Again all odds, Hezbollah's favorite socialist mayor has hit the mark with his latest comments on Nasdaq's failed hostile takeover of the London Stock Exchange. Livingston has been making the case for the continued British ownership of the market as crucial to both his city and his nation, while at the same time poking a finger in New York's eye: "In the modern-globalised world a city can lose its competitive edge extremely rapidly, as the current problems of New York show."

He also implicitly pointed to how location still counts, remarking in a press release that "With over 400 international companies listed on the LSE, twice as many as NASDAQ and NYSE combined, it has particularly helped place London in a strong position with the rapidly growing economies of India, Russia and China"—all places where London has a time zone advantage over New York.

With the lines of competition drawn, and with exchanges to no small extent at the mercy of the tax and trading laws of the country's they are based in, Livingston is also right that "it is not sufficient to simply keep repeating that the nationality of a company is irrelevant – the effects of a change in ownership on international competition must be taken into account. If in the future the LSE is involved in any international realignment of exchanges this must be one that strengthens London’s competitive position and does not weaken it, as would have occurred with a NASDAQ takeover."

And world matters are still at the mercy of matters still more local, as in New York City, where the local economy is utterly dependent on Wall Street, and taxes it to the hilt as such. Senator Schumer and Mayor Bloomberg have, with the apparent backing of new Governor Eliot Spitzer, called for sensible reform of federal market regulations to ensure America's continued viability as a market capital. They've yet, though, to clean their own house and begin reforming the state and city's economic climate, even as Chicago continues to gain ground on New York as a market center.

Meanwhile, Irwin Stelzer thinks that it's time that New Yorkers get used to it: "We are witnessing the globalisation of that part of the American financial-services sector that has until now experienced less competition than America’s T-shirt and trainer manufacturers." This is true, but the question remains as to how the exchanges, the city, the state and the country will each respond to the increased competition.

Similarly, art purchasers, who have of late also been finding better purchasing value in London, where wealthy foreign nationals are taking advantage of what the head of contemporary art at Sotheby's in London terms Britain's wonderful tax situation for nondomiciles to make art purchases there instead of in New York.

Meanwhile, the elephant in the room remains the threat of terror and natural disaster, and the continued dispersion of market operations to ensure the safety of markets in the event of a major terror attack or other catastrophe.