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Meltdown 101: What G-20 leaders said -- and meant
Meltdown 101: G-20 leaders vow to fight economic downturn -- but what do their promises mean?
Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer
Friday April 3, 2009, 9:36 am EDT
Buzz up! Print Leaders at the G-20 summit in London declared that "a global crisis requires a global solution." But that doesn't mean they are in agreement on just what the solution should be.
Here is a look at what they promised in their joint communique and what the grand phrases really mean.
WHAT THEY SAID: "We are undertaking an unprecedented and concerted fiscal expansion, which will save or create millions of jobs which would otherwise have been destroyed, and that will, by the end of next year, amount to $5 trillion, raise output by 4 percent and accelerate the transition to a green economy."
WHAT THEY MEANT: The words in the communique were strong but in reality the major countries did not pledge any additional efforts on government spending or tax cuts to boost their own economies.
Because of strong opposition from France and Germany, President Barack Obama was not able to achieve his goal of getting the other G-20 countries to commit to spending the equivalent of 2 percent of their domestic economy on stimulus efforts to boost jobs. That is a goal the United States has reached with the $787 billion two-year stimulus program Obama pushed through Congress.
