"We assess that al-Qaeda is in its weakest financial condition in several years." – senior U.S. Treasury Department official David Cohen. Apparently, a slow quarter of fundraising, coupled with al Qaeda executives' risky reluctance to invest in opium products, cigarette smuggling or bootleg music and computer software, has left them at a competitive disadvantage to upstart firms like the Taliban and Hezbollah. "These smaller, faster local operations are actually better suited to weather a recession," said CNBC financial analyst Jim Cramer. "There's always a bull market somewhere. But a monolithic dinosaur like al Qaeda just can't shift gears quickly enough to find it." Other experts blame the rating agencies [...]