Finance Minister Trevor Manuel been delving into the classics. He’s written a piece for the Financial Times in London starting thus:

Can Ulysses bind himself again to the deck, having succumbed for so long to the sirens’ allure?

Let fairness triumph over corporate profit

Great gods, Trevor, I know you’re aiming at the Oxbridge captains of industry swilling their brandies in the London clubs (though they admit women these days) but this is high-brow with a capital H. As a regular reader of the FT Weekender, I feel the need to point out their hacks tend to write very simply and accessably. All

I can protect my plonk myself, thank you very much.

the big, influential publications do these days, with Fortune leading the opack.

So, for those who can’t get through the minister’s piece, this in a nutshell is what he said: We need a new world economic order with stronger institutions, a fairer distribution of wealth and better governance.

So why’s he saying this? Well, he’s cleary on a campiagn. Last week he was interviewed by the FT saying that the International Monetary Fund needs to be reformed. He called for developing countries to be given greater weight in the governance of the IMF and the creation of a new executive body in which ministers and central bankers would have greater powers.

And here’ is my expert plonkonomics view: Trev wants to stop the rich countries increasing protectionism of their economies at the expense of the poor and developing ones as recession engulfs us. There is an argument by some economist that developing countries have a case for protectionism but the rich countries should take it as it comes. So, right on, Minister.

Popularity: 2% [?]