Financial Summit Agrees on the Goals

In my layman attempts to keep up with the Financial Meltdown I've read a lot of differing opinions on the root causes for the crisis. More than a few are blaming capitalism and thousands of professional writers and economists are saying the bankers and Wall Street corporations with their crooked practices are the cause. Someone from the Securities Commission came in on my James Trafficant speech post, I need to go read that again and see if makes more sense after all this other stuff I've been studying.

Finished reading this report and I'm still left wondering what version of "common understanding of the root cause" was reached by the G20 (and so quickly..wow). It appears they all agree on communitarian rule of law, but they just call it "rule of law" and from what I read they didn't bother to define exactly which rules they mean (and there is a vast conflict between U.S. Rule of Law and Communitarian Law). It's as if we already agree there is only one. Gee, maybe the U.S. signed something already that bound us to a new rule of law.

From the White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/financialmarkets/index.html

Today's Summit achieved five key objectives. The leaders:

* Reached a common understanding of the root causes of the global crisis;
* Reviewed actions countries have taken and will take to address the immediate crisis and strengthen growth;
* Agreed on common principles for reforming our financial markets;
* Launched an action plan to implement those principles and asked ministers to develop further specific recommendations that will be reviewed by leaders at a subsequent summit; and
* Reaffirmed their commitment to free market principles.

Making national laws and regulations more consistent for international cooperation did get mentioned, although the assurance is that this is an ongoing process with more specific recommendations to come later. The crisis is a perfect avenue to introduce a supreme global system. The solutions will be hard for Americans (or any nation) to refuse to accept. So far, all they're saying about law is this:

"Reinforcing international cooperation by making national laws and regulations more consistent and encouraging regulators to enhance their coordination and cooperation across all segments of financial markets."

Obama will be president by the next meeting. He'll be taking immediate steps.

# The leaders agreed that immediate steps could be taken or considered to restore growth and support emerging market economies by:

* Continuing to take whatever further actions are necessary to stabilize the financial system;
* Recognizing the importance of monetary policy support and using fiscal measures, as appropriate;
* Providing liquidity to help unfreeze credit markets; and
* Ensuring that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and other multilateral development banks (MDBs) have sufficient resources to assist developing countries affected by the crisis, as well as provide trade and infrastructure financing.

They're tying the whole solution to the WTO. It's a court of communitarian law.

The leaders agreed that needed reforms will be successful only if they are grounded in a commitment to free market principles, including the rule of law, respect for private property, open trade and investment, competitive markets, and efficient, effectively-regulated financial systems. The leaders further agreed to:

* Reject protectionism, which exacerbates rather than mitigates financial and economic challenges;
* Strive to reach an agreement this year on modalities that leads to an ambitious outcome to the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations;
* Refrain from imposing any new trade or investment barriers for the next 12 months; and
* Reaffirm development assistance commitments and urge both developed and emerging economies to undertake commitments consistent with their capacities and roles in the global economy.

No new trade or investment barriers for the next 12 months. All bets are off.