Showing posts with label IMF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IMF. Show all posts
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Fix the IMF
From: Larry Kudlow/National Review Online
More specifically, can the IMF possibly morph itself into a worldwide force for economic growth instead of Bailout Nation?
Yes, it’s a powerful global economic agency. It’s also one with a very checkered past. Usually opting for austerity policies, such as currency devaluation and tax increases, the IMF has bungled a lot of rescue missions down through the years.
There was Turkey, Mexico, and the Asian Tigers. More recently, there was the Greece bailout plan, which has not succeeded. Neither have the Portugal and Ireland plans. Though the EU’s involvement in these European states has been larger than the IMF’s, the IMF was supposed to be the tough cop for budget cuts that have not materialized. The necessary debt restructuring also hasn’t occurred.
Socialist Strauss-Kahn restored IMF prestige with his political-economic activism. But he didn’t restore prosperity to the southern-tier European countries.
So, to some extent, the IMF has become Bailout Nation Europe. (I note that the U.S. owns about 20 percent of the IMF, and Bailout Nation is very unpopular among the Tea Partiers and independent voters.)
According to news reports, it is widely expected that French finance minster Christine Lagarde will get the IMF’s newly vacated top post, although there’s some talk of Jean-Claude Trichet, the able central banker.
The point is, however, will the IMF ever adopt a true economic-growth model for the basket-case countries it is trying to fix?
As the IMF gets ready to choose a successor to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned following his arrest on charges that he sexually assaulted and raped a hotel housekeeper, it would be a good thing to step back for a moment and ask: What should the IMF do?
Yes, it’s a powerful global economic agency. It’s also one with a very checkered past. Usually opting for austerity policies, such as currency devaluation and tax increases, the IMF has bungled a lot of rescue missions down through the years.
There was Turkey, Mexico, and the Asian Tigers. More recently, there was the Greece bailout plan, which has not succeeded. Neither have the Portugal and Ireland plans. Though the EU’s involvement in these European states has been larger than the IMF’s, the IMF was supposed to be the tough cop for budget cuts that have not materialized. The necessary debt restructuring also hasn’t occurred.
Socialist Strauss-Kahn restored IMF prestige with his political-economic activism. But he didn’t restore prosperity to the southern-tier European countries.
So, to some extent, the IMF has become Bailout Nation Europe. (I note that the U.S. owns about 20 percent of the IMF, and Bailout Nation is very unpopular among the Tea Partiers and independent voters.)
According to news reports, it is widely expected that French finance minster Christine Lagarde will get the IMF’s newly vacated top post, although there’s some talk of Jean-Claude Trichet, the able central banker.
The point is, however, will the IMF ever adopt a true economic-growth model for the basket-case countries it is trying to fix?
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Ben Stein's Disgusting Defense
I considered doing a point by point rebuttal but I don't think it's necessary. It reads badly enough.
From: The American Spectator
Now for a few humble thoughts about Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his recent brush with law and journalism, bearing in mind that it's possible indeed, maybe even likely, that he is guilty as the prosecutors charge:
1.) If he is such a womanizer and violent guy with women, why didn't he ever get charged until now? If he has a long history of sexual abuse, how can it have remained no more than gossip this long? France is a nation of vicious political rivalries. Why didn't his opponents get him years ago?
2.) In life, events tend to follow patterns. People who commit crimes tend to be criminals, for example. Can anyone tell me any economists who have been convicted of violent sex crimes? Can anyone tell me of any heads of nonprofit international economic entities who have ever been charged and convicted of violent sexual crimes? Is it likely that just by chance this hotel maid found the only one in this category? Maybe Mr. Strauss-Kahn is guilty but if so, he is one of a kind, and criminals are not usually one of a kind.
3.) The prosecutors say that Mr. Strauss-Kahn "forced" the complainant to have oral and other sex with him. How? Did he have a gun? Did he have a knife? He's a short fat old man. They were in a hotel with people passing by the room constantly, if it's anything like the many hotels I am in. How did he intimidate her in that situation? And if he was so intimidating, why did she immediately feel un-intimidated enough to alert the authorities as to her story?
From: The American Spectator
Now for a few humble thoughts about Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his recent brush with law and journalism, bearing in mind that it's possible indeed, maybe even likely, that he is guilty as the prosecutors charge:
1.) If he is such a womanizer and violent guy with women, why didn't he ever get charged until now? If he has a long history of sexual abuse, how can it have remained no more than gossip this long? France is a nation of vicious political rivalries. Why didn't his opponents get him years ago?
2.) In life, events tend to follow patterns. People who commit crimes tend to be criminals, for example. Can anyone tell me any economists who have been convicted of violent sex crimes? Can anyone tell me of any heads of nonprofit international economic entities who have ever been charged and convicted of violent sexual crimes? Is it likely that just by chance this hotel maid found the only one in this category? Maybe Mr. Strauss-Kahn is guilty but if so, he is one of a kind, and criminals are not usually one of a kind.
3.) The prosecutors say that Mr. Strauss-Kahn "forced" the complainant to have oral and other sex with him. How? Did he have a gun? Did he have a knife? He's a short fat old man. They were in a hotel with people passing by the room constantly, if it's anything like the many hotels I am in. How did he intimidate her in that situation? And if he was so intimidating, why did she immediately feel un-intimidated enough to alert the authorities as to her story?
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