Press Briefing

Jul 01, 2010

10th Anniversary of Ukraine Women's Fund, by Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. Kyiv, Ukraine
http://www.state.gov/s/gwi/rls/rem/2010/143794.htm

Remarks at Enough Project Panel on Conflict Minerals, by Robert D. Hormats, Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs. Remarks as Prepared for Delivery. Washington, DC
http://www.state.gov/e/rls/rmk/2010/143784.htm

The Global Jobs Competition Heats Up - In a new study, corporate leaders say the U.S. business environment is losing its edge when compared countries like China, India and Brazil
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575338553459934636.html

India’s strategic advantage over China in Africa
http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/IndiasstrategicadvantageoverChinainAfrica_cxavier_300610

Hastings College of the Law, Christian Legal Society case - The Supreme Court's 'Subsidies': The Justices erode freedom of association
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704103904575336863778626670.html

Statement from the President on the Passage of Financial Reform
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-passage-financial-reform

Kagan's Commerce Show-and-Tell - Hints about her views on ObamaCare
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575339091601340672.html

Indo Pak Rapprochement: Unexplored Option of Military to Military Engagement
http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/IndiaPakistanRapprochementUnexploredOptionofMilitarytoMilitaryEngagement_250610

Libertarians: RomneyCare Unleashed Adverse Selection, As Will ObamaCare
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/06/30/romneycare-unleashed-adverse-selection-as-will-obamacare/

U.S.-Saudi Arabia Fact Sheet
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/06/143770.htm

Teacher Tenure Breakout - The new D.C. contract could be a national reform model
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703964104575335220892954324.html

Libertarians On Immigrants and Crime: Perception vs. Reality
http://www.cato.org/pubs/irb/irb_june2010.pdf

G-20 leaders don't agree with the president that more spending will revive the economy. Nor do most Americans.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575338832391393128.html

Research on global financial stability: the use of BIS international financial statistics
http://www.bis.org/publ/cgfs40.htm

New Industry Study: Kerry-Lieberman to Destroy Up to 5.1 Million Jobs, Cost Families $1,042 per Year, Wealthiest Americans to Benefit
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/06/30/new-study-kerry-lieberman-to-destroy-up-to-5-1-million-jobs-cost-families-1042-per-year-wealthiest-americans-to-benefit

Vice President Biden's Visit With General Petraeus
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/photo-release-vice-president-bidens-visit-with-general-petraeus

The Dodd-Frank Financial Fiasco - The bill all but guarantees bailouts as far as the eye can see, while failing to address real problems like Fan and Fred and our outdated bankruptcy code
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575338732174405398.html

CBO: The Long-Term Budget Outlook
http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=11579

Obama’s Oil Spill To-Do List
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/30/morning-bell-obamas-oil-spill-to-do-list

Espionage History and the 'Russian 10' - The arrest of 'sleeper agents' on U.S. soil is the stuff of spy novels, not the Cold War
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704103904575336891106184782.html

Gun Shy - Four Supreme Court justices make the case against constitutional rights
http://reason.com/archives/2010/06/30/gun-shy

The Rise and Fall of Bear Stearns
http://www.newsweek-interactive.com/2010/06/22/the-rise-and-fall-of-bear-stearns.html

Clinton-Obama: The back story
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=5CED0946-18FE-70B2-A8AE39B9414B15C5

Press Briefing

Jan 30, 2010

India, Buddhism and Geopolitics in Central Asia: Regaining Centrality
http://www.idsa.in/policybrief/IndiaBuddhismandGeopoliticsinCentralAsia_pstobdan_250610

The Road to Kabul Runs Through Islamabad - Pakistani leaders are desperate to broker a deal with Karzai and the Haqqani network. Petraeus understands why.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704103904575336551084011556.html

The Boris and Natasha Show - Stealing American secrets is standard Putin procedure
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704103904575336894211289122.html

The Bucyrus Travesty - A tale of two loan guarantees
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703964104575334912606052680.html

Briefing by Senior Administration Officials on the President's National Space Policy Via Teleconference
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/06/143752.htm

Why Obamanomics Has Failed - Uncertainty about future taxes and regulations is enemy No. 1 of economic growth
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704629804575325233508651458.html

‘Not since FDR has a president done so much to transform a country’http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/joshpeck/gGGGd7

