World Bank President Zoellick and the Slippery Currency

On the day that gold hit $1385.50/ oz, the Twin Cities community packed the Humphrey Center auditorium to hear of "Challenges Facing Global Economic Development."
On Wednesday December 1, the President of the World Bank Group, Robert Zoellick, faced the Twin Cities community and addressed global development issues in the format of a guided conversation with his friend, Vin Weber.
Weber, the senior fellow at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs for many years, had pulled some strings to make this conversation free, public, and catered, promoting both the University of Minnesota and the World Bank.
The public wanted to know-- among other things written on pre-screened question cards-- what effect the Wikileaks site would have on banking. He said that it would have no effect, but Zoellick criticized the new releases from Wikileaks, saying that they make it harder for the US to do business with other countries.
[TC Indymedia video: Zoellick on Wikileaks:
http://tc.indymedia.org/videos/2010/dec/world-bank-president-robert-zoellick-slams-wikileaks]
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More: Upcoming Event: Striking Blows in Defense of the Earth @ U of M - Dec 11th - Ongoing: Indymedia live coverage of Cancun COP16 Climate Conference - LINK http://mobilebroadcastnews.com/MBN/story/Cancun-COP16

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The World Bank's claim is to work towards a world free of poverty. But time and again, its policies have eased up on the destructive practices of multinational corporations.
President Zoellick will soon face this easing of standards, as Sinar Mas, a palm oil company, fights its sanctions. Recently, as the Rainforest Action Network and scores of its allies have pressured multinationals like Cargill to stop using palm oil from old rainforests & end deforestation of the rainforests of Indonesia, the World Bank proposed changes to its own palm oil policy.
According to Climate Action's blog of November 22,
"The World Bank’s proposed easing off on its palm oil strategy [of no funding to palm oil companies] has roused relief for corporations worldwide whilst attracting mixed reactions to its plan to finance only firms pursuing green standards....
Robert Zoellick was responsible for freezing World Bank Group funding worldwide in the palm oil sector, pending the social and environmental concerns. It is now his responsibility to ensure safeguards are in place to protect all stakeholders."
Will he go forward with the green standards, which will be contested in early 2011?
Questions abounded and a few pre-screened questions were brought from the audience to facilitator Vin Weber.

Weber brought up the pointed question of Zoellick's piece in the Financial Times
(http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/54a44c3e-ec7c-11df-ac70-00144feab49a.html#axzz17PNuQcFc)
that briefly mentioned a gold standard. It's the sort of thing that gets everyone worrying, and for good reason. "Gold is a signal of no confidence in the currency policies," Zoellick replied, betraying a hint of self-doubt. He advised a successor to the Bretton Woods II agreement, not an international gold standard but neither a rapidly shifting exchange rate like in China. He predicted that there will be flexible currencies with none predominant-- and no longer a dominant dollar -- but he had most faith in the Chinese Renminbi, "which needs to join the club and have an open capital account," he said, so that foreigners can finally invest in their currency.
The Bank President is surely picking up on the Gold Signal, and seeing its troubling signs not only for his job but for America.
"If you have a banking crisis, you'll have a sovereign debt crisis next," he warned. "Either debasing the currency, clipping coins, or inflation!" Both tactics are currently in use, of course, by America's money-maker, the Federal Reserve. His criticism of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was subtle: "I should be very careful what I say about certain institutions, like the Federal Reserve."

The World Bank Group is diverse, but not a democracy, in that its members' votes don't have equal weight. Zoellick commented that nothing in the WBG's charter requires it to be a democracy or to work with democracies.
One audience member asked, Why does the World Bank Group provide capital to dictatorships, like that of Ethiopia? Doesn't that border on complicity?
Zoellick responded that the needs of humans can still be addressed by World Bank funding & shouldn't be neglected for the sake of politics. He expressed an interest in working with Ethiopia for its leadership in addressing climate change. Many WBG members are not democracies, he noted, but still worth working alongside-- but to what (greenwashed) end?

