The news is great in emerging markets…India’s growing middle class can now afford servants.

The boost in Brazil’s currency makes the country’s treasury bonds more attractive than ever.

And Russia, China, India, Malaysia, South Korea and Brazil still look like great bargains compared to the U.S.

Is this all easy money ripe for the pickin’?

Not exactly…with oil jumping $11 last Friday, inflation running rampant on forecasts of $5 gas and Wall Street’s banks sinking deeper into the abyss investors are grinding their teeth figuring what to do next.

The mental horsepower needed to extract profits from these storm-tossed markets has never been greater. That’s why I was truly dismayed to read a front-page story in our hometown Baltimore Sun about American teenagers who will be our future business leaders.

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Companies around the world have come to milk Indonesia for all its worth

More than 17,500 islands dot the country of Indonesia. Riddled with volcanoes and forests, surrounded by 50,000 miles of coastline, this nation is rich in natural resources.

Nutmeg and cloves, coffee and tea, rice and rubber… Agriculture is a major force in Indonesia’s economy, employing more than 42 million people. But the world at large isn’t just salivating over Indonesia’s crops.

Crude oil, natural gas, tin, copper and gold reserves have drawn international attention to this country, and Indonesia has welcomed it with open arms.

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First it’s Japan, and now India. 

When Toyota announced its first annual profit drop in nine years, it pointed to the U.S. as the culprit. Then, in the same breath, Toyota acknowledged a stronger shift to emerging markets like China, Latin America and the Middle East. That was on May 8th.

Four days later, India outsourcing tech giants Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY), Infosys Technologies (Nasdaq: INFY) and Wipro Technologies (NYSE: WIT) are giving the U.S. the bum’s rush as well.

In a May 12th article in the India Times, the three major IT outsourcers, which have a combined market cap of $52.7 billion, said that they’re moving on to emerging markets as the U.S. “lurches towards recession in the wake of the subprime crisis.”

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