{"id":39614,"date":"2018-10-24T06:11:13","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T11:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=39614"},"modified":"2018-10-24T06:11:13","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T11:11:13","slug":"paul-volcker-trashes-fed-washington-plutocrats-worlds-in-a-hell-of-a-mess-in-every-direction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=39614","title":{"rendered":"Paul Volcker Trashes Fed, Washington Plutocrats: World&#8217;s In &#8220;A Hell Of A Mess In Every Direction&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"block-zerohedge-page-title\" class=\"block block-core block-page-title-block\">\n<h3 class=\"page-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2018-10-23\/paul-volcker-trashes-fed-washington-plutocrats-worlds-hell-mess-every-direction\"><span class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden\">Paul Volcker Trashes Fed, Washington Plutocrats: World&#8217;s In &#8220;A Hell Of A Mess In Every Direction&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"block-zerohedge-content\" class=\"block block-system block-system-main-block\">\n<article class=\"node node--type-article node--view-mode-full\" role=\"article\" data-gtm-vis-recent-on-screen-2077925_22=\"1088\" data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-2077925_22=\"1088\" data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-2077925_22=\"100\" data-gtm-vis-has-fired-2077925_22=\"1\">\n<div class=\"node__content\">\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p>While we have grown used to Alan Greenspan&#8217;s flexible world views appearing regularly among US media channels, when former Fed Chair Paul Volcker speaks, it&#8217;s low frequency nature tends to make on pay attention, and he is not optimistic about the state of the world&#8230; at all.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/2018-10-23_8-57-04.jpg?itok=fkO5GeVs\" data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/2018-10-23_8-57-04.jpg?itok=fkO5GeVs\" data-link-option=\"0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/2018-10-23_8-57-04.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/inline_image_desktop\/public\/inline-images\/2018-10-23_8-57-04.jpg?itok=fkO5GeVs 1x\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"315\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"4bac676d-5cfb-4b13-aecc-b93ccaaa4f31\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As &#8216;Tall Paul&#8217; prepares to publish his memoir (ironically titled &#8211; given the current state of the world &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicaffairsbooks.com\/titles\/paul-volcker\/keeping-at-it\/9781541788299\/\">&#8220;The Quest For Sound Money &amp; Good Government&#8221;<\/a>), he sat down with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/10\/23\/business\/dealbook\/paul-volcker-federal-reserve.html?smid=fb-nytimes&amp;amp;smtyp=cur\">NYTimes&#8217; Dealbook&#8217;s Andrew Ross Sorkin<\/a> and was not shy about how he sees the world and where it&#8217;s going:<\/p>\n<p><strong>When he looks around now, he sees &#8220;a hell of a mess in every direction,&#8221;<\/strong> including a lack of basic respect for government institutions..<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u201cRespect for government, respect for the Supreme Court, respect for the president, it\u2019s all gone,\u201d<\/strong> he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven respect for the Federal Reserve.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it\u2019s really bad. At least the military still has all the respect. But I don\u2019t know, <strong>how can you run a democracy when nobody believes in the leadership of the country?<\/strong>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8230;a current Fed that seems to be following a completely arbitrary benchmark&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u201cI puzzle at the rationale,\u201d <\/strong>he\u00a0wrote.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cA 2 percent target, or limit, was not in my textbook years ago. I know of no theoretical justification.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/2018-10-23_9-14-00.jpg?itok=HZ4Fu_Kv\" data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/2018-10-23_9-14-00.jpg?itok=HZ4Fu_Kv\" data-link-option=\"0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/2018-10-23_9-14-00.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/inline_image_desktop\/public\/inline-images\/2018-10-23_9-14-00.jpg?itok=HZ4Fu_Kv 1x\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"244\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"fbc5002b-9dd9-4673-be4c-c6008f6ab07a\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and a &#8220;swamp&#8221; in Washington run by plutocrats.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>&#8220;There is no force on earth that can stand up effectively, year after year, against the thousands of individuals and hundreds of millions of dollars in the Washington swamp aimed at influencing the legislative and electoral process,&#8221;<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/2018-10-23_9-04-38.jpg?itok=k-GAYhHW\" data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/2018-10-23_9-04-38.jpg?itok=k-GAYhHW\" data-link-option=\"0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/2018-10-23_9-04-38.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/inline_image_desktop\/public\/inline-images\/2018-10-23_9-04-38.jpg?itok=k-GAYhHW 1x\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"346\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"0a09b911-5547-4364-9bb7-c4b3eb578589\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Finally, Volcker dispels with the myth that\u00a0presidents historically haven&#8217;t tried to influence interest rates. Recounting a 1984 meeting he had with former President Ronald Reagan, <strong>then-chief of staff James Baker flatly told Volcker:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paul Volcker Trashes Fed, Washington Plutocrats: World&#8217;s In &#8220;A Hell Of A Mess In Every Direction&#8221; While we have grown used to Alan Greenspan&#8217;s flexible world views appearing regularly among US media channels, when former Fed Chair Paul Volcker speaks, it&#8217;s low frequency nature tends to make on pay attention, and he is not optimistic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[952,303,5987,11034,3650,843,865,4318],"class_list":["post-39614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","tag-alan-greenspan","tag-fed","tag-paul-volcker","tag-plutocrats","tag-us-federal-reserve","tag-us-government","tag-washington","tag-zerohedge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39614"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39615,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39614\/revisions\/39615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}