It’s all very laudable – world leaders getting together to defeat a global economic recession which they managed to create for us in the first place.

But shouldn’t we and the other nations be sending people who actually KNOW what they’re doing? 
We’ll give Obama the benefit of the doubt for the time being, and he’s the Americans’ problem anyway.
In Britain, we continue to assume that our own elected representatives are competent enough to manage our finances and complex economy, otherwise we wouldn’t vote for them, would we? 
We assume they’re able to tell good advice from bad, because…er, well, because they’re our leaders and that’s what leaders do, isn’t it?

Assumptions are dangerous.
We ASSUMED they knew what they were doing when we elected them and they promised us ‘no more boom and bust’.
We ASSUMED they had enough common sense to know that when banks lend £billions in 100% mortgages on stupid multiples of income and ‘self-certification’ of earnings to people who can’t afford them, then house prices are going to go through the roof and the balloon’s going to burst eventually.

Was nobody in government – or ‘Her Majesty’s Opposition’ – bright enough to know this basic fact of life?
It truly beggars belief that nobody in parliament could see this coming, when most of us knew it was all too good to be true, and too good to last.
We could put it down to incompetence on their part… or we could put it down to taking the cynical decison to ignore all obvious warning signs in the desperation to stay in power and pretend that it’s a global issue. The head-in-sand philosophy, or ‘admit nothing / deny everything-and-it-will-go-away’ approach to governing the country.

Nor does it matter whether it’s Brown or Cameron or the leader of any other party.
Our ancient parliamentary system which is designed to protect politicians, civil servants and the monarchy from its own citizens means we are stuck with self-seeking politicians and a ruling elite rather than effective managers and leaders.

We choose personalites, political parties and their ‘manifestos’ slavishly, rather than honest professionals and specialists in their field who will make decisons based on sound principles, not political dogma. 

When was the last time a politician did anything positive and successful for our economy?  Something which is long-term and sustainable, and which serves the best interests of the majority of citizens rather than big business, bankers, fat cats and political party donors?

The answer to that one is never – it’s always been a question of spending money on some bright spark’s manifesto promises rather than a measured approach to the country’s needs and priorities. This means it’s always ‘fire-fighting’: short-term, ineffective and wasteful.
And while we persist in allowing our country to be run in this way, it never will.

So are you expecting something positive to come out of the G20 ‘summit’?    
Don’t hold your breath.