***G20***

[Aussiejeff]

Australians can hold their heads high as PM Kevin Rudd moves towards the meeting this Thursday, yep today. Nicely wedged between Saudi Arabia and China.

Why you may ask? Well, look thee here at the "percentage of debt figures compared to GDP":

Dmitry Medvedev - Russia ****** 6.8%
King Abdullah - Saudi Arabia **** 13.5%
Kevin Rudd - Australia ******** 15.4%
Hu Jintao - China ************ 15.7%
Felipe Calderon - Mexico ******* 20.3%
Kgalema Motlanthe - South Africa * 29.9%
Susilo Yudhoyono - Indonesia *** 30.1%
Lee Myung-Bak - South korea *** 32.7%
Abdullah Gul - Turkey ********* 37.1%
Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva - Mexico * 40.7%
Gordon Brown - United Kingdom ** 47.2%
Christina Fernandez - Argentina ** 51%
Mirek Topolanek - European Union * 58.7%
Barack Obama - United States *** 60.8%
Stephen Harper - Canada ******* 62.3%
Angela Merkel - Germany ******* 62.6%
Nicolas Sarkozy - France ******* 67.0%
Manmohan Singh - India ******** 78.0%
Silvio Berlusconi - Italy ******** 103.7%
Taro Aso - Japan ************ 170.4%

I couldn't get to the last country on the list. I had to avert my eyes or experience overwhelming nausea... a misprint, shurley?

 

[noirua]

I couldn't get to the last country on the list. I had to avert my eyes or experience overwhelming nausea... a misprint, shurley?

Not a misprint, as Japans decline is one of the most rapid, as they teeter near the cliff edge.

 

[noirua]

List of countries by public debt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt

 

[investorpaul]

That Japanese figure is amazing. I knew the situation in Japan was bad, but i didn't know it was that bad. Its going to take a long time to dig themselves out of that hole

 

[doctorj]

Some of my photos from yesterday...

 

[doctorj]

A couple more...

 

[doctorj]

Last one.

 

[overit]

Great pic...Thanks!

 

[doctorj]

One of my favourite photos from yesterday, a broker joins the masses to win a bet for a case of Veuve Clicquot

 

[Aussiejeff]

The "Big Protest" was a "Big Fizzer".

***G20*** wins.

 

[metric]

One of my favourite photos from yesterday, a broker joins the masses to win a bet for a case of Veuve Clicquot

"one currency
one country
one world"

seems someone else won a bet......

 

[Temjin]

"one currency
one country
one world"

seems someone else won a bet......

And we shall name this new world, the

United Earth Sphere Federation!

Damn, too much Gundam laterly...

 

[noirua]

Interesting now to see who gets what and whether countries, like the UK, can raise so many billions needed to bolster up all their bank rescues.
China pumped in the most they say, and it seems PM Kevin Rudd was the main linchpin in bringing them to an agreement. This mans strength is underestimated by Aussies at home who look more to their own financial positions.

 

[Aussiejeff]

In advance of the G20, analysts claim that more than “ritual support” is needed to avoid a “damaging retreat to protectionism.” This is a frankly unrealistic hope. In times of grave danger, countries will be protectionist “where they believe they must do that to protect the well-being of their citizens. It will surprise me if things turn out otherwise.”

Well, KRudd is straight into it - re-guaranteeing with his manipulated Big-4 that no-one with a house mortgage will have to meet any payments if they are sacked this year, thus "protecting" them from foreclosure in that time.

Gee. I hope he is going to extend that largesse to paying a whole 12 months rent for each and every one of the estimated 200,000 households that are predicted to face eviction from rental properties if Oz unemployment reaches a conservative 7.5%!

Hey, has anyone got the total debt borrowings tally thus far for the looming monster deficit budget? Anyway, there's bound to be some more significant and politically feel-good "cash bonuses" before 30 June, eh?

With an approval rating of 74% and an almost godlike propensity to splash cash to the hoi-poloi, I think KRudd is odd's-on to beat Ol' Hawke's all-time high approval rating of 75%. I reckon he will smash through 80% before a somewhat predictable fall from grace after the Creditors Bills start to sprinkle like confetti into the Government House mailbox towards the end of 2009 and on into 2010-2011.

 

[Conza88]

Anti-Capitalists protesting Anti-Capitalists...

 

[Aussiejeff]

... and here we are again, more than a year later. I *sniff* the pungent odour of Dejavu #9!

Apparently, gummints around the world have been saying over the last 12 months or so that gummint stimulus & growth in world trade, especially with China, will save us all.

If this is so, then how come almost overnight these same so-called "developed" world's governments can agree to slash gummint stimulus & deficits by 50% over 3 years without kicking this economic recovery in the guts?

China doesn't seem too happy about these developments either.... http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/br...sm-at-g20-summit/story-e6frf7ko-1225885025629

Oh well.

Let the Money Merry-Go-Round spin, spin, spin....

 

[Aussiejeff]

"After years of taking on too much debt, Americans cannot - and will not - borrow and buy the world's way to lasting prosperity," Obama said at the end of G20 talks focused on shoring up the world's fragile economic recovery.

http://www.news.com.au/world/americ...-president-obama/story-e6frfkyi-1225885114774

LOL

Mutually exclusive remarks there, I'd say. How, pray tell, can the World "shore up it's fragile economic recovery" if the US will NOT resume fundamental rampant capitalism ie BORROW & BUY. Let's face it, the main reason there has been booming world financial markets from the late 1970's till 2007 was on the back of voracious US consumer borrowing & buying, buying, BUYING all the world's toys and cool stuff they could get their hands on!

If that is the new mantra of Obama, there is little hope....

 

[Calliope]

As Brisbane's temperature is expected to soar to 35 tomorrow and 39 on Sunday I am sure that the protesters would welcome the use of the borrowed water cannon to cool them off.

Brisbane residents are fleeing the city in their thousands to try and escape the double menace of the heat and the disruption and nuisance caused by the unwelcome G2 invasion.

 

[CanOz]

As Brisbane's temperature is expected to soar to 35 tomorrow and 39 on Sunday I am sure that the protesters would welcome the use of the borrowed water cannon to cool them off.

Brisbane residents are fleeing the city in their thousands to try and escape the double menace of the heat and the disruption and nuisance caused by the unwelcome G2 invasion.

I'm happy if it puts Brissy on the map

 

[Ves]

As Brisbane's temperature is expected to soar to 35 tomorrow and 39 on Sunday I am sure that the protesters would welcome the use of the borrowed water cannon to cool them off.

Brisbane residents are fleeing the city in their thousands to try and escape the double menace of the heat and the disruption and nuisance caused by the unwelcome G2 invasion.

I'd be more than happy if they bought the water cannon out into the suburbs. But since I'm just a lowly pleb, they won't notice me hiding out here with a fridge full of beer doing what I normally do.