Volcker View on Fed
Though some lawmakers tried unsuccessfully this year to strip the Federal Reserve Board of its bank regulatory responsibilities, former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, for one, is happy they failed.
Speaking at a conference Friday on the history of the Fed at the American Enterprise Institute, Volcker said bank regulation was an important authority for the central bank to possess.
"There is really a limited amount of time you can look at your belly button, worrying about what monetary policy should be in the next two weeks, and I don't think they spend enough time on regulation," Volcker said.
He praised a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that created a second vice chairman at the Fed whose primary responsibility will be oversight of the regulatory work done by the central bank. In the past, the Fed's focus on regulation has fluctuated depending on the chairman's interest, Volcker said.
Still, Volcker said he worries that the Fed eventually may be asked to bite off more than it can chew.
"At some point I do worry that the Federal Reserve takes on too much," he said.
Stick It to Bankers!
Bankers may have become used to being beaten up in congressional hearings, but a new music video, "Get Back in Line," by Motorhead, a British heavy metal band, takes that notion literally.
The video of the Christmas single is not Santa-approved. It dramatizes a fantasy vigilante scene in which rockers beat up bankers, crashing a black-tie casino event where they throw trays of Champagne glasses at bankers; crush their roulette wheel and pummel them with broken furniture, bottles and fists.
As if the images weren't harsh enough, the lyrics take a decidedly bitter tone.
"We live on borrowed time, hope turned to dust. Nothing is forgiven, we fight for every crust. … We are the chosen ones, we don't know right from wrong. We don't know what's going on, don't know enough to care."
New Panel Members
House Financial Services Committee Chairman-to-be Rep. Spencer Bachus welcomed new Republican members to the committee Friday with a press release saying they would help end the "bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the discredited doctrine of 'too big to fail.' "
The new GOP members are: Reps. Francisco Canseco of Texas; Robert Dold, Illinois; Sean Duffy, Wisconsin; Michael Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania; Michael Grimm, New York; Nan Hayworth, New York; Bill Huizenga, Michigan; Randy Hultgren, Illinois; Robert Hurt, Virginia; Blaine Luetkemeyer, Missouri; Steve Pearce, New Mexico; Steve Stivers, Ohio, and Lynn Westmoreland, Georgia.
Bunning's Farewell
A lot of things could be said about retiring Sen. Jim Bunning, but one thing is for sure: When it comes to his feelings about the Fed, he's consistent.
In his farewell address in the Senate last week, the longtime member of the Senate Banking Committee recounted his public service — and took some parting shots at the central bank and the Dodd-Frank Act's failure to clip its wings.
"Worst of all, the bill did nothing to rein in the largest single cause of the current financial crisis and most other financial crises in the past — flawed monetary policy by the Federal Reserve. Nothing Congress has done will stop the next bubble or collapse if the Fed continues with its easy-money policies."
He was at times the Fed's only real adversary, he said.
"For many years I was a lonely critic of the Federal Reserve. Practically no one questioned Alan Greenspan, despite his policies' causing two recessions and two asset bubbles," he said. "I was the lone vote against Ben Bernanke in 2006 because I thought he would continue the Greenspan monetary and regulatory policies. Well, he did. He kept up the flawed monetary policy and was slow to regulate."
But Bunning said the time was finally coming when others may stand up to Bernanke.
"Congress must act to rein in Chairman Bernanke and the Fed before they destroy our currency and permanently damage our economy and financial system," he said. "Regional Federal Reserve bank presidents are speaking up and voting against Fed policies, and even some members of the Fed board are recognizing the danger of Chairman Bernanke's policies. I am more hopeful now than I have ever been that Chairman Bernanke and the Fed will not be allowed to continue their flawed policies and acting as an arm of the Treasury."
