"Since our last meeting, there have been at times sharp fluctuations in major currencies, and we are concerned about their possible implications for economic and financial stability," says the statement from this weekend's G7 meeting. It was the first time since the Prague meeting of 2000 that the G7 have united to voice explicit concern about moves in major currencies. Does this signal the bottom for the U.S. dollar? Probably not.

The University Consortium is one of my three aspirational and fictional ideas that are (relatively) cheap, that would make concrete environmental gains, that could be accomplished almost instantaneously by motivated people in positions of power (by phone calls, in two cases), and that would immediately set an agenda for the next election.

Welcome to April.

On Sunday night, 3/30, Al Gore announced his new $300 million public service ad campaign on "60 Minutes." The hopefulness of the moment was undercut by the Toyota (TM - $102.90) dealer ad that preceded the segment.

The Toyota spot featured good deals on the Sequoia and the FJ Cruiser. The existence of the FJ Cruiser, in particular, can tell you more about the entire global warming conundrum than Al Gore can, because what's interesting about the FJ -- a toy S.U.V. gas guzzler that gets 16-18 mpg -- is that it was designed by Toyota years after the Prius.

The Toyota spot, the types of vehicles on sale, and Gore's new strategy, all combine to underline a theme: not much is happening, not much progress is made.

This is like a dream where your feet are stuck in mud.

Bond had been offered the Aston Martin or a Jaguar 3.4. He had taken the D.B.III. Either of the cars would have suited his cover – a well-to-do, rather adventurous young man with a taste for the good, the fast things of life. But the D.B.III had the advantage of an up-to-date triptyque, an inconspicuous colour – battleship grey – and certain extras which might or might not come in handy.

- Goldfinger by Ian Fleming

Is the commodity bubble about to pop? Edward Hadas at BreakingViews.com argues that commodities have become the last refuge for speculators as other bubbles have popped. But it looks like the party is now over.

The Economist talks about the biological reasons why so many people believe in God, gods and religion in general.

Still trying to understand last week's Fed rate cut? Joachim Fels at Morgan Stanley rejects the notion that the smaller-than-anticipated rate cut reflects an attempt to save some ammunition. "Back in June 2002, the Fed staff produced a widely circulated study of the Japan deflationary experience of the 1990s, which concluded that policymakers should become more aggressive in reducing the target rate as it approaches zero – not less."

Anatole Kaletsky, a columnist at The New York Times, asks: Did last week mark the beginning of the end of the credit crunch, or merely the end of the beginning? Has the “liquidity crisis” that started last August in the U.S. mortgage market degenerated into a “solvency crisis” for the global banking system as a whole?

Paul Krugman at The New York Times takes a jab at the U.S. presidential candidates. "We’re now in the midst of an epic financial crisis, which ought to be at the center of the election debate. But it isn’t."

Budget blueprint: The House and Senate take the first major step in the budget process this week, voting on their respective "budget resolutions" which act as a blueprint for the twelve spending bills Congress will churn out this year. Weighing in at $3 trillion, the current drafts top the president's budget proposal by about $20 billion and could call for politically tricky tax provisions (through a step called "reconciliation").

Earmark roulette: With both parties blustering they're serious about axing earmarks (cash for pet projects), the unthinkable could happen this week: Congress could vote to abolish earmarks outright - at least for this year. It's apparently a game of chicken, with each side hoping they'll call each other's bluff (few lawmakers actually want to get rid of earmarks), but - who knows - it could backfire on the politicians and we could end up with a bridge-to-nowhere-free budget.

Ethics & wiretaps: House members could also give a second go at voting for a quasi-independent ethics commission, which got pulled from the floor two weeks ago, as well as finalizing a surveillance bill that would let feds tap into foreign calls with a warrant and give telecoms immunity from lawsuits stemming from an earlier illegal wiretap program.

Congress busies itself with a couple of dead-end bills this week on energy, housing and Iraq, while long-stalled action - on the Farm Bill, secret intelligence courts, consumer product safety and patent reform - simmers on the side.

The House revives an energy bill that would extend and build out alternative energy incentives. While lawmakers are generally behind the bill's green tax credits, Republicans in the Senate and the president don't like its rollbacks on oil tax breaks that would pay for the green goods - and are almost certain to block final passage.

• see more on the energy bill

The Senate tosses a life-line to families on the cusp of home foreclosure with a bill that would funnel money toward rehabilitating ($4 billion) and refinancing ($10 billion) homes hit by subprime mortgages. The deal breaker may be a provision that lets bankruptcy judges restructure the mortgages of families going into foreclosure.

• see more on housing blues

Senators will also test out another almost-sure-to-lose vote that would stop funding for troop deployments to Iraq in four months.

• see more on Iraq

The House may also vote to set up a quasi-independent ethics office this week, while both chambers okay ongoing special trade status for Andean nations.

In the works - and what could pop up for a floor vote in the upcoming weeks - are a toy consumer protection bill, patent reform, the Farm Bill and a foreign intelligence bill.

Listening In. Congress could wrap up a surveillance bill if all goes well this week. The bill would roughly legalize a secret wiretap program that let feds listen in on foreign phone calls, while at the same time adding a bit of oversight from the courts and Congress and, possibly, giving telecoms immunity from lawsuits over the earlier, illegal, program. With a temporary bill expiring on Friday, Congress will try to get its ducks in line this week, but could buy itself more time by extending the current bill. Standing in its way are disagreements over whether to okay immunity and how much oversight to give the courts and Congress.

A new, exhaustive academic review of 167 studies over the past 35 years concludes that there is in fact a positive link between companies' social and financial performance—but only a weak one. Firms are not richly rewarded for CSR, it seems, but nor does it typically destroy shareholder value. Might cleverer approaches to CSR in future produce better returns?