BUSINESSWEEK: CAN THE G-20 FIND COMMON GROUND ON BANKING CRISIS?

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner this weekend will urge the finance ministers of 20 of the world’s largest economies to mount a combined attack of robust fiscal stimulus against the global banking crisis. His European counterparts seem likely to respond by advocating early reform of international financial regulations. But neither initiative is likely to succeed, at least not soon.  The divide between the U.S. and many European members means the leaders of the G-20 will probably be forced to settle for nothing more than a declaration of shared goals.  G-20 leaders appear largely to agree on the severity of the crisis, and that all of them need to pull together. But neither the U.S. nor Europe—in particular Germany—seems prepared, nor perhaps able, to budge much from solutions tailored to its own, domestic problems.  Geithner could boost the chances for successful negotiations by offering a lot up front, for example by offering more money to the IMF. 

Question to the Blogosphere:  Is the U.S. doing all it can to mitigate the global financial crisis?  Should domestic problems be resolved before global issues are tackled or are these domestic problems doomed to continue unless the root causes of the financial crisis, which could be global, are dealt with?  Should the U.S. take the lead on these negotiations or should a country who has not been as affected by the crisis and therefore may be more neutral take the lead?