by Calculated Risk on 11/27/2009 01:00:00 PM

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

First, since the markets closed early ...

This graph is from Doug Short of dshort.com (financial planner): "Four Bad Bears".

Note that the Great Depression crash is based on the DOW; the three others are for the S&P 500.

Krugman suggests there are three views on the Dubai situation: 1) the beginning of a wave of sovereign defaults, 2) an extension of the CRE bust, and 3) Dubai as sui generis. Krugman believes it is some combination of two and three.

I agree. Dubai seems like an extreme example of the CRE bust. "Vegas on steroids" as Nanoo-Nanoo wrote in the comments to an earlier post.

It is the state-controlled Dubai World that might delay payments - and both Moody's and Standard & Poor’s have said they may consider delaying payments a default - and it is unclear if oil rich Abu Dhabi will help out Dubai. So the situation is confusing ... but it does seem that Dubai is the most overbuilt city in the world.

Here is a repeat of a video on the Dubai real estate crash I posted in February:

Some photos of Dubai from the Boston Globe last year.

Also from February, an article on "skips" - expatriates fleeing home rather than risk jail for defaulting on loans: Driven down by debt, Dubai expats give new meaning to long-stay car park

And from the NY Times in February: Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down