Manmohan Singh Dances to Obama’s Tune in G20 Conference at Seoul

Article first published as Manmohan Singh Dances to Obama’s Tune in G20 Conference at Seoul on Technorati.

The Prime Minister of India has proved that so-called Manmohanamics is nothing but making India subservient to the interests of the western imperialist countries, particularly to those of the US on an international forum, G20. During his speech in G20 conference held at Seoul, South Korea on November 11 and 12, he danced to the tune of the US President Obama on the issue of current account deficits being faced by the US. He gave chorus to the US’ song deviating himself from his colleagues of emerging market economies.

CAD vs. CAS

Manmohan said in the G20 conference, “Major industrialized countries were running unsustainable current account deficits which have to be reduced to manageable levels.” Up to this point, no one needs to object. He then added, “If this is not to have a contractionary impact on the world economy, it must be offset by reducing current account surpluses elsewhere. This rebalancing requires pursuit of appropriately coordinated policies in our countries.” And, there he was, referring to his neighboring developing country, China.

So, Indian prime minister was telling that in order to reduce the trade deficit and hence the current account deficit of the US, China has to reduce its trade surplus and hence of course, its CAD. He is suggesting the China and apparently other surplus countries have to take appropriate measures like coordinated policies, to reduce their surpluses so that deficit countries may be prospered and reduce their trade deficits. That’s what he called rebalancing. Isn’t this the one vigorously being proposed by the US president Obama and its treasury secretary Timothy Geithner? Yes, it is.

Manmohan vs. Montek Singh

Whether Manmohan was aware of it or not, his market economy oriented friend and the Vice Chairman of India’s Planning Commission said on the sidelines of the G20 summit on November 11, "The real issue is given that it is a problem, how do we coordinate policy? I don't think you should be too demanding ... because such policy coordination has never been attempted before."