So Dubai is defaulting on its debt

[AllentownJake]

I can't imagine why?




(man made islands)


Gulf course built in the middle of the desert

Oh and this is why I don't feel bad about it

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2006/03/28/uae-address-abuse-migrant-workers

http://www.uaeprison.com/uae_facts.htm

The ultimate bubble of a nation, built on slave labor and debt, a greedy despotic ruler, and headquarters of Haliburton.

I call this a Thanksgiving miracle.

[EVDebs]

1. Imagine a simultaneous US and Dubai default.....nt

[AllentownJake]

3. Well we never went into another country and imported workers

than paid them nothing and tortured them when they complained....oh wait, I see where you are going.

[Zynx]

7. Because of the proportion of our debt owned by foreigners, they would never let that happen.

It would sink so many foreign banks that arguably some of them might get hurt worse than us. Dubai, on the other hand, can be allowed to fail.

[marmar]

2. Dubai is the perfect metaphor for the hedonistic greed, excess and inequality.....

..... that's ruined the world.

[AllentownJake]

10. Well by their own laws

The sultan needs to go to debtors prison now.

[pa28]

15. He's got 2 incredible estates in the UK.

Maybe he should start warming up the exile-mobile.

[AllentownJake]

17. I'm sure the jet is being kept warm and their is a group of Xe (Blackwater) thugs

ready to escort him out of the country.

He needs to re-finance 19 billion dollars worth of debt and his credit rating just took a hit, isn't going to be cheap...some of those assets are going to have to be sold if he wants to stay in Dubai, however you never know life in England isn't that bad.

[Sultana]

16. LOL, true

Doubt Shk. Mo' will go to jail though. He, Shks/Shkas and the locals are above the law.

[AllentownJake]

18. He'll probably end up in exile as pointed up above

Despotic rulers only have the ability to remain despots when they keep the thugs paid.

[Sultana]

23. He's probably begging Abu Dhabi to bail him out again as we speak

The Maktoums and Nahyans (sp?) are related (through Mo's mother) but men......I don't think they get on super well. One of Mo's daughters is the 2nd wifey of a high-ranking Nahyan. Maybe they'll save him, maybe they won't. They showed off way too much now they must reap what they sow.

His father, the late Shk. Rashid is rolling in his grave.

[Canuckistanian]

27. Exactly

The law is clear. At least it is for poor foreign workers.

[imdjh]

25. The world is ruined? I thought it just had a flat.

[KoKo]

4. Thanks for the photo's. Amazing isn't it. Like Las Vegas sprung out of Desert on Warp Time...

It couldn't go down fast enough. Hear they have trash from sewers flowing past the "man made islands." Sewers are the last to be put in when everything is for SHOW.

[AllentownJake]

5. Las Vegas spectacles at least meet a business puprose

Draw in gamblers, this guy tried to become the play ground of the global elite instead of coming up with a more sensible thing to do with his oil revenues.

I don't know who is dumber, the leader, or the people who loaned him money to build Islands.

[high density]

6. Don't forget the indoor ski slope... NM

[AllentownJake]

9. Per your request, Indoor Skiing

[NYC Democrat]

20. well to their credit the Indoor ski slope is pretty damn cool you gota admit.

[Ichingcarpenter]

34. Don't forget the Air Conditioned Beach

Yes they have one of those too.

[gateley]

43. Man, that's almost an oxymoron. nt

[obliviously]

8. Haliburton works for

President Obama now!

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

11. I'm curious which Countries hold the most risk with the Credit Default Swaps?

Dubai and Iceland are in the top 5, but who all is in the top 10? Anything definitive out there Jake?

Thanx for any reply.

[AllentownJake]

12. I can't find anything recent

In May it was
Ukraine
Argentina
Pakistan
Venezuala
Kazakhstan
Dubai
Indonesia
Russia
Bahrain
Bulgaria
Lebanon

The first domestic government is the State of MI which breaks the top 25

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

19. I just kind of got the thought tonight that the traders of these CDS might

be targeting certain regions with their trades. Probably off the wall here, but what if? Is this even possible to do? I see Russia and Pakistan there on the list too. I can't help but wonder.

Thank You for the reply Jake.

