■"The Payoff From Globalization," op-ed by Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Paul L.E. Grieco, Washington Post, 7 June 2005, p. A23.

Great article on research conducted by two serious scholars. Hufbauer came to my Foreign Direct Investment game atop the World Trade Center and blurbed my book. There is no one smarter on FDI in the world. Really cool guy too.

His research with Grieco estimates that globalization of the U.S. economy accounts for roughly 1 trillion dollars out of our 10 trillion dollar economy, or roughly $10,000 per family per year. Obviously, some families get more, like mine for being an expert on globalization, but the numbers sound about right to me.

You may say, that's only 10%, but you'd be forgetting what a gigantic economy we have. We get to command much from the world and suffer its slings and arrows with great aplomb, thanks to our enormous domestic market. Plus we have the biggest gun. Hard to beat that combo.

But as Spiderman's uncle says, With great power comes great responsibility.