World Bank Should Go With Wolfowitz: Activists

PENANG, Malaysia - Paul Wolfowitz’s fall from grace is symptomatic of the double standards and hypocrisy of the World Bank and strains the marriage between neo-liberal policies and militarism that he embodied, say activists and analysts.

Wolfowitz, an architect of the war on Iraq, finally bowed to pressure after a favouritism scandal involving his girlfriend, ex-bank employee Shaha Riza. He is due to step down as Bank president on Jun. 30, three days after another key player in the aggression on Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, heads for the exit.

“It’s a humiliating, and, for many, not unwelcome, fall for Wolfowitz who thought he’d found a respectable bolt-hole at the World Bank after his criminal enterprise in Iraq,” said Glasgow-based political scientist John Hilley, who has written on militarism and neo-liberalism. ”Yet, it’s a dark irony that he has gone down for engaging in cheap, nepotistic malpractice while his high crimes, the design and execution of mass terror in Iraq, go unpunished.”

“Of course, it’s a hypocritical posture of little surprise for a body that has overseen, via its key finance arm, the IFC, the systematic enslavement of Third World countries,” Hilley told IPS in an interview over e-mail.

Critics see Wolfowitz’s removal as a reluctant damage limitation exercise by an institution on the ropes as it fends off the gathering struggle against neo-liberal orthodoxy. This struggle is being led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is spearheading efforts to forge a new set of financial alternatives to the Bank and International Monetary Fund across Latin America.

Ironically, it was only last year, during the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank held in Singapore, that Wolfowitz had unveiled a drive towards good governance, which he said was a broader concept than anti-corruption. Critics viewed it as a public relations scheme to restore the World Bank’s credibility after years of complicity with corrupt regimes and disastrous neo-liberal policies.

The Bank’s decisions to block funding for essential projects in India, Chad and Kenya on the basis of suspected corruption, however, drew sharp criticism. In particular, its move in 2005 to suspend 800 million dollars in loans for maternal and children’s health in India because of potential graft provoked an outcry.

“On the surface, his campaign against corruption linked to World Bank loans sounded good. But he went about it in a high-handed way,” independent Malaysian political analyst and writer Fan Yew Teng told IPS. ”You cannot have this holier-than-thou attitude and stop essential projects such as medical, water supply and food production — because it will kill people.”

Moreover, the stance smacked of double standards. ”America’s friends were not to be regarded as corrupt and all the onus of dealing with corruption lay with the recipient country, not with either the donor or the home country of the briber,” observed Stephen Mandel, senior economist at the London-based New Economics Foundation. The NEF is an independent think-tank that challenges mainstream thinking on economic, environment and social issues.

Loans, however, continued to be awarded to countries with poor human rights records, especially Pakistan, and Bank staff are known to have complained at the speed with which he was pushing them to get into lending to Iraq, Mandel told IPS over e-mail.

The Bank showed no concern for human rights in its lending, only concern about corruption, and that too defined in a biased way, so there is no sign that the Bank was moving away from building up more odious debt, said Mandel. ”It is no surprise that favouring a girlfriend (or a private corporation - as with the sweetheart deals between the U.S. defence department and Halliburton and other U.S. contractors) is not seen as corruption whereas the skimming off of funds by a primary school head is — even if such a school head may not be being paid a living wage because of IMF requirements for a tight fiscal stance and trade liberalisation”, which can prevent a government from raising revenue from trade tariffs.

Political analyst Fan saw a link between Wolfowitz’s pro-war views and how he regards the poor: In Iraq, the great majority of the victims of war are the poor, while those who are better off could afford to flee to Jordan and other Arab countries. ”For such a person to be president of the World Bank is a cruel joke. But it is not surprising because in both instances (war and Bank policies), the poor are deemed to be dispensable.”

And its questionable if poor nations really benefit from World Bank loans. Net transfers (disbursements minus repayments minus interest payments) to developing countries from the Bank and the International Bank for Reconstruction (IBRD), have been negative every year since 1991, pointed out the Social Watch Report 2006.

Activists in the region remember the Bank for its huge loans to Indonesia, where projects paved the way for large transnational corporations to take control and exploit natural resources. It inspired a land administration programme (LAP), which pushed for the titling of peasants’ land, which activists say facilitated the takeover of farmers’ land at cheap prices.

“Furthermore, they approved a loan to change the law on water to a new law protecting foreign investors in controlling the water resources. This paved the way for water privatisation through a project called Watsal (Water Resources Structural Adjustment Loan),” says Achmad Ya’kub, a human rights activist with La Via Campesina, an international peasants’ movement with its operations secretariat in Jakarta.

Because of the land privatisation and land conversions, Ya’kub told IPS that peasants have been cornered and their farmlands have become smaller and smaller — and many have even lost their land altogether.

