NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — I believe Bob Zoellick’s resignation as head of the World Bank would liberate a bit of Wall Street’s grip on the World Bank and other similar institutions. As you know, Zoellick was vice chairman of the international unit of the Goldman Sachs Group and managing director and chairman of Goldman Sachs’ Board of International Advisors from 2006-07.
New blood at the helm of the World Bank, if it’s the right person, would change the policies set by both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama regarding Eastern Europe and Central Asia, along with the European sovereign debt crisis.
The bad news is Obama is considering former economic adviser Lawrence Summers and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the position after Zoellick’s term ends and that I think is a serious mistake because none of these individuals is really equipped in dealing with such issues and none of them has the track record.
In fact, there couldn’t be a poorer choice for the post than Larry Summers. He, Robert Run Rubin and Alan Greenspan together completely deregulated Wall Street and shut down solid citizens such as Elizabeth Warren and Brooksley Born when they blew the whistle on the shady derivatives that eventually brought down the market and as extensively mentioned in my book “Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation in the Age of Welfare Politics.”More
