I am back from my Northern European sojourn (at least I am — my luggage is a different story). It was an interesting trip, and I plan on taking all of my notes and cobbling together something coherent out of them. In the meantime, a few observations regarding the macro circumstances. • I was amazed at the impact of US culture everywhere, but especially Russia: TV, movies, music, fastfood – knew it was here, but it was much larger than I expected. • In each of the 4 countries I visited — Russia, Finland, Germany, Denmark — they think US taxes are incredibly cheap. • My proprietary CDEM – Cab Driver Economic Monitor — ... (full story)