Transparency works both ways

The meeting in London on Tuesday between the government leaders of Europe's biggest economies called for more transparency in the financial institutions, as a response to the current economic turmoil around the world. It is easy to understand why.

Politicians such as Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy are trying to make plans for the future of their national economies, and they don't want those plans to be blown off course by an unexpected financial hurricane. They want to be able to see ...