I like that Obama is moving early on the economy and this is a good idea if the right mix of people are involved. I disagree with you on Volcker. He is certainly experienced, I just question his judgement.

Why?

I was never impressed with his handling of interest and money supplies in the early 80's. I felt there could have been a better balance. Interest rates did come down but at the cost of a recession and a huge jump in the unemployment rates related to the tight money supply.

WHo will help us recover from this recovery?

WHo will help us recover from this recovery?

 

Good point.

I was never impressed with his handling of interest and money supplies in the early 80's. I felt there could have been a better balance. Interest rates did come down but at the cost of a recession and a huge jump in the unemployment rates related to the tight money supply.

 

I disagree. One of President Carter's mistakes was holding back on raising interest rates because of the fear of unemployment. (Carter was against a policy that would allow unemployment to go above 8%). Carter's delay meant that inflation got completely out of control and Reagan had to raise interest rates higher than Carter would have if Carter had acted earlier and aggressively. Volcker's mistake wasn't that he raised interest rates too high, it was listening to Carter and not forcing the issue sooner. Once inflation was out of control Volcker didn't have much choice but to raise interest rates to the point that put the economy into recession.

I disagree. One of President Carter's mistakes was holding back on raising interest rates because of the fear of unemployment. (Carter was against a policy that would allow unemployment to go above 8%). Carter's delay meant that inflation got completely out of control and Reagan had to raise interest rates higher than Carter would have if Carter had acted earlier and aggressively. Volcker's mistake wasn't that he raised interest rates too high, it was listening to Carter and not forcing the issue sooner. Once inflation was out of control Volcker didn't have much choice but to raise interest rates to the point that put the economy into recession.

 

While we see it differently, it would appear that we do agree that his judgement was sometimes suspect.