President Obama and Chancellor Merkel at G-20

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President Obama and German Chancellor Merkel speak to the media before a bilateral meeting at the G-20 Summit in Seoul, South Korea.

[theonlyone]

 

[Soul Crusher]

Obama's economic view is rejected on world stage
New York Times ^ | November 11, 2010 | Sewell Chan, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and David E. Sanger


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SEOUL, South Korea -- President Barack Obama's hopes of emerging from his Asia trip with the twin victories of a free-trade agreement with South Korea and a unified approach to spurring global economic growth ran into resistance on all fronts Thursday, putting Obama at odds with his key allies and largest trading partners.

The most concrete trophy expected to emerge from the trip eluded his grasp: a long-delayed free trade agreement with South Korea, first negotiated by the Bush administration and then reopened by Obama, to have greater protections for U.S. workers.


(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...

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Embarrassment in Seoul
Wall Street Journal Opinion ^ | November 13,2010

Has there ever been a major economic summit where a U.S. President and his Treasury Secretary were as thoroughly rebuffed as they were at this week's G-20 meeting in Seoul? We can't think of one. President Obama failed to achieve any of his main goals while getting pounded by other world leaders for failing U.S. policies and lagging growth.

The root of this embarrassment is political and intellectual: Rather than leading the world from a position of strength, Mr. Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner came to Seoul blaming the rest of the world for U.S. economic weakness. America's problem, in their view, is the export and exchange rate policies of the Germans, Chinese or Brazilians. And the U.S. solution is to have the Fed print enough money to devalue the dollar so America can grow by stealing demand from the rest of the world.

President Barack Obama walks off the stage with Secretary of Treasury Timonthy Geithner But why should anyone heed this U.S. refrain? The Germans are growing rapidly after having rejected Mr. Geithner's advice in 2009 to join the U.S. stimulus spending blowout. China is also growing smartly having rejected counsel from three U.S. Administrations to abandon its currency discipline. The U.K. and even France are pursuing more fiscal restraint. Only the Obama Administration is determined to keep both the fiscal and monetary spigots wide open, while blaming everyone else for the poor domestic results.


(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


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