Brown jockeys for position to head G20 summit

www.telegraph.co.uk...

With a series of meetings in quick enough succession to give even the most skilled of diplomat a nosebleed, Brown attempted to take the American capital by storm yesterday, meeting with the leaders of Japan, Brazil and Australia, as well as lunching with former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. He even squeezed in an afternoon meeting with US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. Over afternoon tea today he is due to meet with Greenspan's successor Ben Bernanke, as well as the leaders of Russia and China.

And all that is on top of his movements inside the G20 summit, which is seen as the start of a reshaping of the regulatory framework that governs the world's financial system.

...

The other two main planks of his policy hopes are that the International Monetary Fund – which has played a key role in bailing out the economies of a number of countries in recent weeks, including Iceland and Hungary – should be given more money. He is also calling for progress on the stalled Doha round of world trade talks.

Before heading to Washington, France's Nicolas Sarkozy met with Russian premier Dmitry Medvedev in Nice to ensure that Russia would support European proposals for stronger regulation. Medvedev left the meeting saying that Moscow and Brussels were heading to summit with "practically common positions".

...

Under the plan, the IMF would be responsible for surveillance of the global financial system, the FSF would set out policies for supervision and regulation, while national regulators would be responsible for implementing such policies.

The level of support for the plan is likely to be high, with Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the EU all likely to push for its inclusion in the final summit communiqué.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

do we really want Gordon Brown heading this summit?! with all of his talks of a "New World Order", and a new global financial architecture, i'm pretty sure i don't want him leading G20!

is there anyone who actually thinks that Gordon Brown is interested in everyone's well-being?

the meeting is tomorrow - i'll keep this updated!

Please keep us updated, I'm very interested in the latest happenings of this summit.

The gathering of leaders of the G20 group of countries initiated by President Bush on November 15 may well represent a historical shift in international governance. That the meeting was convened at all is a sign of the current relative weakness of the United States. The US wishes to restore confidence in its global economic leadership, and since the G7 no longer includes a preponderance of the major stakeholders in the US economy, the larger grouping has almost naturally come to make sense as a potentially more effective group.

www.financialpost.com...

the other article said "nothing's going to happen this weekend"...

Bush on the other hand, was very clear about his hopes for the weekend when he spoke on Thursday. "This crisis did not develop overnight, and it will not be solved overnight," he cautioned, going on stress that "the long-term solution to today's problems is sustained economic growth. And the surest path to that growth is free markets."

In other words, nothing's going to happen this weekend, and don't over regulate. His defence of the free-market system on which he built his premiership directly ahead of a summit he is technically hosting sounded rather like a party organiser telling guests not to have too much fun. Bush's mantra is the antithesis of Brown's, which is heavily focused on tighter regulation and governmental control of the markets through fiscal stimulus packages.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

"historical shift in international governance", or "nothing"?

which is it?!

i thought the news was supposed to inform - not confuse...

am i surprised? not one bit..

He did his apprenticeship in screwing the UK economy, now he ready to wreck the world economy.

Though you could argue, how can you break something thats already broken.

I wonder if this is part of the NWO plan, Gordon Brown has created the UK's financial problems when he was in charge of the economy.
Now he is Prime Minister he can act out part 2, rebuilding the economy.
It's often easier to destroy something and rebuild it, than to remodel it.

Even though our illustrious unelected PM is doing all he can to grease palms and vie for the top job, it would in a way make sense to have an accountant and former chancellor of exchequer to lead the way...

...the bland leading the blind so to speak

Originally posted by lightchild
He did his apprenticeship in screwing the UK economy

The general population were responsible for a majority of the economic mess by borrowing over a trillion quid in credit debt in pursuit of consumer greed over the last few years that can't be paid back...sure the PM directs national policy but it is the greedy public who want to live way beyong their means that are the ones to shoulder the blame

[edit on 14-11-2008 by citizen smith]

Brown hopes to persuade other leaders to sign up to a four-part package of cutting taxes, fixing problems in the international financial system, pumping more money into the IMF and an end to the deadlock over world trade.

"A new world trade deal is absolutely crucial, in my view, to send a message that protectionism is absolutely unacceptable," the prime minister insisted.

Gordon Brown hints at tax cuts for poor and support for green technology

isn't the whole "Green movement" just another scheme by the Illuminati? that's what i've heard anyway... anyone know more about that connection??

reply to post by adrenochrome

A draft communique prepared for consideration by leaders of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging nations meeting this weekend will contain an action plan outlining concrete proposals, European G20 sources said on Friday.

"The summit will have concrete results. You can take this as guaranteed," a senior official of a European G20 country said.

The official said the draft statement contains both a section dealing with the causes of the global credit crisis and an "action plan."

"The action plan will contain several headlines, under which concrete proposals are summarized," the official added. "There is a division between actions which should be taken immediately until March 31st and medium-term actions."

in.reuters.com...

"historical shift in international governance" it is!

Gordon Brown today said world leaders at an emergency summit in Washington are making progress on how to address the global economic turmoil.

The prime minister, who has emerged as a point man in the financial crisis, said it was possible to get a timetable for immediate reforms of the financial and banking system.

"If my sense of last night is right, at a next meeting, plans for the detailed reform of international institutions will be brought forward," Brown said, speaking at the British ambassador's residence in Washington.

...

In the short term, Brown said the assembled leaders would agree on "quick action results" on tax cuts and public spending increases. The prime minister is pushing the idea of immediate and coordinated tax cuts – as well interest rate cuts - to prevent the global economy sliding deeper into recession. The prime minister has argued that interest rate cuts alone are insufficient to stave off a slump and that the impact of tax cuts or higher public spending will be diluted if carried out by only a handful of countries.

The US president, George Bush, agreed that progress had been made but said the crisis has not ended and much work needs to be done.

...

But even as world leaders met in what is the largest collection of presidents and prime ministers in almost a decade, doubts were raised that it would achieve anything beyond immediate moves to stimulate the world economy and an agreement to meet again.

Economists warned that hopes of a major push on creating new global regulatory systems would almost certainly be dashed. The meeting had been too hastily convened, was riven by too many internal contradictions and was too hampered by the power vacuum in Washington to achieve instant results. "I'm confident that not much concrete action will come out of it," said Brad Setser, a former US Treasury official and expert on geoeconomics at the Council on Foreign Relations.

www.guardian.co.uk...

ok, so they've guaranteed "concrete results", but they're saying there won't be "much concrete action"??!

why can't i get a straight answer?!!