fresh voices from the front lines of change

Democracy

Health

Climate

Housing

Education

Rural

I am flying to Pittsburgh tomorrow and will be blogging here Thursday and Friday from the G-20 summit.

The G-20 is a meeting of the Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of "systemically important industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy."

From their website,

The G-20 is made up of the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries: Argentina,Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America [See, since Bush we are last on every list! - DJ]

The European Union, who is represented by the rotating Council presidency and the European Central Bank, is the 20th member of the G-20. To ensure global economic fora and institutions work together, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the President of the World Bank, plus the chairs of the International Monetary and Financial Committee and Development Committee of the IMF and World Bank, also participate in G-20 meetings on an ex-officio basis. The G-20 thus brings together important industrial and emerging-market countries from all regions of the world. Together, member countries represent around 90 per cent of global gross national product, 80 per cent of world trade (including EU intra-trade) as well as two-thirds of the world's population. The G-20's economic weight and broad membership gives it a high degree of legitimacy and influence over the management of the global economy and financial system.

We should call it the JOBS summit because that is what this is really about. How will the world restructure the economic system after the financial crisis? How can we change things to regular people share the wealth? Of course Wall Street wants everything kept just the way it is. But the rest of the world is demanding that we make changes.

Then there will be a lot of talk about "protectionism," because President Obama actually enforced a trade agreement! Here's the thing, agreements are not agreements unless they are enforced. By enforcing this agreement with China, it means we might start having fair, honest, balanced trade again.

Anyway, I look forward to this trip and to writing about the G-20 Summit. Check back here over the next few days. I think we're going to solve the world's problems -- don't miss out!

Pin It on Pinterest

Spread The Word!

Share this post with your networks.