World Bank-inspired policies that pushed for land titling and market forces to drive agrarian reform have sparked conflict between peasants and investors, which in the Indonesian case would be either the government or the private sector. Ya’kub says the social cost of the marginalisation of farmers and peasants, the main victims, is huge, ranging from loss of livelihoods, arrests and even deaths.

Under then U.S. president Ronald Reagan, Wolfowitz was ambassador to Indonesia in the 1980s. His strong support for the dictator Suharto despite the extreme corruption and human rights violations under his administration is well known. Indonesian activists were thus dismayed when Wolfowitz was appointed World Bank president.

“When Wolfowitz was ambassador to Indonesia, he hardly spoke up for the poor,” observed Fan. In the end, the poor farmers and peasants of Indonesia had to bear the brunt of odious debt even though they hardly benefited from it.

Now that Wolfowitz is stepping down, activists like Ya’kub say it is time for people around the world to realise that the World Bank’s role is over. ”We must learn from Hugo Chavez that there is no development and democracy with the World Bank,” he stressed. ”I hope it’s not just Wolfowitz stepping down from the World Bank, but the World Bank must now ’step down’ from our country and the world.”

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26 Comments so far

roger May 21st, 2007 12:30 pm

Don’t let him leave! Surround the building and burn it.

concerned citizen May 21st, 2007 1:20 pm

Luke 12:22 Jesus said unto his disciples ‘Therefore take no thought for your life”

The ground of a certain rich man ( Bush/cheney and corporate business) brought forth plentifully, and he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do because I have no room where to bestow all my fruits. And he said this will I do: I will pull down my barns and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease eat drink and be merry.

Soul thou hast much goods he said to himself, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Listen to the greed of his soul “I must tear down and build greater”, I must he says as if no other choice can be made. The rich man lived in the worries of tomorrow always tearing down and looking for ways to build greater he lacked an important ingredient for life contentment! Greed caused this man to think in his mind (He thought within himself) how to keep all, not considering where the blessing had come from or who brought forth this plentifully blessing, presuming upon the future, convincing himself that all is ok.
His will is bound by chains of selfishness (What shall I do) enslaved by the thoughts of tomorrow. His emotions created a sense of sadness for himself, I must he says, I will he says, therefore my days of worry will be over I can set back and take it easy. His mind blinded by tomorrow, not wise enough to acknowledge the effect his new life would place upon others, deceived by vices of his own soul. Wine in excess and wealth combined blind the eyes they dilute the mind weaken the will and leave the emotions depleted. Does the life of the soul depend upon the wealth and goods of this world? Is happiness and comfort only found in this world and thoughts we have about tomorrow? Is the rich man in this parable satisfied (are Bush, Cheney and corporate business satisfied), yes but only by his own standards his thoughts are his alone, he lives for personal satisfaction. The more you have the more perplexity, you have with it. Peremptory ideas are foolish ideas for our days are not in our own hands, we do not know what shall be on the morrow. Therefore Christ encourages us “ Take therefore no thought for the morrow”
The soul of man cannot be satisfied with pleasure, or food, or drink, a season of sin is a harvest of barrenness, ideas and ambitions to be ashamed of for they have an end and the end is emptiness. This should have been a time of rejoicing and thankfulness, friends and family(The American People) brought together to celebrate the good. The land has produced beyond imagination the harvest plenty!! Thanks should have been offered to God for his greatness and blessing. And where do we find the rich man, conversing with his own soul, “soul thou hast much goods take thine ease eat drink and be merry”, his true intent is brought forth, lusting for the ease of life, concerned for know one but himself even in a time of blessing his concern is for tomorrow and years of comfort. Not able to live in the day provided. There is no belief in God no prayer was offered to God, his day spent in vanity, pride, and self-righteousness.
This man was secure in what lay ahead for his future, satisfied in himself (sound familiar), all other concerns were pushed aside being blinded, deceived by the snare of riches and presuming upon the years before him. Sensual for the things of this world, this man lacks the ability to know the true needs of his soul he has filled his life with things that can perish, rust and be stolen.
To this man this day as others he was the master of his ship, or better yet for all who love the sound of “I had to do it my way” the rich man did it his way, the only way he could do it. The rich man was the god of his day he hastened within his heart, eyes lusting for the barns built bigger. Quickly! Quickly! Can you hear him saying his soul restless, sleep would be difficult with all the days excitements all this in the life of a rich man, concerned for the things on the morrow.
A slave to his own destruction, lost in the vanity of his own mind, his will a slave to carnal desires, emotions ruled by the sensualities of a world that is passing away. As the evening approached his mind still churning thinking about all to be done, his greed and self-interest, his wealth and future happiness, made the bed seem more of an enemy than a friend,
The day came to a close, the sunset, nighttime approached when no man can work walk while you have the light.
Death awaits the finality of our life here on this land, It is appointed unto man once to die, the rich man in his own willful disobedience to God had come to the end of his days, approached by God his creator to answer for the life he had lived, God asks an answer, the man in his foolishness gave his soul to the whims of the flesh, God refers to him as a fool! God states “this night your soul shall be required of thee then whose riches shall they be”?. God is the God of all flesh; the rich man fattened his soul(By the hard labor of the common man and woman) with goods provided from Gods land, rain, and sunshine all causes are according to Gods good pleasure. The rich mans life ending in judgment, he presumed upon the morrow he lived life for himself he did it his way.
Today is all we have, there are no contracts upon life (Sorry Bush and Cheney), a mans days are destined from all eternity, even if God provides added days you are still appointed a day, what will you do with that day? Will you be thankful to God for each day you have,and share with the needs of others! The rich man was not thankful, He could not even speak in his defense. He had placed his trust in his soul(corporate business) and was misled, you see the soul is not interested in barns and fruits or goods for all this will pass away but the soul will not pass away the soul of man is eternal and when separate from God is exceeding sinful. As the rich man, God will one day ask account of the day he gave to you,yes even you Mr. President and Vice President, what will you be doing that day? For who knows what the night may bring?

