Debate Rises On World Bank Succession

WaPo reported The departure of Paul D. Wolfowitz as World Bank president is prompting calls around the world to revoke the traditional right of the United States to select the institution's leader. As the White House asserted its claim on picking Wolfowitz's successor, aid groups and former bank officials demanded that the next president be selected not in deference to the Bush administration, but on professional merits. Advocacy groups and development experts took aim at an unwritten rule that has for six decades governed the financial institutions created in the aftermath of World War II: The U.S. president picks the World Bank chief, and Europe selects the head of its affiliate institution, the International Monetary Fund.

The World Bank is corrupt and needs cleaning up. That is what Wolfowitz was trying to do, and is the real reason he was framed. Bosh should name someone even more interested in cleaning the bank up, and if they will not accept that, the US should stop contributing major amounts of money to the bank.

Betsy Newmark blogged Why we should be pouring so much money into a corrupted institution should be a question for America's politicians. Just because it has a feel-good sounding mission doesn't mean that it is accomplishing that mission. If it can't be cleaned up, then what good is it?