Bird’s-Eye: Here in Toronto, 90% of the G20 coverage has focussed on the actions of the Black Bloc and the police response. The decisions that were made by the leaders of the major economic countries have been glossed over and hidden, as much as the leaders themselves were. A poll as to whether you approve of police action gets yeses and nos totalling 99%… a poll as to whether you approve of the economic decisions? Gee, we wonder why the media don’t have that on their websites. But things were decided, and here are two fine summaries and a dead-on cartoon to fill you in on what they were.

* G20 Accord: You Go Your Way, I’ll Go Mine The Guardian

Born out of necessity in the dark days of late 2008, the cracks are beginning to show in the G20. Developed and developing nations were united when confronted with the collapse of world trade and the shrivelling of industrial output but are finding it harder to keep the show on the road now that the immediate crisis is over.

The communique from the weekend’s meeting is easily summed up: do your own thing. The Americans cannot persuade the Europeans to hold off from fiscal tightening until the recovery is assured; the Germans and the British think the risks of a sovereign debt crisis are far more serious than the possibility of a double-dip recession. That was not the only contentious issue this weekend. Canada, Australia, China, India and Japan were unhappy with the idea that their banks – which proved resilient during the financial crisis – should have to pay the levy backed by Washington, Berlin, Paris and London. Again, it was a case of go your own way.

* Short-Term Pain For Long-Term Pain David Olive The Toronto Star

A fragile economic recovery worldwide has barely begun. Yet the world’s leading economies are abruptly removing the stimulus measures that revived a global economy hurtling toward a second Great Depression only 18 months ago.

This shift in global consensus from stimulus to austerity was the centerpiece agreement of the latest G20 summit, in Toronto last month. The official communiqué warned that continued stimulus to reboot the global economy “would undermine confidence and hamper growth.”

Which is nonsense. Even the stock market knows that much, having lately given up much of the huge gains it made at the peak of the stimulus last year. As a show of “confidence,” the markets have been sliding ever since the austerity talk began in earnest.

* Regarding the Ongoing Irrelevance of Keynesian Economics Cartoon by Barry Deutsch