Right now, the U.S. path leads from debt to deflation to stagflation. There's got to be a better way.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704103904575336812620632500.html

The White House - Elena Kagan's Strong Support of the Military
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/29/elena-kagans-strong-support-military

The Bailout Tax - The latest reason to oppose Dodd-Frank
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704103904575336900576460806.html

National Space Policy
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entries/national_space_policy/

Price Transparency in Health Care: Will it Bend the Cost Curve?
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/28/price-transparency-in-health-care-will-it-bend-the-cost-curve/

Kagan’s clerkship with Thurgood Marshall a huge asset
http://progressive.org/mpgilmore062910.html

The Dodd-Frank Assault on Economic Recovery
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/29/morning-bell-the-dodd-frank-assault-on-economic-recovery

Press Briefing

Jun 29, 2010

WH: Elena Kagan's Opening Testimonyhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/28/elena-kagans-opening-testimony

Sarbox Survives - A modest victory for Presidential power
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703964104575335120132757264.html

The Supreme Court's Gun Showdown - Privileges or Immunities Clause
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703964104575335060436777670.html

The White House Blog - President Obama on the Loss of Senator Robert Byrd: "A Voice of Principle and Reason"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/28/president-obama-loss-senator-robert-byrd-a-voice-principle-and-reason

King of Pork—and Proud of It - Robert Byrd made the most of his time in the Senate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703964104575335074107246354.html

The President's Plan to Increase Spectrum - Technology & the Economy
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/28/presidents-plan-increase-spectrum-technology-economy

Panetta's Bomb - Now the CIA tells us Iran is going nuclear, and sanctions won't work
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703964104575335242943136462.html

Cutting Waste by Reforming IThttp://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/28/cutting-waste-reforming-it

Afghanistan: Eyes Wide Shut - Federal President's ambivalence toward the war is energizing our enemies and undermining our allies
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703964104575335103325554236.html

The White House Blog - Improved Access to Preventive Care for Seniors
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/28/improved-access-preventive-care-seniors

Five Gun Salute - The High Court's four liberals are holding out to overturn Heller
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703964104575334721392301704.html

IMF Analsyt Study: Currency Hedging for International Portfolios. By Jochen M. Schmittmann
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=23994.0
Summary: This paper examines the benefits from hedging the currency exposure of international investments in single- and multi-country equity and bond portfolios from the perspectives of German, Japanese, British and American investors. Over the period 1975 to 2009, hedging of currency risk substantially reduced the volatility of foreign investments at a quarterly  investment horizon. Contrary to previous studies, the paper finds that at longer investment horizons of up to five years the case for hedging for risk reduction purposes remained strong.In addition to its impact on risk, hedging affected returns in economically meaningful magnitudes in some cases.

The End of Community Banking - Creditworthy borrowers will be denied loans as small banks devote more and more energy to regulatory compliance
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703964104575334611037072320.html

White House Open For Questions: Energy and Climate Legislation with Heather Zichal
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/28/open-questions-energy-and-climate-legislation-with-heather-zichal

Stopping the Slick, Saving the Environment: A Framework for Response, Recovery, and Resiliency
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/06/Stopping-the-Slick-Saving-the-Environment-A-Framework-for-Response-Recovery-and-Resiliency

U.S., Pakistan Hold Strategic Dialogue on Health Issues
http://blogs.state.gov/ap/index.php/site/entry/pakistan_health

Will Elena Kagan Defend the Rule of Law?
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/28/morning-bell-will-elena-kagan-defend-the-rule-of-law/

Press Briefing

Jun 28, 2010

EPA Bans Human "Guinea Pig" Studies
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.1574/news_detail.asp

Krugman: The Third Depression
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/opinion/28krugman.html

Canada: Land of the Free - At the G-20 summit in Toronto this weekend it will lead the charge against new bank taxes and for spending restraint. Who says our neighbor is boring?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704911704575327140759374532.html

The German Experiment - The government sets a premium price on solar and other alternative power sources. The policy offers lessons in ways to encourage the use of renewable energy.
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/25577/

Generation Gap - The Kerry-Lieberman energy bill would enervate America
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704629804575325263787161900.html

Why Friedrich Hayek Is Making a Comeback - With the failure of Keynesian stimulus, the late Austrian economist's ideas on state power and crony capitalism are getting a new hearing
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704911704575326500718166146.html

