"Hmm, so by living here in Qatar I am supporting the evil oil industry...so does that mean if i live in America I am supporting the evil tobacco industry? whew..what a stretch you are making.."
What stretch? Your comparative analysis skills seems to be lacking. Personally I don't think the tobacco industry is "evil," but that's a different discussion. You may have not noticed but there are a LOT of industries in the USA, tobacco being just one of tens of thousands.
How many industries are there in Qatar? ONE, or perhaps two if you want to separate oil and gas. With regard to the current discussion the two are part of the same "evil" bag though.
Anybody, ANYBODY, that lives or works in Qatar directly supports big oil and gas. That's all there is to it. Either you work directly for an oil/gas company or you work for a support company. If you're a teacher then the parents of the kids you teach work for big oil/gas. If you're a construction worker you build buildings used either directly by oil/gas or used by support organizations, like the aforementioned schools for expats. If you work in Education City you are training the new leaders of the Qatari oil/gas industry. Every time you go shopping or out to dinner you support the oil/gas industry in Qatar. All of the money that exists in the Qatari economy is produced by ONE, and only ONE thing - oil/gas.
See, money doesn't grow on trees. It is a representation of work. It has to be produced by a resource that is sold. You can engineer a new toy or car, sell corn, sell oil, whatever. But something has to be produced. Money and wealth comes from the production of things - not the consumption.
All the money in Qatar comes from only one place. No matter who you work for, that's where your paycheck came from.
The same cannot be said for big tobacco and the USA. The only people who support big tobacco are those who buy tobacco products. Because, you see, all the money in the USA doesn't come from tobacco production. But all the money in Qatar DOES come from oil/gas production.
Long-term through ventures such as Education City and the Science and Technology Park the Qataris very intelligently hope to diversify their economy into other things, but they are a long way away from realizing that dream.
"Hmm, so by living here in Qatar I am supporting the evil oil industry...so does that mean if i live in America I am supporting the evil tobacco industry? whew..what a stretch you are making.."
What stretch? Your comparative analysis skills seems to be lacking. Personally I don't think the tobacco industry is "evil," but that's a different discussion. You may have not noticed but there are a LOT of industries in the USA, tobacco being just one of tens of thousands.
How many industries are there in Qatar? ONE, or perhaps two if you want to separate oil and gas. With regard to the current discussion the two are part of the same "evil" bag though.
Anybody, ANYBODY, that lives or works in Qatar directly supports big oil and gas. That's all there is to it. Either you work directly for an oil/gas company or you work for a support company. If you're a teacher then the parents of the kids you teach work for big oil/gas. If you're a construction worker you build buildings used either directly by oil/gas or used by support organizations, like the aforementioned schools for expats. If you work in Education City you are training the new leaders of the Qatari oil/gas industry. Every time you go shopping or out to dinner you support the oil/gas industry in Qatar. All of the money that exists in the Qatari economy is produced by ONE, and only ONE thing - oil/gas.
See, money doesn't grow on trees. It is a representation of work. It has to be produced by a resource that is sold. You can engineer a new toy or car, sell corn, sell oil, whatever. But something has to be produced. Money and wealth comes from the production of things - not the consumption.
All the money in Qatar comes from only one place. No matter who you work for, that's where your paycheck came from.
The same cannot be said for big tobacco and the USA. The only people who support big tobacco are those who buy tobacco products. Because, you see, all the money in the USA doesn't come from tobacco production. But all the money in Qatar DOES come from oil/gas production.
Long-term through ventures such as Education City and the Science and Technology Park the Qataris very intelligently hope to diversify their economy into other things, but they are a long way away from realizing that dream.
So you support big oil/gas. Welcome to the club!