as bashing.

That's good. That's why I am optimistic. Don't know why you think that I bashed Angola?

Just pointed out that too much luxury development in a poor country is dangerous. It will tear apart society. Furthermore, the oil belongs to every single Angolan. Currently a rich elite lives high life and wastes Angolas assets. They are not rich because they worked hard, they are rich because they have the right friends. Driving a BMW for 100,000$ or living in 20,000$/month luxury flat is in my opinion a sin and a punch in the face of the average Angolan. Especially in a country were still not everybody has access to clear drinking water and the school system is still under construction. Why no modesty? Why doing the second step before the first? Hope you see this problem as well and do not consider it as bashing.

It is so so strange that people always point their fingers at African countries when such things happen but lick the asses of Asian countries and talk about wonderful progress and development day in and day out when they build malls, highways, high-rises and condos for the middle-class.:ohno:

Goshio, prices will fall considerably in Angola. don´t you understand the basics of macroeconomics supply - demand...what does it say when prices are still high???????????????????????????????????

They only way to make money is to spend money. So all those things you called luxury, I just see as an investment, and it will bring more money in short term. And with money will can invest in more social projects.
Don't forget that turist love all those "luxury things", and we need to attract them! :)

I for one would certainly be interested to visit the country one day.

Ouvi dizer que Luanda está a cidade mais cara do mundo agora. Isso é verdade?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfhcipBnWEc&feature=related

É interessante ver como Angola, no passado era visto como "The Land of no hope"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRp88c7_Djo&feature=channel

^^ é verdade sim. Os preços de Luanda são simplesmente imbatíveis, para mal dos nossos pecados... :ohno: