G8 can do more

The G8 summit is a disappointment, writes Matthias Matthijs, professor of politics and economics at Washington's John Hopkins University, in the daily De Standaard: "Even if we acknowledge that the G8 has diminished in importance it's worrying to watch the G8 leaders push the true cause of the financial crisis aside for the sake of 'quick fixes'. They can't do much, but they can do more than they are doing now. … The problem is that the money is flowing from poor to rich and not the other way round. The Chinese are subsidising the Americans' almost inexorable need to consume. … Given these [growing global macro-economic imbalances] the G8 - expanded to the G10 by adding China and India - can play an important role by constructing a system that automatically corrects imbalances when they get out of control - just as the EU Commission does with budgetary deficits in Europe."

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