Nation: Up from Some Stumbles

Every now and then, residents of Washington's Foggy Bottom neighborhood see a rumpled man with sad beagle eyes bearing a big, round bundle from his bachelor apartment to a coin-operated basement laundry. There goes W. Michael Blumenthal, 52, one of the most potent powers of global finance, carrying his dirty underwear to a washing. Blumenthal surely could afford a maid, even though he took a $534,000 salary cut—from $600,000 down to $66,000—when he left private industry to become a Government servant. But he prefers to perform his own chores because he is a...

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