WaPo on Kagan: A Supreme conversation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/27/AR2010062703251.html

Kagan's Commerce Clause - Can Congress compel Americans to do anything?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703302604575294664227510730.html

The White House Blog - A Cause for Hope
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/25/a-cause-hope

On S Korea Trade Agreement: Smart trade
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/27/AR2010062703255.html

Korean Trade Epiphany - Federal President discovers the benefits of an agreement he has disdained for three years
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704212804575333310935427760.html

Forbes on Hillary Clinton As Accidental Supply-Sider - She's right about Brazil's growth. She's wrong about its tax rates
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703615104575329252152750186.html

Petraeus and Obama's Uncertain Trumpet - There is a mismatch between the general's Afghan mission and the president's summons to his countrymen
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703615104575328691752054592.html

The White House Blog: Keeping Up with the G8 and G20
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/26/keeping-with-g8-and-g20

Triumph of the Regulators - The Dodd-Frank financial reform bill doubles down on the same system that failed
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703615104575328993006115992.html

Weekly Address: Finishing the Job on Wall Street Reform
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/26/weekly-address-finishing-job-wall-street-reform

The Kevin Rudd Lesson - Australia's prime minister fell because he threatened the nation's economic prosperity
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704911704575326023964421524.html

In 2009, U.S. Led the Rest of the World in Increases of Oil and Natural Gas Production; China Recorded the Greatest Increase in Energy Consumption and Emissions
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/06/25/in-2009-u-s-led-the-rest-of-the-world-in-increases-of-oil-and-natural-gas-production-china-recorded-the-greatest-increase-in-energy-consumption-and-emissions/

Press Briefing

Jun 26, 2010

Shaping a Common Vision of Security between Russia and the United States. By Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary,

Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation. Ploughshares Fund-PIR Centre Conference. Moscow, Russia
http://www.state.gov/t/vci/rls/143675.htm

Do Developed and Developing Countries Compete Head to Head in High-tech? By Lawrence Edwards, Robert Z. Lawrence
NBER Working Paper No. 16105
http://papers.nber.org/papers/w16105#fromrss
Concerns that (1) growth in developing countries could worsen the US terms of trade and (2) that increased US trade

with developing countries will increase US wage inequality both implicitly reflect the assumption that goods produced

in the United States and developing countries are close substitutes and that specialization is incomplete. In this

paper we show on the contrary that there are distinctive patterns of international specialization and that developed

and developing countries export fundamentally different products, especially those classified as high tech.

The Great Danes: Cultural Values and Neoliberal Reforms
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1629940
The paper examines the relationship between civic values and neoliberal reforms. It shows that countries with more

idealistic (or civic-minded) cultural attitudes also have more neoliberal economic policies. In addition, countries

with more idealistic cultural values moved most rapidly toward market reforms after 1980. In less civic-minded

cultures, rent-seeking special interest groups blocked reform, even as the superiority of the neoliberal economic

model became increasingly apparent.

Humanoid Robot Justin Learning To Fix Satellites
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/humanoid-robot-justin-learning-to-fix-satellites

Jobs and Financial Regulation Reform: A Preliminary Look
http://americanactionforum.org/files/Jobs_FinReg.pdf

DLC: Ban the Gerrymander
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=255166&kaid=450022&subid=900228

Libertarian: Rethinking jobless benefits
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38990.html

Conservatives: Halting the Explosive Growth of Welfare Entitlements
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/25/morning-bell-halting-the-explosive-growth-of-welfare-entitlements

Press Briefing

Jan 25, 2010

On BPA: Speak Up, Science & Industry -- or Forever Hold Your Peace
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.1565/news_detail.asp

Obama Is Missing in Action on Gay Rights - Ted Olson is on the right side of history. When will the president step up?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704629804575325231395396708.html

Ambassador Eikenberry Receives First Honorary Degree From National Military Academy of Afghanistan
http://blogs.state.gov/ap/index.php/site/entry/eikenberry_nmaa

A Weakened U.S. Goes to the G-20 - In Toronto, summiteers will be courting China—not the U.S.—as the world's pre-eminent source of dollar financing
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704629804575325240077856192.html

Petraeus's Opportunity - His selection reassures our Afghan allies that the U.S. will not begin substantial troop reductions until the Afghans can handle the insurgents on their own
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704911704575326862770750660.html

