Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Bush names Fuzzy Zoeller as World Bank President?

So on top of being a world class golfer, Fuzzy is a top-notch economist too. Who knew?

Oh... Zoellick. Not Zoeller. My bad.

Here's some quotes from the White House and his formal introduction by Dubya.

*Bob Zoellick brings a wealth of experience and energy to this task. Over the past three decades he's held important posts in government, business and higher education. And in these posts he has worked on issues ranging from German unification, Latin American debt relief, to the transition of post-Soviet economies. For the past six years -- or most of the past six years, he has served as a member of my Cabinet. As the United States Trade Representative, he helped bring China and Taiwan into the World Trade Organization, launched the Doha Round of trade talks at the WTO, and significantly increased the number of U.S. free trade agreements.

Bob has had a strong voice for Africa. He's helped implement the African Growth and Opportunity Act that has increased America's trade with that continent. He has served on the board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an initiative designed to change the way we deliver foreign aid. In 2005, I asked Bob to serve as the Deputy Secretary of State. In that role, he managed a global staff of 57,000 people, he played a leading role in our engagement with China, and he traveled frequently to Darfur and Southern Sudan to help find a path for peace. Most recently, he has been vice chairman international at Goldman Sachs. In short, it would probably be easier to list all the jobs Bob hasn't had.


Bob sounds like a fine choice, but to be honest we here at Cake or Death didn't bring this up to give the thumbs up or down to Fuzzy Zoeller's 2nd cousin. We were more than a little shocked at some of the World Bank numbers.

The US is the World Bank's largest donor. Fabulous. Is there an international organization that we aren't the largest donor of? That's probably a much shorter list... and easier to digest...

The World Bank donated $9.5 billion last year to the poorest countries. Half of that went to sub-Saharan Africa. I want to support Africa and all, but I'd have to say at least 75% of that money donated to African nations was probably wasted by the corrupt governments. Maybe 25% actually went to helping the poor. So we're only wasting a quarter of the money we give to the world bank. Awesome.

We've really got to reign in this out of control spending and giving money away to people and nations who'd just as soon spit on us as thank us sounds like a good place to start.

With a name like Fuzzy though, I just don't think he's got the will power to say no...

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