More Evidence of Volcker Being Marginalized (ugh!)

[girl gone mad]

More Evidence of Volcker Being Marginalized
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/03/more-evidence-of-volcker-being.html

We have what is arguably the best Fed chairman ever ready to roll up his sleeves during the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

Team Obama has asked him to work on.....the tax code. From Reuters:

A panel led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker will study options for U.S. tax reform and report back to President Barack Obama by December 4, the White House budget director said on Wednesday.

Peter Orszag, director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget, said the panel would study tax simplification, tackling tax evasion, and reducing "corporate welfare."

He said the board would look at streamlining U.S. tax credits and being more aggressive at bringing in some $300 billion in annual uncollected tax revenues....

Volcker was chairman of the Federal Reserve during the Carter and Reagan administrations. He is now chairman of President Barack Obama's new Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Orszag said the board would select a task force to study tax reform. He said Obama would like to see board members Laura Tyson, Martin Feldstein, Roger Ferguson and William Donaldson as part of that team.

[On the Road]

1. While I Have Great Respect for Volcker,

I think Bernanke is better equipped for this particular kind of crisis. Volcker's distaste for the merest hint of inflation could easily result in too restrictive a set of policies.

[notesdev]

2. The job does need to be done

The tax code is an abomination, it's been so rigged with bought-and-paid-for exemptions for well-heeled donors. Volker is one of few people I would actually trust to get the job done right.

[AnneD]

3. An honest civil servant....

I really wish it were him instead of Geitner. A weak dollar guarantees inflation. Everyone on Obama's team except Volker got us into this mess and many are in bed with Goldman Sachs. Color me distrustful of Obama's Economic team