Doubts About Dubai

The Dubai and UAE property market is not totally coupled to the crisis in European and US Markets. It is not totally immune either. Some of its immunity derives from the control of supply of space - residential, office and commercial - particularly in Abu Dhabi wherein the Governments at Emirate level restrain development through permit approval. Some of its immunity also derives from the demand side where growth is still substantial as perople are attracted to the UAE states and there is a shortage of accommodation. In Dubai, at the moment, the residential accommodation market is a "sellers market" with rentals very firm. As supply catches up in the next 8 - 10 months, it is unlikely that rentals will fall, they will just not increase as much as they have been. The UAE Rulers, collectively and individually, will accommodate the market tension as they are long term planners and this short term market adjustment is well within there capacity to absorb. I think it is also a mistake to assume that what applies in US markets applies in other markets. The IMF has pushed the viewpoint for sometime that Banks in the UAE are overweight in property and that a more balanced portfolio approach should be followed. In a 'western' context of unfettered free market movements, this is correct to minimise contagion. When the market is not unfettered and is managed, it would mean that you would 'export' your investments/capital into other markets where you have no control. The lower risk arises from the management of the market and it should be borne in mnd that the very people who manage the market are those who have invested capital at risk in the Banks and the market. They are not about to reduce there control over there asset base and its value and neither are they about to export there capital to where it is beyond there control. The Emirati leadership - and generally the Gulf leadership - have been burned more than once by forces 'beyond there control' and in there own backyard are not about to get themselves burnt. Expect the building 'boom' to continue but at a much slower pace. The UAE's growth has been reset to 6 % for 2009 by the IMF, a growth rate which is still one of the highest in the world in spite of the credit crisis.

Unsecured debt should not be legal. It is the true cancer within our financial system and not one elected official has the strength to talk to the American people about how their immaturity and gluttony is crippling our childrens' future.

People on these bogs are fond of saying that the current economic meltdown was caused by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac underwriting bad mortgages. While Fannie and Freddie obviously are guilty of writing bad mortgages, and worse, guilty of lobbying Congress to allow them to do so with impunity, their actions are just a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to determining who (or what) caused the financial crisis we face today.

In 1929 the stock market crash caused the banks to fail, because the banks were in bed with the stock market. Back then, banks owned investment houses, so when the stock market fell, the banks fell too. This triggered the Great Depression. So in 1933 the Congress wrote laws that regulated banking, making it illegal for banks to own investment companies, mortgage guaranty companies or insurance companies. The idea was to keep key industries separated by a fire wall, so that if one industry failed the whole economy would not go down in flames.

But the Republicans under Bush deregulated the banking industry. Senator Phil Gramm wrote legislation (the Gramm Rudman Act, the Gramm Leach Biley Act, etc.) that stripped away the regulations in the financial and insurance industies. He pushed them through the Republican Congress and they were signed into law by Geo. W. Bush. John McCain voted in favor. Everybody said how great it is to deregulate and create free markets.

Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch each gave over a million dollars to Senator Gramm's re-election campaign.

The economic collapse that happened later was a direct result of the deregulation, and here's how: the banks wrote bad mortgages, then bundled the mortgages into investment vehicles that they sold all over the world, and they even got firms like AIG to insure the investments. It was all a house of cards.

If there had been no deregulation, sure we would have had a bunch of bad mortgages, and the mortgage guaranty and real estate industries would have suffered, but there would not have been a global financial meltdown, since the problem would have been contained in one sector of the economy. You can thank Geo W. Bush, Sen. Phil Gramm and Sen John McCain for the meltdown, since they were strong proponents of deregulation.

Furthermore, although Fannie and Freddie are now holding the bulk of these bad mortgages, Fannie and Freddie did not originally write most of these mortgages. They bought them after the fact, bundled by banks/investment companies. Fannie and Freddie got screwed by the Wall Street fat cats. And so did you, if you pay taxes.

What is Phil Gramm doing today? He works as a lobbyist in Washington, trying to make it legal for the Swiss bank he represents to sell Death Bonds in the United States. Nice guy, Phil Gramm. Incidentally, John McCain has said that he wants to appoint Phil Gramm as Treasury Secretary. Some people just can't learn from their mistakes.

People on these bogs are fond of saying that the current economic meltdown was caused by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac underwriting bad mortgages. While Fannie and Freddie obviously are guilty of writing bad mortgages, and worse, guilty of lobbying Congress to allow them to do so with impunity, their actions are just a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to determining who (or what) caused the financial crisis we face today.

In 1929 the stock market crash caused the banks to fail, because the banks were in bed with the stock market. Back then, banks owned investment houses, so when the stock market fell, the banks fell too. This triggered the Great Depression. So in 1933 the Congress wrote laws that regulated banking, making it illegal for banks to own investment companies, mortgage guaranty companies or insurance companies. The idea was to keep key industries separated by a fire wall, so that if one industry failed the whole economy would not go down in flames.

But the Republicans under Bush deregulated the banking industry. Senator Phil Gramm wrote legislation (the Gramm Rudman Act, the Gramm Leach Biley Act, etc.) that stripped away the regulations in the financial and insurance industies. He pushed them through the Republican Congress and they were signed into law by Geo. W. Bush. John McCain voted in favor. Everybody said how great it is to deregulate and create free markets.

Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch each gave over a million dollars to Senator Gramm's re-election campaign.

