Financial Transparency Coalition

Behind only fear and tragedy, Osama bin Laden’s most enduring legacy on our world will be the changes in national and international security. Our response to his hate—and the attacks he orchestrated on September 11th—was overwhelming shaped by our collective realization that many of our security systems cannot protect against those who want so badly to do us harm. The most conspicuous of these systematic changes was—of course—in air transportation, as anyone who has flown before and after 2001 can tell you. The United States' capacity to respond to terrorist attacks was also improved with the...

I live in Oregon where there is no sales tax. Before I moved here, I took the sales tax for granted. If a bottle of coke costs $1.00 then you can expect to dole out a dollar bill and some change. Now, I go to a restaurant and my bill always comes in a rounded figure. Imagine that! But I digress. The lack of a sales tax gives Oregon something of an advantage of its neighbors to the North and South. Many who live in Vancouver, Washington, for example, will venture across the border...

Ever since the general introduction of the body scanner and enhanced pat-down in airport security lines, there’s been a furious debate in America over just how much privacy we are willing to give up for the sake of our safety in the skies. Organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argue that security should not “come at the expense of civil liberties.” Other people just don’t feel comfortable with strangers seeing them virtually naked. Those on the other side argue the loss of privacy is an unfortunate byproduct for the reassurance of safety. In the last...

For years economists have talked about the “end of the euro.” These apocalyptic warnings have become only more severe in recent years and months, with the weakening of Europe’s economic and financial position and the debt crises in Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Ireland, which have triggered discussions of these countries unilaterally dropping the euro. In truth, however, economists have talked about the end of the euro since the beginning of the euro, when even after it was formally adopted as the third pillar of the European Union in the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 many economists have remained...