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March 16, 2009
The Group of 20 has been charged with formulating a global response to the financial crisis. In preparation for the April meeting the G20 finance ministers meet on the weekend to work out the mode of governance that would be put in place to save the world economy and trading system. It's a big ask:
Kal
Australia needs international policy coordination as we can't get ourselves out of this on our own. Now Modest progress was made on the extent of the fiscal stimulus needed to boost depressed economies and on devising global regulations for financial institutions such as hedge funds and the derivatives market.
On the former the disagreements between the US and Europe are about the extent of bailing out the banks and the auto industry. On the latter point, since the Americans will not give up an ounce of their national sovereignty the mismatch between the reach of markets and the scope of governance will prevail, leaving global finance as unsafe as ever.
All very reassuring isn't it. The finance ministers co-operated in appearing statesmanlike and in control of events. As Alan Kohler says in Business Spectator:
There was no sophisticated analysis of the causes of the crisis, no realistic assessment of what can be done to fix it, and certainly no agreement about specific actions, beyond stating blandly that there is “resolve”....The G20 agreed to take “all necessary actions to ensure the soundness of systemically important institutions”, without saying what, and they agreed to take “decisive, coordinated and comprehensive action to boost demand and jobs”, without saying how.
Kohler adds that the G20 meeting left Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Greece and Austria to their fates, along with Eastern Europe and the Asian nations dealing with catastrophic declines in exports and industrial production.
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The "team approach"
Okay. That should work a treat. Partners. No hard feelings etc. Let the honest tax-payers of the G20 nations pitch in to try and solve a fiasco which blossomed on Wall Street and was fertalised by the Oval Office. The USA... too big to fail.
"If I owe you five dollars, I have a problem. If I owe you a million dollars, WE have a problem" So let's see if WE can work this out, eh?
Go team! Well, sort of...
"...there is no United Nations. There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world, and that is the United States, when it suits our interest, and when we can get others to go along."
~John Bolton (February, 1994)
There's no "I" in "team". But there are several in irresponsible, imbecilic idealogue.
Here is a wonderful opportunity for humanity. In return for a coordinated rescue plan, we should demand that all American neocons (and their media cheer squad) be shipped off to Guantanamo for the next twenty years.
I'm serious.