USA 2019: crazy continues to be the order of the day (Part Two)

On 8 January 2019 the current President of the World Bank Group Jim Yong Kim announced he would be stepping down on 1 February this year.

US President Donald Trump appears to be considering his daughter for appointment as the new bank president. 

A position which has an after tax salary package of est. US$878,391 plus per year. The package contains a supplemental allowance of $89,600 to cover expenses. As a U.S. citizen, the president receives a tax allowance to cover the estimated taxes on salary and benefits. In addition to a pension, the president receives a supplemental retirement benefit equal to 5 percent of annual salary.

Financial Review, 16 January 2018:

Ivanka Trump is on a list of potential successors to Jim Yong Kim, who unexpectedly quit this past week as president of the World Bank, the Financial Times reported.

Other people being considered for the role include David Malpass, a current top US Treasury official on international affairs, Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the UN and Mark Green, head of the US Agency for International Development, the FT reported.

Mr Kim is stepping down after six years at the helm of the Washington-based bank. 

He was nominated for both a first and second term by President Barack Obama. He is leaving to take a job at investment firm Global Infrastructure Partners.

Kristalina Georgieva, who has been chief executive at the bank since 2017, will serve as interim president until a successor for Mr Kim is named.

President Donald Trump however, will wield strong influence in choosing Mr Kim's successor, according to Reuters, as the US holds a controlling share of the World Bank's voting rights. The bank president has traditionally been an American chosen by the US administration……

Ivanka Trump is an advisor to her father on job creation and economic empowerment, workforce development and entrepreneurship. She's married to Jared Kushner, also an advisor to President Donald Trump.

Ivanka Trump is seriously being considered for the position of president of a bank which awards major contracts around the world worth billions of dollars annually?

The same Ivanka Trump with this background…..

In 2018 the State Of New York sued the Donald J. Trump Foundation and its directors -- including Trump, his sons Eric and Donald Jr. and his daughter Ivanka – for allegedly violating federal and state charities law with a "persistent" pattern of conduct that included unlawful coordination with the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. At times during the presidential race, the lawsuit alleges, for example, Trump campaign staffers were permitted to direct the charity's expenditures, and in certain cases those expenditures appeared to benefit groups that were politically valuable to the then-candidate.

In December 2018 it was announced that the Trump Foundation would be dissolved under supervision of the Manhattan Supreme Court and its remaining funds would be dispersed among reputable charities. The court case continues.

At the end of 2018 it was reported that Ivanka Trump and her husband Jarrod Kushner were being sued by a private citizen for allegedly omitting certain of their financial assets in declarations made in official public financial disclosure documents. Both Ivanka and Kushner have previously been fined for late filings of these documents.

In 2017 Ivanka Trump’s fashion brand was accused of using ‘slave’ labour to produce clothing items and accessories for sale in the USA, paying some workers as little as US$1 an hour. By mid-2018 Ivanka Trump announced she was closing down her failing business,

 By December 2017 it was being reported by GQ magazine that: Thanks to an overlooked filing made in federal court this past summer, we can now add a jewelry business to the list of Trump family enterprises that allegedly served as vehicles to fraudulently hide the assets of ultra-rich foreigners with checkered backgrounds. In late June, the Commercial Bank of Dubai sought—and later received—permission to subpoena Ivanka Trump’s now-defunct fine jewelry line, claiming its diamonds were used in a massive scheme to hide roughly $100 million that was owed to the bank, according to filings at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Costello's new pastime

Have poor book sales forced Peter Costello, the former Australian treasurer, to take up a new pastime?

Just one week after the launch of The Costello Memoirs an announcement has been made of Costello's appointment to the World Bank's Independent Advisory Board, which will provide advice on anti-corruption matters. (Please, readers, stop that guffawing!)

Sales of the book have been so poor that it has already been binned by many stores.

The Age reports that the book, which carries a recommended retail price tag of $54.99, has been marked down significantly.

Borders chain stores slashed its price by almost a third and other stores are also discounting it heavily. Big W, which is having trouble getting rid of its stocks, cut its price to $32.93.

One does not have to be an Einstein to see that Costello's book is a gigantic flop and any hopes he had of flogging more literary efforts have gone out the window.

So, with prospects of living off his royalties completely dashed, Costello has had to look elsewhere for another activity to fill his hours. Hence, Costello's appointment to the World Bank's position is indeed very timely.

But, hang on!

The World Bank launched its global search for members for its advisory board on July 8 and interested individuals had to forward their names to the bank by July 20. That means Costello lodged his 'expression of interest' with the Bank two months ago.

Perhaps his publishers knew then where the Memoirs was heading and let Costello know that they would not be requiring his services again.

Costello's appointment by the Bank is for a three-year term, with the possibility of a one-time renewal. Well, that gives him something to do for three or perhaps six years.

A biography of Costello that the Bank has published looks very much like it was written by the man himself. Then again, maybe his father-in-law penned it.
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