the G-20 happened in the middle of my film fest mania last week. but even though my thought is almost a week old i'm still wondering about this:
i've been reading all these people who think that the G-20 summit ended up being surprisingly substantive. you wouldn't know it from 90% of the ridiculous gaffe-obsessed media coverage, but apparently the joint communique issued by world leaders addressed actual issues related to the financial crisis. this time, it wasn't just a bunch of vapid pronouncements. hell, even paul krugman liked it, and he hasn't been happy with much lately.
but even if we assume that the document coming out of the meeting was the best of all possible documents, does that mean that the meeting mattered? is it going to change a single u.s. policy? the document, for example, called on the world to institute a bunch of new regulations of hedge funds. but i don't think that pronouncement makes such regulation any more likely to pass congress. actually, i have a hard time imagining that it will effect the administration's or congress' actions much at all. and then there's the internal political situation in the 19 other countries to consider. even if by some miracle the u.s. actually does all the stuff in the document, what are the chances that every other country will manage to get it through their parliament, cabinet, or whatever?
other than making good reading for economic wonks of the world, did anything actually happen in london last week?
