World capital of chutzpah, Dubai is getting its comeuppance. The boomtown's 50 percent drop in real estate prices has "spooked international banks." And some of the desert city's typically outrageous local schemes have been put on hold — although you can still snow-ski in a mall and make plans to build your mansion on the 10th hole of a Tiger Woods-designed golf course. (Click on the video above for a tour with Tiger.)

With the downturn and everything, was it really such a good idea for Dubai to turn down the opportunity, the hype, the pizzazz of having Sex and the City sequel scenes shot there? Too racy for the citizenry, the absolute monarchy's rulers declared.

Dubai may continue to suffer for its hubris. Yes, oil prices are way back up, but it's Abu Dhabi, not Dubai, that has the oil. Like fellow desert city Phoenix in its boomtown days, Dubai has only one industry: growth itself.

Dubai, the WSJ notes, "still hasn't worked out how to reduce its $80 billion debt pile beyond going cap in hand to its oil-rich cousins in Abu Dhabi or international banks, which remain reluctant to lend."