Egypt and the Arab fall

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http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-schenker-egypt-20110601,0,3613822.story

The chairman of Egypt's stock exchange undertook an urgent mission last month to the Persian Gulf, where he implored rich Arabs to invest in Egypt's bourse. Low share prices and limited political risk, Mohamed Abdel Salam claimed, had made the Egyptian market "more attractive than ever."

Abdel Salam was right, at least about the low share prices. In the aftermath of the Papyrus Revolution, the drop in Egypt's EXG30 stock index was comparable to that of the Dow following 9/11. The Dow recovered by January 2002, but in the four months since the revolution, the EGX30 has plunged an astounding 22%.

No doubt, there are a lot of bargains to be had in Egypt these days. The question is whether investors will be able to stomach the risk.

The Obama administration has taken steps in the right direction to help Egypt economically, but for a variety of reasons, it must do more.

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1. Obama must do more? EGYPT must do more.

The military must decide if they were merely using the people's protests as a tool to grab total power. The Muslim brotherhood needs to decide if they wish to destroy everything by pushing for a religious state.

THAT ISN'T UP TO OBAMA. IT ISN'T UP TO US.

The sooner Egypt behaves in a peaceful, well-regulated way (no more blowing up churches, for instance) the sooner the money will show up.

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2. does the egyptian military need all the money they take?

obviously the police in egypt needs to be rebuilt -- but the egyptian military doesn't need all their money -- they're not at war with anybody.

and egypt needs to get back a bunch of money from their corrupt elite.