After the splendid beaches of Florida and the no less spectacular sites of the San Francisco Bay Area, it is back to work for me. I am about to drive to Pittsburgh, PA. to work at the G 20 conference. The G 20 is a gathering of heads of State and Bank officials. It was put together by European leaders, afraid to see the China-US leadership leave them in the dust. In order for France to be relevant, President Sarkozy decided to add the "emergent countries" India, Brazil, South Africa, and a few other nations, whose future is supposed to be bright, but unfortunately, always in the future.
In the French media, all the talk is about how tough our little president is toward Tax Havens. Of course, that is only one of the minor topics at the G 20. far more important to overcome the crisis, is the coordinated stimulus packages that unfortunately are very unpopular in France. So while the French TV news are all about Sarko's victory and Obama's disappointing performance at the UN global warming conference today, the US media are totally obsessed with what is left of the Health reform. Not much. but , hey, I will access Medicare in a few years, and if worse comes to worse, there is always France's generous insurance for its citizens.
Anyway, I will be in Pittsburgh tomorrow and will attend the G 20 conference. It will be interesting to see who is on top.