[AllentownJake]

21. That would be tough

Shorting a country with CDS is a shit load harder than shorting Bear Stearns or Lehman to death with naked shorts on their stocks. However if someone has figured out how to do it, I'm sure it is being done.

With Dubai, this is clearly a case of people handing money to a country to engage in some very bad domestic investing activities.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

22. But, what a dream that would be...

To gift Dubai the Worlds toxic assets. lol.
Sweet dreams Jake.

[AllentownJake]

14. Hasn't Iceland already defaulted?

[jmondine]

13. Well, at least peak oil hasn't come and gone

:sarcasm:

[Alcibiades]

24. The list of excesses is long

My favorite was the time they put a whale shark in a tank in a hotel, presumably to make jumping it more convenient.



It's still being held, despite the fact that it's listed as a "vulnerable" species.

[girl gone mad]

33. Could be worse..

they could decide to be like the Japanese or Chinese and make Sushi and aphrodisiacs out of them:

[Canuckistanian]

26. They should imprison the debtors

It's the law down there, from what I hear.

That's why thousands of foreign workers fled, leaving all those Mercedes cars in the parking lot of the airport.
If you're in debt and can't repay in Dubai, you go to jail.

The sad thing is, this "city" will become an environmental disaster as it rots in the desert.

Dubai should be preserved as an example of an urban planning disaster, much as Auschwitz is for genocide.
Because this kind of thinking kills just as many as war.

[AllentownJake]

28. Those Islands are going to make a great monument to stupidity

Before they sink back into the sea in 30-50 years.

[FarCenter]

30. Global warming will do wonders for Dubai

[KittyWampus]

42. you just reminded me of the Chinese Empress and her Marble Boat- embezzling money from the Chinese

Navy to build her folly.

[Quantess]

29. Fascinating.

k & r

[chollybocker]

31. Audit their asses off.

Then, make them pay it all back and/or send them away for a long time.

How difficult is that?

(Insert facetious smiley here.)

[AllentownJake]

32. More likely scenario is the Shiek gets in a jet

flies to London and retires in the English country side while his country burns.

[chollybocker]

36. True.

I hear Tony Blair is leasing out his estate, iykwim. ;)

[anonymous171]

35. A Modern day Gomorrah. nt

[Greyhound]

37. Well this explains the corporate M$M's attempt to "mainstream" this tyrannical

monarchy. Slave labor, international kidnapping, providing refuge for international criminals (including terrorists), crossroads of the global black market, none of this matters and gets no notice, but defaulting on loans from the parasites... now that can't be allowed.

[juno jones]

38. In case anybody missed the great article from the UK Independent

about The Dark Side of Dubai, Here it is:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html

It's a pretty good introduction to what is happening there and how it is affecting people, some of whom are literally trapped there.

[enid602]

39. Incredible.

Incredible. Just incredible.

[CrispyQ]

40. Good article.

Long, but worth the read.

[Lyric]

41. I don't understand how people can read this, say "That's awful!"

and then just go on with their lives.

How can we do that? How can we live with that? This isn't a "good" article, it's a flaming knife in the heart of any person with an ounce of common sense and compassion. My god. What the hell have we come to? And THIS is what the rich conservatives want to turn America into? Why isn't this information being broadcast 24/7 in the media as one of the biggest stories of the century? Is EVERY media outlet bought-and-paid-for? Even MSNBC?

My god, what ARE we?

[nashville_brook]

44. by the end of the article i was cheerful for the implosion - like the end of Fight Club...

it need to blow away, back into the dust it came from... and it seems that's just where it's headed... as if to prove some kind of axiomatic truth about how nothing from nothing leaves nothing.


Cost per one night at The Atlantis Dubai: $778




New Paris Hilton swim suit: $550




Swimming in Poo ---- PRICELESS!

[druidity33]

45. it sounds like

Dubai is actually LIVING HELL. The Dark Side of Dubai is the WHOLE SIDE of Dubai. There's no good in that place. Ugh. Disgusting. I had no idea.

Everyone should read that article. I hope that the hundreds of thousands of slaves in that country can somehow be freed before the whole place disintegrates into the sands...


K&R

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

46. That was a sad read. Thanx Juno.

Numb. That's what I feel.
Their reality really rather sucks.

numb.