My intention was to confine posts to the World Bank and its sister multilateral development banks. They offer more than sufficient fodder for DOGE. However, the IMF’s latest attempt to raid taxpayers warrants a mention. The International Monetary Fund was created under the Bretton Woods Agreements as a facility to stabilize exchange rates under a…
Bretton Woods Agreements are Not Treaties
Writing for Devex, Jesse Chase-Lubitz raises a number of questions about how the U.S. can withdraw from membership in The World Bank and how its contributions will be repaid. In her “Could the US Pull Out of the World Bank? Unlikely – But Not Impossible“, she explores the key questions of the actual process. Her…
Response to Simon Nixon
In a recent post on his Substack “Wealth of Nations”, Simon Nixon finds fault with the movement to withdraw the U.S. from membership in the World Bank and its sister multilateral development banks. The post, titled “American Gangsterism plus other ways to make China Great Again” leans heavily on Ngaire Woods quite flawed Project Syndicate…
A Country Club for the Poorest of the Poor
15700 River Road, Germantown, MD 20874 – evidently an address of the poorest of the poor. It serves people in the international community worthy of having Americans in rural Georgia, northern Michigan and the backwoods of Alaska taxed in order to come to their assistance. But the median family income in Germantown is more than…
Perpetual Castes, Poverty and Foreign Aid
The Wall Street journal today carried an op-ed piece which succinctly captured why India has been and remains the greatest foreign aid sinkhole imaginable. In their splendid piece “India Has a Caste System – for Drivers“, Shan Li and Aakash Hassan. I won’t spoil your read but this sentence captures the essence and the absurdity:…
Global Development Cartel in Full Dungeon – World Bank Chief Economist Says: Not So Fast
The global development cartel is in full dungeon over the prospect of the U.S. waking up to the impossibility of reforming the international development agencies. They fear most that U.S. taxpayers will realize that if the U.S. withdraws, they will get a refund of $70 billion. World Bank officials meeting in Pakistan this week made…
Thank You for Your Comment – and for proving my point
I was happy to receive a thoughtful comment on my post “How to DOGE $7 Billion”. It was anonymous but polite and thoughtful so it deserves a polite and thoughtful answer…in a post not in the Comment section where it will never be seen. The first part of the comment was as follows: This concerns…
Will the Second Trump Treasury Choose Taxpayers or the World Bank?
When it comes to the World Bank and other multilateral foreign aid organizations, the first Trump administration does not give us confidence that taxpayers won’t be burdened with more pain in the second. In 2018, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin agreed to a major increase in the capital of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It…
DOGE Poster Child for Waste: The World Bank
As DOGE reviews all federal spending for wasteful, failed programs, it should train its focus on the myriad failures of foreign aid. There are few better examples of expansion in the face of continued failure. The World Bank is our poster child. In his Message from the President in bank’s 2024 annual report, the World…
DEI is Alive and Well at the World Bank
Despite the removal of DEI policies, personnel and offices in U.S. federal departments, these are alive and thriving at taxpayer expense at the World Bank and other multilateral development banks. Just a few examples of publications and job postings tell the story: World Bank DEI Report World Bank Group Gender Strategy 2024-2030 IMF Policy Paper:…