Dubai default

WTF is going on? I was enjoying my Thanksgiving long weekend and suddenly this comes up. Henrik or anyone else, how serious is / could this be?

I think it may be more trouble for Asia than Europe or the U.S., but that depends on how entwined they all are, and they are probably more so than I'd like to think.

But let's face it, I'm no guru of international finance, I can hardly bid a tile job correctly.

when i was over there 3yrs ago i predicted this. the city is truly amazing but its growth was so artificial, and way faster than natural. they (developers/government) were climbing over the top of themselves to outdo each other in biggest, fanciest, tallest, best etc.

i found it hard that a city could quadruple itself with nothing but new luxury apartments and shopping centre in a 15 year period. compared to other world cities that grow on demand and naturally grow over decades and centuries. they believed in a "build it and they will come" philosophy.

add to this , dubai is at sea level so i bank on it being a 'ghost town venice' within 50 years.

Maybe Danny Boy can give us an insider perspective here.

I hope he's not in debt at all. Their debtor laws are medieval.

Face it, the financial markets have been looting the economy for years. It just became obvious recently and there's still some shoes to drop...


eso

It would be poetic justice if the leaders of the country were locked up (in solitary confinement) and given no access to a lawyer, Embassy staff (not that they are any good anyway) or contact with their family for 3 months, as someone I know was.

Basically, as much as 70% of private development was on dirty money from Russian and Asia, and the Government were so far up their own ass, they could not see the forest for the trees. All in all, it could not have happened to a more deserving people.

As for the debt, Abu Dhabi could bail them out tomorrow, and probably will, but they, Abu Dhabi, are loving to see Dubai, with it's Royal Family, squirm and suffer the embarrassment they are enduring.

As for the debt, it is minuscule when compared to the debt of the US, or even Britain and some of the other European Countries.

I was actually there this weekend, it is really funny to drive down the the Marina area in the evening, and see 70% of the high rise apartment in total darkness, due to the lack of tenants.