From Paraguay to Chile and Brazil to Peru, a growing middle class armed with cheap credit and new confidence in the future is contributing to the most vigorous economic expansion in decades.

The growth in South America is still largely driven by Asia-bound exports of copper, iron ore, tin, meat and soybeans.But economists now talk of a new dynamic that reflects the stronger foundation of more-mature economies: increasingly affluent consumer societies.

The irony, as laid out in a recent report by the International Monetary Fund, is that history's traditional No. 1 consumer, the United States, is still sputtering from the economic crisis as consumer confidence remains frail. The worldwide recovery is instead driven by emerging economies, with Asia in the lead along with several South American countries, the report said.

Fuente: washingtonpost.com