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)

The Phillips curve is STUPID and this article is full of Keynesian nonsense written, I imagine, by kids who didn't live through thos period of incredible stagflation. There were no Chinas, or even Japans to do fill stores with goods we could no longer afford to make or buy due to Vietnam and LBJ's "Great Society." Volcker did what was necessary to correct the massive money printing of Nixon's Fed, and would someone would have the courage to do the same now. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.28.102.57 (talk) 21:14, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

not reappointed?

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

My thought is that in 1987 with Reagan, a Republican in the White House, that Volcker as a Democrat stood less of a chance of renomination than Greenspan as a Republican did of getting nominated. The wikipedia article on Greenspan states this:

On June 2, 1987, President Ronald Reagan nominated Greenspan as a successor to Paul Volcker as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, and the Senate confirmed him on August 11, 1987. Investor, author and commentator Jim Rogers has said that Greenspan lobbied to get this chairmanship.

71.167.67.66 (talk) 14:03, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

References

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)

Let's not get sidetracked. However, he's almost certainly not jewish. Else the rest of the paragraph, which is sourced from his biography, would not make sense. Here's some more on this : http://tzvee.blogspot.com/2012/09/is-paul-volcker-jewish.html?m=1 Maxmagno (talk) 23:45, 31 July 2019 (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)

We are talking about Paul Volcker, not Adolph Volcker. --217.82.146.226 (talk) 07:01, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

I doubt he's Jewish. I think Ynet.co.il made a mistake. He went to a Lutheran Church with his mother and his father went to an Episcopalian. It seems very unlikely that he or his family should be jewish. Here is some support to what I say, but not really source material : http://tzvee.blogspot.com/2012/09/is-paul-volcker-jewish.html?m=1 Maxmagno (talk) 23:41, 31 July 2019 (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)

I agree that the article reads very oddly with respect to Volcker's role in the early 1980s with respect to inflation; and the source that "widely credits" Volcker with ending staglfation is a single OpEd piece from 2008. The role of the 1982 recession and its deflationary effect has to be considered in the chicken and egg equation, and this needs to be better explored in this article. MariaMitchell (talk) 00:49, 5 March 2013 (UTC)

There's also a line about "Thus unemployment rose to over 10%" in the part about his term as the Fed chair, when it discusses the rising interest rates. What's the relevance of a random uncited aside about unemployment to that part? It also doesn't match Department of Labor numbers for that timeperiod- it had been more or less steady around 7% until '82 and '83- both years when it barely broke 9%. I could see "reached 10%" if someone wanted to round it, but you can't squeeze "over 10%" out of 9.7%.2602:306:CFCA:B540:0:0:0:47 (talk) 19:07, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

References

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. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.157.131.222 (talk) 10:50, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

Expansion of Federal Reserve Section

I'm not very knowledgeable with Volcker's term as Federal Reserve Chair, otherwise I would contribute to it myself. This section needs to be redone to include additional information. As is, the section is more of a stub, whereas I believe that it should comprise the majority of the article. Please expand on this section. Also I'm not sure how relevant Congressman Ron Paul's comments are to Volcker's term as Federal Reserve chairman, seeing as it's more his opinion rather than on his term of office as the Fed Chair. I think it's more a political comment on the Fed at present than anything, and should therefore be removed. Shaded0 (talk) 03:46, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Bias towards Fed action

Paul Volcker may be credited by some economists for lowering inflation using higher interest rates but please Wiki contributors, exercise some critical thinking. In this very same article I read: 'He played an important role in the decisions leading to the U.S. suspension of gold convertibility in 1971'. Well, is there any action that could be more inflationary that the suspension of gold convertibility? I don't think so... The Fed is one of the main sources of inflation, so Fed people shouldn't be praised for lowering inflation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by WikiWorld88 (talk • contribs) 22:39, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

Jewishness, yet again

This falsehood keeps appearing from time to time. The latest manifestation references the Treaster book. I have just gone through, yet again, the book and it clearly states that his mother, Alma Kleppel Volcker, who was a child of German immigrants, attended every Sunday the Lutheran church in Teaneck N.J. There is no mention anywhere in the book that she was Jewish or had Jewish roots.--Joel Mc (talk) 17:45, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

I had the same thought. Someone is having fun vandalising this article by repeating the mistake made by ynet.co.il. Maxmagno (talk) 23:48, 31 July 2019 (UTC)

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Date of death

• 8 December: current NYT and also CNBC source, based on foundation press release - "Sunday at 5 p.m. ET at his home in New York, according to the Volcker Alliance"
• 9 December: Reuters "died on Monday at the age of 92, according to his daughter Janice Zima" and NPR "died Monday at 92, NPR has confirmed". Wakari07 (talk) 18:45, 9 December 2019 (UTC)

Nihilistic forces

I've just come across this interesting Volcker quote: “Nihilistic forces are dismantling policies to protect our air, water, and climate. And they seek to discredit the pillars of our democracy: voting rights and fair elections, the rule of law, the free press, the separation of powers, the belief in science, and the concept of truth itself.” Apparently he said this towards the end of his life - can anyone verify this? If genuine, it should surely be included in the article.Richwil (talk) 15:03, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

Biased and unsourced comment under "career"

There seems to be biased and unsourced comments under the "career" section of the article, specifically the following

"This is in contrast with the fact stated above that he did not seek 3rd term (No one fired him).[citation needed] He is also blamed for removing gold standard in early 1970, which created record inflation in the US History.[citation needed]"

These seem like an obvious source of bias, are grammatically erroneous, additionally the claim about the gold standard is flatly wrong. 2620:104:E001:9030:AF70:1C99:4CCE:9CEE (talk) 21:33, 31 October 2022 (UTC)

There are in-text citations in the references.

Silber (2012) p. 2.

This is not a reference. Johnluke44 (talk) 15:41, 23 August 2024 (UTC)

Volcker Shock

"Volcker shock" redirects to this page, but there is no substantive, clear definition of what that was: The theoretical framework in which that intervention was predicted to lead to a particular result. Considering its immense importance in US economic history, its role in breaking the power of unions in the US, its importance in the transition from Keynesian to neoliberal consensus in US public policy, etc., there should be an explanation of the theoretical mechanism behind that policy action.

The point of the Volcker Shock was that inflation was theorized to be driven by the wage-price spiral--meaning largely COLA increases negotiated by unions in a workforce that was something like 70% unionized, each increase in wages for workers occasioning an increase of prices by owners to maintain or increase profits. This inflation spiral was beneficial for many debtors, reducing their debt over time, and therefore harmful to their creditors, for the same reason. The spiral could be disrupted by increasing unemployment, thus pressuring unions and workers to reduce wage and benefit demands, thus allowing room for owners to lower prices.

All this means that the Volcker Shock was clearly in the interests of wealthy and powerful owners, and harmful to the interests of most working people.

Moreover, increasing unemployment was the explicit goal of this policy, as it was again when the fed raised interest rates more recently--meaning that this history is of ongoing significance, and will continue to be. Whatever one believes to be the lessons of this event, readers need the facts in order to learn the lessons of history. 50.220.114.29 (talk) 06:41, 11 October 2024 (UTC)