Demerara May 21st, 2007 1:23 pm

Burn the IMF as well!

They both try to prevent sustainable development so that 3rd world countries have to pay off loans well beyond a single generation and many time over the principle amount.

They employ corrupt loan officers (see Life of an Economic Hitman) and they encourage stealing from corrupt leaders to move money for the World Band/IMF to western and off-shore banks. The money is then used in Western Countries instead of the 3rd world but the 3rd world is fotted with the bill.

Paul Bramscher May 21st, 2007 1:50 pm

Hard to say how much it’s used in western countries, given the criminally inflated cost of real estate here. There’s a long pattern the works: the foreclosures during the Great Depression, hammering of the family farm especially in the 1970’s-90’s, runaway & predatory mortgage lending — just for some square footage to live in.

These guys aren’t to be interpreted in nation-state terms. Better to think of them as geopolitical investment groups, family dynasties, banking families (Rothchilds, Goldman & Sachs), etc. Government has been asleep at the wheel. That’s a euphemism for collaboration and cooption. Perhaps they appear to originate, roost or have a home-base in the US. But that may only be because our democracy and rule of law is weakest among modern/western democracies.

Perhaps the same dynamic in which the mafia during the 1920’s-30’s gangster heyday (which has only since been excaerbated) gravitated to the more corrupt cities.

urthsong May 21st, 2007 4:10 pm

You might want to read articles by Prof. Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel laureat in economics, who has much to say. The NeoConservatives began shunning him when this former World Bank deputy director and presidential advisor to Clinton began speaking out on what was wrong with this rotten system. Here’s his official site: http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/

Nathan Andover May 21st, 2007 7:00 pm

I don’t think we should burn down the World Bank or the IMF.

We don’t want to sound like people on the conservative side who say they want to destroy the UN or the State Department.

We need these international institutions.

Most complaints (from both sides) are directed at the motives, processes, leadership, and mission of these institutions.

Instead of destroying that which we don’t like, let’s engage these international institutions and make them more democratic, more transparent, and more effective in their missions.

hybridoma2001 May 21st, 2007 7:02 pm

This is ugly, but all I can say about the Wolf and his STRAUSSIAN view of the world is that he should be tried in an international criminal court. Or simply hung, as was Saddam Hussein.
I have no patience any longer for these people who are in a position to help make the world a better place, simply sent off to some green pasture somewhere. If I had ever done anything close to what this man has done, I would be tossed out on my ass in a second.
There is no First or Third world. There’s the rich and the powerless in the world.

WJM May 21st, 2007 7:15 pm

Just a question: In paragraph three, are we sure that the person quoted said “Bolt Hole”? Just wondering…

purvis ames May 21st, 2007 7:56 pm

Nathan Andover May 21st, 2007 7:00 pm

Thank you for your ringing endorsement of what is essentially a Mafia loan sharking operation. “We need these international institutions.” Say what? Who’s “we”? The dictators who take the loans, put them in their private accounts in Switzerland, and flee to the Riviera at the first signs of social unrest? The banks who foreclose on the natural resources of the country? The multinationals who move right in and grab everything that isn’t nailed down? I don’t know about “we”, but if that’s “you”, go, well…

kivals May 21st, 2007 8:20 pm

hybridoma2001,

Wolfowitz deserves a trial every bit as fair and perfunctory as the one Saddam got. And if he is a gentleman about it, I say he should get a brand new rope.

annac21 May 21st, 2007 8:24 pm

“Better to think of them as geopolitical investment groups, family dynasties, banking families (Rothchilds, Goldman & Sachs), etc. Government has been asleep at the wheel.”

Why not the Morgans or the Rockefellers, for example, Paul?

Ah, I remember now, these are the good guys; they financed
Hitler.
How interesting.