The Roundtable's Great Awakening - Big business discovers President Obama's 'hostile environment.'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704629804575324821751980744.html



Breakthrough in Capturing Lost Energy in Solar Cells - "Hot carrier" solar cells could be twice as efficient as today's
http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/solar/breakthrough-in-capturing-lost-energy-in-solar-cells

Why It's Safer to Drill in the 'Backyard' - Texas has had 102 oil and gas well blowouts since the start of 2006, without catastrophic consequences
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704050804575318591702015252.html

The White House Blog - Reset with Russia Continues
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/24/reset-with-russia-continues

Repeal ObamaCare: Yes We Can
http://fixhealthcarepolicy.com/in-the-news/repeal-obamacare-yes-we-can

Policies of Scarcity in a Land of Plenty
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/06/23/policies-of-scarcity-in-a-land-of-plenty/

Conrad Black's Revenge - The Supreme Court reins in a vague and often abused law
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704289504575312512968461310.html

Assistant Secretary Brimmer Speaks With Students at John Cabot University. By Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Organization Affairs. Rome, Italy
http://www.state.gov/p/io/rm/2010/143600.htm

No Rush to Judgment on New START
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/24/morning-bell-no-rush-to-judgment-on-new-start

Press Briefing

Jun 24, 2010

Using Comparative Effectiveness Research to Improve the Health of Priority Populations
http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/0603_comparative_effectiveness.aspx

BIS Annual Reports 1931 to 1996
http://www.bis.org/publ/arpdf/archive/index.htm

War Is No Place for Libel Law - A federal court slaps down a novel claim from a Sudanese business bombed by the U.S. in 1998
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704895204575320840303274372.html

A Missed Opportunity on Financial Reform - How could Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have escaped Congress's attention?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704853404575322491510468572.html

U.S. Assistance in Response to the Current Humanitarian Crisis in the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/06/143576.htm

Democrats and the McChrystal Fiasco - They politicized generals during the Bush administration and fomented distrust between civilian and military leaders
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704629804575324610902472990.html

The White House Blog - The Secret Life of White House Bees
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/23/secret-life-white-house-bees

The Family Business Revenue Act - A tax on the wealthy becomes a tax on mom and pop
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704629804575325031494469728.html

Al Gore & D Blood: Toward Sustainable Capitalism - Long-term incentives are the antidote to short-term greed
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704853404575323112076444850.html

Volcker and Derivatives - The end game for financial reform
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704853404575323032606552688.html

President Obama on LGBT Pride Month: Extraordinary Progress, But Hard Work Left to Do
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/23/president-obama-lgbt-pride-month-extraordinary-progress-hard-work-left-do

The Petraeus Hail Mary - Obama makes a wise choice, but the general needs more support
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704629804575325073086949444.html

How the UN Can Contribute to International Cooperation on Climate Change. By Maria Otero, Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs. NY-Alesund Symposium, Svalbard, Norway
http://www.state.gov/g/143563.htm

Federal Presidents’s Leadership Vacuum
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/23/morning-bell-obamas-leadership-vacuum

It's Time America Had a Fat President
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11912

Press Briefing

Jun 23, 2010

Implementing the Affordable Care Act
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7vQ4KWXzMc

The "government needs to be removing itself from the private sector"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704853404575322931249166908.html

The White House Blog - The Affordable Care Act -- Benefits and Weights Being Lifted
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/22/afforadable-care-act-benefits-and-weights-being-lifted

$100,000 Is Plenty for Deposit Insurance - Raising the cap will enhance the ability of weak banks to expand their deposit base and cause trouble for the FDIC
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704050804575319051157716956.html

America and the Middle East in a New Era
http://www.state.gov/p/us/rm/2010/136721.htm

Obama's Moratorium, Drilled. WSJ Editorial
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704853404575323203174960586.html
A federal judge instructs the White House on the rule of law
WSJ, Jun 23, 2010

As legal rebukes go, it's hard to get more comprehensive than the one federal judge Martin Feldman delivered yesterday in overturning the Obama Administration's six-month moratorium on deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

In a remarkably pointed 22-page ruling, the judge made clear that even Presidents aren't allowed to impose an "edict" that isn't justified by science or safety.

