Paul Volcker, 1927-2019: How He Saved the World from Inflation

By Shlomo Maital

Paul Volcker 1927-2019

  Paul Volcker has passed away; he was 92. Volcker served as Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank, appointed by Jimmy Carter in 1979.

   Volcker was a giant, physically, standing 6 ft. 7 inches tall – but also a giant in wisdom and courage. The US was afflicted by double digit inflation, from 1979 to 1981, driven by cost-push price rises and soaring oil prices.   Volcker quickly understood the threat. With the dollar serving as the world’s major, perhaps only, globally-accepted currency, US inflation threatened not only the US but also the global trading system, then struggling from recessions in 1973 and again in 1978/9.

   Volcker acted with what then seemed like outrageous boldness. He raised Fed interest rates to 21%.   This was unheard of. I can only imagine what today’s President, Donald J. Trump, would have said, had he (heaven forbid) have been president at that time. Trump wants zero interest rates, no matter what the economy needs, and has hassled current Fed Chair Jerome Powell over his unwillingness to promote cheap credit at all cost and at all times.

     Volcker’s move put a halt to the inflation, stopping it in its tracks, but also ground the economy to a halt, causing a recession, or what came to be known as stagflation. Partly as a result Jimmy Carter became a one-term President, defeated in November 1980 by Ronald Reagan. It was ironic that Carter lost partly because of a very wise and strong appointment that he made, to the Fed.

     We must remember Volcker and the strong independence of the Federal Reserve system that prevailed, until now. No President has dared messing with the Fed’s independence, until now. Research shows that nations with strong independent central banks fare far better than those where governments make their central banks into private money-printers. Trump endangers today’s Fed, and as a result, endangers the world. We should remember Volcker fondly, and recall the lesson he taught us.