Tonight's TV....get your popcorn.

Let's try something new tonight - videos.

First, thanks to Jim Lehrer's Newshour on PBS, here's a very nice video (Click here) summing up the global coordination and some insightful analysis by Professor Joseph Stiglitz and Professor Martin Feldstein about the likely impact of the coordination as well as proposed next steps. (Transcript here for those of you who prefer to read)

And then, since I cannot miss any opportunity to lobby for that "new day": A stronger, more stable, more equitable and more sustainable global financial and economic system, here's an interview with Professor Joseph Stiglitz again, but earlier this year : Sharing the Benefits of Globalization (click here) . This is about the IMF, the US and developing countries and globalization. Yes, globalization that I have talked about in earlier posts. That globalization that the US insisted the world had to have. That globalization that has resulted in such a fragile interconnected system that when the US sneezes, the rest of the world faces potential pneumonia.

By the way, for those of you who do not know who he is, Professor Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University was the winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics Sciences in 2001. Here is his Wikipedia profile, a link to his bio on the Columbia University website, and a link for current articles on the crisis. It has been said that "his work explained the circumstances in which markets do not work well, and how selective government intervention can improve their performance". In the developing world, he is perhaps most famous for his criticism of globalization for its impacts on the developing world. He is a powerful voice for many who are rendered powerless by globalization.

Here's a thought:

Since Professor Stiglitz has already been appointed by French President Nicolas Sarzoky to chair a Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Economic Progress (presumably in France), and since President Sarkozy now holds the rotating chair of the European Union, and since President Sarzoky has called for a new financial architecture (click here), can Professor Stiglitz' "terms of reference" somehow include say, perhaps design of a stronger, more stable, more equitable and more sustainable global financial and economic system? I am personally curious as to what he thinks that would look like. Then perhaps, other countries will seek the view of other Professors in various, but related, fields to give their views. And then perhaps somewhere in between we find a happy medium that works for the world.

One thing I know for sure, whoever leads that effort for a stronger, more stable, more equitable and more sustainable global financial and economic system and achieves a world commitment to it will be one of the most important people in all of history, and cement an extra special place in the history of the world for his or her country.

How does that affect my plans? Well, as I've already said - I have lined up a German tutor, and am still looking for a Mandarin tutor, so now if hypothetically President Sarkozy of France is the man that leads the effort for the "new day", then I would just need to add brushing up on my French.

Au revoir!