Oil-services companies brought the case, which is supported by the state of Louisiana, arguing that the White House ban was "arbitrary and capricious" in exceeding federal authority, and Judge Feldman agreed. He noted that even after reading Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's report on safety recommendations (which included the ban), and Mr. Salazar's memo ordering the ban, "the Court is unable to divine or fathom a relationship between the findings and the immense scope of the moratorium."

Quite the opposite, said the judge, "the Report makes no effort to explicitly justify the moratorium." It does "not discuss any irreparable harm that would warrant a suspension of operations" and doesn't provide a timeline for implementing proposed safety regulations. There is "no evidence" that Mr. Salazar "balanced the concern for environmental safety" with existing policy, and "no suggestion" that he "considered any alternatives." The feds couldn't even coherently define "deep water." Ouch.

As these columns have argued, the judge said that the illogic of the moratorium is that "because one rig failed and although no one yet fully knows why, all companies and rigs drilling new wells over 500 feet also universally present an imminent danger." Because this will cause "irreparable harm" to jobs and to domestic energy supplies, such a sweeping ban couldn't stand.

The judge also went out of his way to express "uneasiness" over the Administration's claim that its safety report (which recommended the ban) had been "peer reviewed" by experts. Those experts have since publicly disavowed the ban, explaining that the ban was added to the report only after they had signed off on an earlier draft. White House green czar Carol Browner dismissed their complaints, saying "No one's been deceived or misrepresented."

But Judge Feldman directly contradicted Ms. Browner, describing the report's claim of "peer review" as "factually incorrect." Moreover, the Administration's "hair-splitting explanation" of what the experts did or didn't support "abuses reason, common sense, and the text at issue."

The judge's other public service was to list the environmental groups that had joined the Administration's defense against the suit. They included the Natural Resources Defense Council, whose president, Frances Beinecke, has been appointed by President Obama to his deep water drilling commission. Ms. Beinecke ought to resign.

The Administration says it will appeal, but the thorough-going nature of the judge's ruling suggests the Administration will need a much better legal and substantive case to prevail. It would do better to use the ruling as an excuse to drop its purely political ban and stop compounding the spill's damage to the people and economy of the Gulf.



Bosnia and Herzegovina: Promoting Security By Destroying Conventional Weapons
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/bosnia_herzegovina_conventional_weapons

Orszag Adieu - The 'cost curve' bent the budget director
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704853404575322850840791986.html

Geithner & Summers: Our Agenda for the G-20 - Countries should work to stabilize debt levels, enact new financial regulation, and reduce their dependence on fossil fuels
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704853404575322791729932502.html

Blowouts Will Not Always Be Prevented - We are curiously unwilling to acknowledge known risks
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704853404575322760763424460.html

Why McChrystal Has to Go - It is intolerable for military officers to mock senior political officials, including ambassadors and the vice president
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704853404575322800914018876.html

Fire McChrystal Pronto
http://progressive.org/wx062210.html

IER Statement on Court Order Overturning Obama Admin. Deepwater Drilling Ban
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/06/22/ier-statement-on-court-order-overturning-obama-admin-deepwater-drilling-ban/

The White House Blog: Building Regional Energy Innovation Cluster
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/22/building-regional-energy-innovation-clusters

Daddy Was Only a Donor - A new study paints a troubling portrait of children conceived by single mothers who chose insemination
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704324304575306851423563346.html

China Currency 2.0: Yes, Change Really Is Coming
http://blogs.forbes.com/china/2010/06/21/china-currency-2-0-yes-change-really-is-coming/

Conservatives: Time to Dump the Afghanistan Timeline
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/22/morning-bell-time-to-dump-the-afghanistan-timeline/

Moral Hazard and China's Banks - Beijing could face its own banking crisis unless more market discipline is introduced

Moral Hazard and China's Banks. By VICTOR SHIH
Beijing could face its own banking crisis unless more market discipline is introduced.WSJ, Jun 22, 2010

Some policy makers in Beijing have taken to crowing that their economic model is superior to the West's because China didn't suffer a banking crisis. They're wrong in at least one critical respect: moral hazard. In China, just as in the West, banks and businesses have grown accustomed to gambling with other people's money on the assumption that the government will bail them out if they lose.

