Obama picks Paul Volcher in charge of economic recover--do YOU remember Volker?--I do

[oreo]

Since I am old enough to remember Paul Volker--I will let you all know that Paul Volker was the federal reserve chairman during the Carter Adminstration. This when we had double-digit inflation, 18% fixed 30 year mortgage rates-& 10% unemployment, & short term interest rates over 20%.

Ronald Reagan gave Paul Volker the boot & installed Allan Greenspan as Fed Chairman-- who existed all the way into the Bush adminstration & through the fantastic economic growth we saw during the Bill Clinton years.

Is Obama giving Paul Volker a chance to redeem himself? He's not brilliant, in fact my experience with Paul Volker is extremely negative.

Also a member on this "new" so-called "brilliant" economic advisors is the CEO of G.E. GE's stock fell 45% this year, & also as you may be aware--GE ownes NBC--MSNBC--etc. A conflict of interest here? I would think so.

President Obama ironically admits that most of the employment lost in this country, a whopping 600,000 just this month, & 500,000 last month, has been in just the past two months. NOW PAY ATTENTION HERE: Note that these huge employment losses are "after" the already 700 billion banking bail-outs that were designed to save the banks & stimulate the economy along with several other billion in bail-outs given to certain industries. So what started as a "drip" in our economy in unemployment has escalated into faucet-open-full throdel, regardless of all these prior bail-outs that (started a few months ago.)

Ask yourselves:--What does that mean with this so-called now up to 937 BILLION--that is currently trying to be shoved down our throats, in this so-called stimulus for economic recovery? Hmm. "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over & over again, while expecting a different result."

 

[dilloduck]

Since I am old enough to remember Paul Volker--I will let you all know that Paul Volker was the federal reserve chairman during the Carter Adminstration. This when we had double-digit inflation, 18% fixed 30 year mortgage rates-& 10% unemployment, & short term interest rates over 20%.

Ronald Reagan gave Paul Volker the boot & installed Allan Greenspan as Fed Chairman-- who existed all the way into the Bush adminstration & through the fantastic economic growth we saw during the Bill Clinton years.

Is Obama giving Paul Volker a chance to redeem himself? He's not brilliant, in fact my experience with Paul Volker is extremely negative.

Also a member on this "new" so-called "brilliant" economic advisors is the CEO of G.E. GE's stock fell 45% this year, & also as you may be aware--GE ownes NBC--MSNBC--etc. A conflict of interest here? I would think so.

President Obama ironically admits that most of the employment lost in this country, a whopping 600,000 just this month, & 500,000 last month. NOW PAY ATTENTION HERE: Note that these huge employment losses are "after" the already 700 billion banking bail-outs that were designed to save the banks & stimulate the economy along with several other billion in bail-outs given to certain industries. So what started as a "drip" in our economy in unemployment has escalated into faucet-open-full throdel, regardless of all these prior bail-outs that (started a few months ago.)

Ask yourselves:--What does that mean with this so-called now up to 937 BILLION--that is currently trying to be shoved down our throats, in this so-called stimulus for economic recovery? Hmm.

It means that the same people who always ran the show are still running the show. Elections are a farce.

 

[WillowTree]

omg! jeez obamalama,, what next??

 

[Sinatra]

Obama's first month in office is shaping up to be disastrous.

Little organization, complete loss of momentum, declining poll numbers, and the first major legislation is the porkulus bill.

It is far easier to mouth Hope and Change than to actually accomplish it.

 

[Shogun]

yea, i'd bring up Greenspan too!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSWFuOGenGw]YouTube - Greenspan Denies Blame for Crisis, Admits 'flaw'[/ame]

 

[Sinatra]

yea, i'd bring up Greenspan too!



Greenspan helped create the longest period of peace-time growth in the nation's history.

His final years were marked by unsound supervision of monetary policy though. When combined with the politically-motivated "houses for all" programs originated by the Carter administration, further expanded under Clinton, and then demanded by Fannie and Freddie Mac and Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, we have the recipe that resulted in the Housing Bubble, which in turn created the Credit Crisis, which in turn resulted in a rather deep recession, which in turn now brings us to a porkulus bill propogated by the very same people who helped create the mess in the first place.

Strange days indeed...

 

[Shogun]

yea... blame a dem.. go for it. The populace knows better.

 

[auditor0007]

When Volcker chaired the fed, things were bad. I was young then, so I really can't say much. I know he is given credit for bringing inflation under control. The question is whether or not the drastically high interest rates were necessary to do this. I don't know the answer and won't pretend to.

