Can policymakers and private investors reprivatize American finance? Should they? If so, how?

The major credit rating agencies have been widely criticized for their role in the international bust and liquidity panic in the markets for structured mortgages and other complex securities. Critics continue to question the effectiveness of rating agency performance, incentives, and oversight. Currently, numerous regulations mandate that investors use credit...

Panelists will discuss the recent series of government interventions and bailouts triggered by the credit crunch and financial panic of 2008.

Amity Shlaes' The Forgotten Man is useful in understanding the Great Depression, New Deal, and serious policy errors of the time.

Price controls that keep the price of pharmaceuticals below market levels impede access to drugs, discourage drug development, and allow other countries to free-ride on American R&D.

In short, for all the differences that exist between the United States and the states of Europe, and for all the personal clashes between heads of state and government on both sides of the Atlantic, Europe matters to America, and America to Europe, because converging concerns, compatible values, and overlapping interests make of each the other"s partner of choice.