British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and former Chairman of the Fed Paul Volcker are gathered at Kimmel today to discuss “such pressing issues as global economic structures and policies, the challenges of climate change, and the need for cooperative approaches to security.” If you aren’t (or are!) in class and you want to watch, you can stream the discussion here.

I will be here liveblogging all of the action. This is my 2nd liveblog from Kimmel. Heh. Blog after the jump.

11:47 – Full house here on the 4th floor. Unsurprisingly, lots of press on the scene – 6 video cameras are set up in the back. Someone is carefully pouring water for the panelists, but he’s nervous – his hands are seriously shaking. Pleasant jazz music is filling the air.

11:57 – I will be taking some pictures that will go up later this afternoon (thanks Luke!) – there’s not a whole lot to see though, just a pleasant purple-backdropped stage. We’re about to get started.

12:03 – Panelists just stepped out. Sexton introducing them now, just quoted Mr. Rogers (”it’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood.”)

12:05 – Prime Minister Brown is up first. Talking about our globalized economy.

12:08 – Brown: We have global problems that need global solutions. 1) Financial instability. 2) Climate change and energy security. 3) Insecurity and a threat to security in a world of increasing mobility. 4) Poverty and inequality. Cue the game theorists: collective action problems!

12:10 – G20 meets April 2nd. We must avoid a “race to the bottom” – we’re finally realizing that we have to work together to solve the financial crisis. “The old Washington consensus about what it takes to move the economy forward is dead.”

12:11 – Brown is speaking very eloquently. Regarding climate change: “I believe that under President Obama…we can agree on limits on carbon emissions.”

12:13 – “We can now talk to each other on any continent almost instantly” – disguised twitter shoutout?

12:14 – Madeleine Albright speaking now. More interested in security issues. “If we talk about a war on terror, we raise these criminals up as warriors.” Good thing it’s not a war on terror anymore.

12:17 – Touting her multilateral cred. “Now people don’t like the word multilateralism. It has too many syllables and it ends in an ism.” lol

12:18 – Volcker up now.

12:21 – He’s worried about how we can move forward globally/multilaterally with the current economic crisis on our hands. He’s got a good point.

12:23 – First question for Brown: “What are your hopes for the G20?”

12:24 – Brown thinks the world economy can double in 20 years. That’s quite bullish. Now he’s conjecturing about what we need to do now to set ourselves up for that. Wants the IMF to have “at least twice the funds” it currently has to help smaller economies dig out their banks.

12:27 – Albright sensed a great deal of hope for cooperation at her meeting with some of the G20 leaders a few months ago. Wants coordinated stimulus packages – YES PLEASE.

12:29 – Volcker agrees.

12:30 – Student questions! Awesome.

Justin Lee from the law school: wants to know what panelists think about super-sovereign reserve currency. (I haven’t heard about this yet)

Student from Bryn Mawr: “How will world governments move forward on issues like education that aren’t directly needing reform (like the economy)?

12:35 – Volcker thinks we won’t move to reserve currency. Albright thinks US is a big part of any move forward on education, climate change, and India and China policy. (A Stern student asked about that). Brown addresses protectionism question: “if we cannot show that national and international action can work together, people will abandon the ideas of free trade.” He says it’s “hardly surprising” that people are fearful of the future as they lose their jobs and homes, but warns us against hiding behind our borders.

12:38 – Brown tells us to be confident in our American values. God, that’s nice to hear. Would we have heard that even a year ago?

12:39 – NYU Professor Dick Stewart asks, “What are the mechanisms, both financial and political, to provide enormous inflows [of money] to developing countries” to create incentives for them to address climate change and reduce emissions?

12:41 – Brown: Two things are needed. We’ve got to get countries to commit to “ambitious targets” for cutting emissions (i.e. 2020, not 2050). We also need “innovative financing” plans. He sort of dodged this. Mostly restated the question regarding financing.

12:44 – Volcker: “I don’t want to say there will be no [monetary] cost – the bigger cost will be if we don’t do anything [to solve climate change issues].” Wonderful to hear from a central banker.

12:45 – Stern ethics professor: Rules are key to global cooperation. The trade area has more rules than any other international sector. “If we don’t have the ability to have a robust set of rules which is able to survive an economic setback in the trade area, what hope is there” for other sectors like climate change, etc.?

12:48 – Brown is much more optimistic. Thinks we will make progress “soon.” Strong free trade response once again.

12:50 – More student questions: “What role do you think the media has in multilateralism and pushing it forward or hindering it?”

12:51 – Albright: “I used to call CNN the 16th member of the [UN] Security Council.” Thinks 24-hour news cycle and instant information hurts the decision making process. She’s hurting my feelings…

12:53 – Brown: The ability to communicate with each other is going to change foreign policy in the future.

12:55 – Mic troubles. Fumble fumble fumble.

12:55 – Student: What should be done to stop the genocide in Darfur?

12:56 – Brown gave a canned answer.

12:57 – Student question for Madeleine: I heard you signal with the pins you wear. What does you pin mean today? (This is the last question…………….)

12:58 – Albright: Today I’m wearing grapes. “I don’t want to see a repeat of the 30’s and the grapes of wrath.”

12:59 – Wow, we’re wrapping up. I can’t believe this is only a one hour discussion.

1:00 – Everyone must feel let down – we were just getting started when it ended! But it was an interesting and enjoyable discussion. They were all thoughtful and most of the questions were quite good. What did you all think?