Here’s a quiz question for all you international finance wonks out there. Who said this to the world’s press last week: “…we welcome monetary easing in the advanced economies...

Obviously, all countries that have scope for fiscal stimulus should use it.” Who could be in favour of relaxing monetary policy and pumping in billions of taxpayer dollars to stimulate the economy? Some left-wing economist perhaps? Or maybe someone who simply doesn’t understand the importance of freeing the markets from the state and not spending what you don’t have? No, it’s actually the new poster-boy for Keynesian economics, Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn – DSK as he’s known - head of the International Monetary Fund, the IMF. Yes that’s right, the same IMF that’s been preaching fiscal rectitude and tight monetary policy to third world countries for as long as anyone can remember, and refusing to give them money unless they cut budgets and privatise services. But never fear, our great free-market economy is unlikely to be ruined by this irresponsible Frenchman, as nobody listens to the IMF anymore.

Certainly not Iceland, who preferred to borrow cash to prop up its banks from Russia, not the IMF. DSK’s brother in arms, Bob Zoellick, head of the World Bank, has also been busy ducking responsibility for the kind of economic policies that got us into this mess.

Asked at last week’s press conference by Larry Elliot of the Guardian newspaper whether the World Bank had been confusing poor countries, by telling them to liberalise their economies while supporting massive state intervention by Western countries, he chose to reinterpret the question.

Our friend Bob, known for his ratlike cunning, decided it wasn’t really about economic policy at all, but an existential enquiry into the nature of bewilderment. “Your first question was whether people have been confused,” he began. “I think people have been confused not only in developing countries but in developed countries.” The whole world’s confused, according to sage Bob. Perhaps its by the sight of these two gargantuan free-market leopards changing their spots like they were going out of fashion.