Clash over stimulus spending clouds G20 outlook - U.S. .. turning up pressure on Europe ...

MarketWatch ^ | March 13, 2009 10:16 a.m. EDT | William L. Watts, MarketWatch

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

U.S. officials turning up pressure on Europe to boost stimulus

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Don't look for the world's most powerful economic policy makers to come up with a sweeping prescription for a deepening global recession when they gather this weekend in southern England.

The meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the world's 20 largest industrialized and emerging economies Friday and Saturday at a luxury hotel near Brighton comes amid a growing disagreement between the United States and Europe over Washington's call for additional government spending to rev up slumping global demand.

'The possibility that the upcoming [G20] meeting could provide a unified plan to help tackle the 'Great Recession' seems to be receding very rapidly.'

— Simon Derrick, Bank of New York Mellon

European officials say they've done enough on the spending front and that the focus should now be on overhauling how the global financial system is regulated.

"The possibility that the upcoming [Group of 20] meeting could provide a unified plan to help tackle the 'Great Recession' seems to be receding very rapidly," said Simon Derrick, chief currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon. "Instead, the evidence of the past few days indicates an increased split of opinion between the U.S. and the euro zone over the best approach."

The weekend meeting comes as top officials try to lay the groundwork for the high-profile London summit of G20 leaders next month.

With a $787 billion fiscal stimulus plan working its way into the U.S. economy, Obama administration officials have turned up the pressure on Europe to boost the roughly 200 billion euro ($255 billion) fiscal stimulus they've already agreed to provide.

[pepsionice]

If I were Obama or the financial wizards of the Obama court...I’d start to expect a vast difference in ideas and opinion over the stimulus concept.

I’ve been sitting in Germany for fifteen years now. I’ve watched steady players and steady strategy become a major part of the German, French or Dutch governments. There are no radical shifts. They don’t toss billions away in bold and stupid maneuvers. They don’t give cities like New Orleans $2k for a paint shaker machine as part of the stimulus package.

When Europeans talk about infrastructure....its a planned maneuver. They have a list of bridges and their life span. They know precisely when the old bridge must go and construction for the next one must start.

So I think the Obama crew is going to meet reality and find it not to their liking. The US media? They are going to come back from the conference with questions why we can “talk” to our allies and convince them of the mission. Eventually...the public is going to realize that the Europeans on this issue....are one hundred percent correct.

[KarlInOhio]

When Europeans talk about infrastructure....its a planned maneuver. They have a list of bridges and their life span. They know precisely when the old bridge must go and construction for the next one must start.

So you don't have some two bit politician from Saarland getting every bridge, road and goat path named after him by putting those projects at the top of the list. (How do you say Robert Byrd in German?)

[FastCoyote]

[So I think the Obama crew is going to meet reality and find it not to their liking. ]

And the European crew may not so much think Obama is the messiah they thought when he asks them to cough up cash.

[BubbaBasher]

I wish all of the news readers would stop referring to the 0bama administration as the “U.S.”. He is NOT us and the collective “us” does not support his policies.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This is NOT going to help Obama...related thread:

Obama's Poll Numbers Are Falling to Earth

[WOSG]

Europe knows Obama’s wasteful spending is too much.

Obama is more of a socialist than the Euro-socialists.

Take note, America!