The US has the greatest voting power among the 187 members (each representing a country) of the International Bank for Reconstruction & Development, one institution in the World Bank Group. The WBG, though a resource for international investment & settlements, is based in Washington, and customarily headed by an American. The International Monetary Fund, which also is based in Washington DC & came out of the historic Bretton Woods conference, is customarily headed by an European. This industrial Western bias has led to controversy over its approach to the Global South, a top-down approach that gives a uniform answer to development and aid while burdening developing countries with top -priority debt.
One question from the audience urgently asked about Structural Adjustment Programs, referring to the process of lending to poor countries with strict conditions for streamlined national economies, insisting on "free markets" that allow foreign companies access to resources.
Zoellick answered that there are no more Structural Adjustment Loans, and that the World Bank Group rather emphasizes Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. Such plans are intended to be led by the governments of the recipient countries, but they tend to look quite similar to the terms of the Structural Adjustment Loans because the World Bank still advises heavily.
Zoellick spoke of a hip, green, transparent new trend in investing, but however hip it may seem, it will still be top-heavy.

He spoke of an upcoming Post-Conflict Development Group to emerge from WBG's work in Rwanda and Afghanistan, which would join the other complicated institutions in this alphabet soup: ICSID, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, IFC, the International Finance Corporation, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency for insurance, the prerequisite IBRD, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the group for the poorest countries, IDA, the International Development Association.
It all seems very humanitarian at first glance.
"How can we help Africa?" Zoellick asked. He sees the emerging powers of the world as developing countries, some of them ahead of the curve of renewable energy, and wants to bring them in as stakeholders in a typically condescending institution.
"The basic lesson of development, no matter how well-intentioned, is --if the local guy doesn't own it, it's not going to work." He went on to say that "there are not just solutions from the West," but a "common interest" to be heeded.
That common interest, according to Zoellick, is localization and transparency. He said he wants to start a Corruption Hunters group in Washington, with investigators from 132 countries looking into political and financial corruption. "There are not just people who take bribes, but also people who give bribes..."


This won't be the first time Zoellick's long career in finance helpes him dip into politics. With the World Bank, he claims to be uninvolved in politics.
But they say, the business of America is business.
His biography, as distributed at the event, reveals friendly jaunts through the "revolving door":
"From 1985 to 1988, Zoellick served in various positions at the Department of Treasury, including Counselor to Secretary James Baker, Executive Secretary of the Department, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Policy. In August 1992, Zoellick was appointed White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to President G.H.W. Bush. Mr. Zoellick was also appointed Bush's personal representative for the G7 Economic Summits in 1991 and 1992.

From 1993 to 1997, Zoellick served as an Executive Vice President of Fannie Mae. Zoellick was appointed as the John M. Olin Professor of National Security at the U.S. Naval Academy (1997–98), Research Scholar at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Senior International Advisor to Goldman Sachs. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Zoellick served as U.S. Trade Representative and from 2005-2006, he served as Deputy Secretary of State. He then took office as President of the World Bank on July 1, 2007", succeeding a very different President, Paul Wolfowitz.
What's next for the Development Aid Crusade?

The World Bank has proposed to collect climate taxes in the Copenhagen 2009 proposal:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/08/copenhagen-climate-summit-disarray-danish-text

Meanwhile, as the COP16 met to hash out the details, hundreds of protesters in Cancun demonstrated, upset about the World Bank controlling the global climate fund:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tina-gerhardt/street-heat-actions-in-ca_b_792905.html

World Bank President to address the Global Economy

Next week, the President of the World Bank will visit Minneapolis to address challenges in the global economy before a large public audience-- free admission.
The World Bank's claim is to work towards a world free of poverty. But time and again, its policies have eased up on the destructive practices of multinational corporations.
Recently, as the Rainforest Action Network and scores of its allies have pressured multinationals like Cargill to stop using palm oil from old rainforests & end deforestation of the rainforests of Indonesia, the World Bank proposed changes to its own palm oil policy.
According to Climate Action's blog of November 22,
"The World Bank’s proposed easing off on its palm oil strategy [of no funding to palm oil companies] has roused relief for corporations worldwide whilst attracting mixed reactions to its plan to finance only firms pursuing green standards....
Robert Zoellick was responsible for freezing World Bank Group funding worldwide in the palm oil sector, pending the social and environmental concerns. It is now his responsibility to ensure safeguards are in place to protect all stakeholders."
Will he go forward with the green standards, & make the right decisions? Come listen & pose your questions this Wednesday:



Challenges Facing Global Economic Development with the President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
3:30-5:00 p.m.
Cowles Auditorium, Humphrey Institute
301 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis

From tensions over trade balances and currency valuations to the sharp economic disparities between rich and poor countries, global economic development continues to face enormous challenges. One of the country's most important figures in the global economy, Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, will discuss the current policy response to these challenges. Former Congressman Vin Weber will moderate the discussion.

Robert Zoellick is the current president of the World Bank, a position he has held since July of 2007. Mr. Zoellick has served in various positions throughout his career, including Managing Director of Goldman Sachs, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, and U.S. Trade Representative. From 1985 to 1988, Zoellick served in various positions at the Department of Treasury, including Counselor to Secretary James Baker, Executive Secretary of the Department, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Policy. In August 1992, Zoellick was appointed White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President. Mr. Zoellick was also appointed Bush's personal representative for the G7 Economic Summits in 1991 and 1992.

>From 1993 to 1997, Zoellick served as an Executive Vice President of Fannie Mae. Afterwards, Zoellick was appointed as the John M. Olin Professor of National Security at the U.S. Naval Academy (1997–98), Research Scholar at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Senior International Advisor to Goldman Sachs. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Zoellick served as U.S. Trade Representative and from 2005-2006, he served as Deputy Secretary of State. He then took office as President of the World Bank on July 1, 2007. Mr. Zoellick graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College in 1975. He earned a J.D. magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School and a MPP (focusing on public management and international issues, especially economics) from the Kennedy School of Government in 1981. He lived in Hong Kong on a fellowship in 1980.

Vin Weber is a senior fellow at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. He is also actively involved in the Humphrey Institute Policy Fellows program. He served in Congress from 1981 to 1993, representing Minnesota’s Second Congressional District. He is a partner at Clark & Weinstock, a consulting firm that provides strategic advice to institutions with matters before the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. Prior to opening Clark & Weinstock’s Washington office in 1994, Weber was president – and co-director with Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick and Bill Bennett – of Empower America, a public policy advocacy group. From 2001-2010, he served as chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a private, nonprofit organization designed to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts. Weber is a regular commentator on National Public Radio and is often sought as a political analyst for network programs such as CNN’s Capital Gang.

This event is free and open to the public, however, registration is required. Please RSVP at http://robertzoellick.eventbrite.com/.

For parking and directions please go to http://www.hhh.umn.edu/contact/parking.html. To request disability accommodations, please call 612-625-2530 or e-mail cspg@umn.edu.

Eviction on September 11

The Minneapolis Five and the Eviction on September 11
- by Becca and Lynette -

In the midst of the home foreclosure crisis, many homeowners succumb to feelings of guilt and inadequacy when they can't make mortgage payments, allowing banks to take back houses. The frequency of these land grabs by America's banks is a sign of deepening economic depression.
Still, some homeowners are fighting back. The Minneapolis Five have bravely emerged from the confusion of their foreclosures in the past year, and are publicly fighting to keep their homes.
They are long-term homeowners, unwilling to pick up and move in the middle of their lives, sick of being singled out either for being black or being women.
They are five middle-aged single women from metropolitan Minnesota, and, until September 11, they were all wondering if and when they'd be kicked out of their homes by sheriffs or police.
On September 11, 2009, beneath the hubbub of news surrounding the anniversary of New York terrorist attacks and a local policeman's death, the loud and proud Rosemary Williams was evicted from her house by police. She had made headlines twice before with the bold occupation of her foreclosed home, with family and local activists' support. Now she is the first of the Five to be escorted out of her house with all her belongings while police cover her windows and doors with sheet metal.
Rosemary Williams, 60, grew up on the Clinton Avenue block where her home was purchased 23 years ago. She lived there with her mother until she passed away 6 years ago, and Rosemary refinanced the home with an ARM so her siblings could
receive their portion of the estate. She became unemployed, found work again, and now continues her work and activism though homeless. She made a point of telling her story to the press, to nonprofits that purport to help people in foreclosure, to the unresponsive Mayor R. T. Rybak, and to First Lady Michelle Obama. When her home had already been once paid for, there was no reason for her to be kicked out over an ARM-- but GMAC, the mortgage company, seems to prefer its customers homeless and its assets revolving like musical chairs.
Rosemary's occupied house had become a hub of community gatherings, neighborhood watches, and activist press conferences. It was where the Five gathered to tell their stories to IndyMedia.

Linda Norenberg, also 60, lives on a Robbinsdale property that has been in her family since 1938. Linda's father built the home in 1944 on top of a basement where the family had been living for two years. Always a pillar of her community, she currently is employed and the grandmother of three, great-grandmother of three.

Linda refinanced once with a fixed rate mortgage. But the mortgagor kept calling: "Wouldn't you like to lower your rate?" So she refinanced to an ARM, not realizing until later that her minimum payment was not paying down the principal. After being laid off from her full-time job, she refinanced again in 2003 but was unable to obtain sufficient employment and began falling behind in payments. She received the foreclosure notice in November, 2007 and began looking for assistance right away.

She thought that the sheriff's sale had taken place Dec. 10 the of '08, but in fact it did not take place until Jan. 30, '09. Chase Bank didn't call back to to tell her this until February.she was told that their bank had put a freeze on foreclosures for the month of December. Linda's daughter Katie and her 3 kids ended up losing her apartment, so they all moved in at Christmas. Now three generations depend on this property that could be taken back at any moment.

Leslie Parks, 45, is resisting on behalf of her mother, Tecora. They both work full time. Leslie has lived in the upper level of her mother's duplex for 23 years. Tecora took out an ARM to cover upgrades to the windows in Leslie's duplex because the city ordered the improvements.
One night last winter well after dark, an employee of the bank who perhaps after knocking on the front door, went around to the back and threw rocks at her lighted window, shouting out "THIS BUILDING IS IN FORECLOSURE."
The experience threw Leslie into a high blood-pressure emergency. As she was coping, one night in May, before the sheriff's sale, she came home from work to find an illegal
lockbox on the door. She could not enter her own place even to feed her cats. She paid for a locksmith to break in and install new locks. PPEHRC paid filing fees so that she could press charges against Indy-MAC whose hired inspector made a big mistake, concluding that the property was vacant! The redemption period ends in late November and they are desperately in need of a pro-bono lawyer.

Barbara Byrd, 50, is a working woman whose duplex in Brooklyn Park was financed through EMC. The Bear Stearns Companies, LLC and its subsidiary, EMC Mortgage Corporation, recently agreed to pay $28 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they engaged in unlawful "predatory lending" practices in servicing consumers' home mortgage loans.

Barbara is to appear in Hennepin County district court Sept.16th to appeal her eviction. In March 2009 when Barbara lost her tennent and fell behind in her ever-rising payments, EMC made notary date-errors in the foreclosure documentation. During her June eviction hearing in housing court, the judge had assured her that should would not have to move. Still a 24-hour eviction was posted on her door July 6th, and Barbara spent sleepless nights for fear of being thrown out. Because she works nights, she isn't at home to witness when inspectors come peeking by to determine whether or not the property is vacant. She has to keep sticking her head out the window to prove that she is living there.

Ann Patterson, 40, is a mother of five. She worked for 19 years at the same hospital. She's never missed a payment on their house of 12 years. Looking ahead to see that six months down the road her ARM will balloon and they will not be able to make the payments, she has made several attempts to remodify with Wells Fargo without results. Any other programs including Habitat for Humanity turned her down because she is not yet in default. Scammers have approached her, and lawyers have demanded Two ( or more ) Thousand dollars up-front to aid her struggle for remodification to an affordable rate. The house supposedly is worth $169,000. The paperwork for each application is a burden, and clerks often lose some of the documents or claim that they never rececived them. The emotional toll of worry for her is heavy and she is losing hope.
http://www.youtube.com/user/glassbeadian#p/u/10/YGZCXaXSbbA