The key fact governing most credit and investment decisions today is that everyone believes the central bank would bail out any financial institution, large or small. The central government has consistently repaid depositors in the event of bank closures. The promise is different from, and worse than, traditional deposit insurance in that banks don't pay a premium for the benefit—it just happens.
[chiecon]

This causes ripples throughout the financial system. Depositors and investors are at ease with placing much of their savings into financial institutions because of the central bank's blanket guarantee, allowing these institutions to provide ample liquidity to firms. The guarantee also minimizes the chance of a panic, thus enforcing everyone's confidence in the system.

Two other regulations help bolster a deceptive sense of security. First, the China Banking Regulatory Commission imposes a large basket of prudential targets on all banks, including capital-adequacy ratio, debt-asset ratio and nonperforming-loan ratio requirements, as well as a long list of lending rules. Furthermore, the Communist Party sends inspectors to monitor the banking regulators.

The guarantee and intrusive regulations make the system less secure, not more. Given the ultimate backstop, profits from risky behavior can be so high that banks are willing to share some of the spoils with corrupt regulators who can help them circumvent bothersome rules. In one recent case, the vice president of the China Development Bank was convicted of receiving bribes to grant loans against regulations. In another case, a banker in southern Guangdong province bribed local police to arrest an auditor evaluating the bank branch's books.

This kind of behavior would be difficult in a system with a freer media and an independent judiciary. But China's system depends mainly on top-down monitoring, where a borrower need only elicit the help of a powerful official. As an added benefit, if the loan fails, borrowers can work with banks to roll over loans with the regulators' full blessing.

As a consequence, financial-system risks build up over time at an unknown pace. Small crises are not allowed to emerge to inform the public of accumulating systemic risks—unlike in the United States, where a growing number of small bank failures can serve as a canary in a coal mine.

The only way to avert a future crisis of confidence is to tackle moral hazard. First, the central bank's blanket guarantee should be removed from small financial institutions that engage in reckless lending. Depositors must learn to be suspicious of banks doing the bidding of ambitious local authorities.

Second, while it may be difficult to take similar steps for large banks because of systemic risks, these institutions should be required to disclose when large-scale borrowers restructure or roll over major loans. Instead of only reporting the identities of the largest borrowers overall, listed banks should disclose the identities of their largest borrowers in every province or even city so that investors can conduct their own due diligence.

Third, regulators also need to rethink the incentives their rules create. The current system of imposing target caps on nonperforming loans encourages bankers and local regulators to collude to hide them. These targets should be scrapped in favor of higher capital-adequacy ratios and much stricter restrictions on borrowers' ability to roll over loans or to convert short-term loans into long-term loans. If losses arise, banks should be encouraged to simply recognize them and move on.

China's moral hazard problem manifests itself somewhat differently from that in the West, but the end result is the same: If all financial institutions are perceived as too big to fail, while misguided regulations give a false impression of safety, plenty of bankers and investors will be happy to take advantage.

Mr. Shih is a professor of political science at Northwestern University and the author of "Factions and Finance in China: Elite Conflict and Inflation" (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

Press Briefing

Jan 22, 2010

Resolving the financial crisis: are we heeding the lessons from the Nordics?, by Claudio Borio, Bent Vale and Goetz von Peter. Bis Working Papers No 311
http://www.bis.org/publ/work311.htm

A Battle Against the Odds - How tribal leaders helped the U.S. in Iraq—and the lessons for Afghanistan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704050804575319821523248194.html

An Update from the President on the BP Oil Spill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij4ngpNcsW0

Moral Hazard and China's Banks - Beijing could face its own banking crisis unless more market discipline is introduced
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704050804575319582177841808.html

Iran's Democratic Manifesto - Mousavi has issued a clear call for democracy, the separation of mosque and state, and a gentler foreign policy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704198004575310753382427596.html

The Sotomayor Precedent - Obama's nominee joins the Ninth Circuit, loses three times
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704895204575320840247308772.html

Live Video: Secretary Clinton To Deliver Remarks Celebrating LGBT Pride Month
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/secretary_clinton_lgbt_pride_month

Colombia Speaks - But will the Federal President listen?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704895204575320833372467878.html

The White House Blog - The President's Record on Border Security
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/21/presidents-record-border-security

The Antidrilling Commission - The White House choices seem to have made up their minds
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704895204575320892241446242.html
 "Under my Administration, the days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over. . . To undermine scientific integrity is to undermine our democracy. . . I want to be sure that facts are driving scientific decisions, and not the other way around."
            —President Obama, April 27, 2009

