Evans-Pritchard: The G20 moves the world a step closer to a global currency

[slow_dazzle]

IMF rising. Will PO make this pointless?

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In fact, was the summit REALLY about saving the global economy, or did it have another purpose?

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So what was the purpose of the summit? Any theories? Was it about saving the economy?

[Emeline]

So they looked like they were doing something in between all the tea parties and visits to the Queen?

[slow_dazzle]

So they looked like they were doing something in between all the tea parties and visits to the Queen?

Hehe!

Watch where the IMF money goes - into enterprises that don't use too much energy and push up oil prices? GM isn't going to be rescued despite the huge job losses bankruptcy will entail. Is that because it is fully understood that rescuing the industry will create renewed demand for oil and push prices up? I'm guessing, and probably way off target, but it will be interesting to see where the money goes and what it is used for.

[great769]

  I expected a positive ending to this meeting but I will hold judgement since we got a statement from the world top 20 professional liars that everthing when good.
Tom

[picasso moon]

PO makes any steps aimed at continuing the present global economic system irrelevant. Not to mention that the system itself has crisis factors which the strengthening of the IMF does nothing about.
What was it about? Showing the public that something is being done, to stem panic. And they probably wanted to create some agreements, but the reality of their competing interests  prevented that. Another illustration of how the system is being overwhelmed by its own contradictions, including national interests in the context of an international system.

[StrangeFire]

I don't think the average person really realizes what a big thing this is. It amounts to an alternative to the US Dollar and a blank check to print money. We may all look back on this as the moment the American Empire really fell.

[Johnny Crash]

"In effect, the G20 leaders have activated the IMF's power to create money and begin global "quantitative easing". In doing so, they are putting a de facto world currency into play. It is outside the control of any sovereign body. Conspiracy theorists will love it."

Hehehe.  Yes, we do, prick.

But this is the real question:

"IMF rising. Will PO make this pointless?"

Do people think their govt's are PO unaware or not?
If their govt (and military and intelligence community) is unaware of PO and the general lack/scarcity of most resources now, well, that is some damn astounding ignorance on the politicians' part (which I can't entirely rule out).  They don't know the whole thing is about to fall apart and have not taken steps to prevent it.  The only recourse left to them would be war at some point.

Or, they are very aware of PO and the resultant societal chaos and potential mass extinction that could come to pass.  And they have made the requisite plans to deal with this situation, unpleasant as these plans may be to the likes of you or me.

Coke is buying out Pepsi.  Redundancies will be eliminated. 
What's so surprising? 

[TravelsHopefully]

Do people think their govt's are PO unaware or not?

There are definitely people in Government that are PO aware. I don't believe that most of them are though.
Of the ones that are PO aware, some/many probably don't get the full implications - don't forget, many of these people have never had a real job - they are good at manipulating people, but their critical thinking skills are may be somewhat lacking.

[picasso moon]

A wide assortment of people i've met, including lots of academics/students/staff on the Berkeley campus, especially in the engineering and sciences (and econ), as well as many left activists and media people, truly believe that human ingenuity will overcome any problem, and that Peak Oil is just another hype like the Millennium crash. They simply cannot fathom the depth of the problem, quite a few reiterated the refrain about the stone age not ending due to a lack of stones. So it shouldn't be surprising that government officials aren't fully aware either, they tend to be from this same background.

[2handband]

A wide assortment of people i've met, including lots of academics/students/staff on the Berkeley campus, especially in the engineering and sciences (and econ), as well as many left activists and media people, truly believe that human ingenuity will overcome any problem, and that Peak Oil is just another hype like the Millennium crash. They simply cannot fathom the depth of the problem, quite a few reiterated the refrain about the stone age not ending due to a lack of stones. So it shouldn't be surprising that government officials aren't fully aware either, they tend to be from this same background.

I've spent my share of time in academic circles, long enough to have earned the right to be addressed as Dr. (although I never use it). And based on that I can tell you that the above really is the attitude of academia. My training is in the social sciences, but in academic life you find yourself associating with all kinds including physicists, biologists, chemists, etc. Almost all of these people really do see technology as the answer (when they say "human ingenuity" they really mean technological development). It's not a ploy to get government funding or anything like that, this is really the way these people think. It gives me a feeling of hopelessness to see our best and brightest, people with genius IQs and the best of educations, squandering all their talent on research that will almost certainly never come to anything.

[Johnny Crash]

A wide assortment of people i've met, including lots of academics/students/staff on the Berkeley campus, especially in the engineering and sciences (and econ), as well as many left activists and media people, truly believe that human ingenuity will overcome any problem, and that Peak Oil is just another hype like the Millennium crash. They simply cannot fathom the depth of the problem, quite a few reiterated the refrain about the stone age not ending due to a lack of stones. So it shouldn't be surprising that government officials aren't fully aware either, they tend to be from this same background.

I would say most govt officials aren't academics of the techno utopian variety.  It seems like they are from law and business backgrounds.  But I could be wrong! 
Anyway, it's not about all politicians being ignorant or in the know, but the important ones sitting on important committees that are controlled by monied interests who are in the know (as much as their masters care to elucidate them). 

[picasso moon]

I meant to include business under econ, and law students tend to be part of the same mindset. I myself was trained as an engineer, so i'm totally familiar with this techno-think you speak of, 2handband. One can see engineering students develop it more and more as they go through their academic "training".

[Johnny Crash]

I didn't mean to nit-pick the econ issue.  Just meant to say that business types should have their ear closer to the ground so to speak.  Not being able to rely on grants, etc.

[picasso moon]

People at the Business School are constantly getting grants from various corporate sources, at least at Berkeley (the Haas Business School, which used to have a main auditorium named after Arthur Anderson).

[wordnerd]

From what I saw in my connection with the university, each person/section in acadameia seems to see their topic - and nothing else.
Most of them live mainly in an artificial world - and wear blinders regarding life outseide of their specialty .