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Ear to the Ground

Volcker Unloads on Nation’s Finance System

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Posted on Sep 24, 2010
Paul Volcker
AP / Wong Maye-E

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker in 2008.

In a spare-no-one, off-the-cuff critique, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker delivered a blistering analysis of the nation’s financial system Thursday, criticizing banks, regulators, business schools, the Fed and money-market funds in a “plea for structural changes in markets and market regulation.”

Volcker jettisoned his prepared remarks at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and spoke candidly about the promises of the new financial overhaul law. He also acknowledged the system’s limitations given its dependence on individual regulators, who are heavily lobbied by banks and politicians. —JCL

The Wall Street Journal:

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker scrapped a prepared speech he had planned to deliver at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago on Thursday, and instead delivered a blistering, off-the-cuff critique leveled at nearly every corner of the financial system.

Standing at a lectern with his hands in his pockets, Volcker moved unsparingly from banks to regulators to business schools to the Fed to money-market funds during his luncheon speech.

He praised the new financial overhaul law, but said the system remained at risk because it is subject to future “judgments” of individual regulators, who he said would be relentlessly lobbied by banks and politicians to soften the rules.

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By Inherit The Wind, September 26, 2010 at 9:41 am Link to this comment

Wilson might have committed bad policy, even criminal policy, but to call it treason is to misuse the word.  In fact, the US banking system took over from the British following WWI, creating essentially a credit war. House of Morgan was on the British side because Morgan was sole conduit of funds to a and from the UK. So JP Morgan turned against his nation, but lost.

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By toyotabedzrock, September 25, 2010 at 12:44 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Business schools have been teaching that greed is good and that a totally free market will always work.

My brother just graduated and they taught him that crap year after year and it was hard to convince him otherwise even as the economy collapsed.

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By samosamo, September 25, 2010 at 7:05 am Link to this comment

****************


My sentiments also. The founders of this country
fought hard to keep central banking out of here.
According to some of those founders, that was as
major if not the major cause of starting the
Revolutionary War. And in between then and
when woodie the woodpecker wilson slicked into
office by signing the federal reserve act of 1913,
there were numerous attempts to create by
various crooks a central back here.

Only woodie the woodpecker wilson’s treason of
signing it into law got it made along with many
members of congress and shady shyster bankers
paying for the act of writing the bill, making deals
and payoffs to those complicit congressmen to
complete the plan. And woodie was given the
presidency for the icing on the cake.

That was 90 some odd years ago and from a
listing of recessions since then, which this new
central bank was supposed to prevent, except for
the crookedness of it, the federal reserve act
should have long ago been repealed. Only the
threat from what those major bankers and
financiers would do to the economy is a big
reason, no matter how sound or unsound, that
we still have this insidious federal reserve
working as it does today.

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Fat Freddy's avatar

By Fat Freddy, September 25, 2010 at 5:11 am Link to this comment

Here’s the money quote from the article:

Volcker said it was a “miracle” that despite all the criticism aimed at the Fed the central bank “came out with enhanced regulatory authorities rather than reduced regulatory authorities.”

In actuality, the Federal Reserve is the ultimate regulator. They control the supply of money. They decide who gets what, and at what interest rate. They determine the reserve requirements. They also have zero accountability to the government and the people.

Under the new Financial Reform Bill, the Fed has even greater regulatory authority, as Volcker stated, and still no accountability. The “trade-off” was supposed to be the Paul/Grayson “Audit the Fed Amendment”. But that got trashed in the Senate by Bernie “Back-Stabber” Sanders. In fact, the new Consumer Financial Protection Committee will be housed under the Federal Reserve.

So, what’s the problem with the Federal Reserve? There are some, such as myself, that there shouldn’t be a central bank at all. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Andrew Jackson were vehemently opposed to central banking of any sort. Central banking represents an unnatural, collusive alliance between government and bankers. Just look at the members of all of the Board members of the Federal Reserve and their regional banks. How many of those Board members are actively employed by banks? Plus, the banks are the “shareholders” of the Fed. How can one possibly trust an institution to “protect them”, when it is controlled by the very people it is supposed to be protecting you from???? Under this current scenario, legislative “regulations” are useless, unless there are serious changes to the Federal Reserve Act.

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By samosamo, September 24, 2010 at 5:45 pm Link to this comment

****************


What is key is stopping the lobbying and
prosecuting it for the criminal bribery and
influence peddling that it is where, if there was a
real functioning law enforcement and justice
system they could have 2 criminals to prosecute,
the briber(lobbyist) and those taking the
bribe(elected person or government employee).

Influence Peddling. If I can’t scrap up
$500,000.00 to pay a congressperson or a
regulator do what I want, why should anybody
have that influence that has directly led to this
financial/economic terrorist attack from our own
home grown financial terrorists?

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By CaptRon, September 24, 2010 at 1:45 pm Link to this comment

I’d be interested to see the prepared speech copy in order to better qualify his mindset, and better judge the man. It might alter my perspective of the man within the man. For me, it is don’t say what you won’t do.

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