Wall Street is Beijing's New Piggy Bank

These days, when Wall Street runs short of money, it turns countries such as China and the United Arab Emirates to help replenish its coffers. And where does their money come from? All the stuff you buy with the "Made in China" label and every time you fill-er-up.

These huge funds are the investment arms of governments that have newfound wealth thanks to big trade surpluses, as in the case of China, or because of surging worldwide demand for resources such as oil, as in the case of the UAE. The governments are looking for ways to expand some of their holdings beyond traditional safe investments like U.S. Treasury notes into areas with bigger returns.

Morgan Stanley on Wednesday reported big losses from debt tied to mortgages and said the Chinese government through its China Investment Corp. would provide the company with $5 billion in return for what will become up to a 9.9 percent stake by 2010.