Very happy to see that President Obama has nominated Mr. Kim to head up the World Bank - an excellent balance to Christine Lagarde, now heading up the IMF.

At the link, an idea of what this guy is all about

Dear XXXX,

It gives us great joy to share the news that our Partners In Health co-founder and dear friend, Dr. Jim Kim, has been selected by President Obama as the United States' nominee for the Presidency of the World Bank.

Jim is an inspired choice to lead the World Bank. Having seen him work in settings from inner-city Boston to the slums of Peru, from Haiti to Rwanda to the prisons of Siberia, we know that for three decades Jim has committed himself to breaking the cycle of poverty and disease. This has been his goal as a physician, a teacher, a policy maker, and a university president; it was ever his goal as a founder and director of Partners In Health, which now operates in more than a dozen countries.

Jim has worked in rural villages and squatter settlements, just as he has worked in the halls of power and privilege. Again and again, we, his friends and colleagues, have seen Jim imagine a better future, one that harnesses new technologies and older but sound notions of justice and equity, and links this vision to much more than talk and reports and studies.

Jim is all about delivery and about delivering on promises often made but too seldom kept. We can think of no one more able to help families, communities, and entire nations break out of poverty.

As poverty continues to claim lives, and as inequality deepens, the Bank -- and other institutions charged with lessening poverty -- need bold and experienced leaders and implementers like Jim Kim. Today is a proud day for us at PIH, and it is a great day for the poor and all who serve them.

Yours,

Paul & Ophelia

end email. / A lot of happy folks.

Some were having fits with Jeffrey Sachs' bid to become head of the World Bank. He has now withdrawn his name and is supporting Dr. Kim.

I should have been following this more closely.

The link has some info about how some in the bank want to start funding infrastructure in the 'middle income' countries.

I thought Kim's strength is in effective programs that help the truly poor, and I thought that was still the emphasis of the bank. But when there is that much money, a lot of folks come after it.