The World Bank

A new commentary every Wednesday — December 9, 2015

THE WORLD BANK

Last week, while doing some research on the assassinations of our Ambassador and three Americans in Benghazi, Libya, I stumbled across the fact that last year the World Bank invested $654-million in Libya. The year prior, Libya borrowed only a piffling $87-million. I feel there is little chance that this will be repaid.

I am the last person anyone should ask for advice about investments, but one is prompted to wonder if these loans to Libya made any good sense, considering the volatility of the situation there. When will the Libyan factions quit fighting each other for control of the real estate and oil wells and begin to liquidate this debt? This was not meant to be a gift, but a loan to be repaid, with interest. I compare it to financing a pizza parlor on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. Maybe that is not a precise analogy, but you get the picture.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund was set up in the closing moments of WWII as part of the United Nations and financing was provided by 44 Allied Countries. I've yet to discover how much each those countries invested in the enterprise, but you can bet the largest amount was provided by the taxpayers of the U.S. of A.

The purpose was to recover the economy; rebuild the infrastructure, improve education, energy, education, health, etc., and under a plan conceived and magnificently achieved by George C. Marshall, the greatest General of our Armies during WW2 and following that, Secretary of State.

Look about at your fellow citizens, America. We are the largest stockholders in a multi-billion dollar enterprise—over which we have little or no control. Only the FSB, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, has tighter lips than World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. There was a little kerfuffle when former White House war hawk Paul Wolfowitz was appointed the President of the World Bank by Bush II a few years ago and Wolfowitz immediately moved his girlfriend into a cushy, highly paid post there. Other longtime WB associates, jealous of the action, did "The Wolf' in.

Granted, the U.S. controls the most votes: over 358,000 of the total votes of more then two million shared among the 188 nations involved. 12 of the last 13 Presidents of the World Bank were Americans. (An Australian was the only other President—for one term). Quick, name the present World Bank President.

Answer: An American, Jim Young Kim. Ever heard of him? Me neither. We know far more about the leader of North Korea, the most shuttered place on this Earth.

You might be pleased to know that the World Bank invested $6-billion, 884-million in Afghanistan last year. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, "Corruption in Afghanistan is pervasive, entrenched, systemic and unprecedented in scale and reach. The Ruling Elites have succeeded in diverting billions of dollars to themselves. This corruption has not been confined to the upper echelons alone. It pervades every aspect of its citizens' lives."

Cuba is one of least of the debtors—borrowed only $86.6 million last year. However, the list of debtor-countries is so extensive, it overwhelms one. Hardly any picayune power is excluded. China, with possibly the largest economy on this Planet, was among the supplicants. It borrowed $194-billion in 2013 and that was so easy, it asked for and got $702-billion, 800-million last year.

I could not find where profits (?) from this worldwide business were published and/or is widely known. The only good thing I know is that the U.S.A. is among those few nations who have not applied for a loan. I haven't the slightest notion if We, the people of the United States of America or our government has ever received a dividend on our investment. This is probably just a "failure to communicate."

Was there ever anything constructed by any government that was just stopped, thanked it's officers, sent all employees home and locked the doors? Well, I can only readily think of one: The Works Progress Administration (WPA, 1935-1943). Surely you can think of another governmental agency somewhere. (I think maybe the French Pate' Association of goose owners was shut down. it was decided that tying a goose so that it was immobile, then force-feeding it until it's liver became enlarged, was inhumane).

-Phil Richardson, Observer of the human condition and storyteller. "He goes doddering on into his old age, making a public nuisance of himself." - Joseph L. Menchen

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