Volcker Still 'Just A Photo Op'?

When Paul Volcker was first appointed chairman of President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, he really didn't expect to have much influence.

Sondra Gotlieb, Volcker's friend and associate from when they both lived in Washington during the Reagan presidency, says that the former Fed chair told her that the position was a public relations stunt: "I'm just a photo op," Volcker told her. "All they wanted was my picture for the press."

And for more than a year, Volcker's assessment seemed about right. "Everyone knew he didn't have the president's ear no matter what his title was," Gotlieb writes.

But all that seems to have changed in the past several weeks, after the president, as part of his financial reform package, proposed that Congress adopt a key reform measure that Volcker has long championed. The "Volcker Rule," as the new regulation is known, would prohibit commercial banks from owning or investing in hedge funds, private equity funds or "proprietary trading" operations.

Volcker, who stands a towering 6'7" tall, was at the president's side during the announcement. But whether his ideas for reform will be enacted into law is still unclear: Senate Banking Committee chair Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) has indicated that he may not amend the Senate's reform package to include the rule, saying the administration is "getting precariously close" to asking for too much.

Comments

[Mildmannered]

02:55 AM on 02/09/2010

Mr. President, Mr. Volcker makes a lot more sense than the Wall Street boys you have surrounded yourself with.

[MyTake]

02:01 PM on 02/07/2010

Volcker is just window dressing and is being used by the Rockefeller controlled NY Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) to dampen the heat from the angry public that was being directed at the other two favored sons of CFR; Bernanke and Geithner.

One only needs to view Volcker's CFR membership and peruse those other fine ADMIRED names of political, media, education, banking and corporate elites that comprise their powerful 3000 membership base. And each incoming President is required to appoint 300 members from the CFR membership roster across his administration.

Here is Wiki's partial list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_on_Foreign_Relations . And what is that well thought of CFR board co-chair Ruben doing there pulling the Geithner/Bernanke strings from the outside.

It is unbelievable strange that that the mass media do not write about the CFR - Government connection. Oh, I forgot, the corporate Media heads take a seat at CFR as well.

And to cap off the CFR political cr*ime syndicate, here is the very most despised U.S. V/P in history talking to his real boss at CFR and gloating over having withheld his CFR membership from the government vetting process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbnpN07J_zg&feature=related .

Nuff said!

[jeanruss]

12:10 PM on 02/08/2010

www.worldreports.org gives the back story on what is really going on.

[themodernleader]

09:56 PM on 02/06/2010

When the CEO has the same corrupt policy (dressed up as reform) as the last President that was retired in disgrace) there is no change in decline. In any organization the wisdom or ignorance of the CEO is emulated down through the organization. The President's ignorance reverberates with succor for his enemies and disarray, astonishment and disillusionment for his supporters, and dramatic decline for 90+ percent of the Americans. Pandering to plutocratic power by our President is a repertoire of timidity, cowardice and treachery.

[PotomacOracle]

11:29 AM on 02/06/2010

Dodd epitomizes the arrogance, hubris, and disdain for the people by elected officials who have been around too long sucking on the teats of Washington power and Wall Street largesse.

He asserts, with respect to financial reform, that "...the administration is "getting precariously close" to asking for too much."

Does he even give a rats ass about the outrage expressed by a majority of Americans over their demands for reforming the banking and financial sectors?

Does he even give a s--- about our being shafted by the ineptitude of the Fed, congressionally mandated regulators, oversight committees, and the 2005 warnings from the FBI?

Of course he doesn't. he's got his.

Has he listened to Mr. Barofsky, Elizabeth Warren, Paul Volker?

Hell no they can't promise him a cushy job when he retires from the Senate.

Pushing for real reform reduces his marketability. He's a crook but not a dumb crook.

He will undo any good he has done during his service.

Too bad he had to realy choose between honor and honorariums.

Money always wins out, except when the people revolt.

[yourmomscalling]

10:42 AM on 02/06/2010

IT SURE IS LOOKING THAT WAY !!

