The Europeans love to recount the following joke:
Heaven is a place where the police are British, the cooks French, the mechanics German, the lovers Italian, and it is all organized and run by the Swiss.
Hell is a place where the police are German, the cooks British, the mechanics French, the lovers Swiss, and it is all organized and run by the Italians.
I'd add Americans as currency experts to the latter. Tim Geithner is attempting to rally the G-20 in a move reminiscent of the chess club captain attempting to rally varsity football. His encouragement seems plaintive and small, not unlike the man himself.