Why Dubai should matter to you: U.S. real estate could take big hit

Funny thing this globalization: Just when you think everything is starting to settle down and maybe, just maybe, the world's economic plight is finally on the mend, along comes news from a place such as Dubai that threatens to send everything into a tailspin all over again.

Stock markets have already felt the shock waves from the news that Dubai's state-owned investment arm--Dubai World--needs to restructure its debt...a fancy way of saying, it simply can't pay its bills. Bills, by the way, that come to some $59 billion. And, there is no app to download that can easily fix that!