[Jonathan Mberia]

01:14 AM on 02/06/2010

Obama doesn't seem to have any friends on any side. Why does the issue of reform seem to be just between Reps. & Dems. rather than the citizens of America? Where is the failure coming from?

[Lino Quagliariello]

09:40 PM on 02/05/2010

I am soooo glad Dod is almost out of the Senate. I hope people vote out all this out of touch politicians from both parties. We need a strong renewal in the Senate, they only care about reelection and donations.

[xilduq]

09:20 PM on 02/05/2010

Yes, followed by my requisite, Obama is a FR4UD.

[Lino Quagliariello]

09:44 PM on 02/05/2010

It is amazing to me that after living 8 years thru a so blatant "FR4UD" some seem to all the sudden being cured from their blindness and put dark glasses now and see only doom. We are way better than before, crisis and all.... The direction is more positive. Too bad we have to fix earlier economic mess before enjoying the new America!

[xilduq]

03:41 PM on 02/06/2010

The problem is the "FR4UD" hasn't changed as was promised.

[ThomastonPaine]

06:20 PM on 02/05/2010

Mr. Volcker unfortunately remains the President's most brilliant and ignored adviser.

[sposton]

05:04 PM on 02/05/2010

This is all for a show, mostly cosmetics and very little substance. First year of Obama has been an utter failure and so they've decided to change their rhetoric a bit. That will fix everything. ;-)

[hglindquist]

08:34 PM on 02/05/2010

Exactly!

[Tinsdale]

08:45 PM on 02/06/2010

The Obama Administration has embraced a "Sitzkrieg" strategy for a full economic recovery.

At a time in our history when we need a true commander in chief to fight for an actual economic recovery for the average American family, we are blessed with a 21st century version of Civil War General George Brinton McClellan.The timid tortoise who commanded the Union Army of the Potomac until eventually removed by President Lincoln. It became clear to Lincoln that McClellan was not Ulysses S. Grant or William Tecumseh Sherman and a change in strategy and leadership was needed.

President Obama as an intelligent student of history would be wise to reconsider his current economic strategy of accommodation and accretion and replace it with accountability and action. In other words, begin to lead with "The fierce urgency of now."

[sposton]

11:03 AM on 02/07/2010

You are right. Obama does not seem to understand the urgency of this matter or the amount of solution required. Playing on the margins will not solve our problems. We also need to take a good look at everything we are doing and believing as a nation, because that is what creates our current reality. More of the same will not solve anything.

Our economics is utterly corrupt and is the key intellectual discipline responsible for our current condition. We need to study all historical heretics in economics in order to discover the snippets of truth on which to build something closer to the truth and reality and something that will treat human beings and our citizens as if they matter, for a change.

Economics represented by Larry Summers will only get us into deeper trouble. Would one use military strategies discredited by losses to take us to victory? I don't think so! Why insist on the same in economics?

[Adam Sharp]

03:15 PM on 02/05/2010

Nothing has changed yet. They could just be bringing Volcker back for another photo op. "See, we do care about all that populist backlash against our kleptocracy."

Until Geithner, Summers, Emanuel, and all the other Rubinistas are gone, Obama will continue to have little economic credibility.

And while Volcker would be a huge improvement over the current disasters, he's far from ideal. I'd rather see somebody like Simon Johnson or William K. Black as Treasury Sec or Fed chair (not gonna happen, I know).

[Coastalthinker2]

04:17 PM on 02/05/2010

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Director of the White House's Economic Council Larry Summers, and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel DO REPRESENT THE INTERESTS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Sorry about the caps but I wanted to make that clear. Until people realize that President Obama is NOT a progressive but very much a Corporate DLC Democrat who will not change these staff members because they DO represent his interests, they will continue to be disappointed.

[hglindquist]

08:37 PM on 02/05/2010

Exactly!

And until all progressives understand this fact and stop beating up on on those of us who already do, we are going to keep being clobbered by the right as they tie us to him.

[Tinsdale]

07:40 PM on 02/06/2010

Exactly. File under "Pay attention to what I do;not to what I say."