The Summit Industry Is Booming

While our noble and wise leaders were "reinventing" capitalism I decided to escape to the Black Forest for the weekend. On returning I find a world that looks very much the same. The main conclusion of the summit on the economic crisis seems to be....to hold another summit in a few months time. The culprits for a slow recovery have also been identified, if those poor countries who refused to accept the monstrously unfair Doha trade agreement continue to reject it they can be accused of holding back recovery. Meanwhile I don't see anything to suggest that we won't be back after the recession for yet another round of (publicly subsidised) hedge fund fuelled casino madness.

Meanwhile Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero got his picture taken at the White House shaking the hand of the caretaker. Having made it to this gathering, the Spanish government's main concern seems to be to ensure that they get invited to the next one as well. Zapatero confidently declared that this was not a problem because he trusted the word of Nicolas Sarkozy. If that's not a risky strategy I don't know what is. I would post some Black Forest photos but I'm hampered by a slight technical problem; the camera with the photos is here with me in Germany but the cable that connects it to my laptop failed to leave Madrid.