 

[Sinatra]

When Volcker chaired the fed, things were bad. I was young then, so I really can't say much. I know he is given credit for bringing inflation under control. The question is whether or not the drastically high interest rates were necessary to do this. I don't know the answer and won't pretend to.

That is the great debate of the Volker legacy. While he did help stabalize the insane inflationary rates that were decimating the US economy back then (people today either forget or have no clue as to just how bad it was) there arose disagreement between he and the Reagan administration over whether or not interest rates needed to be so high to do so.

When Reagan initiated the sweeping tax cuts of the early 80's, and forced revisions within FED policy with the removal of Volcker, the American economy awoke and really hit its stride.

This is not rocket science folks - cut taxes and unleash the great economic machine of this mighty nation.

It amazes me how so many Dims are opposed to lower taxes for all Americans. They fall back on the tired class-warfare cries of "tax cuts for the rich" etc.

 

[editec]

When Volcker chaired the fed, things were bad. I was young then, so I really can't say much. I know he is given credit for bringing inflation under control. The question is whether or not the drastically high interest rates were necessary to do this. I don't know the answer and won't pretend to.

That is the great debate of the Volker legacy. While he did help stabalize the insane inflationary rates that were decimating the US economy back then (people today either forget or have no clue as to just how bad it was) there arose disagreement between he and the Reagan administration over whether or not interest rates needed to be so high to do so.

When Reagan initiated the sweeping tax cuts of the early 80's, and forced revisions within FED policy with the removal of Volcker, the American economy awoke and really hit its stride

.

How does the POTUS "force" the FED to do anything? They cannot.

This is not rocket science folks - cut taxes and unleash the great economic machine of this mighty nation.

Perhaps it is rocket science after all.

One might suggest that the cheap money that came thanks to the decreasing FED rates was responsible for the change from recession to recovery, too.

It amazes me how so many Dims are opposed to lower taxes for all Americans. They fall back on the tired class-warfare cries of "tax cuts for the rich" etc.

They fall onto those because that is what we keep seeing after the dust settles.

You amazement is entirely unjustified given that.

 

[Sinatra]

.

How does the POTUS "force" the FED to do anything? They cannot.

_____________

Appointment dear boy - appointment.

Make no mistake, the FED and US Treasury have long been intertwined.

Volker was removed, and the Reagan administration pushed its influence via its appointment strategies. This is politics 101.

Obama is doing much the same - his success or failure remains to be seen, though initial indications are not positive for him, but he has a long way to go yet.

 

[rayboyusmc]

I am also amazed at how many repulicans still believe a tax cut can save everything.

You just did that for 8 years.

Great results, right.

Reagan is not the great American Hero that the right would like him to be. Thanks to him for cutting the taxes on the rich while raising the middle classes.

 

[Sinatra]

I am also amazed at how many repulicans still believe a tax cut can save everything.

You just did that for 8 years.

Great results, right.

Reagan is not the great American Hero that the right would like him to be. Thanks to him for cutting the taxes on the rich while raising the middle classes.

_____________________________

Please refrain from making statements that are historically dishonest.

Since the Bush tax cuts, the economic burden of paying taxes fell even MORE to the top 10%, not less. And despite out-of-control spending, tax revenues were the same as prior to the tax cuts. Additionally, the economic growth rates doubled in the years following those same tax cuts up to the Housing Bubble/Credit Freeze/Recession we now face today - a housing bubble that was not created by tax cuts, or lack of regulation per say, but by a politically mandated move to make housing available to even those who had no way of paying.

As to the Reagan years, prior to the Reagan tax cuts taking effect in 1982, America faced nearly 14% inflation, 19% interest rates, and unemployment creeping toward 10%. Times were tough - REAL TOUGH. Within months of those tax cuts kicking in, the economy roared back to life. Within 7 years the GDP grew by 30%, inflation was nearly halted, 20 million new jobs were created, and unemployment fell to just over 4%.

Going beyond these hard number facts, median household income increased by just over $4000 per year, and housing affordability nearly doubled. EVERY single American income bracket saw an increase in income - and the income bracket that saw the greatest % increase was the lowest income bracket - that's right - under Ronald Reagan, the poorest American workers saw the largest increases to their incomes. 86% of the poor prior to Reagan moved up the income racket by 1988. 86%. Everyone shared in the growing economy - the rich, the middle class, and the poor.

The one oft-quoted negative of the Reagan years were the budget deficits. (nothing of course compared to the amounts of deficit were currently face - and will be facing in the future) What is rarely reported is that if you took Reagan's proposed budget that he sent to the Democrat Congress, and then the cumulative 26% of increased spending that was then tacked on to that budget by those same Democrats, you get the deficit spending.

