Turning the World Bank into the American Bank

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/18/opinion/18krugman.html

Krugman does not even go into the concern within the bank staff over Wolfowitz's reported romantic relationship with Shaha Riza, an Arab feminist who works as a communications adviser in the bank's Middle East and North Africa department!

The Ugly American Bank
By PAUL KRUGMAN

You can say this about Paul Wolfowitz's qualifications to lead the World Bank: He has been closely associated with America's largest foreign aid and economic development project since the Marshall Plan.

I'm talking, of course, about reconstruction in Iraq. Unfortunately, what happened there is likely to make countries distrust any economic advice Mr. Wolfowitz might give.

Let's not focus on mismanagement. Instead, let's talk about ideology.

Before the Iraq war, Pentagon hawks shut the State Department out of planning. This excluded anyone with development experience. As a result, the administration went into Iraq determined to demonstrate the virtues of radical free-market economics, with nobody warning about the likely problems.

Journalists who spoke to Paul Bremer when he was running Iraq remarked on his passion when he spoke about privatizing state enterprises. They didn't note a comparable passion for a rapid democratization.

In fact, economic ideology may explain why U.S. officials didn't move quickly after the fall of Baghdad to hold elections - even though assuring Iraqis that we didn't intend to install a puppet regime might have headed off the insurgency. Jay Garner, the first Iraq administrator, wanted elections as quickly as possible, but the White House wanted to put a "template" in place by privatizing oil and other industries before handing over control.

The oil fields never did get privatized. Nonetheless, the attempt to turn Iraq into a laissez-faire showpiece was, in its own way, as much an in-your-face rejection of world opinion as the decision to go to war. Dogmatic views about the universal superiority of free markets have been losing ground around the world.<snip>

Moisés Naím, editor of Foreign Policy, says that the Wolfowitz nomination turns the World Bank into the American Bank. Make that ugly American bank: rightly or not, developing countries will see Mr. Wolfowitz's selection as a sign that we're still trying to impose policies they believe have failed.


E-mail: krugman@nytimes.com

See "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins.



Book Link

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=vi5HlQ7BfB&isbn=1576753018&itm=1

Interview Link

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/31/1546207&mode=thread&tid=25

not that we control

That the way things are said sometimes hide the actual facts behind the scenes e.g. the truth told by Perkins.

:-)

...how come the U.S. presidents get to chose ("nominate") the next WB president?
I know, though what you mean, official language says otherwise, but in reality ... you said it yourself. :-D
This is going to be a tough nut. Just when you think it can't get worse...so what's next? Karl Rove as successor of Kofi Annan? Not likely, but what means likely these days!