Comments on: Some things you haven’t heard about Dubai’s crisis

By: andrew

andrew — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:20:46 +0000

I have to say that had the Rulers company not been called Dubai World and perhaps been called something else like GMC or Desert Holding then this would not have had the negative impact. Sure the banks have lent the self contained trading entity Dubai World 80bn and those banks have taken some security and no personal guarantees, so thats it, tough s…t. The land mass of Dubai and the Rulers of Dubai don’t owe anyone anything. We all know that if you give credit to a company which is limited then the word limited means a great deal. The banks are big boys and they should know their business. lets not beat up Sheik Mo for being a good business man and not giving banks guarantees. Dubai is not a disaster, I have owned and made a fortune off real estate there these past 8 years, so it has gone back to early 2007 values….it is up 30% since the bottom in March 2009 and the place is buzzing again right now. The sun is still shining, the tax is still zero and the crime is non existent. As for the wealth of the miserly Abu Dhabi, they have it because they never spent it, the place is a dump; well the Iranians and Indians and their wealth which really built Dubai make the Abu Dhabi donkeys look like paupers. Lets not forget how these Arabs made their money before oil – smuggling gold to India. As for service and maintenance companies, they don’t get paid, they are all on the creditor list. I don’t mean to be rude but Abu Dhabi may as well be a million miles from DXB.

By: John Cleeve

John Cleeve — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:10:12 +0000

Mr. Black. This is the second of your articles I have read today (“I Finally Have to say Something About It” being the first) &, again, you have it right. I have lived in Abu Dhabi for seven years & have watched the disaster that is Dubai develop. Long term sustainability of Dubai – without the wealth & support of Abu Dhabi – as anything other than a desert was never possible. Property owners can only wait until the elevators stop working – when the initial maintenance agreements expire – & watch their investments evaporate. Or maybe hedge with investment in a service & maintenance company in Dubai.

John Cleeve.

By: Roger

Roger — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:59:18 +0000

In your pamphlet, “How to Move and Securely Store Gold Overseas” you recommend Dubai, and specifically Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, as a place to safely store gold. Does anything in the present crisis change your thinking on this?