Parting Shots

Making the rounds at my workplace, spiraling out as it gets forwarded and re-forwarded, is a letter of resignation from someone who worked there for over thirty years, apparently storing up bile the whole time.   He names names;  his screed has the fascination of a multiple-vehicle auto-accident.

And now here is one from an economist making a noisy departure from the IMF, wherein he pops a dart at DSK’s replacement at the top of the Fund:

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/19/business/imf-economist-letter/index.html?hpt=hp_c4

20-year veteran Peter Doyle says he is "ashamed to have had any association with the Fund at all."

Referring to Lagarde -- who recently completed her first year in the role -- Doyle says, "even the current incumbent is tainted, as neither her gender, integrity, or elan can make up for the fundamental illegitimacy of the selection process."

"There are good salty people here," Doyle signs off, "but this one is moving on. You might want to take care not to lose others."

Since the Strauss-Kahn/Lagarde matchup is franco-français, it is interesting to see how this kerfuffle is seen over in France:

http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-eco/2012/07/20/97002-20120720FILWWW00581-l-incompetence-du-fmi-denoncee.php

Sample comments from readers:

Si on commence à prêter attention aux gens qui crachent dans la soupe après l'avoir mangé !

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le FMI ne sert à rien; il est inféodé aux theories de Milton Friedmann qui ont été mises en application en autre au Chili sous le regime de Pinochet.

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Et encore une fois la compétence se fait virer par la suffisance. Lagarde était nullissime en France. Il n'y a aucune raison qu'elle se soit améliorée au FMI.

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"le gros de la crise est derrière nous".
(Christine LAGARDE, le 20-08-2007, BFM)