HONG KONG: Asia's savings have bankrolled American spending for decades to the tune of trillions of dollars.

Now, tremors from Wall Street are rattling Asian investors - from central banks to industrial corporations to hedge funds to individuals queueing up to withdraw their money from American International Group (AIG) - and making them question the very wisdom of being invested in the United States.

Asia's loss of confidence in American financial institutions and assets could have dire consequences for both the US government and American taxpayers.The non-stop deluge of bad publicity for American investments seems to be stoking panic among some of the rich and middle-class across Asia who are rushing to bring their money home.

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