Will G20 Actions Exacerbate Problems?

A major G20 meeting presently is going on in London. In November 2008, an emergency G20 meeting was held in Washington. Still another meeting is expected later this year, probably as early as July.

Actually, G20 "working groups" meet fairly regularly, but it is only when high government officials gather that G20 meetings receive much publicity. The heads of state of twenty-three of the world’s largest economies will attend the London meeting. Obama is already there.

Standard Establishment news verbiage about the G20 meeting usually goes something like this: "The agenda is vitally important to the economic recovery of the world’s business and trading community." Here’s another snippet (and snippets are about all you get): "It is now up to the IMF to determine how much additional support the world economy would need next year." With that comment, you’re supposed to think of the IMF as a big brother there to make everything right. Finally, here’s one designed to scare people into accepting G20 actions: "With economic peril spreading around the globe…"

More specifically, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, after a preliminary meeting in Berlin, called for a modernization of the architecture of international financial markets. Medvedev favors the creation of a modern foreign currency architecture.

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April 4, 2009