Best to invest in...real growth rate

When it comes to real growth rate, the picture is a complete different one. In the following countries you can expect fast growth in a not yet stable environment, especially when it comes to democratization standards. The list of countries with high growth rates is long but I just point out the top 6: Qatar, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Ghana, Panama, East Timor. The advantage of the following three is their official language: Ghana (English), Panama (Spanish) and East Timor (Portuguese). For the Western investor that marks a crucial advantage over the other countries.

Dr. Dr. Immanuel Fruhmann

Global Philosopher

For an extended list of the countries click on graph. A differentiated map is also to be found at the end of the list. 

Source: CIA World Factbook - indexmundi

Best to invest in...purchasing power parity

According to this graph-ranking, which implicates the GDP purchasing power parity, the following countries are best to invest in when it comes to stable growth.
Here you can easily see that the USA is still ahead of China followed by India, Japan, Germany, Russia just to point out the top 6. Regarding to working language the Western investor has a clear advantage in the United States and India due to English as the official/working language of these countries.

Dr. Dr. Immanuel Fruhmann

Global Philosopher

For an extended list of the countries click on the source-link. A differentiated map is also shown at the end of the list.

Showdown around Snowdon

The recent developments have shown that one man (Edward Snowdon) can cause a new "ice age" between the USA and the Russian Federation, just because of the fact that he gets temporary asylum in Russia. That marks a turning point in the relations between these two countries which were not even best friends before the Snowdon-incident occurred. It becomes obvious how different these two countries are and how much they are still in rivalry. The economical bonds between Russia and the USA will not be in peril through that but the "Showdown around Snowdon" signalize more a political and diplomatic issue. Of course in the long run an economical negative outcome can derive from this tense situation but albeit this fact, the USA and Russia are to dependent on each other economy-wise and need each other as a sales market for their resources and products. And none of these two countries wants to deepen the economic crisis which hold the world still in its grip. Russia still relies strongly on its only real resource, it's vast amount of natural resources, and the USA will further try to make the world belief that its image of the land of the free and of boundless opportunity is still real and active.
So for the months to come I don't foresee any stark changes in policy for the economies of these two countries who are so dependent on the thrive of their economies, not to loose ground on the battlefield of global markets, its players and dynamics.

© by Dr. Dr. Immanuel Fruhmann

Global Philosopher

Vienna, the Most Liveable City in the World

Vienna is the most liveable city in the world, according to the Mercer study which is published every year. For the last years, Vienna holds this top rank. Whoever comes to Vienna for work or for leisure, will soon realize (that means see and feel) that Vienna is holding this rank for some reason. The public safety is high, as well as the cleansiness, and quality of water, which comes directly from the center of the Austrian alps thanks to the realization of an ambitious aqueduct-project built in the 19th century to provide fresh alpine water to the citizens of Vienna. You have green rolling hills beginning on the outskirts of the city center.

And most of all it is a very good spot to do business and for making money. Vienna is located in Central Europe on the the cross-roads between East and West, North and South in Europe. The infrastructure level in Vienna is top-notch and you can set up a business much more easilier than in Germany. Therefore many German companies have moved to Austria to avoid the burecratic hussles in Germany.

So if you want to combine a very safe, clean and economically properous and stable business environment with an international and high end 'arts & culture feel' then move with your company to Vienna or invest in this beautiful city or just experience this jewel with your spouse or fiancée. Just as Billy Joel has put it in his famous song: 'Vienna waits for you'...

© by Dr. Dr. Immanuel Fruhmann
Global Philosopher

About Doing Business in Berlin and its Mentality

Having had the opportunity to do business in Berlin many times, from a psychogeographical standpoint I observed different phenomenological qualities existing in Berlin. On the one hand Berlin, as the biggest city in the German speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg), is an eclectic and multicultural metropolis with many different aspects, but on the other hand as a feeling person I experienced not just the big intellectual sphere which is cultivated in Berlin over centuries but also a huge amount of strong erruptive emotions coming from its people, in terms of rudness and harshness and an explosive way of expressing emotions to each other.


That led me to the conclusion that in Berlin there is a huge open space for different ideas, discussions and debates, making it a great place for open minds and creative people wnating to have as least mental limits as possible, but this huge open intellectual space deriving from being the prefered metropolis of German emperors aside Vienna as the Austrian emperor metropolis, Berlin is filled with one of the most raw, blunt, brute and reckless behaviour by its residents I have ever experienced. In this Berliner mentality politness, respectfulness and thoughtfulness as well as niceness seem to seen by the Berliner as uptightness, limitation to the strongest form of individualization I have ever experienced.

