"Enlightening Ideas for Public Policy..."
Vol. 8, Issue 18; May 1, 2006
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IN THIS WEEK'S ISSUE:
1. Wal-Mart: Banking on Competition?
2. Military Intervention and Nuclear Proliferation
3. Vietnam: Asia's Fastest Economic Tiger
4. ETA Announces Permanent Ceasefire
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WAL-MART BANKING ON COMPETITION?
Wal-Mart's plan to sponsor credit and debit cards, and to process electronic
check transactions, has met stiff opposition, prompting the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corp. to hold -- for the first time in its 73-year history --
hearings on an application for an industrial bank charter. Opponents of
Wal-Mart's expansion into financial services have put forth several dubious
arguments, according to Benjamin Powell, who dissects their arguments in his
latest op-ed.
The charge that FDIC approval of Wal-Mart's banking license, one argument
runs, would create a monopoly. But this is highly unlikely, "given the more
than 7,500 commercial banks, 1,300 savings and loans, and 8,500 credit
unions operating in the U.S. today," writes Powell. Others charge that
Wal-Mart may pose a systemic risk to the financial payments system and for
the federal deposit insurance fund. But Powell points out that merging
banking and retail would not be any riskier than other affiliations present
in the financial services industry. Nor would Wal-Mart have any incentive to
engage in "predatory pricing" of its financial services, since that would
attract competitors.
Ultimately, the motive of the opponents, Powell suggests, is fear of
competition. "My bank and other banks in Shannon County" he quotes one
community banker as having said, "could go the way of many of our retail
businesses and join the dinosaurs."
See "More Anti-Wal-Mart Hysteria," by Benjamin Powell (4/26/06)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1711
SPANISH TRANSLATION:
"Más histeria anti-Wal-Mart"
http://www.elindependent.org/articulos/article.asp?id=1711
Center on Entrepreneurial Innovation (Benjamin Powell, director)
http://www.independent.org/research/coei/
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MILITARY INTERVENTION AND NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION
The Bush administration's stern warnings against Iran may hasten nuclear
proliferation, just as the U.S. war in Iraq may have hastened Iran's nuclear
weapons aspirations, according to Ivan Eland, director of the Independent
Institute's Center on Peace & Liberty. "The invasion of Iraq and subsequent
U.S. military threats against Iran have actually intensified the Iranian
desire to get nuclear weapons to keep the superpower out," writes Eland in
his latest op-ed.
Eland takes to task both hawkish conservatives who believe U.S. military
interventionism abroad is necessary to promote American security, and
liberals who who support U.S. military interventions for "humanitarian"
purposes. Both groups, he argues, "should realize the long-term effects of
U.S. military interventions on the proliferation of nuclear weapons around
the world."
To dissuade Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Eland further argues, the
United States should strike a deal similar to those it offered North Korea
and Libya: "In exchange for ending its nuclear program, Iran would be
offered a pledge of non-aggression by the United States and Israel and full
economic and diplomatic integration with the world."
"The United States May Have to Live with a Nuclear Iran," by Ivan Eland
(5/1/06)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1713
SPANISH TRANSLATION:
"Los Estados Unidos pueden tener que convivir con un Irán nuclear"
http://www.elindependent.org/articulos/article.asp?id=1713
THE WAY OUT OF IRAQ: Decentralizing the Iraqi Government, by Ivan Eland
http://www.independent.org/store/policy_reports/detail.asp?id=16
THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES: U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed, by Ivan Eland
http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=54
Center on Peace & Liberty (Ivan Eland, director)
http://www.independent.org/research/copal/
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VIETNAM: Asia's Fastest Economic Tiger
Although registering a business in Vietnam can take 50 days or longer, that
country has had the most consistent economic growth rate in South East Asia
this century (4.7%) and impressive growth in 2005 (8%). Vietnam is now the
fastest growing "tiger" of the region, according to Agence France-Presse.
Pragmatists in Vietnam's government have been promoting policies of economic
"renovation" (doi moi) since the death of Ho Chi Minh's successor, Le Duan,
twenty years ago. But the country's progress was hastened by the 2000
Enterprise Law, which significantly simplified the processes of doing
business, as William Ratliff, adjunct fellow of the Independent Institute's
Center on Global Prosperity, notes in a recent op-ed.
Yet, according to Ratliff, the country still suffers from "corruption, a
bloated, intrusive, non-productive bureaucracy, ideological inclinations
toward paternalism, and obstructionism by local officials." Vietnam's new
leaders hope the pace of the new economic "tiger" will quicken. Whether they
will introduce doi moi to the political system remains to be seen.
See "Getting Down to Business in Vietnam," by William Ratliff (4/26/06)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1712
SPANISH TRANSLATION:
"Considerando hacer negocios en Vietnam"
http://www.elindependent.org/articulos/article.asp?id=1712
Center on Global Prosperity (Alvaro Vargas Llosa, director)
http://www.independent.org/research/cogp/
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ETA ANNOUNCES PERMANENT CEASEFIRE
Last month ETA, the militant Basque separatist organization, declared a
"permanent ceasefire." Observers expressed cautious optimism regarding ETA's
latest announcement, but their optimism comes at a price -- entering talks
with a terrorist organization responsible for killing about 800 Spaniards.
The dilemma has agonized many, including Alvaro Vargas Llosa, director of
the Independent Institute's Center on Global Prosperity, who views the
ceasefire as an opportunity worth taking.
"Even though I share the repugnance many of the victims of ETA and their
political supporters are expressing at the thought of a negotiation, I think
that country has entered a process that will result in the end of
terrorism," writes Vargas Llosa in a recent op-ed. "The worst that can
happen is the process may fail and things will go back to the way they
were," he concludes.
See "ETA -- The Beginning of the End?" by Alvaro Vargas Llosa (4/28/06)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1707
SPANISH TRANSLATION:
"ETA: ¿El principio del fin?"
http://www.elindependent.org/articulos/article.asp?id=1707
Spanish-language Blog:
El Independent: El Blog del Centro Para la Prosperidad Global de The
Independent Institute
http://independent.typepad.com
THE CHE GUEVARA MYTH AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERTY, by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=61
LIBERTY FOR LATIN AMERICA: How to Undo Five-Hundred Years of State
Oppression, by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=55
Center on Global Prosperity (Alvaro Vargas Llosa, director)
http://www.independent.org/research/cogp/
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THE LIGHTHOUSE
ISSN 1526-173X
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