Dubai-Liverpool of the East

The Dubai government today announced that they would not guarantee the country's debts. The effects are shaking markets throughout the world. As we all know the sheer scale of the developments that have been undertaken there have been staggering. We have watched as they embarked upon awe-inspiring building projects-and thought 'How do they do it?' The simple answer is-'on the never never' , 'on HP'. They were just doing the same as everyone else has been doing for the last 20 years-buying their sports cars, houses and huge TV's-amazed that the bank were foolish enough to give them the money, and knowing quite well that they would never-ever be able to pay it back, but pushing that knowledge right to the back of their minds. The only difference with Dubai is that they never pushed it to the back of their minds, they knew full well what they were doing the whole time, but thought ' lets see how much we can get'.
Dubai should be twinned with Liverpool, funny that they were interested in buying Liverpool football club until recently, great minds think alike. Simply put- if they are foolish enough to give it-take it.
I was in Dubai a few years ago as ever, on the cheap. I had 9 hours between flights, and decided to explore. I walked about 4 miles into the centre, past what seemed to me a huge building site in the desert. I took a few detours through new suburban areas, which were gated, immaculate and eerily deserted, apart from a few Filipino gardeners and maids. The city itself was vibrant and exciting. The docks full of junks, fishing boats and small freighters being loaded and unloaded by Sri-Lankans and Indians. It was starting to occur to me that I hadn't seen any locals working-what did they do all day?
It was only upon entering the bazaar that I saw locals(well Arabs, they could have been from any of the surrounding nations) working. They manned the spice stalls and the fur(!) and jewellery stalls. I liked Dubai, it felt safe, it was clean, but it still had a heart- in the bustling markets, and all along the harbour. Over the years I have travelled to numerous places in the Middle-East, but Dubai was the easiest. I sat on the beach yards from the markets, enjoying the warm winds blowing in from the Persian Gulf. I took a bus back to the airport content that I'd used my 9 hours to the full.
Dubai is not the first oil state to spend all of its money on massive projects that would never be sanctioned in the west(yet all these projects are cynically completed by western companies). Dubai at least appears to have spent the money on structures that have improved the overall infrastructure, who cares what they look like-skyscrapers can only be an improvement on all encompassing desert.

When the storm settles, Dubai will have the tallest building in the world, some amazing resorts, and a city full of modern houses, shopping malls etc. These things have already been built, and even if the bailiff comes knocking on the door-it's too late-the money has been spent.
Good luck to them!