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==Post-Fed==
==Post-Fed==
After leaving the Federal Reserve in 1987, he became chairman of the prominent New York investment banking firm, [[J. Rothschild, Wolfensohn & Co.]], a corporate advisory and investment firm in New York, run by [[James D. Wolfensohn]], who later became president of the [[World Bank]].
After leaving the Federal Reserve in 1987, he became chairman of the prominent New York investment banking firm, [[Wolfensohn & Co.]], a corporate advisory and investment firm in New York, run by [[James D. Wolfensohn]], who later became president of the [[World Bank]].


In 1996, he took up the chair of the Independent Committee of Eminent Persons ([[Volcker Commission]]) to look into the dormant accounts of Jewish victims of the Holocaust lying in Swiss banks. This included a “massive accounting of Swiss bank records.” In the midst of a contentious process (the committee was formed by three Jewish representatives and three representatives of Swiss banks) he was able to bring about an agreement among the parties for a settlement of $1.25 billion.<ref>Treaster (2004), p. x.</ref>
In 1996, he took up the chair of the Independent Committee of Eminent Persons ([[Volcker Commission]]) to look into the dormant accounts of Jewish victims of the Holocaust lying in Swiss banks. This included a “massive accounting of Swiss bank records.” In the midst of a contentious process (the committee was formed by three Jewish representatives and three representatives of Swiss banks) he was able to bring about an agreement among the parties for a settlement of $1.25 billion.<ref>Treaster (2004), p. x.</ref>

Revision as of 10:55, 3 April 2012

Paul Volcker
Chairperson of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board
In office
February 6, 2009 – February 23, 2011
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byJeffrey Immelt (Council on Jobs and Competitiveness)
Chairman of the Federal Reserve
In office
August 6, 1979 – August 11, 1987
PresidentJimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
Preceded byWilliam Miller
Succeeded byAlan Greenspan
President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
In office
May 2, 1975 – August 5, 1979
Preceded byAlfred Hayes
Succeeded byAnthony Solomon
Personal details
Born
Paul Adolph Volcker, Jr.

(1927-09-05) September 5, 1927 (age 97)
Cape May, New Jersey, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic Party
Alma materPrinceton University
Harvard University
London School of Economics
ProfessionEconomist

Paul Adolph Volcker, Jr.[1] (born September 5, 1927) is an American economist. He was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve under United States Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan from August 1979 to August 1987. He is widely credited with ending the high levels of inflation seen in the United States in the 1970s and early 1980s. He was the Chairman of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board under President Barack Obama from February 2009[2] until January 2011.[3]

Early life

Volcker was born in Cape May, New Jersey, the son of Alma Louise (née Klippel) and Paul Adolph Volcker.[4][5] His grandparents were all German immigrants.[4] Volcker grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, where his father was the township's first municipal manager. As a child, he attended his mother's Lutheran church, while his father went to an Episcopal church. Volcker graduated from Teaneck High School[6] in 1945.

Volcker's undergraduate education was at Princeton University; he graduated in 1949. He earned his M.A. in political economy from Harvard University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Graduate School of Public Administration in 1951 and then attended the London School of Economics from 1951 to 1952 as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Fellow, under the Rotary's Ambassadorial Scholarships program.

Volcker has received honorary degrees from several educational institutions including: Hamilton College (1980), University of Notre Dame, Princeton University, Dartmouth College, New York University, University of Delaware,[7] Fairleigh Dickinson University, Bryant College, Adelphi University, Lamar University, Bates College (1989), Fairfield University (1994), Northwestern University (2004), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2005), Brown University (2006), Georgetown University (2007), Syracuse University (2008), Queen's University at Kingston in Canada (2009), and Amherst College (2011).[8]

Career

In 1952 he joined the staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a full-time economist. He left that position in 1957 to become a financial economist with the Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1962, Robert Roosa, who had been his mentor at the Federal Reserve, hired him at the Treasury Department as director of financial analysis.[9] In 1963, he became deputy under-secretary for monetary affairs. He returned to Chase Manhattan Bank as vice president and director of planning in 1965.

From 1969 to 1974, Mr. Volcker served as under-secretary of the Treasury for international monetary affairs. He played an important role in the decisions leading to the U.S. suspension of gold convertibility in 1971, which resulted in the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. In general he acted as a moderating influence on policy, advocating the pursuit of an international solution to monetary problems. After leaving the U.S. Treasury, he became president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1975 to 1979, leaving to become the chairman of the Federal Reserve in August 1979.

