Can Paul Wolfowitz Keep His Job?

Subscribe to this Podcast:

Listen to/Watch entire show:

Legacy Player:

The professional staff is in open revolt against Paul Wolfowitz, and the leaders of Europe want him removed as President of the World Bank. What's at stake for the Bush White House and the international effort to end poverty? Also, the breakup of DaimlerChrysler, the most expensive merger in auto industry history and, on Reporter's Notebook, US postage rates are going up, but that's not all that's changing. The shapes and sizes of envelopes and packages could mean big money for small businesses.

Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

Making News

US Private Equity Firm Buys Chrysler ()

DaimlerChrysler will become Daimler and Chrysler again in the breakup of the most expensive merger in auto industry history. Chrysler's new owner will be Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm run by former Treasury Secretary John Snow. David Cole is Chair of the Center for Automotive Research, a nonprofit think-tank in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Guests:

David Cole: Chairman of the Center for Automotive Research

Main Topic

The Wolfowitz Showdown at the World Bank ()

The World Bank is a multilateral institution intended to rid the world of poverty. Big European donors have a powerful voice but the United States picks the Bank's president. Now they're at loggerheads over Paul Wolfowitz, chosen two years ago by President Bush after helping to plan the Iraq War as top aide to Donald Rumsfeld. Controversial from the start--Wolfowitz's polices and management style have alienated both the Bank's staff and donor countries, his downfall may be caused by a personal issue. He's accused of damaging the Bank's effectiveness and his own anti-corruption crusade by arranging special treatment for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza. Will there be a showdown between President Bush and the leaders of Europe? What's at stake the international effort to end poverty? We talk about a crisis unprecedented for the 60-year old international institution.

Guests:

Krishna Guha: Chief US Correspondent for the Financial Times
Steve Clemons: Director of the New America Foundation
Dennis de Tray: Vice President of the Center for Global Development
Mark Weisbrot: co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research

Reporter's Notebook

Small Companies to Feel Pinch of First-Class Postal Increase ()

The price of a US postage stamp went up today from 39¢ to 41¢. You can now buy a "forever stamp" that will always have the value of the one-ounce letter rate, but that's not the only change being imposed by the US Postal Service. Rates will now depend on the shapes of packages and letters as well as their weight, and that could mean big changes in what you get in the mail. With the USPS more automated than ever, it's rewarding those who use packaging the new machines can handle and penalizing those who don't, as we hear from Kate Muth, Vice President of the Association for Postal Commerce.

Guests:

Kate Muth: Vice President of the Association for Postal Commerce

Search KCRW