November 11, 2009

Perhaps it's the curse of a business columnist that when you travel, even for pleasure, you notice the economically unusual.Maybe that's why, in spending a week in Turkey, I was surprised that amid the worst recession this country's seen since World War II, banks are booming.Bank profits here have risen more than 40 percent this year, though at first glance that's not exceptional.

After all, profits have surged at U.S. banks, too, spurring a stock market rally that has wiped clean most of the losses from last year's economic meltdown.But there's a difference: Turkey's banks posted those profit gains without any government assistance. That's right, no bailouts.Of course, it's a comparison of ants and elephants.