LONDON/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Group of 20 countries will formally bury plans for a single global bank tax next week and focus on advancing tough new capital rules and ways of winding up failing institutions without taxpayer help.

As the Group of 20 summit pandemic spreads from the media, academe and think-tanks out into the political world and into the confused minds of citizens trying to make sense of it all, we have good news. Many of the worst ideas for global governance and policy have already been thrown overboard. By the time the G20 show gets to Toronto, along with the G8 leaders, the latest global-governance effort will likely have ended in a highly desirable state of minimal co-ordination and general indecision and inactivity aimed at taking action some time in the future.

If you are starting to tire of the debate over a global bank tax bank tax, blame Barack Obama.

OTTAWA - G20 countries are being asked to sign on to an economic recovery plan that would require 20 years of austerity, cost-cutting and higher taxes, The Canadian Press has learned.