Not very stimulating

Let’s all spend 2% of our GDP to boost the economy and the world will be a better place. This is in essence what Tim Geithner is suggesting as the main agenda item for the upcoming G20 summit in London. The US Treasury secretary wants to make that goal binding – with the IMF policing the global neighbourhood to make sure everyone is complying. The idea is both wrong and impractical. There’s some merit to the US administration’s barely-veiled impatience with Europe. Most European leaders have be...