G-20 nations pledge to deal with debt

Dick Taffe — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:43:09 +0000

The Group of 20 industrialized nations wrapped up their meeting in Toronto promising to have their government deficits by 2013 and “stabilize” debt loads by 2016, signaling to domestic political audiences and international markets that they’re serious about reducing stimulus spending. But economics Professor Laurence Kotlikoff, author of “Jimmy Stewart is Dead” about the future of the banking industry, says the G-20 missed the mark by not focusing on the critical future problems of paying pensions and health care benefits.

“Had the G-20 agreed to do long-term fiscal gap accounting and to develop policies that eliminated those fiscal gaps, it would have done something real. What’s it’s really done is agreed to delay making the critical policy changes needed to avoid insolvency.”

Contact Laurence Kotlikoff, 617-353-4002, kotlikoff@bu.edu

G-20 to deal with global recovery

Dick Taffe — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:02:32 +0000

Next week’s meeting of the Group of 20 industrial nations in Toronto will face competing efforts to deal with the fragile global economic recovery. International relations Professor Kevin Gallagher, currently a visiting professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, writes in a Financial Times commentary that developing a sovereign debt crisis management regime should be at the top of the G-20′s agenda.

“The overarching goal of such an effort should be to strike a single global standard for balanced and timely restructuring that satisfies the needs of creditors while enabling debtor nations the ability to recover and grow. This is where the G20 can make its mark.”

Contact Kevin Gallagher, 617-353-9348, kpg@bu.edu

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G-20 nations pledge to deal with debt

G-20 to deal with global recovery