Gail May 21st, 2007 8:50 pm

“Wolfowitz had unveiled a drive towards good governance, which he said was a broader concept than anti-corruption.”

Is Wolfowitz trying to persuade us that the rampant corruption we have grown weary of is insignificant because “his” perception and advancement of so-called “good governance” cancels out corruption?

Obviously, this man is not playing with a full deck, or he thinks we’re all a bunch of morons.

annac21 May 21st, 2007 8:55 pm

“Don’t let him leave! Surround the building and burn it.”

How charming

RJKT May 21st, 2007 9:09 pm

As I read this , I keep thinking of the lines from an old song ” Let us raze..raze these prisons to the ground “.Fat chance of that ever happening though.

Virtually every institution spawned by the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference has turned into a byword for rank inefficiency and obscene corruption .

The fortunate few ,employed by them ,wallow in bloated tax-free salaries and mind-blowingly generous pensions -enough to keep them in clover , for several lifetimes.

While ,enabling them to collectively ’shaft’ the third world ,in the bargain.A classic case of ‘having their cake and eating it too.

The most hardened sadist couldn’t really ask for more.

These institutions will ,nonetheless ,continue to lead charmed existences. Not a finger will be lifted against them.

There is every likelihood they will continue to cock a snook at Hubris .

And still be around ,at the very top of the heap ,post Armageddon.

purvis ames May 21st, 2007 9:14 pm

annac21 May 21st, 2007 8:55 pm

Well, as Marshall McLuhan once said, criticizing William Burroughs’ prose is like disapproving of the hat of a man who’s just knocked on your door to tell you your house is burning down. How charming.

annac21 May 21st, 2007 9:16 pm

duplicate

annac21 May 21st, 2007 9:17 pm

“Well, as Marshall McLuhan once said, criticizing William Burroughs’ prose is like disapproving of the hat of a man who’s just knocked on your door to tell you your house is burning down. How charming.”

???? translation please
The world is a weird place.

bakunin May 21st, 2007 9:18 pm

If there is to be no accountability for the people who brought us the Iraq war, lies, assaults on the constitution, more lies, economic irresponsibility, extreme and criminal cronyism, and more lies then we will have failed in our obligation as citizens to protect the structure which is meant to protect US from tyrants. Bush, Cheney, and all the neocon liars who have supported the catastrophic adventurism of the past six years MUST be held to account. They must be brought to trial and punished, Otherwise our system is worth NOTHING and will be headed quickly for history’s wastebin.

annac21 May 21st, 2007 9:22 pm

bakunin,

I am surprised that being Bakunin, you don’t see that our system isn’t worth much even without Bush, Cheney etc.
If I understand it correctly, they are not aliens.

RJKT May 21st, 2007 9:40 pm

The cockroach certainly has competition: these Bretton Woods institutions should give it quite a run for its money - as far as surviving a Nuclear Armageddon goes.

Rebel Farmer May 21st, 2007 11:13 pm

Look folks, I really think you are all really nifty. The comments make a whole lot of sense. And the humor is wonderful. But we have to get off our butts! Looks like Wolfie and Rummey have already left the premises and we can’t do much about it now. So let’s deal with the monsters that are still within our grasp.

Call your members of Congress now toll free at 800-828-0498, 800-459-1887 or 800-614-2803 to tell them it’s time to IMPEACH CHENEY. Demand they support/co-sponsor HR 333, the Articles of Impeachment of Cheney introduced by Kucinich in April. This is not a partisan issue. This a moral and Constitutional issue about accountability and lawlessness. Call both the Dem’s and Repub’s in your state. Repeatedly!!

Then, vote in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll http://www.usalone.com/blogvoices.php?Cheney%20Impeachment%3F

Then vote in poll to impeach Bush at MoveOn.Org
http://impeachbush.tv/index.html

Then, e-mail Pelosi (AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov ) to put impeachment BACK ON THE TABLE!!! Better yet, call her office at one of the above toll free numbers.

And make those calls EVERY week. If we ALL keep up the pressure, our raised voices will eventually be heard even by the deaf ears.

moneylender May 22nd, 2007 1:41 am

There are a lot of people out there who want true and a free society.Those were the very ideals Hutch Min expressed when he took power.The powers that be did not want Vietnam to be a true democracy, the rest is history.That’s what the leaders of Venezuela are trying to create power from the bottom up wards
You cannot create any fair society with out addressing the question of MONEY SUPPLY.As long as we allow Private Banks to create money out of NOTHING as a exponential compound interest bearing DEBT we will all remain enslaved from cradle to the grave.
Money will go into manufacture of Arms which will be used against the people to suppress them, press will be used to peddle false hood, elected representatives will be bought off from creating a true democracy.
Once the Money Supply is in the hands of the people, where the elected representatives are the sole distributors of the funds for productive capacity that will benefit every one, then you may be on a far better world

Illusion, yes the American people are living in an illusion as they are enslaved from cradle to the grave as the rest of the world.The Out Standing Market Credit Debt of that country in the last count stood at $76.63Trillion dollars, the Government will never be able to service the loan let alone repay the capital. Every day this amount is reflected in the books it accrues exponential compound interest. The US lives on a daily overdraft of Billions from the People’s Bank of China (a turn up for the books), and others.

