Politics Roundtable

It's all here. Thanks GM.

There's a shortage of large bills in Zimbabwe. The newly introduced $1 billion note will buy 4 oranges.

Maybe they should just print more money. Without withdrawing smaller bills from circulation. Heh.

One thing a westerner living in the UAE quickly notices is that in many places there is no concept of a queue. And if a queue is formed sometimes individuals will jump to the front of the line and demand to be served next.

The Abu Dhabi flagship paper, ...

These shortages are caused by something like price controls: state-owned retail fuel companies that are not willing (and, perhaps, able) to meet market demand at the price they have set, but are also not willing increase price to stave off shortages.

Story 1

Employees at petrol ...

You read that right: export, not import.

Financial Times

[T]he Abu Dhabi initiative aims to provide a lucrative export opportunity for the UAE as it seeks to diversify away from oil production, while also helping safeguard the future of the endangered species.

Bin Salem Group and ...

What's that rumble?

Kipp Report

Though nobody dares deviate from the official 'all is well' line, Dubai hotel occupancy is at record lows.
...
Reliable sources told Kipp Report that average occupancy in city hotels at the end of June was 56%; the swanky new Raffles was ...

Well, not so new. She's been blogging since August 2007.

Out and About in Dubai. Check it out. Because.

Don't pay; get paid:

"We're motivating people to know the value of their urine," said Marathi Subburaman, who came up with the novel idea. "The urine that is collected goes into fields for paddy crops, and of course the feces becomes good compost in a matter of months."

Via

The Financial Times answers the question

Countries such as the UAE cannot simply adopt a floating exchange rate, however. They are too small, and dependence on a volatile commodity makes it all but impossible to predict what their purchasing power will be the year after next, and what ...

From a post entitled, "Defense of Oil Speculators" Mankiw points us,

Here and here and here and here.

By the way, there's No Futures in The Onion. Thanks to Gerald Ford. Since 1958.