Yet there is now a strong body of evidence, led by the research of David Dollar, Craig Burnside and Paul Collier, all economists at the World Bank, that aid does boost growth when countries have reasonable economic policies.

ECONOMIST: Untangling the aid debate

It is easy to think of Michael Jordan and Nike as an example but even New York Mets third baseman, David Wright, scored multimillion dollar windfall when Coca-Cola purchased Vitamin Water, which had given Wright equity in exchange for endorsing the beverage, then a small local product made just down the road from Shea Stadium.

FORBES: Brady's Under Armour Deal to Include Equity Stake--Why Don't More?

In what became known as the "Galacticos era", Perez signed a number of multi-million dollar superstars that included Luis Figo, David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane.

CNN: Platini hits out at Ronaldo Real Madrid deal

The video is dull and grainy, but it shows real-life drama: A comeuppance for David Ji, an entrepreneur who built a billion-dollar business importing dirt-cheap DVD players from a booming China, where he was born, and selling them at Wal-Mart and Circuit City stores in the U.S., his adopted home for two decades.

FORBES: Held Hostage In China

In the second quarter of 2010, David Koch was the biggest individual contributor to the Republican Governors Association, with a million-dollar donation.

NEWYORKER: Covert Operations

The video is dull and grainy, but it shows real-life drama: A comeuppance for David Ji, a celebrated U.S.-bred entrepreneur who built a billion-dollar business importing dirt-cheap DVD players from a booming China, where he was born, and selling them at Wal-Mart and Circuit City stores in the U.S., his adopted home for two decades.

FORBES: Held Hostage In China

One way to limit the damage would be to take economist David Malpass's suggestion that Japan set a ceiling on the value of the yen against the dollar, much as Switzerland has done with the Swiss franc against the euro.

WSJ: Review & Outlook: Japan's Bank of Bernanke

David Green, former head of international policy for the Financial Services Authority, says the fact that dollar denominated transactions ultimately have to be settled in New York potentially gives the US authority to get a handle on a large proportion of transactions in the world.

BBC: US rules 'clear' on Iran business