The myth of self-regulation. In the big debate about new regulations to govern the money markets (see my columns in yesterday's and the day before yesterday's newsletters), there is broad agreement on one thing - politicians reject the idea of bank self-regulation. Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy have made this clear and called for new laws. The Italian finance minister Giulio Tremonti said it was the politicians that had to use legislation to set the rules. If one leaves it to the banks to...