Every thing and every body in the US is owned by private banks, and you pay interest on every thing on money created out of NOTHING

But in the first world fed on rubbish both in mind and body, just to be healthy to be Cannon fodders to fight some one Else’s war. In the Third World Eight million children die every year this has gone on for decades the holocaust is alive and well.

As long as Banks create money out of NOTHING as a compound interest bearing DEBT to finance wars where the profit margins are better than anything on offer you are in a vicious cycle of violence.
The arms industry is the most subsidised industry in any country, especially in the US..
”If you want to be a slave and pay the cost of your own slavery, let the banks create the money’
”Let me control and issue a nations’ currency, I care not who writes its laws”
So you can ‘ELECT’ any party of any colour, it wold not matter an iota

Peace is profitless.
As the Late Lord Hailsm, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales pointed out, that we live in a tripartite totalitarian dictatorship; Press, Elected and Financial.
Interest is NOT necessary or inevitable, this insidious and invidious imposition on humankind should be abolished immediately and can be abolished
We are told we are all free and live in a democracy. People can be fooled all the time.
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.” - George W. Bush
P.S
I posted the following to an earlier posting and glad some one has notised
Video and Information: Money As Debt (47:07) - This “animated presentation of “Money as Debt” tells in very simple and effective graphic terms what money is and how it is being created. It is an entertaining way to get the message out

superdumb May 22nd, 2007 8:56 am

Read the book “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” by John Perkins. Then, we will all agree that both the Bank & IMF should be dumped!

NMBill May 22nd, 2007 9:43 am

READ MONEYLENDER! ^above

The assets are in the resources of the planet!
We are buying money by paying interest!(or not)

Paul Bramscher May 22nd, 2007 11:00 am

annac21: Absolutely — add Morgan, Rockefeller, etc. to the list of guilty parties as well.

Here in Minnesota we’d also add Carl Pohlad to the list of Poverty Makers. Got rich on foreclosures in the last great Depression, and recently strong-armed the state, bypassing the requirement for a public referendum, and got one of the most properous counties to raise a tax and build a stadium for his team, the Twins.

The whole concept of a bank, usury, etc. is to widen the gap between rich and poor. The rich earn interest simply by having money, the poor pay interest on debts — simply by having no money. It’s a place where the poor go to get penalized for being poor.

How charming indeed.

annac21 May 22nd, 2007 12:18 pm

“The whole concept of a bank, usury, etc. is to widen the gap between rich and poor.”

The gap is primarily created by … exploitation (remember this useful word?).

Focusing on banks only without reforming (creating) labor law,
and without universal health care, is ridiculous.

roger May 21st, 2007 12:30 pm

Don’t let him leave! Surround the building and burn it.
concerned citizen May 21st, 2007 1:20 pm

Luke 12:22 Jesus said unto his disciples ‘Therefore take no thought for your life”

The ground of a certain rich man ( Bush/cheney and corporate business) brought forth plentifully, and he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do because I have no room where to bestow all my fruits. And he said this will I do: I will pull down my barns and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease eat drink and be merry.

