The purpose of the G20 jamboree?

It's clear why some are coming, Sarkosy to act like a prima donna and pretend that French power has not diminished to almost nothing, China to extend its political power world wide, etc.

Ostensibly its about solving the world recession by flinging even more money at it. There seems to be a major division on this one, so agreement will be reached only by including in the global total of splurge that which has already happened.

What of the other objectives?

One is reduce the number of tax havens where the rich can manage to escape tax demands from their own governments. What has this got to do with ending recession?

The final one is to increase and unify control over banks and other financial organisations. Among the statists who will be there, of left and right, this uses the recession as an opportunity to increase the power of government over its people. It does not seem to have occurred to them that part of the reason for the recession was a failure in regulation, not that we had too little but rather that it was badly applied. Add to that the fact that various governments created the circumstances, - in America by pushing the lending organisations into lending to those with no hope of repaying, and there and in the UK by keeping interests rates so low that people over-borrowed.

Of course, the two objectives above may be carrots to gain support from governments who are not hopelessly in debt like the UK is and the USA will be. It may represent two areas where most will agree, and the summit may then be pronounced a resounding success.

Most of all they represent extra power to government, and those who climb the greasy pole are always looking for this.