What do liberals think of Obama's latest move?

[Andy]

Washington Post reports

President-elect Barack Obama chose former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker Wednesday to head a new White House panel to help create jobs and bring stability to the ailing financial system.

So let's see who this Paul Volcker is who is going to be in control of economic policy.

Let's see, he was President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during the brilliant 70s, and was appointed by Carter (another brilliant liberal) as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Before this, he was a primary backer of ending the Gold Standard, which caused the massive stagflation of the 1970s, culminating in the price controlled gasoline shortages under Carter.

This guy is going to bring stability to our financial system? It was under his leadership that a nation wide protest of the Federal Reserve system happened, where farmers and protesters drove their farm equipment to the Federal Reserve building, and blocked it in on all sides.

He's a founding member of the Trilateral Commission who have openly stated:

private multinational banks, particularly Rockefeller's Chase Manhattan, have loaned nearly $52 billion to developing countries. An overhauled International Monetary Fund (IMF) would provide another source of credit for these nations, and would take the big private banks off the hook. This proposal is the cornerstone of the Trilateral plan.

So he is for rich CEO's of major multinational banks, of which Volcker is a member of Chase Manhattan. You know Chase, the bank that accepted billions from the Federal government as a bail out.

Nothing like a brilliant messiah, to go pick the worst failures of US history, and make them in charge of future policy.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Nothing like a brilliant messiah, to go pick the worst failures of US history, and make them in charge of future policy.

Yeah....we've heard all-of-these warnings, before.....back in '91.

Fortunately, you're (also) usually wrong. ​

 

[Mr. Shaman]

"Paul A. Volcker was reviled before he was revered.

President-elect Obama named the 81-year-old Volcker yesterday to head a new economic advisory panel, citing "his sound and independent judgment." But nearly three decades ago -- when Obama was still a college student -- the towering 6-foot-7-inch Volcker was one of the most disliked public figures in the United States.

As Federal Reserve chairman, he took an uncompromising stance against inflation, jacking up interest rates as high as 20.5 percent. Unemployment soared to 11 percent in the most painful recession since the Great Depression. Volcker had been appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, but his tough medicine likely contributed to the Democrat's failure to win reelection in 1980.

While Volcker's tenure has to some extent been overshadowed by Greenspan's 18-year run, many experts credit him with finally whipping inflation and setting the stage for the economic boom that followed. Inflation has never been a serious threat to the U.S. economy since the Volcker years.

"Without Paul Volcker's toughness and guts, we may never have broken the grip of rising inflation and declining productivity that plagued the United States during the 1970s," Arthur Levitt Jr., former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, wrote in the foreword of Treaster's book. Levitt noted that at the time he was mocked when he tried to defend Volcker's actions.

Indeed, Volcker's star has risen again as Greenspan's reputation has fallen during the recent economic downturn. Unlike Greenspan, an unabashed promoter of the free market, Volcker was skeptical that market forces would check lax regulation. As chairman, he refused to loosen the boundaries between investment and commercial banks, as later occurred under Greenspan.

"Simply stated, the bright new financial system, for all its talented participants, for all its rich rewards, has failed the test of the marketplace," Volcker said during a scathing attack on Greenspan's approach earlier this year. "What has plainly been at risk is a disorderly unraveling of the mutual trust among respected market participants upon which any strong and efficient financial system must rest."

Gee.....it's lookin' like the Vulture Capitalists are about to be put on a leash. ​

"I think there is an ethical issue that runs right through the markets. ... A lot of it comes back to a basic ethical approach. Is the object to squeeze out as much money as you can? Or, at some point, is there a question of what is right and what's wrong?"

 

[Mr. Shaman]

This guy is going to bring stability to our financial system?

IS going to??????? ​

 

[pocketfullofshells]

well wall street seems to like him, and people on both sides have come out for him as well. I dont know enough about him though.

I am happy to hear Gates most likey will stay on though.