Chinese President Hu Jintao (Creative Commons)

A meeting of the world's top 20 political officials ended in mostly failure because though the leaders acknowledged that the global economic landscape cannot be maintained, they refused to agree with changes and solutions primarily touted by the United States.

Instead, the G-20 summit in Seoul, South Korea ended with a vague agreement about ending imbalances in the global economy.

America wanted a specific agreement about trade surpluses and deficits. China provided the main opposition to the idea. President Barack Obama said China needs to act more responsibly, but recognized issues couldn't be solved overnight. Obama's main pitch against China is that it undervalues its currency.

TIME predicted ahead of the meetings yesterday that the G-20 summit was destined for failure because it comes during this terrible economic cycle. They write, however, that some optimism can be drawn from the failures because such a situation has occurred before.

Reach executive producer Paresh Dave here. Follow him on Twitter: @peard33.