Free Republic

Checks of banks in the European Union, Japan and the United States are to beginning early in 2012 to see if they have put the globally agreed Basel rules into practice, central bank governors said Sunday. The Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS), the oversight body of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), announced the checks in a statement issued after a meeting. The group agreed that the results of the tests would be made public, the statement added. … The "Basel II" capital rules for the world's biggest banks are designed to prevent a repeat of...

Writing in the Chicago Tribune last week, President Obama fell back on one of his favorite rhetorical tics: “But I also know,” he wrote, “that we need not choose between a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism and an oppressive government-run economy. That is a false choice that will not serve our people or any people.” Really? For the moment, it’s a “false choice” mainly in the sense that he’s not offering it: “a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism” is not on the menu, which leaves “an oppressive government-run economy” as pretty much the only game in town. How oppressive is yet to...

Dear xxx, During the campaign and since then, we have talked to Americans from coast to coast about the environment and the critical challenge we all face in protecting the earth for future generations. From those conversations the idea emerged that we should write a book, This Moment on Earth, which we hope will help spark a new conversation about ways that everyday Americans from all walks of life can have an impact on the environment around them. The stories have inspired and moved us. Our hope is that they lead all of us to question the way things are,...