Re: [A-List] Fw: Hudson Institute Economic News Update

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Irwin Stelzer writes:

Private discussions of the most contentious topic, joblessness in France and
Germany promptly leaked, revealed the strains created by monetary union and
the one-size-fits-all interest rate policy of the EU. France's Nicolas
Sarkozy and Germany's Hans Eichel berated Jean-Claude Trichet, president of
the European Central Bank, for not lowering interest rates to stimulate
economic growth in their countries. Sarkozy complained that he has no
control over his own economy, and Eichel whined that the ECB is taking
account of the European average rather than the needs of Germany.
Fortunately, Brown, who saved Britain from a similar fate by erecting so
many barriers to his country's adoption of the euro that even Prime Minister
Tony Blair couldn't clear the hurdles, suppressed a chuckle.
No round of gossip would be complete without a discussion of
who-gets-what-jobs. It was settled in advance of the meeting that Spain's
Rodrigo Rato, whose reformist credentials are in order but who has no
experience managing international financial crises, would land the plum post
of managing director of the IMF. But this consensual succession may well be
the last such, as the developing nations have decided henceforth to
challenge the notion that the job is to be reserved for a European.
The fact that Jim Wolfensohn's second term as president of the World Bank is
about to expire created the most intense gossip. Wolfensohn, who very much
enjoys the pomp and circumstance with which he is greeted in emerging
nations when he shows up to hand out taxpayers' money, is desperate to be
reappointed. But his staff is said to be hoping he will be allowed to return
to private life, and devote more time to practicing his cello-playing. They
say that he insists on receiving credit for all of the Bank's successes, and
on blaming others for its multiple failures. So they were cheered by rumors
that Secretary of State Colin Powell might be in line to succeed Wolfensohn.
Not likely says -- guess who? -- Wolfensohn. In an interview he hastened to
throw cold water on the Powell boomlet by telling reporters, "I don't think
there's the slightest likelihood that Colin Powell would want to become
president of the World Bank after putting up with everything he's put up
with as secretary of state." Clear implication: my job of World Bank
president is as important, and as pressure-laden, as is the Secretary of
State's.
And then they were gone, the sirens silenced. Abraham Lincoln was wrong when
he told an audience in Gettysburg, "The world will little note, nor long
remember what we say here." But that's not a bad phrase for some
self-important finance ministers to keep in mind.

------

It's difficult to put into words just how much I loathe this sort of smug,
pompous, and completely superficial "analysis" that is the dysentery of
pimps like Irwin Stelzer. When he's not pimping for Rupert Murdoch, he's
pimping for Enron:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/enron/story/0,11337,641134,00.html

The Hudson Institute boasts of holding an annual "Lady Thatcher Weekend"

http://rs.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=about_detail

And Stelzer, apparently, was the "emissary" sent by Murdoch to Blair to tell
him to proceed with a referendum on the EU constitution:

>Last month Stelzer arrived for what has been described a 'routine meeting'.
Murdoch's emissary visits Blair and Brown about once a year. He made it
clear that neither Murdoch nor his stable of papers was happy with Blair's
failure of nerve over the referendum issue. And, no, they weren't open to
persuasion. Of course, with Murdoch considering which way his papers may
lean during the next election campaign, the referendum issue could colour
his choice. It was the final nail.<

See http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,1202651,00.html

Murdoch campaigns against the EU in Britain on the grounds that it is an
attack on "our sovereignty". Thus saith the Australian who took up US
citizenship to get his hands on 20th Century Fox.

Meanwhile, what does Stelzer have to say about dollarisation in Latin
America, for example?

I would be interested to know quite why we should be interested in Stelzer's
comments re Wolfensohn. By my reading it is Stelzer who should pay heed to
Lincoln's admonition.

Michael