In 1975, Mr. Volcker also became a senior fellow in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Chairman of the Federal Reserve

Paul Volcker, a Democrat,[10] was appointed Chairman of the Board of Governors for the Federal Reserve System in August 1979 by President Jimmy Carter and reappointed in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan.[11]

Volcker's Fed is widely credited with ending the United States' stagflation crisis of the 1970s. Inflation, which peaked at 13.5% in 1981, was successfully lowered to 3.2% by 1983.[12]

Volcker raised the federal funds rate, which had averaged 11.2% in 1979, to a peak of 20% in June 1981. The prime rate rose to 21.5% in 1981 as well.

Volcker's Fed elicited the strongest political attacks and most widespread protests in the history of the Federal Reserve (unlike any protests experienced since 1922), due to the effects of the high interest rates on the construction and farming sectors, culminating in indebted farmers driving their tractors onto C Street NW and blockading the Eccles Building.[13]

Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said about him in an interview:

Paul Volcker, the previous Fed Chairman known for keeping inflation under control, was fired because the Reagan administration didn't believe he was an adequate de-regulator.[14]

Congressman Ron Paul, well known as a harsh critic of the Federal Reserve, has offered qualified praise of Volcker:

Being in Congress in the late 1970s and early 1980s and serving on the House Banking Committee, I met and got to question several Federal Reserve chairmen: Arthur Burns, G. William Miller and Paul Volcker. Of the three, I had the most interaction with Volcker. He was more personable and smarter than the others, including the more recent board chairmen Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke.[15]

Congressman Ron Paul also said in a 2011 presidential debate that "If I had to name a Federal Reserve chairman that did a little bit of good, that would be Paul Volcker."

Post-Fed

After leaving the Federal Reserve in 1987, he became chairman of the prominent New York investment banking firm, Wolfensohn & Co., a corporate advisory and investment firm in New York, run by James D. Wolfensohn, who later became president of the World Bank.

In 1996, he took up the chair of the Independent Committee of Eminent Persons (Volcker Commission) to look into the dormant accounts of Jewish victims of the Holocaust lying in Swiss banks. This included a “massive accounting of Swiss bank records.” In the midst of a contentious process (the committee was formed by three Jewish representatives and three representatives of Swiss banks) he was able to bring about an agreement among the parties for a settlement of $1.25 billion.[16]

In April 2004, the United Nations assigned Volcker to research possible corruption in the Iraqi Oil for Food program. In the report summarizing its research, Volcker criticized Kojo Annan, son of then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and the Swiss company Cotecna Inspection SA, Kojo's employer, for trying to conceal their relationship. He concluded in his March 2005 report that "there is no evidence that the selection of Cotecna in 1998 was subject to improper influence of the Secretary General in the bidding or selection process".[17] However, while Volcker did not implicate the Secretary General in the selection process, he did cast serious doubt on Kofi Annan, whose "management performance...fell short of the standards that the United Nations Organization should strive to maintain."[18] Volcker was a director of the United Nations Association of the United States of America between 2000 and 2004, prior to his being appointed to the Independent Inquiry by Kofi Annan.

As of October 2006, he is the current Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty, and is a member of the Trilateral Commission. He has had a long association with the Rockefeller family, not only with his positions at Chase Bank and the Trilateral Commission, but also through membership of the Trust Committee of Rockefeller Group, Inc. (RGI), which he joined in 1987. That entity managed, at one time, the Rockefeller Center on behalf of the numerous members of the Rockefeller clan. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International House in Manhattan, NY. He was a founding member of the Trilateral Commission and is a long time member of the Bilderberg Group.

In January 2008, he endorsed Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama for President.[19]

On April 8, 2008, he was the featured speaker at "The Economic Club of New York" and spoke about the issues and causes of the 2008 US recession, and critiqued the 2008 US financial system and the 2008 Federal Reserve policies.[20]

Paul Volcker appeared in the Charles Ferguson's movie Inside Job. He was interviewed about current wall street CEO's income, claiming that they are "excessive." [21]

Volcker was an economic advisor to President Barack Obama,[22][23] heading the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.[24] During the financial crisis, Volcker has been extremely critical of banks, saying that their response to the financial crisis has been inadequate, and that more regulation of banks is called for.[25][26][27] Specifically Volcker has called for a breakup of the nation's largest banks, prohibiting deposit-taking institutions from engaging in riskier activities such as proprietary trading, private equity, and hedge fund investments.[28][29] Volcker left the board when its charter expired on February 6, 2011, without being included in discussions on how the board would be reconstituted.[30]