If Reagan's proposed budgets had been passed by Congress, American would have been running a surplus of 130 billion by 1989. In dealing with Congress, Reagan made a deal with the liberal devil - Reagan wanted to crush the Soviet Union by outspending them, and Congress wanted their entrenched liberal interests to continue to get billions of budgted spending.

So when you make the brainless Dim talking point about how tax cuts hurt the middle class, please think for yourself and take just a bit of time to research the facts.

 

[Truthmatters]

Paul Volcker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Paul Volcker, a Democrat[4], was appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve in August 1979 by President Jimmy Carter and reappointed in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan.[5]

.Volcker's Fed is widely credited with ending the United States' stagflation crisis of the 1970s. Inflation, which peaked at 13.5% in 1981, was successfully lowered to 3.2% by 1983

The federal funds rate, which had averaged 11.2% in 1979, was raised by Volcker to a peak of 20% in June 1981. The prime rate rose to 21.5% in '81 as well. [[1]]

These changes in policy contributed to the significant recession the U.S. economy experienced in the early 1980s, which included the highest unemployment levels since the Great Depression. These conditions were predictable by Carter when he appointed Volcker, and these circumstances contributed, predictably, to the defeat of Carter. Volcker's Fed also elicited the strongest political attacks and most wide-spread protests in the history of the Federal Reserve (unlike any protests experienced since 1922), due to the effects of the high interest rates on the construction and farming sectors, culminating in indebted farmers driving their tractors onto C Street NW and blockading the Eccles Building.[6]

 

[oreo]

GUYS--sorry I made a casual mistake in my post here. It is the other federal reserve banks that pick the new chief chairman. However, you can bet your bottom booty that the federal government even though operating independantly from the Fed chairman--are continually looking at those picks, as it is the federal reserve chairman who has to address the congressional committee over economic issues.

As far as Greenspan: Yes he made some mistakes, however when you compare the two economies (Volker versus Greenspan) Greenspan wins hands-down. At least Greenspan motivated the federal government to use tax cuts to stimulate stagnant economies, something of which Volker was never known for. In fact, talking heads say Volker is more (as we witnessed in the late 70's- 80's) inclined to raise taxes.

Therefore, Obama has picked this so-called "brillant" man who was "forced" to raise interest rates astronomically in the late 70's & early 80's to fight off skyrocking inflation--to be the head of this so-called "brillant" so-called economic stimulus who has never stimulated any economy? Does that make any sense to you?

 

[manu1959]

Paul Volcker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

got a point or are you a wiki shill........................

 

[Xenophon]

Isn't he a bit old for the post?

A man in his 80s won't have the most dynamic ideas...

 

[manu1959]

Isn't he a bit old for the post?

A man in his 80s won't have the most dynamic ideas...

that is if he can even stay awake in the meetings........but he has been doing this for over 50 years......

i hate that line.....son....i have been doing this for over 50 years......and you still don't know what the fuck you are doing....

 

[Sinatra]

Isn't he a bit old for the post?

A man in his 80s won't have the most dynamic ideas...

He's quite old, but still has a grasp on reality.

The entier adivsory board is a symbolic gesture that modern politicians are so keen on - they get good political mileage out of the spectacle while affording the board little actual power.

If Obama actually believed this board was an essential component to the economy, it would have been in place on day one and been an essential voice forming the porkulus bill. Instead, Obama give it over to Pelosi, who made it a joke, and now they are all scrambling to save face - thus the debate in the Senate today over porkulus.

Volker was an essential component to the Reagan boom of the 1980's. Each had a basic distrust of the other. Volker had, and still has, a huge ego though, and he loved being Fed Chair. Reagan knew that, and would use this weakness in Volker to get him to move the FED in the direction he wanted. There were those within the Reagan administration who deeply distrusted Volker and wanted him gone, but so long as Volker went along with Reagan's basic vision of the economy, his position was safe until the emergence of Greenspan, whom Reagan felt far more economic kinship with.

I read somewhere that Reagan was really the first President to understand the potential power of the FED -Reagan gave both Volker and Greenspan much leeway in developing FED policy (partly why Volker so enjoyed the position) and since that time, the importance of the FED to the American economy has remained significant.

Whether that is good or bad is certainly open to debate...

 

[Truthmatters]

Real Time Economics : Volcker: I Endorse Obama

He is credited with ending stagflation.

He made the hard choices that broke its back.

Its a real pattern in American history now.

Rs fuck it all up for the short term gain and Dems clean it up by making the hard choices.