The Dubai group in trouble own some pretty good assets from what I have read - like US ports (?) -Solid tangible assets that will definately find buyers, most likely other Arab States . It is against Islamic teaching to 'speculate', so I think apart from some faltering property developments (still tangible investments), most other assets will be Blue Chip infrastructure etc. It is a very religious time for Muslims at the moment, and I'd suggest that the current suspension of repayments is because the current attentions devoted to financial trading should not be distracting religious ritual .
Also, the US treasury is the largest owner of gold in reserves, and a higher gold price is eventually going to pay off alot of US debt imo .
