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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I was having lunch with my friend and colleague Andrew Mickey, and our conversation turned to a New York Times article about Wall Street hot shots turning to farming.

Yes, it sounds like a pitch for a remake of the Green Acres TV comedy, but this is a high-stakes twist on a global agri-boom.

The current food crisis sees no letting up, creating opportunities for investors accustomed to commodities such as oil, natural gas and metals. As the Times reported, the largest investment funds have already poured hundreds of billions of dollars into wheat, corn and soybeans.

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Look no further than the Q2 earnings of Coca Cola (NYSE: KO) to see that America lost the Cold War.

As emerging markets thrive, we can no longer afford the staple of Yankee Doodle consumerism: a bottle of Coke. Even the CEO of Coca Cola admitted that the U.S. market is slipping, and he will place greater emphasis on emerging markets.

Any investor who seriously wants to make money in emerging markets can probably do much better for himself by recognizing the truth that America lost the Cold War to Russia and China. This is not an ideological belief, but an economic one. As the middle class in Russia, China and other emerging markets continue to grow, we now cannot afford a 20-ounce bottle of Coke.

That’s completely incredible…

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An article in CNN.com today sent shivers down my spine.

My gut reaction to the story was that America is in an economic nosedive it may never recover from. Then came this sense of anguish that so many Americans are missing out on the long-term opportunity of diversifying into emerging markets.

Why don’t more of us consider emerging markets as the next big payoff? Because we cling to the belief that we won the Cold War. And in turn, we hold fast to the dream that America is less volatile than emerging markets.

American’s surround themselves with the trappings of Cold War victory — the comfortable home, four cars in the driveway, credit cards jammed into our wallets, and an armada of electronic gizmos that shield the new economic realities of the vanquished.

But just look at the CNN.com story…

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