In the United States during much of the 19th Century, an erratic and unstable financial system combined with the
huge infrastructure needs of a
rapidly expanding continental economy meant that the US was almost always in short supply of
money and capital *, and so to a large extent its growth rate was constrained mainly by British liquidity.
The picture now is one of
money laundering being driven by sophisticated gangs of organised criminals and terrorist funders, using
rapidly changing technology to transfer
huge sums of
money around the world.