With all the doom and gloom in the US right now it would be easy to fall back on the old maxim “when the us sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold”. Not so anymore. There is good reason to see a rebalancing of economic fortune and the shift is potentially seismic.

The BRIC crew are doing very well compared to their older relatives, the U.S, U.K and Europe. Yes they have all experienced a similar asset bubble in equities but for different reasons. They have huge upside potential. They also have a less developed banking system which may have saved them from the sub-prime fall out.

There is also the interesting move by the Iranian Oil Bourse to price in Iranian Rials rather than US $ and then to state that the Rouble may be the preferred currency. Sorry?

The Rouble…..surely some mistake. Once a fashionable wallpaper accessory and now a petro-currency. Politics aside it does make sense to have a range of currencies available at the global level. This will create tensions but also prevents one country having power over all others.

This is a real wake up call for the US. With their military stretched across the Middle East and their financial system in disarray, the US is in a precarious position. Like the playground bully who finally loses his power it is suddenly looking very frail.