Quote

A trillion here, a trillion there and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

Reliable numbers about the amount of dirty money around the world are difficult to come by. But according to an estimate by the nonprofit Global Financial Integrity group, $1 trillion vanishes from the developing world's economies every year.

A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

It is usually people in the money business, finance, and international trade that are really rich.

Our trade opens to all the world.

Well, the U.S., of course, is the world's largest economy. It's about a quarter of the world's output. It's also home to many of the largest financial institutions and financial markets.

Money is not everything. We don't need billions and trillions of dollars.

High-frequency traders are firms all around the world. They're massive investments.

More and more investors may be coming into markets everywhere but that doesn't mean that the markets are really getting more and more efficient, even in the United States. It does mean that there is more access for savvy investors who watch the money flows.

Ultimately, in the long run we need to immunise our system from being overly responsive to fluctuations in the exchange rate; that is, people should, by and large, be reasonably hedged, or they should borrow more in domestic currency rather than foreign currency.