Indicating Markets - Feb 27th

INDICATING MARKETS?

*Has anyone else in Dubai noticed a new phenomenon recently on the roads? It can be quite distracting at first and dazzling as you surely will not be used to the strobe-like effect and disorientating nature of the flashing-yellow lights that flick from left-to-right in front of your eyes. Yes, it’s called I-N-D-I-C-A-T-I-N-G. Seems many have discovered that small lever to the left of their steering wheel that actually moves upwards and downwards to provide a brief-glimpse into the future of the driver’s intentions – something extremely valuable in this city where the driving-minds of many drivers are clearly “not quite with us” and a close dice-with-death is always there to jar you awake on the early-morning drive into work - certainly works better than a strong-cup-of-hot-black-coffee, trust me.

*To put a financial-spin on this phenomenon I believe it is reasonable to suggest that a large dose of humility (whether willingly or not) has been experienced by the once high-flying Dubai resident, a sudden appreciation that the paths-are-not-paved-with-gold and money is not simply sitting in bags there for you to collect at mortgagers, and no – there is not another fool waiting down the line to take your speculated-upon property off your hands at an even more ridiculous price than the one you “paid” – so yes, that means the fool is….

*When London experienced its massive influx of Eastern European immigrants in the early 2000s everyone pointed to a great boom and increase in service-friendliness at restaurants/bars as those jobs that the British considered themselves too-good-to-do were appreciatively eaten-up by those hungry for Sterling - ohh..those were the days. A negative implication was of course the deterioration in politeness on the streets of cramped London, and there was a sudden degradation in the number of those bothering to indicate when switching lanes. Honestly, how difficult is it to move your hand a matter of inches to push a stick a further couple of inches? – are those lost milliseconds of your life really that precious? At that time there were numerous articles and reports in the notoriously-nasty British press about a loss of culture and the charm that London possessed – what we are now seeing in Dubai is an exact opposite of London’s experience and can only be for the better – small changes for one to notice, but the seemingly insignificant can quickly become an important force of momentum for larger and greater shifts in culture and environment.

*Could it be that Dubai’s new-found humble manner of driving and a surprising respect for others’ safety on the roads is a direct result of feeling-the-pinch and hence a natural and direct result of wanting to be polite? There was a report in the FT a week or so back exploring a similar phenomenon amongst bankers in New York – they have miraculously re-discovered words such as “please” and “thank you” - many have experienced pains in their jaws due to muscles being awakened after years of neglect when forming these words and phrases – here in Dubai many will surely not lament the fall of the loud and arrogant ex-pat describing how many millions of Dirham he just made on his latest property-deal. But something more serious lies beneath this indicating phenomenon – jobs have been lost and continue to be at a spectacular rate, international firms are re-thinking their decision to have and need a “hub” and even the social scene has witnessed a marked decrease in those wanting to be out-and-about every evening. There is a marked change in the atmosphere in this city, and again it is imperative for Dubai to act quickly and decisively to stem the outflow of those who came here looking for a high-quality of life at an affordable (and tax-free) price. Lowering prices (a common theme in these commentaries) would be a good start. The hard-times all are experiencing will surely come to an end at some point, but the pain and suffering that must be experienced before the trough is reached can be alleviated with concerted and imaginative effort.

A drawback to the welcome trend of indicating drivers?- reports that drivers from Abu Dhabi have not understood many of the signals the kind Dubai drivers are providing and have taken offence at the flashing lights believing them to be a slur to their distinctive red number-plated vehicles – oh well, who said change was easy?