by Calculated Risk on 6/27/2010 09:08:00 AM

From Alan Beattie at the Financial Times in 2008 (via Bruce Bartlett):

An ineffectual international organisation yesterday issued a stark warning about a situation it has absolutely no power to change, the latest in a series of self-serving interventions by toothless intergovernmental bodies.

“We are seriously concerned about this most serious outbreak of seriousness,” said the head of the institution ...

And on a more serious note, from Bloomberg: G-20 May Stress Need to Cut Deficits as Leaders Split on Urgency of Target

Group of 20 leaders are poised to endorse targets to tackle deficits while giving nations flexibility on when to start balancing their books, according to officials with knowledge of drafts of the final statement.
...
The draft of the statement includes targets championed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for countries to halve deficits by 2013 and start to stabilize their debt-to-output ratios by 2016, the officials said.

From the NY Times: Leaders at Summit Talks Turn Attention to Deficit Cuts

Despite President Obama’s pitch at the summit meeting for developed nations here for continued stimulus measures to prevent another global economic downturn, the United States will go along with other leaders who are more concerned about rising debt and join in a commitment to cut their governments’ deficits in half by 2013, administration officials said on Saturday.