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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with The World’s Jason Margolis, who’s in Pittsburgh, about the G20 meeting that gets under way there tomorrow.

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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman.  And this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston.  Today, all eyes are on the United Nations in New York.  World leaders — including President Obama — gathered there for the 64th UN General Assembly.  Tomorrow, the leaders of the world’s biggest economies will be moving to another US city.  Pittsburgh is hosting the G20 summit tomorrow and Friday.  The group of 20 make up 85 percent of the global economy.  The World’s Jason Margolis is in Pittsburgh.  And Jason, what’s on the agenda for tomorrow?

JASON MARGOLIS: Well, chicken, bonuses, and coordination.

MARCO WERMAN: [OVERLAPPING] Chicken, bonuses and coordination …!  [LAUGHS]

MARGOLIS: [OVERLAPPING] What do I mean by that….

MARCO WERMAN: Yeah.

MARGOLIS: Well the first thing, when I say “chicken,” is there’s a trade dispute between the United States and China.  Of course, President Obama raised tariffs on Chinese tires, and China is threatening to put tariffs on US chicken.  So that’s something the world doesn’t want to see spiral out of control.  “Bonuses,” the European countries, namely France and Germany, want to regulate banker bonuses.  They see that as a major problem.  And the reason why we had this crisis, is because bankers took unnecessary risks for personal short-term profits, wheraeas the US and the United Kingdom want to raise capital standards for banks.  And “coordination,” all the nations need to work together to coordinate the winding down of stimulus, but not to do it too quickly.  ‘Cause if one nation goes first, then the others fall behind.

MARCO WERMAN: So, “chickens, bonuses, and coordination.”  Why Pittsburgh, though?

MARGOLIS: Well, exactly.  You just answered the question.  Why Pittsburgh?  If they were to have this meeting in Washington or New York, well, it’s just another meeting of international leaders.  But Pittsburgh, it really gets people thinking, “Why did they choose this city?” And Pittsburgh is an amazing story of regeneration.  Just 25 years ago, this was known as the steel city, and the smoke city, and I’m sitting here today about two miles from downtown, and you might be able to hear crickets in the background.  It’s a very nice city, and they really have reinvented this city.  They invested heavily in medical research, high tech, education.  And Pittsburgh is booming, actually.  The recession hasn’t impacted Pittsburgh nearly as bad as the rest of the nation.  And President Obama wants to show this off.

MARCO WERMAN: Well, let’s talk about some of the different agendas that the diff reps will be bringing to the table at the G20.  President Obama said today at the UN that our goal is simple, a global economy in which growth is sustained and opportunity is available to all.  Sustained growth, though, Jason, seems to be at the root of the problem of last year’s meltdown:  maximizing profit, even if it means coming up with new, hyper risky subprime mortgage derivative products.  So will there be countries at the G20 who will be critical of sustained growth and challenge that entire paradigm?

MARGOLIS: Well, I think everybody wants growth, ‘cause that’s what fuels the world economy.  The question is, who is going to be doing the growing and who is going to be doing the buying?  For many years now, the model has been other countries build stuff, so China builds things, and Americans consume.  Well, that model is just no longer sustainable, ‘cause the United States is deep into deficit, and that’s one of the major items on the agenda is that the United States needs to start producing “stuff” and other countries need to start buying.  And that’s gonna be a very tricky thing to negotiate, because that’s the way the world has worked for many years now.  How do you change that on a dime?

MARCO WERMAN: There have been a number of big economic summits in the past year, all of which were hailed beforehand as very important in the context of the global economic crisis.  But, in reality, how important have these meetings actually been in terms of aiding recovery?

MARGOLIS: Well, the last G20 meeting was in April in London.  And that was considered one of the most important international meetings in modern history.  And most economists I’ve spoken with say they really did their job.  Because they came together and they showed a united front, and they prevented the world economy from collapsing.  And it was a very real threat.  Now, how important is this one?  Some people I’ve spoken with say this one’s even more important, ‘cause it’s easy to work together in coordination when your back is against the wall.  But now, okay, the recession seems to be over.  And now, countries are starting to do what’s best for them.  But it is very important these countries work together.  So in some ways, this conference is even more important than the one in April.

MARCO WERMAN: The World’s Jason Margolis in Pittsburgh.  Thanks Jason, and we’ll be hearing more from you tomorrow.

MARGOLIS: Yes. Thank you, Marco.

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