G20 Breakdown

1. Banks fight regulation of their risky investments - warn Volcker rule will damage consumers

Banks are urging the EU and US to back down on threats to clamp down on their industry. They say that it will hurt the international approach to regulation at the G20, yet they have generally come out against international regulations as well. I suspect maybe, just maybe, the banks just want to avoid all regulation, at least regulation that has any teeth.

Showing great tenacity (if that’s the right word), they are most up-tight about any curbs of the kinds of trading which brought down the financial system in 2008. According to the Guardian article, the banks, represented by the Association for Financial Markets in Europe and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) are “particularly concerned about the US plans for the Volcker rule, intended to stop banks engaging in risky trading activities, and Europe’s planned curbs on hedge funds.”

“The financial regulatory reforms currently being proposed and adopted by the US and EU will directly affect our firms’ ability to provide the products and services our customers demand,” the groups warned.

The SIFMA has been upset about a whole lot of regulation, it doesn’t seem to have learned much from 2008. It pays to be in control of the system, you can ask for anything!

2. G20 summit scuppers Halladay’s first trip to Toronto as a Philly

As a baseball fan, this is a bit disappointing, I really wanted to see Halladay pitch! Not that I really have time, but I was hoping to make time. But, obviously there are more important issues, and if this gets baseball fans talking about and thinking about the G20 (as it seems to be doing), this could be a good thing.

As a bit of an aside, it’s interesting to hear some of the speculation of what the Jays are up to:

“It seems unreal to me that the team did not even consider an alternative location, and I find it very odd that the Jays will only look to break even on what will no doubt be a sell out weekend series in Philadelphia.  Either management is incredibly inept, and they’re giving money away to Philadelphia, or the statements made this afternoon were a little bit less than honest. Something is fishy.”

3. Democratic deficit in the G20 process? We’ll add a few countries! Canada is extending the olive branch to a few countries that don’t get to be a part of the big shots club at the G20 (in a lopsided world economy the G20 economies account for 90 percent of global output, 80 percent of world trade). Ethiopia, Vietnam and Malawi get to join in from the south and see what the rich are planning. Ethiopia and Malawi are only the 2nd and third African countries to ever join the G20 process (South Africa was the first). Yet the G20 is seen by Bono and others as the forum to ‘help’ Africa? Shouldn’t more Africans be at the table?

A large scale dry-run hostage-taking happened in the underground paths of Toronto on Sunday in preparation for the G20 meetings, and they are using private security to make it happen.

“There’s only so many police officers but there’s lots of private security…If private citizens see things they can report it to the private sector and the private sector has a communication network now with us and they can pass it on.”

Chris Fernandes, of the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy rapid response Team, said police have been increasing their partnerships with private security forces in an effort to better contend with modern threats. “It gives us thousands more eyes on the street to help us look for people we may want to find and help us do our policing,”

This marks a clear move towards privatization of security operations at an unprecedented scale in Canadian history. And the track record of private security at a globale scale is nothing to write home about. See: Blackwater, Halliburton

You can really feel things starting to ramp up on many fronts, as a pair of Globe and Mail articles exemplify:

1. Canadian bankers are publicly calling for the G20 to not stifle their growth through new regulations. “When you’re going to change the financial model of the world, be very careful how quickly you act,” Bank of Nova Scotia CEO Rick Waugh said in an interview.

They are pushing back, along with the Canadian government, on plans for a bank tax, as well as other possible regulations. I think there is a sense among bankers that it is time to go on the offensive now that the crisis has stabilized, despite their central global role in the economic crisis.

Most telling is how the Globe and Mail suggests that the bankers must mean business because they are being public about it all, because they usually just use their connections to lobby for (ie: get) what they want, when they want.

“The six men leading Canada’s major banks tend to shy away from public comments about what policy makers should do. They have access to key regulators and top officials in Ottawa, and prefer to use those channels to relay messages in private.”

2. While the bankers are using their public and private influence to get what they want, there are more details of the massive security being set up for the protesters who, it seems, are not to be heard. It will be a “small army”, according to the Globe and Mail:

“For the G8 Summit [in Deerhurst, Ont.] the RCMP/OPP will require approximately 4,000 personnel with duty-related belongings to be transported at different dates, times and locations,” reads a contract tendered for shuttle buses. “For the G20 Summit, the RCMP will require approximately 5,600 personnel with duty-related belongings to be transported at different dates, times and locations.”

And there is lots of money to be made from contracts:

Dozens of buses: “For the G20 Summit the RCMP will require approximately 5,600 personnel with duty-related belongings to be transported at different dates, times and locations.”

1,000 Private Security Guards: “The contractor will be required to provide approximately 1,030 security screening personnel to perform pedestrian screening in designated areas.”

Secure two-way radios: “The radio system must be a leased, two-way multi-channel digital trunk radio communication system or service … fully operational by June 7, 2010.”

Communications/Interpretation: “Conference discussion systems (CDS), conference simultaneous interpretation systems (CSIS), sound reinforcement systems (SRS), conference microphone systems (CMS), audio visual systems (AVS) and simultaneous interpretation (SIS) in various locations.”

On-site printing and shredding: “The Printing contractor will deliver, install and provide the personnel to operate the main sites printing centres as well as the remote sites… the contractor will provide personnel, photocopiers, facsimiles, scanners and shredders.”

Those whose job it is to create a safe world for bankers are sure hoping to not be bothered by outsiders, as seen in the G-20 security plans that have been announced

According to Const. Ed Boltuc, a Toronto police officer and community liaison with the Integrated Security Unit:

“The Olympics that you saw recently in Vancouver was actually the largest security event ever to take place here in Canada. The G20/G8 surpasses that completely. There’s going to be a massive — absolutely massive — presence of police and security on the ground like you’ve never seen before.”

Why am I getting the sneaking suspicion that Harper, in all his ideological zealotry and his distain for democratic processes, is looking to show the world that he can kick ass with the best of them and that nothing is going to stop him from doing what he wants, where he wants? Why else would he be having the G-20 right downtown in Canada’s largest city?

The Star further outlines the plans:

This inner security zone will be strictly controlled during the summit weekend and blocked off with an “unscalable” fence rising at least 3 metres, Boltuc said. Anyone requiring access will have to pass a “five-tier system of security,”

The outer layer will be protected by Toronto police, Boltuc said. While speculation had placed the boundaries at Queen St. to the north, Yonge St. to the east, Lake Shore Blvd. W. to the south and Spadina Ave. to the west, Boltuc said the area won’t be quite that large.