“If a financial institution has business operations in the United States, hires people in the United States, if they are clogged with illiquid assets, they have the same impact on the American people as any other institution.”  With this statement, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson provided European and Canadian financial institutions the possibility of an infusion of American taxpayer dollars as part of the proposed $700 billion Wall Street Bail Out Plan.  This aspect of the plan highlights the close ties between economic and foreign policy issues.

The foreign policy gorilla in the economic room…