Hier 11 mars, dans divers organes de presse respectables de la place londonienne, nous entend\u00eemes les g\u00e9missements vari\u00e9s de Sir Gus O’Donnell, dit Sir Gus, chef du civil service<\/em> britannique. Ces g\u00e9missements, issus d’un compte-rendu d’une r\u00e9union o\u00f9 Sir Gus s’adressait \u00e0 des repr\u00e9sentants du susdit civil service<\/em>, ont permis de mesurer la d\u00e9tresse o\u00f9 se trouvent les Britanniques dans leur t\u00e2che de pr\u00e9paration du G20. On craint m\u00eame une crise avec les USA. La cause? Principalement ceci que le d\u00e9partement du tr\u00e9sor, \u00e0 Washington, ne r\u00e9pond pas au t\u00e9l\u00e9phone<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tVoici comment le Guardian<\/em> (le 11 mars<\/a>) nous expose les interventions de Sir Gus: <\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abSir Gus O’Donnell, head of the UK civil service, said the US treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, had told him there was no one in the US treasury department because of delays in appointing a new administration. There is nobody there, he told a civil service conference in Gateshead. You cannot believe how difficult it is.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbSir Gus made his remarks in defence of a permanent civil service, pointing out that he had known Geithner for many years, but had been unable to get decisions from the administration. The lack of a heavyweight US treasury administration nearly two months after the inauguration is especially alarming at a time of global economic meltdown.<\/em> [] Sir Gus criticised the US system of new administrations appointing their own senior civil servants, saying it would be absolute Madness to introduce similar rules here. He said: If there’s a change of administration, you’re out, and a whole new bunch of people come in who probably haven’t been in government before.<\/em> []<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThe remarks appeared on a government website but were taken down shortly afterwards – even though the government accepted they had been made.<\/em> […] The prime minister’s spokesman said the quotes had been taken out of context and insisted Gordon Brown had found the White House fully engaged when he visited last week. He said: We have very good relations with the Obama administration on the G20 and other issues, as shown by the very substantive discussions we had with President Obama and his team last week.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tTout cela nous renvoie \u00e0 diverses indications r\u00e9centes de source US, notamment de ABC.News<\/em> le 24 f\u00e9vrier<\/a> et, le 26 f\u00e9vrier<\/a>. Le 24 f\u00e9vrier, ABC.News<\/em> donnait une analyse g\u00e9n\u00e9rale de la situation<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abThe Treasury Department still has numerous job vacancies that need to be filled, leaving Secretary Tim Geithner working on his own, according to Darrell West, head of government studies at Brookings Institution. Essentially Geithner is sitting over there by himself and does not have a staff, West said.<\/em> [] If the secretary had a full staff he would’ve been in a stronger position to work out the details, so I’m sure that has been part of the problem, West said.<\/em> []<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bb[Rob] Nichols, a former Treasury spokesman, estimated that right now Geithner probably has 10 or 20 percent of the political appointees around him that he ultimately will have.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tLe 26 f\u00e9vrier, c’\u00e9tait l’\u00e9cho d’une intervention furieuse de Paul Volcker, un des principaux conseillers \u00e9conomiques du pr\u00e9sident Obama et pr\u00e9sident du Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Le mot principal de Volcker : Shameful !<\/em>. Puis ce d\u00e9veloppement:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abThe Secretary of the Treadury is sitting there without any undersecretaries, without any, as I know, assistant secretaries responsible in substantative areas at a time of very s\u00e9v\u00e8re crisis. He shouldn’y be sitting there alone. <\/em>[] \u00abYou can’t be the leading economic power in the world with all the problems we have and have a weak Treasury.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n