I like the comment by Mahmoud. While Dubai is spending huge sums in construction projects, the US is wasting hundreds of billions of dollars in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan whose usefulness is debatable at best. Also, has anyone noticed when East Asian and North American cities build supertalls, everyone applauds, while when an Arab state build supertalls, people think of it as ``folly''. Double standards anyone ?

Calm down, Insult Boy! Either your 'Engrish' grammar is flawed, or you just betrayed your own lie: "Those of us who live THERE..." as opposed to "HERE." Btw, (financial) FOLLY is a worldwide problem. It's the madness of relying on fiat currency and (in opulent extravagance) accruing debt beyond one's capacity to repay. Manifold Follies--financial fantasies commonly linked by Greed--have a cumulative deleterious effect on world economies, thus compounding the pain of such inevitable, speculative failures when reality sets in. (Dubai is undeniably a fine example of seemingly unrealistic real estate development; and the Burj is pre-eminent in the skyline. No need to be defensive against fact, I think.)

If you want a real symbol of folly, look at the impractical master plan for the WTC site in New York, USA. It will be a fiasco.

I think you seriously underestimate the ability of the Gulf states to deal with this problem. Those of us who live there are increasingly getting rather tired of commentary like yours, bordering on the stupid, obviously written by people who have no understanding of the region. You speak of folly. Actually, folly is what your own government in Washington did in Iraq and is still doing in Afghanistan.