Accurate point of view!
They do siphon off a portion of all commerce and asset transfer. Siphon being a polite word for blood-sucking! :)
Alex
ÂThere is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.Â
-- Isaac Asimov