A page on the Canadian Government’s G-20 Toronto Summit website promises payments to citizens “to mitigate adverse financial consequences” as a result of the meeting of world leaders June 26-27. Unfortunately, the adverse consequences being referred to are only those incurred as a result of the security precautions that shut down cities when the world’s power brokers come to town.
Those economic costs can run into the millions, as the citizens of Pittsburgh found out when they hosted G-20 leaders last year. The real economic damage to fear, of course, is not from the costs of the meetings, but rather from the consequences of G-20 agreements that endorse bad economic strategies and policies that restrict commerce and hinder economic growth. The citizen’s of the world could use some compensation for that!
Fortunately, the Toronto meeting, under the chairmanship of Canada’s sensible Prime Minister Stephen Harper, seems likely to eschew the grandiose international regulatory schemes that some of the leaders, including President Barack Obama, seem to prefer. With the G-20 moving on to South Korea, another currently well-governed country, in November, the citizens of the world may be safe for a while.