When it comes to the economical situation in Berlin the city's official motto 'arm aber sexy' ('poor but sexy') promoted by its mayor Klaus Wowereit has a certain kind of influence on its people respectively shows how the decades of communicsm influenced the mentality. Every time when I had to do in Berlin I experienced a peculiar trait existing in the mentalities of many Berliner. Within the city of Berlin I always sensed a cultivalted resentment against money, capital and ambition from its selfconfident residents used to be part/surrounded by communicst values. So I always found this resentment to be contraproductive when doing business in Berlin.

In my point of view Berlin is compareble with New York City in many ways especially when it comes to the intellectual sphere and the degree of individualization, but Berlin is a more Russian and - due to its close border to Poland - Polish kind of NYC with a more harsh wind blowing into the face of its residents when people of Berlin get together than in other cities in the German speaking countries.

Therefore sensitive and polite souls will probably feel strange in Berlin facing this typical Berliner mentality. By the way I have met several nice, friendly, polite and hearty Berliner but as a matter of fact all of them where coming from somewhere else but not originally from Berlin just trying to get along with the harsh, rude and almost aggressive Siberian wind 'cultivated' in Berlin.

© by Dr. Dr. Immanuel Fruhmann

Global Philosopher

On Self-Organization and Social Unrest

My assessment is that the long tradition of violence and intimidation against the own people through regimes of several dictatorships around the world, is not prevailing anymore, because from a self-organizational point of view a critical mass of people in the developing countries received education throughout the times of thriving economies and therefore invested in their minds to reached a certain level of evolution of their individual consciousness as well as their collective consciousness as a society, now demanding more as their oppressive regimes are willing to give them. Therefore the people are not willing anymore to obey blindly and feel intimidated by their oppressive regimes. So from an psychological standpoint they are not willing anymore to back the 'ego-games' or projects only flattering and bolstering the egos of their dictators or so-called presidents. Instead the critical mass of now awakened/awakening people, who invested in their education through the last decades, more and more prefer to stay in selfreference and not being oppressively governed in constant alloreference as they were used to be.

Belarus is Europe's Last Dictatorship

There are many pseudo-democracies in the world, but Belarus is definitely Europe's last dictatorship proper. Or have you observed any signs of civil society coming from Belarus recently? So far as I observed the case of Belarus, its 'president' Lukashenko rules 'his' country more and more authoritarian since he came to power in 1994. When putting Belarus into the spotlight, it becomes obvious, that in Belarus as Europe's last rock-bottom autocracy in the backyard of Russia, the Lukashenko led regime just could afford to trample on the human rights of its people, and with that holding back the development of Belarus into a 'open society' (as Karl Popper in 'The Open Society and its Enemies' has pointed out), because of its good relations with its big brother and protector Russia as well as Belarus' natural resources and its location as a transit country for Russian oil and gas to Europe.

Turkey as Europe's Emerging Market

Turkey is THE emerging market at Europe's gate to Asia. Even though Turkey is not the only emerging market in Europe, keeping in mind the emerging markets within the EU such as Poland (with its 38.383 million people according to the CIA factbook), Turkey with its 80.694 million people (according to the CIA factbook) is definitely the biggest market per capita. That makes Turkey Europe's largest emerging market. The recent uprising in the Turkish society (May-June 2013), lead by many Turks who not only want to have economic development but also personal freedoms and a democratic society to live in, I see systemically interlinked with Brazil, with its 201.009 million people (according to the CIA factbook) another important emerging market.

Now Vienna surpassed Hamburg by 51.000 inhabitants!

The results of the German Census 2011 has been published on May 31th 2013 and represents the feeling of many people that Vienna (with its 1.757.353 inhabitants according to "Statistik Austria") is the second largest metropolis in the German speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg), right after Berlin (with its 3.292.365 citizens, according to the newspaper "Berliner Morgenpost"). 

This makes Hamburg (with its 1.706.696 people according to the newspaper "Welt") the 3rd largest city in the German speaking countries and Munich the 4rd largest city (with its 1.443.112 inhabitants according to Munich City Officials). Cologne (with its 1.005.775 citizens according to the newspaper "Express") ranks 5th slightly above the one-million mark.

The 5 cities in the German speaking countries with more than a million citizens are as follows: 

1. Berlin: __________   3.292 millions
2. Vienna/Wien: _____  1.757 millions