Free Republic

Donald Trump met with former banker John Allison (shown) on Monday in a meeting that was largely ignored by the mainstream media. It remains unclear whether Allison was being interviewed for the job of secretary of the Treasury or was just giving Trump some advice from a free market perspective.Either way, it’s a breath of fresh air in an era where statism and excessive hubris (the idea that mere politicians and economists can guide, even stimulate a $20-trillion-dollar economy with monetary policy) has reigned for decades.Right after graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina in 1971, Allison joined...

BT&T Bank Chairman John Allison will be on Freedom Watch with Judge Andrew Napolitano at 11pm Eastern.

BB&T Corp. Chief Executive John Allison is calling for short-term fixes and long-term reforms to address the financial crisis. Addressing a gathering of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce Friday morning, Allison said the initial efforts of the federal government to rescue the economy were misguided and served to increase public anxiety. However, he said he supported the latest move to inject taxpayer funds directly into banks. “It is necessary, given the unnecessary government-caused panic,” Allison said. His views are influential because he leads a bank that has weathered the financial crisis better than many, in the eyes of industry...

As a college student in Chapel Hill, John Allison stumbled across a collection of essays by Ayn Rand and was hooked by her philosophy of self-interest and limited government. As he rose over the decades to chief executive of BB&T, one of the country's leading regional banks, Rand remained his muse. He's trying to replicate that encounter through the charitable arm of his Winston-Salem-based company, which since 1999 has awarded more than $28 million to 27 colleges to support the study of capitalism from a moral perspective. But on at least 17 of those campuses, including UNC Charlotte, N.C. State...