How do you see the growth of sovereign wealth funds influencing economic interdependence among countries down the road?
Moran: I think that this money is going to be invested, and if the United States doesn’t wake up quickly and adopt a more receptive attitude toward the investment of sovereign wealth money, then it will be invested elsewhere. It will be invested in China and Russia and Iran and Brazil and Venezuela, and we will lose further influence throughout the world. This is our money, and there’s hundreds of billions of dollars of our money going to these sovereign wealth funds because we continue to use oil and we want to continue to buy cheap products. That money is going to continue to undermine the strength of the American economy unless we can get it reinvested. NJ: What do you think of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s idea of creating sovereign wealth funds in the west and using them to coordinate policy? Moran: I think it has some merit, but I would rather see the European Union initiate it. There is an aversion in this country toward the government intruding any more than it already has
