Thursday, March 17, 2005

The World Bank

from The Angry Arab News Service
PAUL WOLFOWITZ to head the World Bank. Will he promise to bomb all poor countries to end poverty? Will he promise that the Iraq war will eventually spread prosperity on earth? Will he demand that poor countries praise Israeli oppression of the Palestinians in return for aid? Next appointment: Bush to head the Physics Department at MIT. And Ashcroft to head the National Organization for Women. Rumsfeld will head Greenpeace.

3 comments:

Sheryl said...

Seems like the World Bank President should be decided by an international organization like the UN or something.

So is this a given now? According to the world bank website, Bush was also considering some chick named Carly Fiorina, "who was recently ousted as chief executive of Hewlett-Packard." God, can he can pick them , or what? :-(

J.R. Boyd said...

Apparently the World Bank appointment is made by the US, while the head of the IMF is chosen by Europe.

A UN appointment would be my preference as well; the UN at least has the potential to be democratic--something the World Bank, like all private financial institutions, is not.

Sheryl said...

No wonder their policies end up so one sided. Perhaps what the world needs is a real World Bank then. And a real international monetary fund.

When I was in New Zealand, there was this club called "the New Zealand American Association" or something like that. And all they seemed to do was organize gold games and Thanksgiving dinners. But because they existed, no one could start up a real organization because everyone figured that such an organization already existed. And it occurred to me that having an organization that does nothing is the worst impediment to starting up a real organization.

Kind of like legislation in Congress. The way they will kill reform bills by creating pseudo reform bills.

So was the world bank designed by the US then? I wonder if it was established in order to prevent a genuine world bank from being created? Because America seems somewhat resistant to anything that might undercut it's international advantages and create an even playing field in the world.