Nineteen thirty-nine was not a good year. World War II started, and much of the world was still in the Depression. The leaders of too many countries were either despots or naive and weak.
And 2009 has not been a good year, considering the global recession. Seventy years later, as in 1939, the leaders of too many countries are either despots or naive and weak. Just look at the performance of the world's leaders at the United Nations and at the Group of 20 summit of major economic powers in Pittsburgh last week.
Crackpots such as Libya's Col. Moammar Gadhafi ranted on while leaders of major countries, including the United States, engaged in meaningless babble about how "we" (i.e. they) will do better this year. The final communique from the G-20 was a long, embarrassing, self-congratulatory statement of how, if it had not been for the wonderful attendees at the meeting, the world economy would be in even worse shape - conveniently overlooking the fact that it largely had been this group of people who had made the mess in the first place. The summit's final, and very predictable, conclusion was that the leaders were going to take away more of our financial freedom and more from our wallets. This is not a good omen for the future.
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