Smackdown in Seoul

[whell]

Boston Globe article with headline: "Obama’s economic view is rejected on world stage."

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asi...t_a_done_deal/

"And as officials frenetically tried to paper over differences among the Group of 20 members with a vaguely worded communiqué to be issued today, there was no way to avoid discussion of the fundamental differences of economic strategy. After five largely harmonious meetings in the past two years to deal with the most severe downturn since the Depression, major disputes broke out between Washington and China, Britain, Germany, and Brazil.

Each rejected core elements of Obama’s strategy of stimulating growth before focusing on deficit reduction. Several major nations continued to accuse the Federal Reserve of deliberately devaluing the dollar last week in an effort to put the costs of America’s competitive troubles on trading partners, rather than taking politically tough measures to rein in spending at home."

"The disputes were not limited to America’s foreign partners. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner got into a trans-Pacific argument with one of his former mentors, Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, after Greenspan wrote that the United States was “pursuing a policy of currency weakening.’’ Geithner shot back on CNBC that while he had “enormous respect’’ for Greenspan, “that’s not an accurate description of either the Fed’s policies or our policies.’’

Much of the rest of the world seemed to share Greenspan’s assessment. "

So, obviously I'm curious about what your take is on this. I don't know of any country that has over-taxed and over-spent its way to prosperity. We now throw in a policy of devaluing currency. That, coupled with the sophistry and lunacy that surrounds our budgeting and spending process, and the stage is set for a potential repeat of some very ugly history.