The Great Debate UK
from Breakingviews:
Brown’s financial tax call falls flat
Brown's bid to depict himself as the saviour of the world economy and champion of Joe Taxpayer against Big Finance fell flat at the weekend.
So keen is the British prime minister to airbrush out his decade as a "light touch" finance minister that he embraced the heretical idea of a levy on financial transactions as one way to make banks pay for future bail-outs -- the so-called Tobin tax.
The idea was swiftly slapped down by the Americans and Canadians, although it enjoys warm support in Europe. But Brown's Damascene conversion may have more to do with British politics than international finance.
Facing public fury over the tens of billions of pounds spent on bailing out British banks, Brown needs to reassert leadership on the global economy and show he is on the side of voters, not bankers, if he is to have any chance of averting likely defeat at a general election next year.
from Commentaries:
Rethinking carbon diplomacy
Climate change was initially billed in a leading role at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh. Now it looks set to make the briefest of cameo appearances.
Nonetheless, the gathering offers a crucial chance to recast the talks. The United Nations carbon process is in deep trouble and desperately needs help from the top. If the G20 heads of government want to avoid embarrassment at the Copenhagen Summit, they need to start to steer the talks in a new direction.
from The Great Debate:
Worry about bank capital, not bonuses
--James Saft is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.--
The effort to rein in banking bonuses, outrageous as they may be, is akin to banning glue sniffing because you are worried about the effects of intoxication.
There are, as the kids in the alley behind the high school can tell you, other ways of getting high.
from Commentaries:
Barroso’s EU vision lacks levers for change
Could the European Union be among the big losers of the global financial crisis?
Despite signs that recession in Europe may be bottoming out, the 27-nation bloc risks emerging from the turmoil with its economic growth potential stunted, its public finances shackled by mountains of debt, and its international influence weakened.
That is the backdrop to Jose Manuel Barroso's campaign for a second term as president of the executive European Commission. In a manifesto sent to EU lawmakers last week, he warns that unless Europeans shape up to the challenge together, "Europe will become irrelevant".
from MacroScope:
London-Basel express
Having wrapped up the two-day get-together in London, G20 central bankers moved down to the Swiss city of Basel (I counted central bank governors and officials from at least 9 countries onboard the same flight) to discuss more about the global economy for a two-day meeting.
The focus here again is the global economic recovery, which seems to be gathering momentum, and the timing of exit policy -- which is essential in the future to avoid inflationary pressure.
Re-entry dilemma for G20 ministers
- Laurence Copeland is a professor of finance at Cardiff University Business School and a co-author of “Verdict on the Crash” published by the Institute of Economic Affairs. The opinions expressed are his own. -
As the G20 ministers gather for their meeting this week, there should be no doubt about the item at the top of the agenda: the re-entry problem. At what point should the expansionary monetary and fiscal policy of the past year be reversed? And, if the answer is “not yet”, how soon does the re-entry plan need to be announced?
from The Great Debate:
Africa and the global economic crisis
- Jorge Maia is head of Research and Information for Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, established in 1940 to promote economic growth and industrial development. The opinions expressed are his own -
Serious shockwaves are hitting Africa's shores as the global economic crisis unfolds.
from UK News:
How necessary is the G20 summit?
From the cosy fireside chats and walks in the woods of 30 years ago, world summitry has expanded beyond all recognition, with this week's G20 meeting in London being billed in some quarters as the biggest gathering of leaders since 1945.
But the problems now are of course much bigger too. Long gone are the days when a few soothing words about co-operation on currencies would be enough to declare a summit a success.
from The Great Debate:
How G20 can unfreeze credit and cut bailout costs
-- Lena Komileva is Head of G7 Market Economics, Tullett Prebon --
One of the big historical lessons of this crisis for economic policy is that bringing down the risk-free cost of money - central bank rates or government bond yields - and injecting liquidity into the banking system cannot on their own fix broken credit markets.
Quantitative easing by central banks may help to solve short-term liquidity problems for domestic borrowers and lenders, by going around broken markets during times of extreme financial and economic uncertainty. However, this is no substitute for efforts to restore international credit markets back to health.
from The Great Debate:
Obama honeymoon ends in Europe
-- Robin Shepherd is Director, International Affairs at the Henry Jackson Society. His areas of expertise are transatlantic relations, American foreign policy, Middle Eastern relations with the West, Russia, eastern Europe, NATO and the European Union. The views expressed are his own. --
It is to be hoped that President Obama has a developed sense of humour. The man heralded by many as the new Messiah of political renewal lands in London this week not to the chorus of approval he might have expected on his first official trip to Europe but to crowds roaring with anger and frustration at the global economic system which his country underpins.
