Wolfowitz and the World Bank: beyond a joke?

Laugh Wolfowitz out of office by sending jokes to our ‘Wolfo-WIT’ compilation at:  wolfowitzjoke@neweconomics.org

President Bush was so keen to install Paul Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank that he couldn't wait for April Fool's day. Yet the nomination shows an impressive, if warped, sense of humour. Wolfowitz' record is as a strident nationalist who has never worked in a bank, and has more experience of strategic bombing than strategic human development. So what did the President do? He appointed him to be head of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development…

The irony doesn't stop there. With a public commitment to spread democracy, the President used a quasi-feudal process dating from the colonial era that allows him, as representative of just 4 per cent of the world’s population, to install his nominee. He pushed the process through in just two weeks (a fraction of the time it would take him to appoint a minister in his own government because of the need for Congressional scrutiny) and did it via a series of off-the-record meetings that took place behind closed doors. Then he sent it all to be rubber-stamped by a body whose decisions affect the poor but not the rich, but where each rich person gets five times as many votes as each poor person.

He's having a laugh…. isn't he?

nef (the new economics foundation) wants you to enjoy the joke too (especially as you didn't get the chance to vote against him). Share with others how laughable our global "democracy” is, via the special web page we're creating, by sending us your Wolfowitz jokes, rhymes and satires…Anything as long as it's funny, about the idea (who'd have thought it) of Wolfowitz being World Bank President, and the ludicrous process by which he got there…..

So, help cheer up the poor World Bank staff who swamped their staff association with complaints at the news, and the 1,600 development organisations who signed a petition against his appointment in a matter of days and get emailing….

Just email  wolfowitzjoke@neweconomics.org to add to the compilation