Global Exchange fair trade store press room search
World Bank & IMF
get involved  
Global Economy  
Global Econ 101   
Global Rulemakers   
Trade Agreements   
Alternatives   
update  
travel with reality tours  
Regions  
What's New  

Top 10 Reasons Why Paul Wolfowitz Would Make a Good World Bank President

Institute for Policy Studies
March 10, 2005
By John Cavanagh


1. He would follow in the great tradition of World Bank president Robert McNamara, who also helped kill tens of thousands of people in a poor country most Americans couldn't find on a map before getting the job.

2. It helps to be a good liar when you run an institution with employees who earn over $100,000 a year to pretend to help billions of people who live on less than $1 a day.

3. With all his experience helping U.S. companies grab Iraq 's oil profits, he's got just the right experience for doling out lucrative World Bank contracts to U.S. businesses.

4. After predecessor James Wolfensohn blew millions of dollars on "consultations" with citizen groups to give the appearance of openness, Wolfowitz's tough-guy style is just what's needed to rid the World Bank of those irritating activists.

5. Unlike former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, another one of the four leading candidates, at least Wolfowitz hasn't failed at running a Fortune 500 company.

6. Unlike the Treasury Department's John Taylor, another leading candidate, at least Wolfowitz doesn't want to get rid of the institution he would head.

7. While earning a University of Chicago Ph.D. , he was exposed to the tenets of market fundamentalism that have reigned at the World Bank for decades.

8. He has experience in constructing echo chambers where only the advice he wants to hear is spoken.

9. He knows some efficient private contractors who build echo chambers for only a few hundred billion dollars (cost plus, of course).

10. He can develop a pre-emptive poverty doctrine where the World Bank could invade countries that fail to make themselves safe for U.S. business, modeled on the U.S. pre-emptive war doctrine he helped craft.

John Cavanagh is the director of Institute for Policy Studies. For more information about contenders for the World Bank's presidency, visit http://www.worldbankpresident.org


 Become a Member
 Get our eNewsletter

act now!
Join our CAMPAIGNS

Printer-friendly version
Email to a friend

This page last updated October 28, 2007
Global Exchange | Search | Fair Trade Store | About Us | Contact Us
Become a Member | Get our eNewsletter | Take Action Now
Get Involved | What's New | Travel with Reality Tours
The Global Economy | War, Peace & Democracy | Programs by Region
© Global Exchange 2007
2017 Mission Street, 2nd Floor - San Francisco, CA 94110
t: 415.255.7296 f: 415.255.7498