August 31 | June 20 | April 11

• David Kopel of the Heartland Instute has recently published Antitust After Microsoft: The Obsolescence of Antitrust in the Digital Age.

• In a letter in Financial Times, Practice Group member Mark Nance responds:

"Sir, With reference to your editorial "Busted banks" (June 7): the only way to create a vigorous and viable banking sector in Japan is for the government to bite the bullet, recognize the losses in the insolvent institutions and return them to the private sector. Nationalizing insolvent banks distorts the marketplace, does nothing to remove overcapacity or get new funds flowing into the economy and further delays dealing with problem loans. The delays in recognizing the losses simply mean that they will be larger when the day of reckoning arrives.

As for "propping up solvent banks" with government investment, the devil is in the detail. If they need propping up, they are probably not really solvent. If they are truly solvent, the "propping" should at most consist of regulatory forbearances (for example, allowing them to operate with lower capital levels). Forbearances themselves, however, are short-term solutions because they tend to come with a price: there is a tendency for these banks to act as if they were nationalized, which creates some of the same problems outlined above. Again, a far better solution is to force actions to come into compliance with regulatory requirements."

Mark Nance, General Counsel, Pathfire Inc.
US Copyright: The Financial Times Limited

April 11, 2001

• The GAAP Gap: Corporate Disclosure in the Internet Age
  by Robert E. Litan and Peter J. Wallison
  AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies
  Annual corporate financial disclosure statements are becoming less relevant and less useful to customers and investors, and his book addresses the problems associated with this issue. The authors argue that the gap in GAAP – generally accepted accounting principles, or the standards, created in the 1930s, on which corporate financial statements are based – is that the New Economy has redefined what information consumers and investors need. They suggest a new framework for financial disclosure, using new data, such as the cost of acquiring or retaining one customer as well as utilizing Internet technology. CONTACT: http://www.aei-brookings.org
• The National Legal Center is sponsoring a conference on May 15-16, 2001 in Washington, DC. This exclusive forum, called the General Counsel Briefing, is designed specifically for top business law attorneys. Keynote speakers include Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Theodore B. Olson, Nominee for Solicitor General of the United States.