I blame it all on Dean Acheson. The long-dead American statesman was a big figure at the original Bretton Woods conference in 1944 and later helped invent Nato. Acheson gave his memoirs the modest title Present at the Creation and, in so doing, he inadvertently fed the grandiose fantasies of the leaders of the Group of 20 leading economies who will assemble in Washington next weekend. Perhaps they too can achieve near God-like status by reordering the institutions of the world?

Some of the leaders who are heading for Washington are surprisingly frank about the fun they are having. Nicolas Sarkozy, France's dynamic president, has congratulated himself on his "luck" in having the chance to remake the global financial system. Gordon Brown, Britain's prime minister, has visibly revelled in the idea that he is a global intellectual leader.