Soul thou hast much goods he said to himself, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Listen to the greed of his soul “I must tear down and build greater”, I must he says as if no other choice can be made. The rich man lived in the worries of tomorrow always tearing down and looking for ways to build greater he lacked an important ingredient for life contentment! Greed caused this man to think in his mind (He thought within himself) how to keep all, not considering where the blessing had come from or who brought forth this plentifully blessing, presuming upon the future, convincing himself that all is ok.
His will is bound by chains of selfishness (What shall I do) enslaved by the thoughts of tomorrow. His emotions created a sense of sadness for himself, I must he says, I will he says, therefore my days of worry will be over I can set back and take it easy. His mind blinded by tomorrow, not wise enough to acknowledge the effect his new life would place upon others, deceived by vices of his own soul. Wine in excess and wealth combined blind the eyes they dilute the mind weaken the will and leave the emotions depleted. Does the life of the soul depend upon the wealth and goods of this world? Is happiness and comfort only found in this world and thoughts we have about tomorrow? Is the rich man in this parable satisfied (are Bush, Cheney and corporate business satisfied), yes but only by his own standards his thoughts are his alone, he lives for personal satisfaction. The more you have the more perplexity, you have with it. Peremptory ideas are foolish ideas for our days are not in our own hands, we do not know what shall be on the morrow. Therefore Christ encourages us “ Take therefore no thought for the morrow”
The soul of man cannot be satisfied with pleasure, or food, or drink, a season of sin is a harvest of barrenness, ideas and ambitions to be ashamed of for they have an end and the end is emptiness. This should have been a time of rejoicing and thankfulness, friends and family(The American People) brought together to celebrate the good. The land has produced beyond imagination the harvest plenty!! Thanks should have been offered to God for his greatness and blessing. And where do we find the rich man, conversing with his own soul, “soul thou hast much goods take thine ease eat drink and be merry”, his true intent is brought forth, lusting for the ease of life, concerned for know one but himself even in a time of blessing his concern is for tomorrow and years of comfort. Not able to live in the day provided. There is no belief in God no prayer was offered to God, his day spent in vanity, pride, and self-righteousness.
This man was secure in what lay ahead for his future, satisfied in himself (sound familiar), all other concerns were pushed aside being blinded, deceived by the snare of riches and presuming upon the years before him. Sensual for the things of this world, this man lacks the ability to know the true needs of his soul he has filled his life with things that can perish, rust and be stolen.
To this man this day as others he was the master of his ship, or better yet for all who love the sound of “I had to do it my way” the rich man did it his way, the only way he could do it. The rich man was the god of his day he hastened within his heart, eyes lusting for the barns built bigger. Quickly! Quickly! Can you hear him saying his soul restless, sleep would be difficult with all the days excitements all this in the life of a rich man, concerned for the things on the morrow.
A slave to his own destruction, lost in the vanity of his own mind, his will a slave to carnal desires, emotions ruled by the sensualities of a world that is passing away. As the evening approached his mind still churning thinking about all to be done, his greed and self-interest, his wealth and future happiness, made the bed seem more of an enemy than a friend,
The day came to a close, the sunset, nighttime approached when no man can work walk while you have the light.
Death awaits the finality of our life here on this land, It is appointed unto man once to die, the rich man in his own willful disobedience to God had come to the end of his days, approached by God his creator to answer for the life he had lived, God asks an answer, the man in his foolishness gave his soul to the whims of the flesh, God refers to him as a fool! God states “this night your soul shall be required of thee then whose riches shall they be”?. God is the God of all flesh; the rich man fattened his soul(By the hard labor of the common man and woman) with goods provided from Gods land, rain, and sunshine all causes are according to Gods good pleasure. The rich mans life ending in judgment, he presumed upon the morrow he lived life for himself he did it his way.
Today is all we have, there are no contracts upon life (Sorry Bush and Cheney), a mans days are destined from all eternity, even if God provides added days you are still appointed a day, what will you do with that day? Will you be thankful to God for each day you have,and share with the needs of others! The rich man was not thankful, He could not even speak in his defense. He had placed his trust in his soul(corporate business) and was misled, you see the soul is not interested in barns and fruits or goods for all this will pass away but the soul will not pass away the soul of man is eternal and when separate from God is exceeding sinful. As the rich man, God will one day ask account of the day he gave to you,yes even you Mr. President and Vice President, what will you be doing that day? For who knows what the night may bring?
Demerara May 21st, 2007 1:23 pm

Burn the IMF as well!

They both try to prevent sustainable development so that 3rd world countries have to pay off loans well beyond a single generation and many time over the principle amount.

They employ corrupt loan officers (see Life of an Economic Hitman) and they encourage stealing from corrupt leaders to move money for the World Band/IMF to western and off-shore banks. The money is then used in Western Countries instead of the 3rd world but the 3rd world is fotted with the bill.
Paul Bramscher May 21st, 2007 1:50 pm

Hard to say how much it’s used in western countries, given the criminally inflated cost of real estate here. There’s a long pattern the works: the foreclosures during the Great Depression, hammering of the family farm especially in the 1970’s-90’s, runaway & predatory mortgage lending — just for some square footage to live in.

These guys aren’t to be interpreted in nation-state terms. Better to think of them as geopolitical investment groups, family dynasties, banking families (Rothchilds, Goldman & Sachs), etc. Government has been asleep at the wheel. That’s a euphemism for collaboration and cooption. Perhaps they appear to originate, roost or have a home-base in the US. But that may only be because our democracy and rule of law is weakest among modern/western democracies.

Perhaps the same dynamic in which the mafia during the 1920’s-30’s gangster heyday (which has only since been excaerbated) gravitated to the more corrupt cities.
urthsong May 21st, 2007 4:10 pm

You might want to read articles by Prof. Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel laureat in economics, who has much to say. The NeoConservatives began shunning him when this former World Bank deputy director and presidential advisor to Clinton began speaking out on what was wrong with this rotten system. Here’s his official site: http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/
Nathan Andover May 21st, 2007 7:00 pm

I don’t think we should burn down the World Bank or the IMF.

We don’t want to sound like people on the conservative side who say they want to destroy the UN or the State Department.

We need these international institutions.

Most complaints (from both sides) are directed at the motives, processes, leadership, and mission of these institutions.

