Financial Crisis: Where have all the leaders gone?

The world is on the verge of financial meltdown and there appears to be no political leader capable of meeting the challenge of calming the markets. Barack Obama made a lukewarm attempt with his "We are going to get through this", before climbing into a helicopter for a weekend at Camp David.

Here in the UK, No.10 has a "gone away" sign and next door the Chancellor's office is deserted, with the titleholder on holiday in the USA. But for now the UK is on the outside looking in, although problems in Europe and the US will drag the country further into the turmoil. The Italian PM, Silvio Berlusconi, is a corrupt liar, with no credibility, while the French and German leaders appear to have pulled the blankets over their heads. Separate beds of course.

These are dangerous times for the world economies, with the impact being felt by all of us. It is not helped by rating agencies like Standard & Poor's who downgrade a country's credit rating at the drop of a hat, but without any responsibility or consequence for their actions. Even those countries desperately attempting to crawl out of a financial mess find themselves clobbered by these firms.

The USA will not be happy with the lecture from the Chinese to get a grip, but as its biggest lender it believes it has every right. World domination costs money and China has plenty. Shouldn't World leaders be meeting to find a way forward? Bad political leadership and mismanagement of financial institutions has led to this newest calamity and there is a big danger that recovery will be a long time in coming.