On January 21, 2010, President Barack Obama proposed bank regulations which he dubbed "The Volcker Rule", in reference to Volcker's aggressive pursuit of these regulations.[31] Volcker appeared with the president at the announcement. The proposed rules would prevent commercial banks from owning and investing in hedge funds and private equity, and limit the trading they do for their own accounts.[32]

Volcker has been known to defy the stereotype of a Wall Street insider. A profile in The Week magazine for February 5, 2010, claimed that Volcker

doesn't even buy the conventional wisdom that "financial innovation" is necessary for a healthy economy. In fact, he likes to say, "the only useful banking innovation was the invention of the ATM."[33]

On April 6, 2010 at the New-York Historical Society's Global Economic Panel, Volcker commented that the United States should consider adding a national sales tax similar to the Value Added Tax (VAT) imposed in European Countries, stating "If, at the end of the day, we need to raise taxes, we should raise taxes".[34]

World Justice Project

Paul Volcker serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project. The World Justice Project works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the rule of law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.

Personal life

Volcker married Barbara Bahnson, the daughter of a physician, on September 11, 1954. She died on June 14, 1998, having suffered from lifelong diabetes, as well as rheumatoid arthritis. They had two children, Janice, a nurse and a Georgetown University graduate,[35] and James, a research assistant and a New York University graduate[36] who was born with cerebral palsy, as well as four grandchildren.[9][37][38] Over Thanksgiving, 2009, he became engaged to marry Anke Dening, a long-time assistant.[39] They eloped in February 2010.[40]

Volcker is an avid fly-fisherman,[41] having recounted, "The greatest strategic error of my adult life was to take my wife to Maine on our honeymoon on a fly-fishing trip."[42][43] Volcker is also known as "Tall Paul" for his height of 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m),[44][45] standing exactly a foot (30 cm) taller than his wife when they first met.[9]

Works

  • Changing Fortunes, Paul Volcker and Toyoo Gyohten, Crown, May 26, 1992, ISBN 978-1586487522
  • Forbes Great Minds Of Business, Fred Smith, Peter Lynch, Andrew Grove, Paul Volcker (Author), Pleasant Rowland, John Wiley and Paul A. Volcker, Simon and Schuster Audio, October 1, 1997, ISBN 978-0671577223
  • Good Intentions Corrupted: The Oil for Food Scandal And the Threat to the U.N., Paul Volcker, Jeffrey A. Meyer and Mark G. Califano, Public Affairs Gorgias Press, August 28, 2006, ISBN 978-1586484729

