I won't pretend to understand the World Bank.
Paul Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq War, is now President of the World Bank. It seems his girlfriend, Shaha Riza worked there and they have a policy not allowing romantically linked people working for each other. So she moved to the US State Department (working with Dick Cheney's daughter) but is still technically employed by the World Bank and Wolfowitz ensured that she got large raises the violated the banks policies. Her salary went from $132,660 to $193,590.
The Financial Times reports that he might lose his job over this. Remember that Wolfowitz went to the World Bank and promised to help end corruption there and this was one of his first actions. Wolfowitz has apologized for his actions but Think Progress reports that his apology was lame.
Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post points out: "It would be wonderful if the indignation of the bank's staff and directors derived from a deeply felt sense of moral outrage at such an unwarranted expenditure by an institution designed to alleviate world poverty. But that's unlikely. These are, after all, among the highest-paid civil servants in the world. There are probably 200 of them who, like Riza, are paid more than Rice -- but unlike Rice pay no taxes on their salaries. Most have five to six weeks of paid vacation each year and generous health insurance. Until cutbacks in 1999, the gravy train was even more scandalous."
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