The Reserve Bank of Australia isn't technically "private"? The Bank of England and the original Reichsbank and Banc de France were far more "private" than the Federal Reserve in the US is. And as someone who is indirectly supported by the Fed, I can say that it is the least "private" private institution in the US......even less so than FannieMae or FeddieMac.
I do know that the Bank of Canada was founded as a "private" entity and then was nationalized. Given the history of the Commonwealth countries, I would presume that the Reserve Bank of Australia started "private", if it is no longer so. All and all, that seems like a fairly stupid example of Ameri-Centrism.
As for things coming apart at the seams in the US, we are definitely not used to sustained French or Spanish level unemployment, so we are naturally freaking out. I live in Minnesota and spend my holidays in Texas, and even in those islands of relatively low unemployment, the signs of strain are there if one looks closely.
I do not mean this with any ill will, but I am very intellectually curious to see what happens in Oz, when China sneezes. I know that the Brazilians have no confidence. They seem convinced that things will be very bad as soon as China hits any kind of speed bump.
And kaner, if I address myself to lawyers, then probabilistically I am speaking to a majority American group for whom one can assume the world does revolve around American Law. But leaving all of that aside, the article in question had next to nothing to do with American Law but was instead about the methodology of American Law Schools, which are heavily emulated for good or ill the world over.