Angkor Wat, a temple complex in Cambodia, and the Inca fortress of Machu Picchu in Peru (pictured above) are often cited as places of world-historical importance where a vast influx of tourists may be causing serious damage.

ECONOMIST: UNESCO is better at naming enemies than finding friends

And the real villain, without a doubt, is Wordsworth, who after the breach with Coleridge in 1810 pours down indifference on him from a vast height of self-importance.

ECONOMIST: English poets

But, as illuminated in a book, Welfare and Capitalism in Postwar Japan(2008), by Syracuse University professor Margarita Estevez-Abe, just looking at spending misses the arguably larger importance of a vast array of subsidy programs and policies that protect and cushion workers and citizens from market forces and limit competition.

FORBES: Small Company Financing and Government Dependency

While DAS connectivity is very important for internal hardware design, connecting storage and computing systems over a network continues to grow in importance to enable movement of these vast data streams.

FORBES: Speedy Ways to Move Enterprise Data

The importance of blogging has been proven by the vast number of blogging success stories, virility of online posts, and the sheer number of individuals reached via this method.

FORBES: 20 Must Have Tools For Small Businesses

In my experience, the vast majority of Americans exhibit a native common sense about the importance of U.S. engagement in the world.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

For Brazil, access to Europe's vast market is second in importance only to the multilateral Doha talks, which offer hope of cutting agricultural subsidies in the rich world.

ECONOMIST: Free-trade talks fail again