Talk:Paul Volcker

unsourced POV

"In addition to disinflation, this policy caused a severe recession and the worst unemployment since World War II."

This sounds like an unattributed political claim. Please provide a source for this criticism, and then put the sentence back. --Uncle Ed (El Dunce) 19:14, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Oops, I haven't been watching my talk pages. The inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment is documented (cf Phillips curve). Image:Urate48-04.jpg illustrates the WW2 comparison. As far as connecting the monetary policy with the recession goes, I believe this is uncontroversial as well; List of recessions includes the same claim, and this interview with Volcker [1] sheds some more light on both claims. Volcker uncritically accepts that his policies led to unemployment but says that he's convined a recession was inevitable and that his policy made it less severe. I'm replacing the sentence with an, I think, more accurate one... Eliot 18:55, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

not reappointed?

Why he didnt got reappointed as fed chairman in 87? Tradingbr 22:00, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 00:26, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Religion

Someone is inserting religion tags on the infoboxes of some economists he/she considers Jewish. But not on others, whose biographies and Wikipedia articles show evidence of other religions! This is a conspiracy nut. The tags are unsourced, yet they would be out of bounds even if a source were adduced and even if they were applied in an even-handed manner: a relevance is not shown, but implied. Fconaway (talk) 08:41, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Conspiracy nut? Are you seriously suggesting that conspiracies do not exist or that Jews do not take part in them? I would really like to see the evidence for either. By the way, I can irrefutably prove that 9/11 was staged by the US Government, see AE911Truth.org for details. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.46.214.106 (talk) 00:46, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

Volcker is Jewish

http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3619625,00.html

I'm not sure where in the article this information belongs, but in the meantime I am adding Volcker to the category of Jewish Americans. Please don't revert this information. Adlerschloß (talk) 05:01, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Mr. IP just tracked down his bio [2] in which it for all practical purposes says that his family was not Jewish. An autobiography should be considered more reliable then a newspaper article. --brewcrewer (yada, yada) 17:04, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

Ynet.co.il isn't a reliable source. They claimed, that Robert Zoellick is Jewish, which is false. He is of German ancestry. And so is Paul Volcker. Volcker was or still is a member of some German-American organizations. The German Marshall Fund for example. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.153.213.246 (talk) 23:05, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Alan Greenspen is Jewish for sure, like the Nobel Prize Stiglitz. According to the wikipedia article Volcker is Lutheran but perhaps it is true that, like Madeleine Albreight, he is a hidden Jew as the information given by the article above says. Probably. Anyway, he can have German ancestry and be Jewish like Albert Einstein. After all, Askenazi Jews speak a German dialect. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.32.120.134 (talk) 03:09, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

And also, no Jews would name their child Adolph. Adolf Hitler was a persona non grata since 1923. And Volcker was born in 1927. But if his family was of German heritage, his parents could have cared less about Hitler in 1927. He has German ancestry, that's for sure. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.153.204.26 (talk) 22:04, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Volcker's involvement with NAFTA

I'm not seeing anything referencing Volcker's involvement with promoting NAFTA. There are multiple assertions that he is pro-globalizing the US economy. The Center for Strategic and International Studies--see year 1993-- cites him as leading the NAFTA and Beyond Commission (http://www.csis.org/about/history/)

Can anyone verify his involvement with NAFTA and add it to his bio? It is an interesting point that President-Elect Obama's key economic advisor had a potentially major role in NAFTA as Obama tauted that he was anti-NAFTA and pro-Union.(http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/02/25/clinton_obama_and_nafta/)

Godo luck with the update.

Matthew Lengel —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.104.223.125 (talk) 00:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Interest Rates

Article says:"Volcker's Fed is widely credited with ending the United States' stagflation crisis of the 1970s by limiting the growth of the money supply, abandoning the previous policy of targeting interest rates. Inflation, which peaked at 13.5% in 1981, was successfully lowered to 3.2% by 1983."

If Volcker "abandoneded the previous policy of targeting interest rates," then why'd he raise rates to their highest levels in history? Isn't this a bit misleading?

The source link isn't working, and it's unclear whether this source merely concerns historical inflation rates, or the statement regarding "abandoning the previous policy of targeting interest rates."

If I get around to it, I'll try and find info to include about Volcker actions on interest rates for inclusion. I think that's what he's mostly remembered for, though it sounds likely/familiar that he also was concerned with money supply. Calamitybrook (talk) 19:33, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Okay, I added two sentences about interest rates under Volcker. The source could be better, but looks accurate.Calamitybrook (talk) 21:36, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

I've now removed this statement "abandoning the previous policy of targeting interest rates"

because it's inaccurate and the source provided, from Minneapolis Fed, was non-functional.

I assume there is a basis for the statement that I removed ---but is obviously not "the whole picture" given Volcker's historic actions on interest rates.

Calamitybrook (talk) 03:57, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Recent Criticism of Banks

Volcker's recent criticisms of the banking industry and his calls for reinsitution of Glass-Steagall have been all over the business press of late and should probably be mentioned. Come to think of it, this entire article seems sparse and could be fleshed out at greater length. I'll start adding material if there is no consensus against this. Nwlaw63 (talk) 03:01, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Inflation

Volcker is credited with reducing inflation. The reduction might have been partly caused by the stabilisation and even reduction of oil prices at the time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.157.131.222 (talk) 10:40, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

See 1980s Oil Glut.