Instead of destroying that which we don’t like, let’s engage these international institutions and make them more democratic, more transparent, and more effective in their missions.
hybridoma2001 May 21st, 2007 7:02 pm

This is ugly, but all I can say about the Wolf and his STRAUSSIAN view of the world is that he should be tried in an international criminal court. Or simply hung, as was Saddam Hussein.
I have no patience any longer for these people who are in a position to help make the world a better place, simply sent off to some green pasture somewhere. If I had ever done anything close to what this man has done, I would be tossed out on my ass in a second.
There is no First or Third world. There’s the rich and the powerless in the world.
WJM May 21st, 2007 7:15 pm

Just a question: In paragraph three, are we sure that the person quoted said “Bolt Hole”? Just wondering…
purvis ames May 21st, 2007 7:56 pm

Nathan Andover May 21st, 2007 7:00 pm

Thank you for your ringing endorsement of what is essentially a Mafia loan sharking operation. “We need these international institutions.” Say what? Who’s “we”? The dictators who take the loans, put them in their private accounts in Switzerland, and flee to the Riviera at the first signs of social unrest? The banks who foreclose on the natural resources of the country? The multinationals who move right in and grab everything that isn’t nailed down? I don’t know about “we”, but if that’s “you”, go, well…
kivals May 21st, 2007 8:20 pm

hybridoma2001,

Wolfowitz deserves a trial every bit as fair and perfunctory as the one Saddam got. And if he is a gentleman about it, I say he should get a brand new rope.
annac21 May 21st, 2007 8:24 pm

“Better to think of them as geopolitical investment groups, family dynasties, banking families (Rothchilds, Goldman & Sachs), etc. Government has been asleep at the wheel.”

Why not the Morgans or the Rockefellers, for example, Paul?

Ah, I remember now, these are the good guys; they financed
Hitler.
How interesting.
Gail May 21st, 2007 8:50 pm

“Wolfowitz had unveiled a drive towards good governance, which he said was a broader concept than anti-corruption.”

Is Wolfowitz trying to persuade us that the rampant corruption we have grown weary of is insignificant because “his” perception and advancement of so-called “good governance” cancels out corruption?

Obviously, this man is not playing with a full deck, or he thinks we’re all a bunch of morons.
annac21 May 21st, 2007 8:55 pm

“Don’t let him leave! Surround the building and burn it.”

How charming
RJKT May 21st, 2007 9:09 pm

As I read this , I keep thinking of the lines from an old song ” Let us raze..raze these prisons to the ground “.Fat chance of that ever happening though.

Virtually every institution spawned by the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference has turned into a byword for rank inefficiency and obscene corruption .

The fortunate few ,employed by them ,wallow in bloated tax-free salaries and mind-blowingly generous pensions -enough to keep them in clover , for several lifetimes.

While ,enabling them to collectively ’shaft’ the third world ,in the bargain.A classic case of ‘having their cake and eating it too.

The most hardened sadist couldn’t really ask for more.

These institutions will ,nonetheless ,continue to lead charmed existences. Not a finger will be lifted against them.

There is every likelihood they will continue to cock a snook at Hubris .

And still be around ,at the very top of the heap ,post Armageddon.
purvis ames May 21st, 2007 9:14 pm

annac21 May 21st, 2007 8:55 pm

Well, as Marshall McLuhan once said, criticizing William Burroughs’ prose is like disapproving of the hat of a man who’s just knocked on your door to tell you your house is burning down. How charming.
annac21 May 21st, 2007 9:16 pm

duplicate
annac21 May 21st, 2007 9:17 pm

“Well, as Marshall McLuhan once said, criticizing William Burroughs’ prose is like disapproving of the hat of a man who’s just knocked on your door to tell you your house is burning down. How charming.”

???? translation please
The world is a weird place.
bakunin May 21st, 2007 9:18 pm

If there is to be no accountability for the people who brought us the Iraq war, lies, assaults on the constitution, more lies, economic irresponsibility, extreme and criminal cronyism, and more lies then we will have failed in our obligation as citizens to protect the structure which is meant to protect US from tyrants. Bush, Cheney, and all the neocon liars who have supported the catastrophic adventurism of the past six years MUST be held to account. They must be brought to trial and punished, Otherwise our system is worth NOTHING and will be headed quickly for history’s wastebin.
annac21 May 21st, 2007 9:22 pm

bakunin,

I am surprised that being Bakunin, you don’t see that our system isn’t worth much even without Bush, Cheney etc.
If I understand it correctly, they are not aliens.
RJKT May 21st, 2007 9:40 pm

The cockroach certainly has competition: these Bretton Woods institutions should give it quite a run for its money - as far as surviving a Nuclear Armageddon goes.
Rebel Farmer May 21st, 2007 11:13 pm

Look folks, I really think you are all really nifty. The comments make a whole lot of sense. And the humor is wonderful. But we have to get off our butts! Looks like Wolfie and Rummey have already left the premises and we can’t do much about it now. So let’s deal with the monsters that are still within our grasp.

