AvoidingDanger

The meeting of the finance ministers of the G7 countries in the USA this weekend seems to have been long on rhetoric and short on deeds.

Although the summary given by President Bush promised a comprehensive and coordinated plan of action there appeared to be no specifics on what the plan is.

Of course they could have a plan in which the details are complex but the details haven’t been worked out yet. Or, and this is considerably more worrying, perhaps they have not been able to agree an overall plan.

On the positive side let’s remember that earlier in the week the big players did come together to lower the interest rates by .5% and no one had forecast such a well-coordinated and decisive action.

My bet is that they do have some specifics worked out and it is the minutiae that are yet to be resolved and rolled out in public over the coming weeks. It needs to be or the world is facing escalating economic chaos.

However this small speech by President Bush was the 27th. by him designed to show the public that he is on top of the situation and to reassure the markets. Unfortunately so many public utterances in which he doesn’t actually say anything specific is probably becoming both soporific and counter productive.

There is grave political danger inherent in this terrifying financial spiral because people become irrational in a financial crisis and aggression follows and this provokes equal and opposite reactions.
It is quite possible that there will be leaders of countries who will use this financial meltdown, as an excuse to impose draconian legislation and new dictatorships could emerge, not all of them benevolent. It is already becoming almost unpatriotic to question any measure being taken to bolster a nation’s economy.

In these circumstances, both actual and potential, it is the duty of us all to question, probe and protest when necessary. In the UK’s Parliament we have what we call Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. It is an antiquated term for exactly what our situation demands. Of course in every country everyone back logical, well-considered policies and actions that our leaders propose and take but although we should be loyal we sometimes have a duty to oppose and must always question.