Unwavering Paul Volcker by Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker Monetary Policy International ¥98.2 Purchase
Paul A. Volcker
Born in September 1927 in Cape Town, New Jersey, USA.
From 1945 to 1952, he studied at Princeton University, Harvard University, and the London School of Economics and Political Science.
In 1971, as Nixon's deputy treasury secretary for monetary affairs, Volcker led the decoupling of the dollar from gold and the end of the Bretton Woods system.
In 1975, he became president of the New York Fed.
From 1979 to 1987, Volcker was chairman of the Federal Reserve, taming the "inflation wild horse" and stabilizing the U.S. economy. During this period, Volcker, as a major witness, participated in the negotiations of the Plaza Accord, bailed out U.S. financial institutions such as Chrysler and continental Bank of Illinois, and handled the Savings and Loans Association crisis.
In 1996, the Volcker Commission was set up to investigate assets held by Swiss banks belonging to holocaust victims.
In 2000, he was appointed Chairman of the 19-member International Accounting Standards Committee to establish international accounting standards.
In 2004, he was responsible for investigating corruption in the United Nations Oil-for-Food Project.
In 2007, he was responsible for reviewing the work of the Institutional Integrity Department of the World Bank and its effectiveness in combating corruption.
After the 2008 financial crisis, he chaired the Oba President Ma Economic Recovery Advisory Committee, proposing the "Volcker Rule" for strengthening financial regulation.
Since 2013, the Volcker Alliance has been established to address the challenges of effectively implementing public policies and rebuild public trust in the government.
1. Decision-makers of major international financial events shall comprehensively restore the historical scene. It helps readers to deepen their understanding of the financial world and the complex historical, cultural and political factors behind financial events. 2. A grand economic and financial history. It helps readers to understand the real financial world from a new perspective and deeply understand the essence and internal logic behind financial appearances. 3. A revelation of financial regulation and governance. It helps readers to stand on the shoulders of financial giants to examine history, improve the current situation, and think about the future. 4. A reference book on decision-making and management wisdom. It helps readers to refer to how to make professional, forward-looking and rational choices in complex situations. 5. Easy to understand and interesting. Although the book "Unswerving" adopts an almost white narrative method, the reader will not feel dull and boring when reading, and the language of the book is always permeated with casual humor and wisdom, which is quite an ancient style of near-term meaning and small-mindedness.
As Chairman of the Federal Reserve (1979-1987), Paul Volcker tamed the "inflation wild horse" of the U.S. economy and restored the world's confidence in central bankers. In the long and distinguished financial career of serving six U.S. presidents, this remarkable achievement is just one of the key episodes. His insights into world-changing events such as the end of the Bretton Woods system, the closure of the "golden window" and the 2008 financial crisis provide the world with vivid and lasting lessons: stable prices, sound finance, disciplined and efficient government, these "three truths" are essential. In a language of wisdom, humor and erudition, Volcker recounts the major events of his decades of career, vividly showing how he and the world's politicians, central bankers and financiers responded to crises in a turbulent and unpredictable world economic and political environment. This book not only shows Volcker's unswerving, upright, professional and forward-looking pursuit of economic growth and financial stability and development throughout his life, but also reflects the history of the reform and evolution of the international financial and monetary systems, reflecting the context of world economic development.
The conscience and responsibility of an elderly person
Zhu Min
President of the National Institute of Finance
Former Vice President of the International Monetary Fund
At the end of 2017, I went to New York for the G20 Celebrity Panel and also visited my teacher, Paul Volcker. In August 2016, I stepped down from the International Monetary Fund and, in a blink of an eye, hadn't seen him for more than a year. I invited him and his wife Anker to dinner at a restaurant near his house. As soon as he entered the door, I greeted him. He was happy and looked refreshed. He sat down, winked at me and said, "I'm starting to write." "I was surprised and delighted. For the past 10 years, I've been advising, and even urging, him to write books. Although there are several books about him in the bookstore, they are only written until the end of his Fed term. And I've always thought that his life away from the Fed was more exciting. Out of social responsibility, he stepped down from his position as chairman of the Federal Reserve and was commissioned to actively participate in several major social credibility events, such as the investigation and restructuring of the Enron-Arthur Andersen incident, the investigation and rectification of the corruption case of the Oil-for-Food Project in Iraq by the United Nations, and the anti-corruption investigation by the World Bank. These things are actually more complicated, more difficult, more reflect his ability, wisdom, values and attitude towards life, and will be more enlightening to future generations.
