G-20 Lots of Motion, Will There Be Action?

The 20 most powerful industrial nations, and now the caretakers of an unprecedented global financial crisis, assembled in Washington DC over the weekend. Their mandate was broad and daunting--stabilize world markets.

However, after just six hours of meetings it appears the sum total of their intellect was lengthy, diplomatic communique that reads like a to-do list of promises and lose tasking.

Ernest Hemingway famously said, "Never Mistake Motion for Action." This is probably sage advice in assessing the productivity and eventually success of this global collaboration.

The assembly of the G-20 was certainly a necessary show of global solidarity on the financial crisis. However, the current environment is still a challenging one in which to exert real action.

The US is in a precarious lame-duck Presidency. European leaders show signs of wanting to seize this opportunity to shift the global financial power base. Yet, nothing is possible without the massive US economy moving.

These challenges were clear coming into the meeting. Although early on, dubbed "Bretton Woods II" after the meeting that helped reshaped the global economy after World War II, expectations were steadily lowered in the days prior.

Instead of trying to swallow the entire elephant the G-20 opted to take many tiny bites and methodically chewy. Several leaders made statements post-meeting that showed a preference for steady and thoughtful proceedings. There was a concerted theme that hast and panic was a dangerous combination, and that would not be the approach of the G-20.

This certainly revealed itself in the brevity of the meeting, the pronouncement of numerous promises, and a communique full of follow-up actions.

The meeting was built up in some coverage as a potential showdown between US and European for control of the center of global financial leadership. However, the result seemed to be a collegial summit on the issues, followed with earnest desire to focus on righting the markets not seizing a political opportunity.

Concerns that some leaders might attempt to push an agenda undermining free-market principles and favor protectionist trade policies were apparently averted. President Bush had aggressively articulated the harm in these approaches.

The Administration can take some solace in the fact that both of these preferences were specifically addresses in the final communique--advocating fundamental support for free markets and agreeing to set no barriers in trade for the next 12 months.

As President-elect Obama takes the reigns and the G-20 goes off with their action items the next meeting in April 2009 will be watched with anticipation to see if the G-20 is all motion and no action.