Paul Volcker
The Case for Economic Doom and Gloom
The American economy added 290,000 jobs in April, the biggest monthly increase in four years. Clearly, a recovery has taken hold. But how strong and buoyant will it be? Will we eventually get back to growth rates above 4 percent and to an unemployment rate of less than 5 percent? Or will this recovery sputter like the last one that began in 2002? READ MORE >>
Close Call
Last Wednesday, Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln took to the Senate floor and delivered about as fiery a speech as you’ll hear in the chamber, at least on the subject of financial reform. “Currently, five of the largest commercial banks account for ninety-seven percent of the [derivatives market],” she said. “That is a huge concentration of economic power, which is why I am in no way surprised that several individuals are seeking to remove it from the bill.” READ MORE >>
Shooting Banks
On January 21, in an abrupt change of policy, President Obama announced his intention to take on the big bankers who have brought us so much trouble. “If these folks want a fight, it’s a fight I’m ready to have,” he said with a clenched jaw at a press conference. READ MORE >>
Is Obama Really Breaking up the Banks?
Is the White House Finally Taking It to the Banks?
Paul Volcker, legendary central banker turned radical reformer of our financial system, has won an important round. The WSJ is now reporting: READ MORE >>
My Dream State of the Union Address
Today at TNR (December 16, 2009)
Is History on Paul Volcker's Side?
The guiding myth underpinning the reconstruction of our dangerous banking system is: Financial innovation as we know it is valuable and must be preserved. Anyone opposed to this approach is a populist, with or without a pitchfork.Single-handedly, Paul Volcker has exploded this myth. Responding to a Wall Street insiders' Future of Finance “report,“ he was quoted in the WSJ yesterday as saying: “Wake up gentlemen. I can only say that your response is inadequate.”Volcker has three main points, with which we whole-heartedly agree:(1) “[Financial engineering] moves around the rents in the financial system, but not only this, as it seems to have vastly increased them.”(2) “I have found very little evidence that vast amounts of innovation in financial markets in recent years have had a visible effect on the productivity of the economy.”and most important:(3) “I am probably going to win in the end.” READ MORE >>
Worth Reading
Meredith Whitney predicts predatory lending will rise. The Brits look to charge a super-tax of 50+% on banker bonuses. Tyler Cowen on how universities might actually start to value teaching prowess. READ MORE >>
