I would be very wary of the Russian market, and add political instability and suspect accounting practices, as further evidence for a cautious position. Remember the Oil magnet that was stripped of his company and thrown in jail because he had voiced opposition to Putin. How can one invest in a market in which the government may play such a substantial role. Free market? Nope, not quite.

I would suggest that we can’t move too far toward the Swiss banking system as we desire our banks to take risks to keep the economy moving forward. If we only loan to the most credit worthy and hold considerable reserves our economy will suffer greatly. Part of the American system is taking a chance and failing. This goes for banking as well. They loan money to less credit worthy entities and charge more for it. This allows them to make more profit, another American ideal. The Swiss are not the global engine of growth. They make cheese and live in the mountians listening to a Jazz festival. 😉

When I was in Jakarta, the juxtaposition between the sparkling high rises next to the horrible shacks without plumbing was striking. They were almost right next to each other. High rise, slum, high rise, slum. I give our huge middle class the nod for the major reason we are stable.