Central Planning

CNN Travel had a piece on an interesting abandoned village in the United Arab Emirates.

Why is it abandoned? Apparently back in the early days of the UAE's independence there was a modernization drive to try and use some of the newfound oil wealth to build villages. These villages were to get the roaming Bedouin tribes to settle down. People moved into the village, but the government had built all the houses...and hadn't yet gotten around to hooking the place up to utilities.

Eventually folks decided that if they wanted to live without electricity and running water, they could just as easily do it in tents, and moved back out again, leaving the tract housing to the desert.

Ah, government! Is there anything it can't screw up?
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