A UN Project We Could Do Without

Even though the UN has been in the news recently for its wasteful and corrupt ways, it is continuing with plans to upgrade its headquarters at a cost of $1.2 billion. The cost estimates run anywhere from $452-$1,100 per square foot, which is an extremely high figure by almost anyone's standards. Never heard of the project? You're not the only one.

There has been little debate over the broader issue of the renovation project itself, perhaps because so few people are aware of it. Establishment figures such as Colin Powell, Ed Koch, and Mortimer Zuckerman have been enlisted to head a committee to lobby for the project. With the notable exception of the New York Sun however, the press has been virtually silent. This seems odd, in view of the serious questions that have been raised about the cost of the renovation.

That strikes Donald Trump as far too much. "The United Nations is a mess," the developer said yesterday, "and they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars unnecessarily on this project."

...Trump has gone further, expressing the view that the expenses projected by the U.N. can only be the result of graft or incompetence.

Does any American doubt that a result of the new UN project is going to be a mountain of corruption? (Hint: think Oil for Food meets the Big Dig.) And of course, as The House of Wheels reminds us, the U.S. will be picking up almost a quarter of the tab.