The G-20 Summit Expectations Game

Ted Bromund / March 25, 2009

Three weeks ago, Washington and the world were contemplating British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s ‘Global New Deal,’ and expectations were rising that the G-20 summit in London on April 2 would produce a comprehensive, job-destroying deal on global financial regulations.

But inflated expectations always burst – ask the Obama administration – and as of late, the most interesting reporting on the summit has focused on how many lunatic fringe anti-freedom activists will attempt to disrupt it. Former British Cabinet Minister Stephen Byers is now criticizing Brown, saying that he is responsible for damaging the economy and the Labour Party by putting forward “An exhaustive agenda . . . that tries to do too much.”

Oxford Analytica now refers, in its latest assessment of the summit, to “a patent lack of progress” and blames splits in Europe and inside the Obama administration for the retreat from any “grand bargain.” (more…)