G-20 leaders meeting in Toronto this weekend agreed the participating nations would “at least halve deficits by 2013 and stabilize or reduce government debts to GDP [gross domestic product] ratio by 2016.”
Reuters dubbed the U.S. as one of the conference’s “losers” since it had encouraged European nations to soften their austerity plans. Germany, which as we noted before led the charge on spending, was dubbed a winner since it “managed to tilt the balance in the final communique slightly toward the fiscal tightening side.”
In the closing press conference Sunday President Obama attempted to assure his counterparts he is on board with the deficit targets by touting his commitment to cut the U.S. deficit in half by 2013. (See President Obama’s remarks here.)
If all this rhetoric is followed-up with real policies to cut spending in the U.S, and around the globe, we can consider this a step in the right direction.
