Optimism seems to be everywhere just as the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee gets ready once again to pass judgment on where interest rates are headed. The consensus is that Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will keep the federal funds rate unchanged. Part of the reason is that oil prices are down and inflation seems to be under control. Still the bursting of the commodities bubble has not been a universal blessing -- as investors in the Connecticut-based hedge fund Amaranth Advisors discovered after it lost $5 billion in value. The coup in Thailand also raises questions about international business risks. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel spoke about these issues and more.