President Klaus: The IMF Is a ‘Barbaric Relic’

President Klaus: The IMF Is a ‘Barbaric Relic;’ Cato

President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic has just given an important speech in Prague on Central and Eastern Europe and on the IMF. Among other lessons of the global financial crisis he points to the growing menace of the IMF:

I consider the IMF a barbaric relic from the Keynesian and fixed-exchange rate era. I know it is a harsh verdict but Keynes himself repeatedly used similar strong statements about his colleagues which justifies my using such a terminology.  
I am convinced the IMF should be dismantled or radically restructured as soon as possible. To do the opposite, to increase its role as it happened as a result of the last year’s G20 decision in the middle of the panic connected with the then looming crisis or to speculate about creating similar institutions on individual continents (especially in Europe) is a wrong way to go. It is yet another manifestation of a mistaken and dangerous global governance mindset which – to my great regret – has been getting more and more support in the intellectual and political circles these days. To whom and how at all can the IMF be held responsible for its activities? And if its proposals or measures turn out to be mistaken (and this can happen very easily), who will face the consequences? Certainly not the IMF. (emphasis in original)

Comment: The "dangerous global governance mindset" that permeates the G20 is equally manifested in the minds of most every US Senator. We cannot trust these 100 men and women to act according to the US Constitution because they have demonstrated that they will not.

Only by repealing the 17th Amendment and returning the states rightful place in Congress will we be able fight off this threat that is clearly at our doorstep. This is the real threat, not some cartoon characters with head scarfs and AK-47s who live in caves, but bankers in Hugo Boss suits and pens in their hands who live in Lyon, London, Brussels, New York and Frankfort. These are the real enemies to our country; this is the real threat to our security and sovereignty.