This blog contains posts and comments written by students in Dr. Tufte's economics classes at Southern Utah University.
4/15/2009
G-20 2009
What I would like to know is what changed, this big meeting amongst world leaders, large and small countries, highest security ever assembled, etc. I here very little of Obama coming back from the Summit with new ideas, for that fact I hear nothing about change in other countries due to the summit. I was looking up the agenda for the summit and what was to take place during it. With all of the things being discussed, I would have expected more. We talked about the relevance of each country that attended and what they brought to the table in class. The one thing that I feel is missing is the outcome, there were more stories about the security at the conference than the outcome of it. (Wikipedia: 2009 G-20 London Summit)
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6 comments:
I think a lot of it is just for public image. It helps the citizens to know that their government is working hard to bring economic prosperity. Also, I think there is a prestige in being allowed into the summit. I think most governments already have their economic plan set before this summit, so it's hard to imagine a complete change in policy happening from this.
While the G-20 conference may be presented as a problem solving event, it is more of a discussion. "Hey how is your economy?"
"Terrible. Yours?"
"Shitty too. Good morrow sir!"
The G-20 has no enforcement power and every country in attendance has different problems, a lot of which are stemming from the problems in the USA. Dr. Tufte made it clear in class that our government should not be taking tips from anyone else given the size and scale of our economy in comparison, and while we attend and invite the little guys for diplomacy purposes, all that is left is disappointment if you were actually seeking a global resolution to solve the world's economic crisis.
Like we discussed in class, the G-20 is a gentleman's club. Nothing of real substance is discussed with any intention of action or change. I doubt anybody in France or South Africa came to the meeting with some miracle cure for the world-wide economy and if they were to have done such a thing they would have probably been laughed at and kicked out of the club.
Oh gosh Landon: think of how well all the restaurants did ;) and the security firms ;) and the limo drivers ;) and the ... you get the picture.
I actually think it is a good thing for them to get together like this once in a while. But ... how about every 3-5 years? Also, I have real doubts about the effectiveness of any committee larger than 6-8 people, and these summits are way over that threshold.
Alexander: I did not suggest that we shouldn't take tips from everyone. On different occasions I did suggest that 1) treating countries of vastly different sizes equally is not a good idea, and 2) getting tips from others is only sensible if you are experiencing similar problems (and it isn't clear that there is that much similarity between recessions).
Does anyone get the feeling that Barack Obama would have made a great summer-camp cabin mate? Especially around the campfire, as kids began telling ghost stories to scare everyone else, Obama would probably have told the most outrageous and frightening stories — simply by embellishing stories he heard from other people.
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