MONEY: The $60 Billion Question

The annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund that convenes in Washington this week will be a kind of money Olympiad. Among the central bankers, finance ministers and star economists who attend such gatherings, there will be competition for national victories, much talk of gold and loud complaints about the rules of the game. The very purpose of the meeting is to start changing the rules in hopes of alleviating the world's serious and endlessly debated money problems. But too many powerful IMF members—including the U.S., West Germany, France and Canada—face imminent national elections to risk committing their campaigning...