Paul Volker endorses Obama!

I'm listening to this on Bob Brinker.

This is amazing!

Volker was the Fed Chairman during Carter/Reagan. Carter appointed him.

:thumbsup:

"It's easy for a central banker to be popular during euphoric financial times. But the political perils are severe when tough measures are needed - measures that extract a high short-term toll in the interest of longer-term economic health - as they were in the late 1970s."
--Economist Henry Kaufman


http://www.buyandhold.com/bh/en/education/history/2000/paul_volker1.html

http://www.buyandhold.com/bh/en/education/history/2000/paul_volker2.html

Not popular, but something needed to be done.

When inflation is at 15 percent, it's probably a good idea to increase
interest rates to those levels.

It was a temporary measure to stop inflation.

did what was necessary, without the influence of politics. greenspan, never didn't give a damn. tried to help his hedge fund buddies, and get bush re-elected, he was a jerk who helped create the situation we are in today, which includes the trashing of the dollar

rate to 21% or something grotesque like that, the rust belt resulted along with the crash of the family farm, wake the **** up!!!

sounds like you need to wake the **** up :p

Do you understand why Volker increased interest rates?

Inflation was through the roof.

He rose interest rates as a temporary measure to fend off higher prices. This was a
hyperinflationary period.

The higher interest rates reigned in those high prices.

The economy isn't going to soar if the price of everything is through the roof, and
unemployment is high. How are families supposed to thrive under those economic conditions?

Please make any necessary corrections.

I really like "hysterical"...so I went with that.

Unhinged is ok as well. However, hysterical conjures up
images of someone running around with their arms flailing and
their eyes flashing.

I mean...if you're going to invoke Hitler into the conversation,
I think any adjective used against you, is fair game.

to you and your family? It crushed short term loans for farmers and small business, Just so you understand, it totally shut down the real estate economy and the rich got richer. Buy in if you wish but you will be sorry unless you have liquid assets. If you are one of the few multi-millionaire dems then cheer for you and yours.

that America (the banks, consumers, and business owners) was going to have to 'bite the bullet', if it wanted to get out of an inflationary spiral (running at a 10% annual rate), and totally unreal and unreasonable interest rates (home mortgage rates of over 20% in 1981). It was Volcker who's policies at the Fed brought things down to a very manageable level in a couple of short years, and whose policies were continued, embellished, and refined by Alan Greenspan. And had those policies still been in effect today, we know from Greenspan interviews, and interviews of other Federal Reserve Officials that 'fixes' for today's disasters would have been implemented a couple of years ago, that would have spared a good chunk of the middle class's current financial heartaches, and forced the banks to tighten their policies while at the same time restricting the unbridled activities of predatory lenders.

You know -- that thing that no one said could ever happen? The increase in unemployment WITH an increase in inflation at the same time?

He did the only thing that could be done to curb it, and it was textbook-worthy.

You want to lay blame for the loss of the middle class, look at deregulation and NAFTA. (hint -- those were 1990s doctrines. We still HAD a middle class in 1990).

trashed the dollar, lowered interest rates down to nothing, and helped propel us into the crisis we are in today.

I would like to remind you that WWII was helped along by hyper-inflation

Perhaps you don't understand, but it is the job of the fed to control inflation

I listen to his shows after they've happened and the info I hear
isn't always timely.

:0

I'm waiting for the Gore endorsement any day now.

J

I wasn't sure.

I am interested in Edwards too. I think his window of opportunity is now gone.

HOwever, I like John Edwards and I really wanted to see him play a role in
the next administration. I'm sorry to see that he seems to be so out of the
picture.

If he backs the wrong horse, his political career may well be done. I can't blame him for waiting for the tea leaves to settle more.

...that Edwards was in a precarious position.

However, his endorsement would mean very, very little by now.

I think that is too bad, considering that he once held a pretty big bargaining chip.
He could have used it to secure a AG position or another position.

Who knows...maybe Edwards truly isn't interested in any position with either Hillary
or Obama. Possibly, they didn't offer him what he wanted.

