Changing Financial Leaders

The Financial Times has a must-see, interesting and informative interactive graph, which shows the world's biggest financial institutions and the countries in which they are based from 1999 to 2009.

If you move the slider at the bottom to the right, moving forward in time, you see American and British institutions falling quickly from the list, especially in recent years. Even more interesting is who is taking their place at the top: primarily institutions in China and Japan. It is no coincidence that these countries are the primary creditors to the US.

What we're seeing is the fall of America from global financial primacy, and its usurpation by more productive and financially responsible nations. America buried itself in debt -- both in the public and private sectors -- and exported its core productive industries. The result? Those who saved and produced while we were spending are reaping the rewards and rising to the top.