Clench your teeth, Gentle Ben

Der Spiegel says, Zees might hurt a bit:

Officials with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have informed Bernanke about a plan that would have been unheard-of in the past: a general examination of the US financial system. The IMF's board of directors has ruled that a so-called Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) is to be carried out in the United States. It is nothing less than an X-ray of the entire US financial system...

While the American in me is naturally offended at the idea that the international banksters are going to march in here with their Gucci briefcases and their funny European accents to tell us how to run the place, I'm also bemusedly interested in what they're going to say about the operations of the idiot Fed and that den of thieves that is Wall Street Finance*.

But there seems to be one guy who apparently does not share my curiosity:

For seven years, US President George W. Bush refused to allow the IMF to conduct its assessment. Even now, he has only given the IMF board his consent under one important condition. The review can begin in Bush's last year in office, but it may not be completed until he has left the White House.

I suspect he already knows what it will say and would rather have that flaming bag of dog crap left on his neighbor's porch than his own.

* Though in some ways it's like the Cosa Nostra giving pointers to the Crips. Even though you want to hear the advice, you don't necessarily want it to make them a more effective organization.