Commentators have suggested that if the current summit scheduled for November 14-15, 2008, in Washington D.C. is indeed a Bretton Woods II, it will not be as good as the original. On November 7, 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported president Bush as stating that “[w]e face economic challenges that will not pause to let a new president settle in.” In hosting the upcoming summit, the question on many American minds is whether Bush plans to make major commitments on behalf of the U.S.
Well, what’s on the agenda? G-20 participants’ Gordon Brown (UK) and Nicolas Sarkozy (France) have both voiced support for resourcing the IMF with an early warning bell for global financial systems. Other agenda items being touted are increased supervision of rating agencies, injecting flexibility into “fair value” accounting for illiquid assets, including pay and bonus structures of bank executives as factors in assessing a bank’s financial risk, and increasing regulation to tackle the tax haven strategies used by multinationals. Certainly issues of trade protection in a tightening economy will also be addressed. What we do know about some of Obama’s trade policies is that he would give more attention to labor and environmental concerns, opposes Bush’s Columbian and South Korean bi-lateral free trade agreements, and would renegotiate aspects of NAFTA.
President-elect Obama’s inauguration is slated for January 20, 2009. Whether the current global economic situation requires Bush to wield major decision making power on global economic issues on behalf of the U.S. in the last days of his administration is not clear. What is clear is that any policy positions of the outgoing Bush administration are certain to conflict with the international policy objectives of the incoming Obama administration. Absent some showing that the current ride the global financial market is on is subject to catastrophic accelerations warranting immediate executive action by Bush -- which at best would call for high levels of speculation – our exiting president should in great part leave U.S. global economic policy-making to the incoming administration.
DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided here may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations. This profile may constitute attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Any correspondence with this blog does not constitute a client/attorney relationship. Neither the content on this blog nor transmissions between you and the blogger through this blog are intended to provide legal or other advice or to create an attorney-client relationship.
Well, what’s on the agenda? G-20 participants’ Gordon Brown (UK) and Nicolas Sarkozy (France) have both voiced support for resourcing the IMF with an early warning bell for global financial systems. Other agenda items being touted are increased supervision of rating agencies, injecting flexibility into “fair value” accounting for illiquid assets, including pay and bonus structures of bank executives as factors in assessing a bank’s financial risk, and increasing regulation to tackle the tax haven strategies used by multinationals. Certainly issues of trade protection in a tightening economy will also be addressed. What we do know about some of Obama’s trade policies is that he would give more attention to labor and environmental concerns, opposes Bush’s Columbian and South Korean bi-lateral free trade agreements, and would renegotiate aspects of NAFTA.
President-elect Obama’s inauguration is slated for January 20, 2009. Whether the current global economic situation requires Bush to wield major decision making power on global economic issues on behalf of the U.S. in the last days of his administration is not clear. What is clear is that any policy positions of the outgoing Bush administration are certain to conflict with the international policy objectives of the incoming Obama administration. Absent some showing that the current ride the global financial market is on is subject to catastrophic accelerations warranting immediate executive action by Bush -- which at best would call for high levels of speculation – our exiting president should in great part leave U.S. global economic policy-making to the incoming administration.
DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided here may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations. This profile may constitute attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Any correspondence with this blog does not constitute a client/attorney relationship. Neither the content on this blog nor transmissions between you and the blogger through this blog are intended to provide legal or other advice or to create an attorney-client relationship.
Ivo, thank you for your insight.
ReplyDeleteVanessa