See also

References

  1. ^ Rebello, Kathy (1987-06-03). "Inflation fighter: 'A time to leave'". USA TODAY.
  2. ^ "Obama Announces Economic Advisory Board". Whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  3. ^ "Obama Names Volcker to Head New Economic Panel" [1], Accessed November 26, 2008.
  4. ^ a b [2]
  5. ^ http://www.teaneck.org/virtualvillage/Manager/volcker2.html
  6. ^ Treaster, Joseph B. "Paul Volcker: The Making of a Financial Legend", Accessed July 6, 2007."Donald W. Maloney, another Teaneck High School graduate, entered Princeton along with Volcker. Although they had been in the same homeroom at Teaneck High for several years and had been high achievers, they had not been especially close."
  7. ^ "Honorary Degrees / UD Alumni Relations". Udconnection.com. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  8. ^ https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/news/news_releases/2011/05/node/311439
  9. ^ a b c Joseph B. Treaster, Paul Volcker: the making of a financial legend Google Books. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey (2004). ISBN 0-471-42812-4 Retrieved May 21, 2011 Cite error: The named reference "treaster" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  10. ^ Robert D. Hershey, Jr. "Volcker Out after 8 Years as Federal Reserve Chief; Reagan Chooses Greenspan" The New York Times (June 3, 1987). Retrieved May 21, 2011
  11. ^ "Paul A. Volcker - Council on Foreign Relations". Cfr.org. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  12. ^ "To Treat the Fed as Volcker Did". The New York Times. 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
  13. ^ Shull, Bernard. 2005. The Fourth Branch: The Federal Reserve's Unlikely Rise To Power And Influence. Praeger/Greenwood. ISBN 1567206247. p. 142.
  14. ^ Gardels, Nathan. Stiglitz: The Fall of Wall Street Is to Market Fundamentalism What the Fall of the Berlin Wall Was to , The Huffington Post, September 16, 2008. Accessed September 27, 2009.
  15. ^ Chan, Sewell (2010-12-11) The Fed? Ron Paul's Not a Fan, New York Times
  16. ^ Treaster (2004), p. x.
  17. ^ Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme - Second Interim Report (29 March 2005) p.77
  18. ^ Traub, James. 2006. The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American Power. Picardor/New York. p. 420.
  19. ^ Calmes, Jackie (2008-01-31). "Volcker Joins List of Obama Backers". Washington Wire. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  20. ^ The Economic Club of New York: 8 April 2008 Transcript 101st Year, 395th Meeting, (8 April 2008) p.2, and pp.5-8
  21. ^ 101st Year, 395th Meeting, (8 April 2008) p.2, and pp.5-8
  22. ^ "Kudlow, Lawrence, "Where's Bernanke's Inner Volcker?" ''Townhall.com'' (June 27, 2008)". Townhall.com. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  23. ^ Transcript of Third Presidential Debate, October 15, 2008. http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/debates/transcripts/third-presidential-debate.html
  24. ^ ""President-elect Barack Obama establishes President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board" ''change.gov''". Change.gov. 2008-11-26. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  25. ^ Werdigier, Julia (2009-12-08). "Volcker Criticizes Calls to Limit Bank Regulation". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  26. ^ Murray, Alan (2009-12-14). "Paul Volcker: Think More Boldly". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
  27. ^ Rose, Charlie (2009-12-30). "Paul Volcker: The Lion Lets Loose". Business Week. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
  28. ^ Johnson, Simon (2009-12-17). "Paul Volcker Finds a Hammer". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  29. ^ McGrane, Victoria (2010-01-04). "'Big is bad' catches on in Congress". The Politico. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  30. ^ Onaran, Yalman (2010-01-06). "Volcker Sidelined as Obama Reshapes Economic Advisory Panel". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
  31. ^ David Cho, and Binyamin Appelbaum (January 22). "Obama's 'Volcker Rule' shifts power away from Geithner". The Washington Post. Retrieved 13 February 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  32. ^ Conway, Brendan (2010-01-26). "'Volcker Plan' Bank Units Worth Tens Of Billions". Dow Jones & Company. Retrieved 2010-01-27. [dead link]
  33. ^ "Spotlight" in The Week, 2010 February 5 (Volume 10 Issue 449), p. 38.
  34. ^ By GEOFF EARLE in Washington and TONY DAVENPORT in NY (2010-04-07). "Bam man pitching national sales tax". Nypost.com. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  35. ^ "Janice Volcker Is Married". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 1981-09-20. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  36. ^ "WEDDINGS; Martha DeJong and James Volcker". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 1993-08-01. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  37. ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 1998-06-16. Retrieved 2008-03-26. {{cite news}}: Text "VOLCKER, BARBARA" ignored (help)
  38. ^ "Speakers Platform Speakers Bureau: Paul Volcker, Keynote Speaker On: Economics, Global Affairs, Finance / Tax". Speakers Platform. Archived from the original on 2008-02-23. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
  39. ^ Loomis, Carol (2009-12-24). "Paul Volcker is Engaged!". CNN. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  40. ^ Caren Bohan and Kristina Cooke, Reuters accessdate=2010-03-12
  41. ^ Faber, Eberhard (1986-09-29). "Fishing with Volcker". Fortune Magazine. CNN. p. 4. Retrieved 2009-12-22.
  42. ^ Lyons, Nick (1987-05-03). "Gone off fly-fishing". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
  43. ^ Russell, George (1987-06-15). "The New Mr. Dollar". Time Magazine. Time Inc. p. 4. Retrieved 2008-03-19.
  44. ^ Freeland, Chrystia (2008-04-11). Man in the News: Paul Volcker. Financial Times. Retrieved on 2008-11-27 from http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto041120081500308382.
  45. ^ Cuff, Daniel F. (1987-09-03). "BUSINESS PEOPLE; Of Volcker's Laundry And Fiscal Restraint". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2008-03-25.

Further reading

  • Treaster, Joseph (2004). Paul Volcker: the making of a financial legend. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-42812-1.
  • Morris, Charles W. (2009). The Sages: Warren Buffett, George Soros, Paul Volcker, and the Maelstrom of Markets. PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-752-2.
Political offices
Preceded by President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
1975–1979 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chairman of the Federal Reserve
1979–1987 		Succeeded by
New office Chairperson of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board
2009–present 		Succeeded byas Chairperson of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness

Template:Persondata

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