We need to have a clear understanding about what is happening with the International Monetary Fund. Do not for a minute believe the current scandal is just one of those more or less happening things. It may not be the total end of the world for the IMF, but if the world's largest money-granting bureaucracy doesn't straighten its act out soon, the beginning of the end of its primacy may be at hand.

The current reassessment comes about in the wake of the embarrassed resignation amid sordid sex-assault scandal of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the once-Olympian IMF director, and the consequent scramble to anoint a successor to the powerful position of global bailout banker-in-chief.

Although not that widely known, the IMF plays a key part in world affairs and is easily in the same league of importance as the United Nations. Much of the time the IMF worries about un-thinkables — such as world financial catastrophe. Most normal people, we would agree, do not fret much about global financial stability. They assume they will always be able to make a visit to an ATM and emerge liquid; send out personal checks that do not bounce; and get institutions to add cash to their businesses with long-term loans.