Quite a lot was written by Canadians in the 1990's in connection with the Quebec referendum. A random example: http://global-economics.ca/dth.chap8.htm As I recall, the Canadian Supreme Court left the debt question wide open. jay

Alan was someone who made you smile the moment you saw him; when you went to him with a knotty problem, he was someone who would make you feel you had done him a favor when he solved it; his passing leaves a gap where there was warmth and welcoming always. He was a fine scholar and equally as fine a man. jay

Great post. It is not clear to me why a consumer would benefit from uniformity, altho no doubt the industry would. We have in the US the uniformity that gutted the usury laws.

Adam, you make two excellent points. Ultimately the question is empirical and I don't think anyone has done the study. My sense is that many multinationals are highly integrated, especially as to cash and IP development and ownership. Except for allocation agreements for tax purposes, to which the courts in Nortel correctly gave little credence for ownership purposes, companies often pay little attention to ownership allocation of assets generally, thinking instead of divisions that cut across corporate and geographical lines. That may be especially true for IP. I think that Nortel will encourage global sales for maximum returns. As long as the DIP loan has first priority in the proceeds, I think a delayed decision on allocation will often be a good idea because arguing re allocation up front will delay the sales and perhaps torpedo the global appoach.

The lack of government control is the central defect of HR5421. That control is central to preservation of the public interest in the crisis of a SIFI collapse and without that control (and backing) the market will not stabilize. On top of that foreign regulators will not accept private control. The post also points out there will be no "left behind" (and likely "forlorn") debt without a Fed Rule requiring it and specifying its amount and terms.

Those who cannot remember the past... OR there are no new jokes. Anna, I hope you are going to write up this history. It would be enormously valuable.