U.S. companies do seem to be doing well but there was no reason to expect otherwise. It’s interesting to reflect that one of the most dominant features of the last two centuries has been an increasing divergence between the ‘developing’ world and the 'developed' world (measured by GDP per capita). In a way the aberration has been the last decade and a half in which developing countries have experienced higher growth rates than developed countries so briefly appeared although they were on a converging path with the developed world. However growth rates are not persistent and it appears the global situation is normalising with economies regressing towards the long term mean growth rates. That’s why it really interests people like me that many have come to see developing countries as a better bet than using resources in developed economies which have an extended track record of outperforming. We should expect companies in the developed world to outperform over an extended timeframe.