President Bush still clueless as global economic summit convenes

U.S. President George W. Bush unabashedly displayed stubborn cluelessness to world leaders Thursday, a day before the historic global economic summit convened in Washington, D.C. Bush strongly defended free markets and warned against aggressive regulation in his speech, as if the corrupted view of so-called "free markets" in the United States was not at the heart of the global crisis. Indeed, it was the lack of regulation of financial markets that caused the current crisis to erupt in the United States and spread around the world. The summit meeting involving leaders from the world's 20 largest economies is scheduled to begin Saturday at the National Building Museum in Washington. A senior U.S. official told the New York Times that the most that could be expected from the meeting is a commitment to coordinate banking regulations and to continue to meet regularly. World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick warned the gathering to remember the fate of the world's poorest countries, which were not represented yet might suffer the most if economic turmoil continues for years.