As Bob Hoye (Institutional Advisors) likes to quip, "In the beginning, the promoter has the vision and the public has the money. At the end, the promoter has the money, and the public has the vision." (cartoon here)

Today, the New York Times ran the Op-Ed "Why I am leaving Goldman Sachs" by Greg Smith a 12 year employee. In the exposé, Greg relates how Goldman Sachs refers to their clients as "Muppets"... a handy pejorative I suppose if you look at your clients as brainless puppets. Large clients who are herded into big yielding profits for Goldman Sachs are referred to as "Elephants" to be hunted down.

Note to Canadian buyers of pumped up real estate: Do your due diligence. As you can see from the graphic above, great real estate bubbles have an end date (Dubai and Ireland are only 2 of many examples) and that's usually when enough participants in the party on the way up start getting the "vision". 

For a better understanding of the sheer callousness of sellers at the peak read the 2 page Op-Ed from the New York Times "Why I am leaving Goldman Sachs" by Greg Smith "... the environment now (at Goldman Sachs) is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it."

The following goes a long way in reporting how a fascist state can exist in a "modern" world and how good people are easily persuaded to do bad things. The collapsing real estate bubble in Dubai has the potential to spark a switch from global risk embrace to revulsion setting up a viral firestorm of credit markdowns and interest rate hikes. BR

The Dark Side of Dubai "Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging." by Johann Hari  April 7, 2009

"Dubai is a vast sinkhole into which western banks and governments unquestioningly poured not just billions but trillions of dollars which was then leveraged enormously by means of derivatives enabling Dubai to build itself up into a latter day Rome, with a level of opulence and extravagance that would have made Caesar green with envy." by Clive Maund December 6, 2009