Shutdown time for the World Bank and IMF etc…!

My comments on the below mentioned article:

Quote.”Finally the time has come that the poor of this world can be better served by abandoning and shutting down the institutions like the World Bank and the IMF etc., which are not only useless but actually responsible for increased number of suicides in the debtor countries by creating more hunger(which in turn breeds terrorism), joblessness, environmental miseries and increasing the number of poor people on this planet.

And for the proof of what I am saying the book titled ‘Confessions of an economic hit man” by John Perkins, is the biggest testimony of the devastation caused by the World Bank and the IMF etc., in the third world countries.” Unquote.

The World Bank: Rebellion in ranks

October 15, 2014, 11:33 AM IST Seema Sirohi in Letter from Washington | India, World | ET

As rebellions go, the one currently simmering at the World Bank is essentially between the haves and have-mores. The plush building on H Street is Discontent Central and President Jim Yong Kim – the Marie Antoinette on the scene – is trying to contain angry employees.
The revolt burst into public view just as finance ministers and central bankers from around the world were descending on Washington last weekend for the annual World Bank-IMF meetings and getting ready to reduce everything from poverty, hunger, deficits, global warming to Ebola.
Kim managed to preside over the gathering but not before conceding to appear for a mini trial. Try as I might, I can’t find my bleeding heart to bleed for the cause of those who make upwards of $100,000 annually, travel first class and in the unkindest cut of all – pay no taxes. But let’s try to be “objective,” maintain the journalistic canard and examine the ferment. How the bank is governed is important for India as it is for others. Besides, India is the bank’s largest borrower of concessional funds.
The bank’s rank and file reached a tipping point when they learnt that Kim had given a bonus of $189,000 to his chief financial officer, Bertrand Badre, as price for unduly taxing Badre’s brain which was already working hard at a paltry salary of $379,000 a year.
Badre’s job was to come up with $400 million in cost-cutting measures through downsizing, salary slimming and restructuring. How delicious the irony that Badre, a French gentleman with the correct pedigree of Sorbonne and Ecole Nationale d’Administration whose job it was to eliminate other jobs, should be outed by another French man, Fabrice Houdart, a mere “senior country officer” for the Middle East. It was the 40-something Houdart who poured over data, found egregious misuse of privilege and Badre’s bonus.
Houdart, now a Che of sorts among followers, asked piercing questions on internal blogs. The people rose up. Already afraid they might be among the 10,000 employees to get Badre’s axe, the “masses” in “G” class, who form the bulk of the work force at salaries between $93,000 to $170,000, exchanged furtive e-mails, phone calls and forced the masters up in the “I” and “J” classes, who make anywhere between $280,000 to $300,000 to pay heed. Are you still with me? Kim was forced last week to call a town hall meeting given the unprecedented anger. A total of 8,000 bank employees either attended or live-streamed the event. The mood was surly, the questions blunt. By some accounts Kim was even booed when he tried to duck the hard balls.
The people wanted to know why there was no transparency in his down-sizing plans and why the hacker of jobs got a “scarce skills premium” (corporate jargon for bonus) while the worker bees were asked to tighten their belts. Why had the budget for 2015 still not been revealed?
In the two years as president, Kim has spent a whopping $12.5 million on outside consultants such as McKinsey, Deloitte and Booz Allen to tell him what to do and how to do it. The “it” being bank’s reorganisation, which, incidentally is the rollicking call every president, going back at least four, has made. The “people” at the bank question Kim’s choices – of Badre and the A to Z of consulting companies to restructure a development bank. “What do they know about development and the complexities of what we do?” an irate Banker asked. Insiders say that besides appointing the wrong outsiders, Kim also put the wrong insiders to manage the “change.” Monsieur Houdart, the sleuth, found examples of questionable behaviour at the top – private jets, misuse of travel benefits such as “rest stops” and frequent visits to home countries.
Others point out that some of the new “senior directors” Kim appointed after a “global search” were either lightweights or had allegations of corruption in their home countries. A Google search reveals interesting results on at least three.
In short, Mr President is clearly out of his depth. It’s a mess and not very different from the countries the bank so courageously tries to clean up. Intrigue, corruption, topdown management and low morale among workers who now have to pay for their own breakfast when traveling. Imagine.

Tags: My Views