Volcker Involved In Anti-Stimulus Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

ABC News:

The chairman of President Obama's Presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board, Paul Volcker, is an official of a think-tank that recently assailed the stimulus package making its way through Congress for introducing too many long-term spending measures.

Volcker is one of 31 individuals listed as being "directors" of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Read the whole story: ABC News

Comments

[Halter]

01:06 AM on 02/08/2009

Well this explains why Krugman isn't in the inner circle, despite being a Nobel Prize winner.

[nogimmicks]

07:13 PM on 02/07/2009

Volcker is absolutely right. The Obama government continues with two outrageous wasteful spending introduced by the Republicans, namely the wars and the wallstreet bailout, and introduces one of its own, the "stimulus" package. It is their responsibility to stimulate the economy by

1) eliminating the budget deficit (bring the budget to 2.6T), and
2) spend this 2.6T dollars better, not on wars, gifts and pork, but on school constructions.

[IndianaJohn]

11:22 PM on 02/07/2009

Absolutely. Just what is it we're supposed to gain from sending troops into Afghanistan? What are we doing there?

[jeffp26]

02:10 PM on 02/07/2009

Paul Volcker was the last great fed chairman. He knows the difference between bs and stimulus.

And he has the stones to call out our elected clowns on things he knows.

Thank you Paul for all of your help.

Why did you ever let Greasepan get your job?

[funkalicious]

10:15 AM on 02/07/2009

Volker is not a Keynesian... he saw what the stimulus plan did for the Japanese .. especially after they propped up Zombie banks.

Perhaps if more folks readabout the Austrian school of economics they would be more inclined to agree with the very intelligent group of Economists at the CATO Institute that disagree with the thrust of the Stimulus plan as it is now written.

[schatsie]

07:43 PM on 02/07/2009

The CATO institute helped drive this economy into the DITCH,,,

[DiogenesOfAlaska]

08:43 AM on 02/08/2009

Well, even Keynesians would be watching out for the long-term consequences of deficit spending and even Keynesians have it on their agenda to curb spending upon recovery.

So: I'm afraid the news may be non-news, independently of where Volcker stands within the administration or within the whole spectrum of ideas.

[funkalicious]

10:10 AM on 02/07/2009

I have a bit of a fantasy We round up all of the "geniuses" of wall street force them to buy back the toxic junk we were forced to buy, and then throw the bums into a prison together.

A marinating think tank of sorts where they are allowed to work, we supply telephones, computer access, Bloomberg terminals the works and they can buy their release when they work out the problems with their toxic asset derivatives.

Of course since they are in lock down isolation we have total access to all communications in and out of the prison, thus eliminating most of the Bullcrap and ignorance they have sold to society at large.

NO more champagne or 30,000 dollar commodes for Thain , Fuld, Lewis, Greenspan, Killering et al... just work all day and try to get their release from the pen....or marinate in their own Toxic soup.

It is my version of a BAD BANK...

[schatsie]

07:44 PM on 02/07/2009

Exactly, that is the only way you are going to MOTIVATE these Crooks... PUT them in jail for RACKETEERING

[Photofarm]

09:43 AM on 02/07/2009

Very misleading headline, Volker is not against economic stimulus, but he is against using a stimulus bill for long term spending projects, and change in policy without a good legislative debate. Obama and Democrats should be ashamed for their thug like tactics.

[IndianaJohn]

06:11 PM on 02/07/2009

But he should understand that one thing you do in negotiating is to ask for a little more than you think you can get so you have room to compromise. The president asked for everything and the kitchen sink and now he has "compromised" to get the essential part of the plan.

[lily31]

08:20 AM on 02/07/2009

don't you just love this picture of Volker.............lol

[StephenJK]

09:03 AM on 02/07/2009

Thats what I was thinking. Then I thought oh Paulson is pointing his pen at Volker saying "Dude. You have no idea!"

[voltage356]

12:33 AM on 02/07/2009

Where is Hank Paulson ? cayman island

[munki]

01:40 AM on 02/07/2009

He should be brought to people's court...

[karen1p]

03:38 AM on 02/07/2009

The people that need to be in a court of law:

Bush

Cheney

Rumsfeld

Gonzales

Addington

Yoo

[djgonebad]

10:28 PM on 02/06/2009

What would you expect from a Neo-Con front-man; honesty and compassion for the citizens of the US.

[themodernleader]

08:03 PM on 02/06/2009

Jake. You are right. Obama has surrounded himself with the same crowd that degraded this country from the most powerful manufacturing power and lender in the world to the most vulnerable and indebted, now the most economically depressed. If Obama does not awaken to this fact, his policies will make the depression worse while enriching the financial sector barons. And he will forever wonder why he was never reelected as the country becomes totally unglued.

[jsarets]

07:10 PM on 02/06/2009

First, try spelling his name correctly, idiot headline writers. Volcker has a 'c' in it.

This committee isn't "anti-stimulus". They're pro-stimulus if anything, but they oppose deficit spending to expand existing programs that would need to be cut when the stimulus funds are exhausted.

Extra money for food stamps and unemployment benefits sounds good, but we can't afford to fund these programs at the proposed levels on a permanent basis without raising taxes or finding offsets elsewhere in the budget.

In my view, this is a reasonable criticism. I think we're going to find that much of the stimulus funds will go to state and local governments out of necessity to prevent plummeting tax revenues from gutting existing programs. It will be impossible for states to sustain current funding levels without tapping the federal credit, and we expect to increase funding?

People forget that on the other side of the $1 trillion in deficit stimulus could be a similar amount in lost tax revenue compared to last year. This could mean we break even on the overall size of the budget rather than expanding it. We need stimulus just to prevent government from shrinking.

[Beninn]

01:17 AM on 02/07/2009

Food stamps offer best stimulus -

Moody's study suggests extending unemployment benefits, increasing food stamps fastest ways to stimulate economy.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/29/news/economy/stimulus_analysis/index.htm

[2D]

07:07 PM on 02/06/2009

is it being picky that the picture is not Paul Volcker?

[unite4change]

07:18 PM on 02/06/2009

Exactly, the picture is of Paulson.

[ruweusmaximus]

01:18 AM on 02/07/2009

they did that on purpose.

[Telemachus]

11:27 PM on 02/06/2009

Thank goodness I'm not the only one who saw that ... thought for a minute I was hallucinating.

BTW, it's "Volcker", not "Volker". A Volker is a car or something.

[blood1]

06:50 PM on 02/06/2009

Maybe you have to be OLD to be considered a good economists...but obviously missing are academics who are not nearly as partisan. Some in this group are really troubling!

Where is Paul Krugman?
Where is Austan Goolsbee?
Where is Andrew Lo?

[mellene]

06:42 PM on 02/06/2009

I'd rather have his input as he actually knows something than that of John McCain who just thinks he knows something.

[PhilipTaylor]

05:48 PM on 02/06/2009

This is what happens when you hire the Apostles of the Money Changers to CONTROL the Corrupt Money Changers! More undermining and corruption!

They have only one driving AIM to ENRICH the ELITE at the Expense of the masses!

“Maya MacGuineas, called "troubling" the number of spending programs in the stimulus bill that are "really intended to be permanent new policies rather than temporary items to help boost the economy.”

I call it far more troubling how the Wealth of the Masses have been concentrated in the hands of the ELITE over the last Eight Years. Guess what WE WON THE ELECTION and things they are a CHANGING!

Volker portrays himself as this "thoughtful nice old" man when he is out for the Elite Bankers of the World and has very little concern for Americans in the Middle Class and the Poor Class, which is grew by 600,000 this past month!