Gooooooooooooooooool!

The deal train continues to derail, according to the latest data, with fewer bonds, stocks or loans for bankers to sell for companies. As the funds to buy recede, emerging markets are emerging as a more important source of corporate finance and deal making. All the bankers who moved to Dubai must already be earning their keep. And for the latest installment of "Where the Money's At," read about how deposed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra pawned off his controlling stake of Manchester City to an Abu Dhabi investment fund led by the Emirate's own Donald Trump, Sulaiman al Fahim. Mr Thaksin, the former policeman turned telecommunications billionaire turned populist politician, fell from grace after selling his family's stake in Thailand's dominant telecommunications provider to Singapore for $1.9 billion tax-free. This caused public unhappiness with corruption allegations in his government to boil over. Now avoiding corruption charges in London and his proxy in Bangkok under siege by protesters, Thaksin presumably needs some extra cash. This is great news for the English Premier League. That its teams have become trophies for international moguls is a sign of its growing international popularity. No doubt the deal will still fall afoul, however, of the same xenophobes who have lamented the purchase of other iconic assets, whether ailing banks or eye-catching buildings, by sovereign wealth funds from the developing world. The transition is still underway, from what Merrill Lynch calls "the impaired Anglo-Saxon balance sheet" to the poor, but cash-rich nations with savings gluts. Some point to this as evidence of the downfall of the American empire, as the US depends on its biggest rivals for financing.