I'd like to see Edwards a part of the political landscape, in the next Dem administration
and I hope that happens. He's too good to be out of politics. Our country needs him right now.

ie, he understands that there is a shitload of difference between both Clinton and Obama on the one hand, and McCain on the other. He's wary of both Obama and Clinton, and with reason.

I agree: he's missed his "kingmaker" window (unless this is a brokered convention, which I still don't see: in my call, one of the two candidates will win two out of PA, OH, and TX by a large margin, and the other will drop out). Part of me thinks Edwards stayed out because he sees his "era", such as it was, has passed, and wants those of us on the ground to sort it out. Which, as I said, I think we will do in the upcoming primaries.

...but his gamesmanship with his endorsement stinks to high hell. While Obama wasn't near his level of populism, it is certainly the fact that Hillary is even less so.

A Gore endorsement would go much farther than an Edwards endorsement anyway.

J

Only in the blogosphere. Edwards knows what the two candidates actually stand for and what their policies are. Hillary is probably slightly closer to him on economic issues than St. Obama.

P.s. name one Democratic candidate who dropped out who has endorsed. It is odd how Obamites demand Edwards endorse when no one else has and they don't demand Richardson or Biden endorse.

corporate corruption and the warmongering machine that is in full gear in this country---it is clear
that Edwards and Obama are on the same page.

Edwards gets it. He really gets it. He knew that he was being played by Bush and the neocons
with the Iraq war. He went along to avoid being called a terrorist sympathizer. However, as the
neocons have fully displayed their audacious plan for destroying America--Edwards apologized for
his Iraq war vote.

Edwards is the only candidate to take on the neocons and even say the word "neocon". Edwards
knows these Fascist bastards are hell bent on destroying America. He understands that the neocons
are in bed with the corporations--and that together they are shredding our country.

Edwards and Obama are on the same page when it comes to these fundamentals.

Hillary is definitely NOT. We can see that and you can sure as hell know that Edwards sees that too.

At the end of the day--when Hillary kow tows to the neocons (including her Kyl/Lieberman vote) and
continues to be a player in the corporate corruption--the similarities of Edward's and Hillary's
healthcare plans---are pretty trivial.

They are on different planets when it comes to the most critical, fundamental issues facing
our democracy and the future of this country.

He knows Obama is as corporate as Hillary. He attacked Obama for his drug industry support in the Nevada debate and his campaign manager attacked Obama for carrying the drug industry's water in Illinois. People on DU may want to forget these things but Edwards clearly is aware of them.

Hillary and Obama are the same on Iraq and Iran. Do either use the word "neocon"? Edwards has to know this too. Edwards knows Obama's real position on the IRG is the same as Hillary's (look at the bill HE cosponsored months before Kyl-Lieberman...) and that Obama only claimed to oppose it after Kyl-Lieberman for political reasons (namely Edwards gaining from opposing it). At the core they are the same on those two issues.

Health care is a huge issue and trade has always been a big one for Edwards. Hillary is closer to Edwards on those issues than Obama.

Cheers!

J

Cheers!

J

Volker makes Greenspan look like Robert Reich.

Who knows what the future brings :shrug: I don't think they such as Volcker would be endorsing someone they felt would take all their hard earned, familial/generational financial systems, geo-political power plays & perks away with the snap of their fingers. They're going to endorse people that will not only maintain; but enhance the status quo. Maybe stranger things have happened after all. Stranger things yet to come. Maybe they've realized how wrong they were to have had the oil rich Arab States place all their petro-wealth into European financial systems in exchange for a blind western eye way back when. Maybe Barack is here to usher in The Real New World Order.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/23/15409/8929

We may need another Volcker.

:rofl:

at the same time he was spewing that if the Democrats win your taxes will go up

Him and his friend larry kudlow are going to watch the country get taken back by the people

I remember when he put a buy signal out when the QQQ's were 5000, still haven't recovered, and he doesn't talk about his mistakes either

It doesn't take rocket science to tell someone to diversify, and buy noload mutual funds. He is no guru

I remember when a caller asked him about I bonds, and he tried to tell them they didn't exist