So the new World Trade Center tower (WTC1) opened today
 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...radeCenter.jpg

13 years after the September 11 attacks, the new tower finally opens today.

Construction basically began in 2004 (after debris was cleared out)

Said to be a symbol of American resiliance...





In contrast, the Burj Khalifa at almost 1000ft taller started in 2004 and opened in 2010.

American resiliance, or fading world power?

they really should of opened it on Sep11th or Remembrance day would be a lot more fitting...

I bet a lot of those American workers who built it are damn proud of their work and enjoyed their time building it.

While we are not against progress, innovation and growth, we feel that during all the excitement about the opening of the the Burj Khalifa (formerly known as Burj Dubai), it is forgotten that those who built it, mainly south-Asian migrant workers, have paid a high price for this ambitious project. Those workers toiled 12 hour a day, 6 days a week for pay as little as $4 per day.

Built by slave labour.

Behind the Glamorous Facade of the Burj Khalifa | Advancing the rights of migrant workers throughout the Middle East | Migrant Rights


A Human Rights Watch report from November 2006 about construction workers in the UAE found that “on average a migrant construction worker earns $175 a month (the average per capita income in the UAE is $2,106 a month).” The report found several abuses that construction workers suffer in the UAE, including “unpaid or extremely low wages, several years of indebtedness to recruitment agencies for fees that UAE law says only employers should pay, the withholding of employees’ passports, and hazardous working conditions that result in apparently high rates of death and injury.”


Wonder how many people died building the WTC1 VS the Burj K?

agree. I think opening it on Remembrance day is better though. A lot of ppl is still not over Sept 11 yet.

2 ppl died in 1WTC's construction and many injuries, also the NY Daily Newspaper uncovered at least 34 serious injuries had gone unreported including broken backs EXCLUSIVE: Dozens of injuries at World Trade Center construction site went unreported - NY Daily News

with the Burj only 1 reported death occurred in 2007 when someone fell off of it however HRW (human rights watch) thinks there must have been many more deaths due to heat exhaustion Burj Khalifa (Dubai) ? The Truth Behind the Bling | Archi-Ninja

We're talking a blank cheque book in Dubai, you dump money at any project whether it's a paint job on a car, a home renovation or the tallest building in the world and you can speed up production.

Right which is what you think would have done in this particular case to show resilience instead of showing it took the US 13yrs! to recover (even though their economy is still in the dump)


Although it only cost $1.5bn to build the burj and $3bn to build the new wtc

WTC1 cost $3.9billion vs BK's $1.5billion. Tells you a little something about the costs associated with using high quality trades, vs slave labor.

Who owns that building? Private investors probably are not willing to increase there budget by say 50% to get it done a few years sooner in Dubai they have so much money they can wipe there asses with it.

There are unreported casualties on both sides. But which one is importing cheap disposable labour?

It's a beautiful building I must say when I saw it in person, Almost appears to dissapear on a clear day.

That's comparing apple and oranges. That's like saying, "by contrast, the Chinese could have built that in a week"

I see what you did there.. :suspicious:

I'm sure they have considered the option of building the tallest, baddest motherfucking tower in the universe but this was chosen in place instead for better reason than showcasing the US is a fading world power.

Is it a coincidence that the timing of the new WTC tower is close to the U.S. and its allies' war against ISIS?

America's symbolic way of saying "fuck Terrorists?"

http://epicmemebattles.com/wp-conten...ade-Center.jpg

I think a smaller tower built by Americans is more symbolic than all the ridiculously ostentatious structures built by slaves in that godforsaken shithole.

since this has become a burj discussion..

i was amazed when at the top of the eifel tower they had the comparison charts inside, i havent been to the CN tower since i was like 10, but the CN tower is only very slightly taller than the Eifel tower, and the Burj is almost 3 times the height of both

:S

As if undocumented workers weren't used in 1wtc.... (they were, it was on the news sometime ago about a bunch getting arrested) if you Google it though you'll only get a load of results regarding all the illegals that died in the wtc during 9/11 fighting for gov't. Support


Cool gif showing the construction

http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/807933560.gif

:seriously: illegal immigrants is quite a different thing from government sanctioned slavery. Come on

You noob...

The WTC1's roof is exactly 1368 ft tall, which was the same height as the original North Tower.
An antennae was added on top to bring the structure's exact height to 1776 ft. I'll let you figure out the significance of 1776 (for Americans).

It was never intended to challenge the Burj Khalifa or to show "world power" by having the tallest penis sticking up in the sky.

I love America and everything it represents. Even with all of the Anita Sarkeesians and other social justice warriors, with all of the rednecks, queers, retards, pop star faggots and Dan Bilzerians, I'm so happy America exists.

<3

Life is a playground, thank America for that.

its not that far off, illegals are paid less than min wage in the states with no rights and if they get injured they're simply told to fuck off in an expensive inhospitable environment

with the uae sure they were paid shit wages too about 15 Emirati for a full day but that's not too far off from pay in surrounding countries and prices aren't as high as they are in the states (except in the wealthy areas)

my point is they're both bad, I would agree UAE is worse but you can't praise one while demonizing the other

Uhh .. yeah you can -- I'd rather be a foreign worker in America than UAE any day of the week

Foreign workers are considered 'untouchables' in their culture -- it is socially acceptable to beat them for any reason and in general treat them like shit. They go to their home country, promise them good money, and once they get to Dubai essentially their passports are taken away, they are charged for their shelter/food and are basically stuck in a cycle where they can never get enough money to get out. On top of that, no running water, no sewer systems, and living in all-male shanty towns in the desert where the heat easily surpasses 40 degrees celsius with no AC either.

Deaths aren't reported because they don't have to be, there's footage of some of these workers being interviewed and they admit each one of them knows of at least 1 or 2 people that have died on a construction site, or because they decided to just kill themselves because of the situation they were stuck in

Who cares?

The bottom line is, despite what the bleeding hearts might think, is that NOT everyone is entitled to basic human rights. Especially when your government couldn't care less whether you live or die. In fact it's probably far better that you die than live.

The guys working on the burj, the kids in India working on salvage yards shoulder deep in mercury. If they weren't doing that, they probably wouldn't be doing anything and as a result wouldn't be eating.

*Sinatra voice * That's lifeeeee!

I think he was being serious, because thats how it really looks
Its crazy that when a plane fly's by about every minute or so the planes shadow goes across the building