John Mauldin's Outside the Box | A State of the World

Missed Last Week's Article? Read It Here The State of the World: A Framework STRATFOR | February 23, 2012 Companies issue state of the enterprise addresses, and presidents issue state of the union addresses ... but you've got to be pretty confident to address the state of the world. Luckily for us, Stratfor founder and CEO George Friedman is just that confident – and it's well-deserved. George is the expert in geopolitics, and his company is the best source out there for geopolitical analysis. Thus, his recent article, "The State of the World: A Framework," is well worth a thorough read. It identifies three distinct phenomena the world is facing: the European financial crisis, the Chinese export crisis, and Iran's rise to power in the Middle East. One of his most interesting points, and one that I'm inclined to agree with, is that the most powerful country in the world– the United States – is currently unprepared to deal with this new reality. Something to keep in mind as we enter election season ... Some of you may know that Stratfor was hacked several weeks ago. While they rebuild some infrastructure, they've got an open-house website – you can access the content that's usually only available to subscribers. You may want to take advantage of this opportunity by visitingwww.stratfor.com before they lock up the house again. I particularly recommend their 2012 Annual Forecast. Your wondering whether I'll have Greek, Chinese, or Iranian food tonight analyst, John Mauldin, Editor Outside the Box JohnMauldin@2000wave.com