Buried in a column on iconoclastic  (and fashionista) tax policy expert Lee Shephard is this little gem:"“The whole Midwest was engaged in metal-bashing of some sort back then[when she was growing up…

For the past several months, almost all global reserve growth has come from China and the oil exporters. These also are countries that tend either not to report their reserves data quickly (China f…

Gordon Brown wants to shine a bit more light on the shadow financial system (hat tip IPEZone). One plank of his G-20 action plan is: "reform of international regulation to close regulatory gaps so …

"Banking is the industry that failed. Banks are meant to allocate capital to businesses and consumers efficiently; instead, they ladled credit to anyone who wanted it. Banks are supposed to make mo…