Financial Crisis A Global Problem

Like the demonstrators who will greet them in London Thursday, G20 leaders will be marching to the beat of different drummers.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has already begun to welcome the leaders, is stressing the positive, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.

"We are taking the necessary decisions to safeguard the future of the world economy," Brown said.

And the leaders, who are from countries which generate 80 percent of the world's wealth, are all suffering from the same problems: falling production, rising unemployment. The G20 group of governments and central bankers, which was formed 10 years ago to foster global financial stability, has never been needed more.

"The interconnectedness of what happens to banks in the city of London and banks on Wall Street and what happens with jobs in Brisbane and what happens with jobs in Birmingham, these are all linked," said Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

And each of the countries has announced some sort of stimulus package, creating in effect a new, fragile economic house of cards. The problem is what to do next.

Brown had initially called this meeting hoping for what he called a "global new deal" of further financial stimulus and tighter market regulation.

And while President Obama has said the United States is prepared to lead, but others have to follow. The others - notably German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as quite a few others - are proving reluctant. Both have rejected calls to pump more public money into their economies. They'd all have to borrow the money anyway, which China - with its huge foreign currency reserves - says it's unwilling to lend right now.

The Czech Republic Premier Mirek Topolanek - who currently holds the European Union Presidency - has even called the Obama-Brown plan "the road to hell."

It's a fractious house of cards - and a shakey one. It wouldn't take much for it all to come tumbling down, which would make things even worse.

"The consequences of failure are very serious because it means that it's a bit like pedaling a bicycle," said Vince Cable, the author of "The Storm: The World Economic Crisis and What it Means." "Once you stop pedaling, it tips over and that could happen to the world economy."

Keeping that economy moving will depend a lot on how world leaders play their cards this week.