G-20 Summit

10% unemployment rate is bad, but it also suggests that 90% of Americans are working – Barrington Lewis


I’m back folks!  Took a little break from the blog to focus on the Level 1 CAIA exam. But now I’m ready to get back to writing!

Today the G-20 summit met in Pittsburgh, NY to discuss powerful decisions that affects international economic and monetary policy and President Obama delivered a powerful “framework” for global progress and peace…while at the same time Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pleaded before Congress for more regulation of the banking industry. Some of us will catch the highlights of the G-20 to see what went on after we get off of work, or maybe we’ll catch the highlights and commentary once we wake up and watch the news.

But the true fans of this G-20 summit can interpret that a new world of interlinked powers or nations is emerging – indeed the world is becoming smaller. The best opportunities for investments will not be just domestic, such as here in the US, but abroad in developing countries such as India, China, Africa, etc. New financial instruments will come to play and we’ll hear top economists coin phrases such as “green investing” or “socially responsible investing”…hopefully, as time progresses and regulation is at least minutely accepted, hedge funds will self-institutionalize to the point where more middle-class citizens have the opportunity to participate in these “absolute return” funds that are currently limited to high net worth individuals.

We shall soon see how it all plays out and exactly how much trust is exerted between nations, whether ally or foe, and how democracy spreads its wings throughout the world.