Can G20 Save Gordon Browns Brave New World Order?
In Gordon Brown’s speech to the US Congress last week, he said: “so when people here and in other countries ask what more can we do now to bring an end to this downturn, let me say this: we can achieve more working together…and just think of what we can do if we combine not just in a partnership for security but in a new partnership for prosperity too.” He was right to point this out because Brown himself cannot possibly stimulate the global economy single-handedly. It must be fully-endorsed by the world’s leaders at the G20 summit in April. But two issues in his speech just didn’t seem to sit right. The first was his over-emphasised warnings on the dire economic consequences of 1930s-type protectionism; the second was his politically-motivated reluctance to temporarily nationalise the banks. The British government is now poised to take majority control of Lloyds Bank, with the taxpayer owning around 60%; and the government’s stake in HBOS could reach 75%. In fact, Britain has alread