A Negotiated Solution for Afghanistan? - Whatever his other weaknesses, President Karzai is not about to surrender to the Taliban at the peace table
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704050804575319263117995160.html

UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, by Elizabeth Verville, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Remarks at a High-level Meeting of the UN General Assembly, NYC
http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/rm/143406.htm

A Visit Inside Turkey's Islamist IHH - A journalist's trip to the headquarters of the extremist group that sponsored the Mavi Marmara
http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/visit-turkey-islamist-ihh

Farewell to the Shadow Shoguns
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/koike6/English

The Obama Speech We're Waiting For: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to get the BP treatment
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704895204575320922399530274.html

Iran and the European Moment - The Continent has no more excuses not to act against Tehran
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704122904575314880833508458.html

Decks are stacked against China keeping its stake in Korea game
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20100606bc.html

Can 'Pashtunistan' end the Af-Pak war?
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/1/can-pashtunistan-end-the-af-pak-war/

Firms paid to shut down wind farms when the wind is blowing - Britain's biggest wind farm companies are to be paid not to produce electricity when the wind is blowing
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/7840035/Firms-paid-to-shut-down-wind-farms-when-the-wind-is-blowing.html

Press Briefing

Jan 21, 2010

Chomsky's Nightmare: Is Fascism Coming to America?
http://progressive.org/rothschild0610.html

Time to Stand Up to the National Standards Agenda
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/21/morning-bell-time-to-stand-up-to-the-national-standards-agenda

Churchill's Stogie Up In Smoke
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.1549/news_detail.asp

On Eric Jaffe's The King's Best Highway - The Lost History of the Boston Post Road, the Route that Made America
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704198004575311071004764364.html

WH Blog: President Obama Breaks Ground on 10,000th Recovery Act Road Project; Let the Summer of Recovery begin!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/18/president-obama-breaks-ground-10000th-recovery-act-road-project-let-summer-recovery-

Think Globally, Sue Locally - The plaintiffs bar goes international and focuses on trashing a corporation's image
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704002104575291101685354766.html

On the Precautionary Principle: The Gulf disaster rehabilitates a discredited idea - The 'Paralyzing' Principle
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703389004575304931124455048.html

Pakistan's Medieval Constitution - It is the only Muslim nation to explicitly define who is or is not a 'Muslim'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704198004575311043632237762.html

The China Currency Syndrome - World leaders would do better to worry less about imbalances and more about whether their own nations are pursuing policies that contribute to global prosperity
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704365204575317691493370612.html

U.S. Will Contribute Additional $60 Million to United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/unrwa_refugees

ObamaCare and the Independent Vote - Voter opposition hasn't changed, and it could be decisive in November
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704289504575312610438320480.html

Ending Lobbyist Appointments to Agency Boards and Commissions
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/18/ending-lobbyist-appointments-agency-boards-and-commissions

Capital-Control Comeback - As money flows to Asia, politicians play King Canute
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704289504575312080651478488.html

Celebrex: Something to Celebrate
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.1548/news_detail.asp

Federal President Weekly Address: Republicans Blocking Progress
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/19/weekly-address-republicans-blocking-progress

Conservatives: Married Fathers-America’s Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/06/Married-Fathers-Americas-Greatest-Weapon-Against-Child-Poverty

Press Briefing

Jan 19, 2010

Why Pakistan Must Change Its Priorities - ISI and the Taliban
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11902

Adjustments to the Basel II market risk framework announced by the Basel Committee
http://www.bis.org/press/p100618.htm

Free eBook: Cult of the Presidency - America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power
http://www.cato.org/cult-of-the-presidency/

The Vanity Tax - The trouble with the government's new tax on indoor tanning services
http://reason.com/archives/2010/06/17/the-vanity-tax

Surfing the Chinternet - What hides behind the "Great Firewall" of China?
http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/surfing-chinternet

Why is the United States Always the Supplicant? Part of the answer, no doubt, is our uninhibited displays of eagerness
http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/why-united-states-always-supplicant

US Helps Drought-Affected Niger With First Award Under the Emergency Food Security Program
http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2010/pr100617.html

On NASA's comments to EPA Fears of Formaldehyde
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.1540/news_detail.asp