Call your members of Congress now toll free at 800-828-0498, 800-459-1887 or 800-614-2803 to tell them it’s time to IMPEACH CHENEY. Demand they support/co-sponsor HR 333, the Articles of Impeachment of Cheney introduced by Kucinich in April. This is not a partisan issue. This a moral and Constitutional issue about accountability and lawlessness. Call both the Dem’s and Repub’s in your state. Repeatedly!!

Then, vote in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll http://www.usalone.com/blogvoices.php?Cheney%20Impeachment%3F

Then vote in poll to impeach Bush at MoveOn.Org
http://impeachbush.tv/index.html

Then, e-mail Pelosi (AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov ) to put impeachment BACK ON THE TABLE!!! Better yet, call her office at one of the above toll free numbers.

And make those calls EVERY week. If we ALL keep up the pressure, our raised voices will eventually be heard even by the deaf ears.
moneylender May 22nd, 2007 1:41 am

There are a lot of people out there who want true and a free society.Those were the very ideals Hutch Min expressed when he took power.The powers that be did not want Vietnam to be a true democracy, the rest is history.That’s what the leaders of Venezuela are trying to create power from the bottom up wards
You cannot create any fair society with out addressing the question of MONEY SUPPLY.As long as we allow Private Banks to create money out of NOTHING as a exponential compound interest bearing DEBT we will all remain enslaved from cradle to the grave.
Money will go into manufacture of Arms which will be used against the people to suppress them, press will be used to peddle false hood, elected representatives will be bought off from creating a true democracy.
Once the Money Supply is in the hands of the people, where the elected representatives are the sole distributors of the funds for productive capacity that will benefit every one, then you may be on a far better world

Illusion, yes the American people are living in an illusion as they are enslaved from cradle to the grave as the rest of the world.The Out Standing Market Credit Debt of that country in the last count stood at $76.63Trillion dollars, the Government will never be able to service the loan let alone repay the capital. Every day this amount is reflected in the books it accrues exponential compound interest. The US lives on a daily overdraft of Billions from the People’s Bank of China (a turn up for the books), and others.

Every thing and every body in the US is owned by private banks, and you pay interest on every thing on money created out of NOTHING

But in the first world fed on rubbish both in mind and body, just to be healthy to be Cannon fodders to fight some one Else’s war. In the Third World Eight million children die every year this has gone on for decades the holocaust is alive and well.

As long as Banks create money out of NOTHING as a compound interest bearing DEBT to finance wars where the profit margins are better than anything on offer you are in a vicious cycle of violence.
The arms industry is the most subsidised industry in any country, especially in the US..
”If you want to be a slave and pay the cost of your own slavery, let the banks create the money’
”Let me control and issue a nations’ currency, I care not who writes its laws”
So you can ‘ELECT’ any party of any colour, it wold not matter an iota

Peace is profitless.
As the Late Lord Hailsm, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales pointed out, that we live in a tripartite totalitarian dictatorship; Press, Elected and Financial.
Interest is NOT necessary or inevitable, this insidious and invidious imposition on humankind should be abolished immediately and can be abolished
We are told we are all free and live in a democracy. People can be fooled all the time.
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.” - George W. Bush
P.S
I posted the following to an earlier posting and glad some one has notised
Video and Information: Money As Debt (47:07) - This “animated presentation of “Money as Debt” tells in very simple and effective graphic terms what money is and how it is being created. It is an entertaining way to get the message out
superdumb May 22nd, 2007 8:56 am

Read the book “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” by John Perkins. Then, we will all agree that both the Bank & IMF should be dumped!
NMBill May 22nd, 2007 9:43 am

READ MONEYLENDER! ^above

The assets are in the resources of the planet!
We are buying money by paying interest!(or not)
Paul Bramscher May 22nd, 2007 11:00 am

annac21: Absolutely — add Morgan, Rockefeller, etc. to the list of guilty parties as well.

Here in Minnesota we’d also add Carl Pohlad to the list of Poverty Makers. Got rich on foreclosures in the last great Depression, and recently strong-armed the state, bypassing the requirement for a public referendum, and got one of the most properous counties to raise a tax and build a stadium for his team, the Twins.

The whole concept of a bank, usury, etc. is to widen the gap between rich and poor. The rich earn interest simply by having money, the poor pay interest on debts — simply by having no money. It’s a place where the poor go to get penalized for being poor.

How charming indeed.
annac21 May 22nd, 2007 12:18 pm

“The whole concept of a bank, usury, etc. is to widen the gap between rich and poor.”

The gap is primarily created by … exploitation (remember this useful word?).

Focusing on banks only without reforming (creating) labor law,
and without universal health care, is ridiculous.

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