"A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors, not from any actual profit earned by the organization, but from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors. The Ponzi scheme usually entices new investors by offering returns other investments cannot guarantee, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent. The perpetuation of the returns that a Ponzi scheme advertises and pays requires an ever-increasing flow of money from investors to keep the scheme going.
The system is destined to collapse because the earnings, if any, are less than the payments to investors. Usually, the scheme is interrupted by legal authorities before it collapses because a Ponzi scheme is suspected or because the promoter is selling unregistered securities. As more investors become involved, the likelihood of the scheme coming to the attention of authorities increases.
The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi[1] who became notorious for using the technique in early 1920. Ponzi did not invent the scheme (for example Charles Dickens' 1857 novel Little Dorrit described such a scheme decades before Ponzi was born), but his operation took in so much money that it was the first to become known throughout the United States. Ponzi's original scheme was based on the arbitrage of international reply coupons for postage stamps; however, he soon diverted investors' money to support payments to earlier investors and himself."
Emirates is a cash machine. Unlike other Airlines based in nations with clear accounting rules and methods no one can really say what is the real profit. Dubai is de facto bankrupt and I cannot see any improvement in real estate or tourism which where the sectors in which they thought it was wise to diversify given the depletion of oil reserves. The idea was good but short term greed and again absence of rules made it a "bubble" where badly built, environmentally unfriendly and let's say it, unrealistic project and Dubai it self where heavily marketed bought and sold like equities multiple times in a day. Dubai is and remains an unfriendly place where to live, period, and it was a just a matter of time for investor to find out.
The Government is left with Emirates as an asset to produce cash and again is heavily ( and costly ) marketing the brand. They take advantage of labor laws prohibiting collective bargaining and unionizations to keep the cost of labor at the minimum and of the general situation of unaccountability The product it self is mediocre but the price is lower than competitor in 99 per cent of the cases which is the evidence of some form of unfair competition. Cash coming from Ek is used to repay the huge debt the Government has managed to dig and they are simply forced to grow.. or die. Thinking of EK conquering the world from that tiny state with no resources and with no real society and economy behind is just fool. Creative finance is the word.
Would it be nice to know how much EK is exposed to banks and to Abu Dhabi
but again there is no way to find out. Going public would be the wisest thing to do instead of being blackmailed by their " cousins" but the problem is they very simply cannot. Let's also not forget that the Arabian peninsula is not really a place to be now a day. Syria is getting worst and Iran is just a few miles away. Notwithstanding all the glitter and the proclamas I wouldn't bet a penny long term on EK... Concerning who and where I'm ..well.. who knows?? For sure I'm not one of 103 pro-democracy intellectuals and activists now in jail nor one of the Colombian mercenary now in the country to repress possible unrest. Enjoy the summer...