G20 Update – Financial Crisis, Protests, and the Queen

The G20 dominated the news yesterday as they continued their meetings. There were thousands of protesters on the streets of London yesterday showing their displeasure with the state of the economy. Their aggravation was mostly directed at the banks – shocking!

All of the banks in the financial district were boarded up in the expectation of the protest except for the Royal Bank of Scotland. The demonstrators quickly realized the bank was vulnerable and smashed in the windows and raided the building.

On a lighter side the Obama’s met the queen! The reporters were all wondering how the Obama’s would greet her. Would they bow, curtsey or just shake hands? Is this what they are really worried about? Yes! Is seems that it is very important to greet the Queen properly. Well the suspense is over – they shook her hand and nodded (not a full bow, but a partial).

My favorite news of the meeting was the exchange of gifts. The Obama’s gave the Queen an I-POD filled with video of her last trip to the US. Pretty cool. The Queen? She gave the Obama’s an autographed picture of herself! Sweet! Just what I have always wanted. I would live to have seen the Obama’s faces. Lots of fake excitement there.

Anyway – one of the main decisions that was made during the summit was to increase the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) resources by $500 Billion. This will triple the amount of money the IMF has available for lending raising it to $750 Billion. The money to fund this $500 Billion dollars will come from numerous countries with the US giving around $100 Billion.

President Obama had a number of meetings yesterday and they all seemed to go quite well. He has been given a passing grade by the press so far. More news to come tomorrow.

Check out www.reuters.com for more news on the G20.

Also check out www.thebriteway.com for your refinance and purchase needs.

Happy Wednesday everyone!