In the meantime, depositors, nervous about institutions that have been taken over by the regulators, have been withdrawing billions of dollars from ailing thrifts every month.

Moreover, by asking to end the U.N. oil-for-food program abruptly, it would have withdrawn billions of dollars in contracts already granted to companies in Russia and other countries.

London-based hedge fund Man Group plans to cut staff and pay to reduce costs after investors withdrew billions in funds and turned to safe havens amid the eurozone financial crisis.

During the height of the bull market, value fund managers largely shunned technology stocks and were punished by both the market and by investors who withdrew billions of dollars.

Blessedly, the run remained a retail event, and did not involve institutions that can withdraw billions within minutes.

Depositors withdrew billions of dollars from savings associations in April, the Government reported, but at a considerably slower rate than earlier this year.

Rising home prices and falling interest rates allowed homeowners to withdraw tens of billions of dollars in equity from their homes through mortgage refinancing.

Investors have withdrawn billions of dollars in the past couple of years from each as they continued to favor more technology-oriented growth funds.

Investors on Wall Street and elsewhere, as well as Mexican capitalists, withdrew billions of dollars, sending Mexico's economy into a tailspin.

"As a result of financial sanctions, we have had to withdraw billions from our economy to pay foreign debt," a campaign brochure of the National Party explained.