Ah, the great Paul Volcker.  No one seems to remember the time when he was Federal Reserve Chairman and, in thrall to the wisdom of Milton Friedman, wrecked the U.S. and world economies.  Remember double-digit unemployment in 1982?  Remember interest rates in the mid-twenties?  That was the great Paul Volcker, reining in inflation on behalf of bondholders.  The Third World, stuffed with dollar denominated, short-term, floating interest rate debt, imploded, leading to the Lost Decade and, coincidentally, no doubt, two decades of military coups, civil wars, and runaway emigration.  The great Paul Volcker.  Yes, by all means, let’s bring him back.

The elephant in the room is inflation——watch out!

hello. Oboymamma could summon up every financial adviser since the Federal Reserve was founded, and i still would not believe he is doing the right thing for the American small business man and woman. he could audit the Fed. he could make government transparent, so we know where all our tax dollars are spent. he could allow regulators (already established by rule of law) conduct their business open and freely with the banks. he could stop spending tax money. he could reduce taxes. he could lower income taxes. he could close redundant and obsolete government offices. he could allow citizens to have more of their own money to put into banks.

Radical: the power of the word

Let’s hope that before long Obama will take a hard look at his cabinet and realize the extent to which the failed financial establishment is represented among his councilors and department executives. 

What is needed is a fresh approach to the vocabulary of political alignment and a “purge” of legacy “free-market liberals” to be replaced by radical progressives.

Radical DOES NOT mean extremist as the 1970s establishment would have had us believe. In fact their use of the word reminds me of a flustered senior who for lack of a better word simply exclaims, “radical”. The word means “rooted”, as in of or relating to “rootedness”. A radical is generally a “principled person” dealing with root causes. A “radical movement” coalesces around “root” causes.

Teddy Roosevelt considered himself a radical progressive. Why wouldn’t Obama? Or again, why not Howard Dean? Maybe we simply aren’t ready to “hear” this word in a constructive context.