Financial Transparency Coalition

Nick Clegg, I really must applaud you for following perfectly in step with a line of giant cowards that have recently been running policy in the United Kingdom. Ok let me back up before I start offending anyone. Which surely I have already done. That statement was a little harsh. The United Kingdom is a wonderful place. I should know, I grew up in Northern Ireland, just outside of Belfast. I called French fries “chips” for half of my life. This was actually particularly confusing for the lunch ladies at my middle school when...

You’ve probably heard a lot of talk on so-called rare earths. Rare earths are relatively unassuming minerals, down at the bottom of the periodic table. In elemental form, they are iron gray to silvery. They are often soft, malleable, and usually reactive, especially at high temperatures. These minerals are also used to manufacture everything from iPhones to wind turbines and from electric cars to military hardware. And China controls 97% of the world’s supply. This wasn’t a big deal until this November, when China decided to restrict the export of rare earths to Japan, likely...

In November, when the U.S. embarrassingly discovered it had been conducting months of secret negotiations with an imposter, posing as a high level Taliban leader, it was yet again underscored how little the NATO allies understand of the terrorist organization. In a massive and deadly version of “Where’s Waldo,” the U.S. is not even certain where Taliban leaders are hiding, though it is suspected they are somewhere in Pakistan, perhaps under the aid of the Pakistani government. Even less is understood of Taliban’s financing, though recent developments have answered the question of “what” more completely than “where.” Taliban...

Casinos are contentious. They often pose economic problems for many communities they operate in because of increased crime and the costs of prevention; the drain on public services, such as sewers and roads; and the social concerns associated with increased compulsive gambling within the community. While proponents of casinos argue they bring a community revenue through tourism, others note there is a substitution effect, which means casino patrons (whether residents or visitors) simply decrease their spending on other goods and services. Economic studies put this range anywhere from 100%, which indicates gambling is mostly of “convenience”...