4511 The G-7

At the moment, seven international economic ministers are homeless. The next meeting of the G-7 economic powers will be held in the United States from Wednesday, June 10, 2020 to Friday, June 12.  

Since the US is the host country, it’s up to us to pick a venue. To no one’s surprise, the president picked his very own Doral resort in Florida.  To no one’s surprise, this raised a torrent of criticism.  To everyone’s surprise, trump backed down. So for now, the Gs are homeless.

Actually, most of the torrent of criticism was confined to America. Economic ministers from the other six countries merely roll their eyes or raise an eyebrow.  Pretty civilized bunch.

Wessays (™) has some suggestions.  But first, let’s examine the change of venue.

The average high temperature in Doral, FL in June is 89 degrees.  That’s not terrible, but it’s not ideal, either.  And the upside would have been that few tourists go there at that time of year. The ministers could pretty much get the run of the place.  The average June occupancy of the Doral resort is 40%. That’s below the break-even figure.  But they still have to turn on the lights and the AC, and keep the bars and restaurants open.  So 40% + seven makes a better return on investment than just 40%.  There are 643 rooms.

But, really, the meeting only requires six rooms. trump would commute from Washington.  It’s a quick hop in Air Force One. About that room count: sure these people come with huge entourages. But do they have to?

To look good to the folks back home they travel in luxury (we’re pretty important, doncha know.) They have assistants who work long hours both above and below the sheets. And by sheets, we’re not talking about ledger books.

Camp David might be a better place for this get-together. It’s warm in June but not oppressively.  It’s an even shorter hop from Washington which has better airports than Miami (that isn’t saying much.) And diplos are often more comfortable in greater Washington DC than in the desert of South Florida, though like trump says about the Kurds they have “a lot of sand to play with.”

If they change the venue to Camp David, trump could make not one, but three grand entrances as Marine One lands or takes off.

The actual work of the G-7 is shrouded in mystery.  And whatever it is, it gets done long before the meeting. The sessions themselves are show biz and a chance for some stuffy muckitymucks to network and try to impress one another.

Where are the ministers from? Good question. Bet you don’t know. They’re from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US, and the UK.  As the president said during the campaign “a lot people don’t know that.

The group once was the G-8, but Russia was withdrawn, possibly because trump’s electoral college margin of victory was unsatisfyingly low.

SHRAPNEL:

--Elijah Cummings showed us what courage of one’s convictions means, especially when it’s turned into action. He did that long before he became a key figure in the investigation of donald trump. And had he lived, he would have continued long after we were rid of the maggot in our midst.

I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ® 

Comments:  send ‘em here: wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2019