Their exposures of official links to violence and corruption have embarrassed prominent conservatives.
As transistors get smaller, chip makers need to use light of increasingly smaller wavelengths to make their exposures.
"Bankers must be thanking whatever gods they pray to that their exposures are not bigger today," Mr. Vossler said.
The number-crunchers probe the lenders about their exposures to potential bad debts.
Foreign banks pledged not to cut their exposures to the region and run.
"We've asked them where they feel their exposures are and clearly there are a range of regulatory issues that are pending," Budenberg said.
Patients with asthma or other lung problems before their exposures are the most likely to have permanent effects, said Dr. Grotz, as are children and the elderly.
The Financial Services Authority demanded precise updates from banks, building societies, insurance companies and fund management firms of their exposures to Lehman.
But the mere fact that the Fed is increasing scrutiny of their exposures could accelerate the withdrawal.
But these institutions and their exposures are so enormous and interconnected that even insiders apply guesswork when assessing exotic positions.
Within Europe, too, national boundaries are being reinforced as lenders cut back their exposures to weaker markets (see chart 2).
