Will November’s emergency global financial summit result in a “new global financial order”? European leaders are pressing for a fundamental change in the US-centric monetary system. Jason Simpkins says a similar crisis meeting in 1944 gave birth to the Bretton Woods gold standard. But there are reasons to doubt such a major reform this time around.

In 2004, then Treasury Secretary John Snow was traipsing about the globe trying to “talk the dollar down.” Why? In a word: debt. At the time, our debt stood at $7 trillion, with interest payments in fiscal 2003 totaling $318 billion. But now the U.S. national debt stands above $9 trillion, with interest payments in fiscal 2007 adding $1.4 billion a day.

Even the government’s fuzzy numbers showed record consumer inflation in June, up 0.8 percent, the most since February 1981.

“A Real Fly on the Wall at Bretton Woods”. Ah yes…that age-old question…

In 2004, then Treasury Secretary John Snow was traipsing about the globe trying to “talk the dollar down.” Why? In a word: debt.