It's been a quick slide from economic superpower to economic basket case.
Rosa Brooks,
LA Times
Dear United States, Welcome to the Third World!
It's not every day that a superpower makes a bid to transform itself into a Third World nation, and we here at the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund want to be among the first to welcome you to the community of states in
desperate need of international economic assistance. As you spiral into a catastrophic financial meltdown, we are
delighted to respond to your Treasury Department's request that we undertake a joint stability assessment of your
financial sector. In these turbulent times, we can provide services ranging from subsidized loans to expert advisors
willing to perform an emergency overhaul of your entire government.
As you know, some outside intervention in your economy is overdue. Last week -- even before Wall Street's latest
collapse -- 13 former finance ministers convened at the University of Virginia and agreed that you must fix your "broken
financial system." Australia's Peter Costello noted that lately you've been "exporting instability" in world markets,
and Yashwant Sinha, former finance minister of India, concluded, "The time has come. The U.S. should accept some
monitoring by the IMF."
We hope you won't feel embarrassed as we assess the stability of your economy and suggest needed changes. Remember, many
other countries have been in your shoes. We've bailed out the economies of Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia and South Korea.
But whether our work is in Sudan, Bangladesh or now the United States, our experts are committed to intervening in
national economies with care and sensitivity.
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