Scoop: KUKA's youBot Mobile Manipulator Unveiled
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/scoop-kukas-youbot

EPA Foments Baseless Fear of Formaldehyde
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.1538/news_detail.asp

Keep Your Junk Science Off My Salt
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.1541/news_detail.asp

How 'Protectionist' Became An Insult - As Congress dawdles on trade agreements, the harsh results of the Smoot-Hawley tariff should not be forgotten
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704575304575296610452014710.html

The Trouble With Teacher Tenure - We can't make progress if bad teachers have jobs for life

The Trouble With Teacher Tenure. By TIMOTHY KNOWLES
We can't make progress if bad teachers have jobs for life.WSJ, Jun 18, 2010

Colorado did right by its kids recently when Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law groundbreaking education reform to overhaul teacher tenure and evaluation. The bill elicited an outcry from many teachers. But the many states now considering similar measures must not be cowed by the firestorm.

As a former teacher, principal and district leader, I've devoted my life to providing children with the excellent education they deserve. And in my 23 years on the job, there are two things I've learned for certain.

First, teachers have a greater impact on student learning than any other school-based factor. Second, we will not produce excellent schools without eliminating laws and practices that guarantee teachers—regardless of their performance—jobs for life.

Nearly everyone in public education has a story that illustrates the Kafkaesque process of trying to remove a tenured teacher. Mine involves a teacher in Boston who napped each day in the back of the room while students copied from the board. Despite repeated efforts, the district failed to fire him.

Such anecdotes are reinforced by hard data. An award-winning study of Illinois school districts over an 18-year period found an average of two tenured teachers out of 95,000 were dismissed for underperformance each year. Nationally, between 0.1% and 1% of tenured teachers are dismissed annually, according to the Center for American Progress.

It's not news that students suffer when very low-performing teachers are allowed to remain in the classroom. But teachers suffer too. In a forthcoming article, my colleague Sara Ray Stoelinga of the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute illustrates how teacher tenure creates perverse practices in schools across Chicago. In interviews with 40 principals, 37 admitted to using some type of harassing supervision—cajoling, pressuring or threatening—to get teachers to leave in order to circumvent the byzantine removal process mandated by the union contract. One principal plotted to remove a teacher who had trouble climbing stairs by assigning her to a fourth-floor classroom. Another reassigned a teacher who had been teaching eighth-graders for 14 years to a first-grade classroom.

This pathological status quo feeds upon itself: The more difficult it is for principals to address underperformance, the more likely they are to use informal methods to do so. This fuels labor's argument that management is capricious, strengthening their case for increased employment protection.

This cycle leads to what educators call "the dance of the lemons"—the practice of shuffling underperforming teachers from school to school. It's easier to push a teacher to a school down the street than it is to push them out of the profession.

The effect that bad teachers have on relationships among teachers and principals might be the most corrosive aspect of tenure laws. In the book "Organizing Schools for Improvement," University of Chicago researchers showed that the quality of adult relationships in a school profoundly affects student achievement. Analyzing more than a decade's worth of data from Chicago Public Schools, they found that schools where adults demonstrate a shared sense of responsibility for student learning are four times more likely to make substantial gains in reading than schools without strong professional ties. Schools where principals set high standards and involve teachers in decision making are seven times more likely to make substantial improvements in math than schools weak on such measures. But cooperative relationships are difficult to maintain when principals must use underhanded methods to remove ineffective teachers, and when bad teachers undermine staff morale.

The good news is that the majority of teachers are not interested in protecting colleagues who don't belong in the classroom. Last summer the American Federation of Teachers surveyed its members, asking: "Which of these should be the higher priority: working for professional teaching standards and good teaching, or defending the job rights of teachers who face disciplinary action?" According to Randi Weingarten, the union's president, "by a ratio of 4 to 1 (69% to 16%), AFT members chose working for professional standards and good teaching as the higher priority." She elaborated: "Teachers have zero tolerance for people who . . . demonstrate they are unfit for our profession."

The time has come to eliminate tenure. We are facing monumental challenges in our quest to provide all students with an education that will prepare them to compete in a globalized economy. By removing one of the main sources of friction between labor and management, we can focus on the substantive issues: training, evaluating and rewarding teachers to make teaching a true profession.

Mr. Knowles is the director of the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute.