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April 12, 2007
The nicest thing I will ever say about Paul Wolfowitz
A few things about Wolfowitz. He is: universally hated at the World Bank, wears socks full of holes (warning: gross), is apparently still married, but got his girl on the side a job at the State Department that is still paid by the Bank, to the tune of $193,500 ($10,000 more than Condoleezza Rice makes!), and is just generally a misguided corrupt ghoul. And I'll never get over that comb video.
But I will give him this: when the man decides to apologize for something, he actually gets around to apologizing, and does it in a way that at least sounds sincere.
"I made a mistake, for which I am sorry." He says that he will accept any remedies the World Bank's board proposes.
See how easy that is, politicians and talk show hosts across the land?
categories:
Economics, Politics, Sex
posted by amy at 2:16 PM | #
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Comments
even better:
full text of les moonves' apology for the whole imus affair:
Posted by: ADM at April 12, 2007 5:49 PM
Comment from an insider friend:
The Washington Post article you linked to about Wolfowitz is appropriately scathing. The guy has paralyzed Bank lending operations for months to pursue his agenda about corruption, (he's so ironic, that wolfowitz. -amy) and
then he gets his girlfriend a 50% raise and seconds her to the State Department. It's absolutely disgusting. I don't think it's as good an apology as you do - he knows the Europeans won't take him out because they would have to start another search for a replacement, and the Bush administration would retaliate and not replenish IDA (International Development Association.) So he knows he can't be fired, and putting his fate in the Board's hands is thus an empty gesture. If he really were sorry, he would resign, but like all the Bushies, he believes an admission of accountability is sufficient.
Posted by: Amy at April 12, 2007 11:25 PM
I can't believe Matthew Saunders really thinks Federal employee salaries are tax-free! What Wolfowicz did was wrong, but Federal employees pay taxes the same as Mr. Saunders.
Posted by: Bob Newton at April 5, 2010 1:27 PM
Bob: Matthew was right. Shaha Riza's salary was totally tax-exempt. Not all federal employees have tax-free salaries, of course, but she did.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaha_Riza#Wolfowitz_scandal
Posted by: amy at April 5, 2010 2:08 PM
OMG, I stand corrected. I had assumed that World Bank employees paid taxes, and I posted a knee-jerk reaction to the commonly-held notion that other Feds don't pay taxes (false!). But amy is correct: "Unlike U.S. government workers and almost all Americans in the private sector, World Bank employees’ salaries are largely tax-free, which makes their disposable income dramatically larger." Thanks for setting me straight, amy! Gawd, what a racket!
Posted by: Bob Newton at April 5, 2010 5:29 PM
I know, it's crazy, right? I think most non-American employees of the World Bank and other multinational institutions don't have to pay taxes, even though they live and work in the US. Maybe the rationale is that they're working in some global space that isn't bound by a single country or something.
But I'm guessing these untaxed residents of DC can put their garbage out for collection, send their kids to public school, drive on the interstate system, and, you know, drink tap water and everything, like everybody else. It's a pretty sweet deal!
Posted by: amy at April 5, 2010 9:49 PM
Let's not forget that the $193.5k salary is tax-free! I'm in the wrong line of work.
Posted by: Matthew Saunders at April 12, 2007 3:10 PM