Sudip Roy has gone me one further today. I pointed out the contrast between the expected actions of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum in Dubai, on the one hand, with those of normal homeowners in the US, on the other: while American individuals are ceaselessly told that they have a moral obligation to pay their debts, the ruling family in Dubai is simply defaulting on its non-recourse underwater loans in accordance with the amoral principles of capitalism.

Sudip, however, goes so far as to say that Dubai is morally obliged to reject a possible sovereign bailout. I’m not sure where he finds this moral obligation, especially since Dubai is not a democracy and its treasury has no fiduciary duty to the citizenry as a whole. But I can see where he’s coming from: there is something morally dubious about throwing good money after bad, given all the other things that any of us, be we citizen or ruler or corporate entity, can do with our cash.