Leaders face economic trouble

       Bolstering a global economy still wobbly from the worst recession in seven decades, restraining greedy bankers and plotting a future course for sustainable growth - the leaders of the world's major economies have no shortage of items on their to-do list when they meet today and tomorrow.
       The problem is that with the global economy on the mend, they could encounter waning enthusiasm to launch bold intitatives, especially if those efforts would limit the leaders' political manoeuvring room back home.
       OBAMA'S MAJOR GOAL MAY BE WATERED DOWN
       President Barack Obama is already facing the likelihood that one of his major goals will be watered down. He wants the G-20 to agree to a new global compact to avoid the dangerous imbalances that many believe played a major contributing role in pushing the world into a severe and prolonged recession that has cost millions of lost jobs and wiped out trillions of dollars in wealth.
       It is likely that the G-20 will endorse the US call for a new "framework for sustainable and balanced growth", but without any major way to enforce commitments made to rastrain imbalances such as China's massive trade surpluses and the United States' surging budget deficits.
       The G-20 leaders are also vowing to adopt tougher rules of the road to keep banks from engaging in the kind of risky behaviour that brought on the current crisis, but they are pushing different approaches.