Full speed ahead.

Like for any business, the only thing more complicated than a slow economic cycle is, perhaps, a very, very fast one. Overwhelmed by demand for raw materials from a booming Chinese economy, Latin American governments are working overtime to put some of that cash back into the infrastructure they will need to keep up supply. That means ports and power lines now, and more computers and better schools for the future.

No one can say with anything close to certainty how long it could last, but consider an example from recent history. Japan rose quite suddenly in the 1980s, then vanished into a decade of deflationary obscurity, only recently recovering. (Similar things, for different reasons, happened in Indonesia and Russia.) Although China and Japan are different economies in every sense, the lesson remains the same: Things can change quickly. Only a very few people were aware that China was going to suddenly reorient the global economic division of power. And very few could tell you now if it's all about to fall apart--or if the country's closed and clubby government is in fact managing their good fortune well.

In any case, the knock-on effect for Latin America has been tremendous. Major countries have paid down decades of foreign debt in advance. And they are spending nearly as fast on long-overdue projects. Some are well-advised, some plain-and-simple stinkers, but it's money on the table for companies ready to sell to government. Look at our feature in this edition for the lowdown on where the money is going next.

--Greg Brown

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P.S. An explosive rise in raw materials prices has been great for the region, but what about value-added goods? Latin America is no slouch when it comes to innovation, as we detail in a special feature this month. Don't miss our exclusive interview, too, with Jim Goodnight, CEO of business intelligence software maker SAS (page 38).

DEEP POCKETS

PHOTO: ALFREDO CELORIA/REUTERS