President George W. Bush, center, poses for a group photo with other heads of state at the Summit on... 
(Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)A major fault line during these negotiations has been how much governments should directly intervene in the short and long term. The Europeans want more intervention, the Americans want less.
In particular, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been pushing some kind of coordinated fiscal stimulus package that all member countries would agree to enact. That's something President Bush has not been keen to do after passing a previous stimulus package earlier this year. But in its statement, the G-20 appeared to approve of the idea in principle without committing on the dotted line.
Despite low expectations, the summit has produced what appears to be on paper a comprehensive and detailed plan of action – complete with a timeline for short-term goals. Among them, to meet again on April 30, 2009. At that point, Bush noted, there will be a new U.S. president at the table.
"Some of you may not have heard yet, but I am retiring. But I told the leaders this: that President-elect Obama's transition team has been fully briefed on what we intended to do here at this meeting…And I hope it was good for them to hear that even though we're from different political parties, that I believe it's in our country's interest that he succeed."
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