From the list of 'things we should have all seen coming'...

It turns out there's no profit to be made from pouring sand into the ocean.

Now that the boom has gone bust, both in Dubai and in the United States, Dubai is stuck with a glut of real estate that no one wants to buy or rent. Creditors and markets had always assumed that when push came to shove, its oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi would bail out Dubai. But that assumption was called into question this week, and the resulting fear that Dubai might not be able to pay its bills sent a wave of uncertainty rippling through markets just as investors thought the worst of the global financial instability was over.

Read the full article here if you want deeper anxiety about the global economic crisis:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/business/global/28dubai.html?hp