The economic collapse that happened later was a direct result of the deregulation, and here's how: the banks wrote bad mortgages, then bundled the mortgages into investment vehicles that they sold all over the world, and they even got firms like AIG to insure the investments. It was all a house of cards.

If there had been no deregulation, sure we would have had a bunch of bad mortgages, and the mortgage guaranty and real estate industries would have suffered, but there would not have been a global financial meltdown, since the problem would have been contained in one sector of the economy. You can thank Geo W. Bush, Sen. Phil Gramm and Sen John McCain for the meltdown, since they were strong proponents of deregulation.

Furthermore, although Fannie and Freddie are now holding the bulk of these bad mortgages, Fannie and Freddie did not originally write most of these mortgages. They bought them after the fact, bundled by banks/investment companies. Fannie and Freddie got screwed by the Wall Street fat cats. And so did you, if you pay taxes.

What is Phil Gramm doing today? He works as a lobbyist in Washington, trying to make it legal for the Swiss bank he represents to sell Death Bonds in the United States. Nice guy, Phil Gramm. Incidentally, John McCain has said that he wants to appoint Phil Gramm as Treasury Secretary. Some people just can't learn from their mistakes.

For all those 'would be job seekers' in NYC and elsewhere, a piece of advice, don't come to Dubai. Stay in your home country and help rebuild and repair the economies there. Dubai is an overrun sandpit with skyrocketing rents for substandard accommodation, massive sewage treatment issues, and no human rights. Granted the weather is sunny much of the year but it is blistering hot for 5 months of it and the traffic is a nightmare. Honestly, save your curiosity and sanity and don't bother.

With geniuses like Mark B offering their eloquent insight, who needs Howard Fineman and Fareed Zakaria?

Gee, with such intelligent commentary by people like Mark B, who needs Howard Fineman and Fareed Zakaria?

Well, there are all kinds of warnings in the Bible about building on sand. Build on rock, it says, on stone--like Peter, Pierre, stone. Dubai is just all sand. So, see now, what that can get you, building on sand, in spite of repeated warnings, going ever so far back?

What debt??? With all the money we have been paying them for oil, why aren't they using cash for this building boom????? They certainly have not been spending any on environmental issues other than total destruction.

Dont worry the next Douche bag coming int office in America will help you out. Why not your the same color and hell if it looks like a duck...............................................you get the picture.
Greedy fat Americans should have tried to get a piece of this place. Oh that right they were too busy trying to buy up every house to turn a profit on it. SUCKERS!
I will have a great x-mas and I dont need to cut back on my spending. I just watched the idiots get deeper and deeper into debt. HA!
Obomber will fix it. DREAMERS it took four years to screw the system. Do you think a used car salesmen is going to fix it in a year?

Dear Dubai,
If you find yourself short of cash, feel free to use all of ours stolen by Halliburton. They are in your yard now, probably stealing you blind. If you happen to apply a little harsh justice to the thieves, no sweat off my back. Oh, and about the oil? We really don't care anymore. I'd rather pay through the nose for a car that does not use any at all, than ever pay for imported energy, ever again. I am not alone there.
The biggest price manipulations in history began in the oil pits, and plenty of people were laughing as you jacked oil to $147/bbl. Well, you destroyed the goose that lays golden eggs.
Are you going to eat that sand and drink that oil?
I wonder how long the United States base will remain?

wow...I'm always so disappointed to see how ignorant Americans can be. People who don't even understand what 'freedom of speech' means, who don't even understand the responsibilities which comes with such freedom, who use trite and common crutches such as 'good' and 'evil', who can't even spell - WOW! These "AMERICAN LOVER" types just take the cake, but they don't eat it, no, they rub it all over their face and ***, role around in it on the floor, and thren throw it at us. Then they wonder why we don't want any. WOW!

And yes, notice the spelling of "idiout", you are that kind, who is not only and idiot, but out of touch, as well.

Wow. "American Lover" you are a complete idiout, who has a brain and literacy skills of a cave man. What grade did you get to? 4th? Do you even know how to write a sentence? Obviously not. Before you try to act smart, get smart first. You are a Bush-ite, as you have followed your leader very well.

lol lol lol....the only bad news I see is your terrible spelling moran......For all we know mccain is gonna drop dead if and whenever he becomes president, and thats when the terrible nightmare begins.....palin as president...wow....

YOUR AN IDIOT! NO OBAMA NOT IN 08, NOT EVER WILL HE BE PRESIDENT! WE LOVE OUR FREEDOM HE S A MAN WHO WANTS TO RUIN AMERCIA AND ALL THAT SHE STANDS FOR, GOD BLESS MCCAIN AND PALIN, THEY BOTH WILL TURN THIS COUNTRY AROUND ALL WHICH YOU LIBERALS FEEAR THAT WE MAY MAKE AMERICA WHAT SHE USED TO BE! PEOPLE JSUT SAY "NO" TO OBAMA!!! HE IS AN EVIL MAN =, HE HAS A HIDDEN AGENDA, EVER HEAR OF THE MARK OF THE BEAST, IT WILL BE FROM HIM AND HE WILL MAKE US A SOLCILIST COUNTRY, PRETTY SCARY AND THAT ISN'T TO SCARE YOU OR TASTICS AS THIS OHTER ONE CLAIMS IT'S THE PLAIN AND PRESENT TRUTH, EVER WONDER WHY OBAMA IS SUCH A SECRET BECAUSE HE IS COVERS UP HIS PAST, ALL LIES! VOTE FOR MCCAIN /PALIN WINNERS TO BRING AMERICA BACK TO BEING TALL!