Although I repeatedly pushed him to write a complete autobiography and found collaborators for him, he always retorted: "Is anyone still reading these old things?" Let me do something concrete. Feeling that more and more college graduates are employed on Wall Street, he donated all his savings and established the "Volcker Alliance", a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the research, discipline setting and development of public administration disciplines for undergraduate and graduate students in colleges and universities, promoting the development and cooperation of global public management education, encouraging universities to give more and better attention to public service training, so that young people will become interested in public services and re-improve the field of public services. Make the field a challenging good place to work.
Now, suddenly, he began to think about writing books. I couldn't help but rejoice.
"How's it going? Is there anything I can do?" I asked.
"I just wrote the second chapter, and I'm still writing about college life." He replied.
"You write slowly, don't get tired." Then I turned to Anker.
"He must write it himself, and it is an old-fashioned handwriting, first writing word by word on the paper, and then revising, often full of scribbling, sitting for four or five hours, and not listening." Anker grumbled, and Paul Volcker smiled at her.
Fast forward to another year. At Caijing's annual book conference in late 2018, keeping at it: the quest for sound money and good government was named "Book of the Year 2018." Caijing commissioned me to send him an email asking if he could do a video interview to play at the annual book conference. Contrary to the usual same-day email exchanges, I didn't hear back from him until a week later. He said in an email that the book was nominated and he should have said a few words, but recently because of his poor health, the doctor would not let him go out, so he could only do it at home, maybe he could make a very short video. He stressed that it was "short". I was giggling -- it wasn't his style, he never talked about health, he was very independent. Every time I tried to help him down the steps or up the stairs, he wouldn't let me, and I had to insist on coming by myself. I had a hunch that he was weak.
At Caijing's annual book conference, the video was played. As soon as he appeared on the screen, my heart sank and my tears fell. Volker had lost so much weight that both cheeks were sunken in, and his big eyes were deeply sunken in. His voice was somewhat hoarse, and his hands were on his knees, moving occasionally. He no longer had gestures, nor did he have the same radiance as before. Of course, he's 91 years old. But I was still shocked by his sharp aging. He said slowly:
"I vowed never to write a memoir, but a year or two ago I changed my mind. It's no secret that the political situation in the United States today is frustrating, and the lack of trust in their own government by American citizens is very unusual, but it has been so common in recent years that an organization that conducts polls almost every year shows that less than 20 percent of Americans think that the government is doing the right thing most of the time, which is not very good news for democracy, and you can't maintain democracy without people having the minimum confidence in the government. Therefore, I think it is necessary to summarize some points from my experience, including the importance of central banks (independent central banks), the importance of maintaining price stability, which the United States has maintained for a long time, but it must always be carefully maintained. There is also a larger issue that does not directly involve monetary policy, and that is that we do need to have basic confidence in the government, which is my concern in the old age. ”
This is the book that unfolds before us.
In the book, he reviews and summarizes his decades of public service career, presenting experiences and lessons, and behind the story is Paul Volcker's integrity and courage, responsibility and sense of mission. Every time history and society encountered a crisis, he always stepped forward with great moral courage. Since the Fed left office, the descendants of the Massacre have claimed compensation from the Swiss bank, which is facing a serious reputational crisis, and he presides over the fair handling of the case. After the Enron incident, the accounting firm Arthur Andersen was also involved in falsifying accounts and destroying evidence. He deeply recognized the importance of an objective and impartial accounting firm to the global financial industry and presided over the investigation and restructuring of Arthur Andersen, re-emphasizing the objectivity, impartiality, rigour and excellence of the accounting industry. The corruption of the United Nations oil-for-food project in Iraq, which had seriously affected the reputation of the United Nations, led the organization of the investigation and rectification of the case. Out of the same sense of social responsibility, he once again stepped forward and presided over an anti-corruption investigation against the World Bank. When the 2008 global financial crisis erupted, he was impatient and ashamed of Wall Street's greed. At the age of 80, he served as chairman of the Obama administration's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
After each crisis, Paul Volcker did not stop at the praise of the world for his efforts to turn the tide, always with his amazing insight, summed up the experience and lessons, and spared no effort to promote legislation and fundamentally plug loopholes. Arthur Arthur Andersen failed to restructure, but he proposed new accounting firm governance reforms before the IASB, which promoted reforms in the accounting profession and promoted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the U.S. Congress. In two anti-corruption campaigns at the United Nations and the World Bank, he pushed for changes to the statutes of both agencies to strengthen anti-corruption principles and functions. After the 2008 global financial crisis, he pushed up to the enormous pressure on Wall Street and introduced the "Volcker Rules", which eventually bear his name, proposing a new regulatory framework for segmentation.
"It's so hard!"
One springy afternoon, Paul Volcker and I sighed over tea at the frontage café below his office.
Paul Volcker said solemnly:
"The responsibility of civil servants is not only to solve problems, but also to establish systems and environments in which problems do not recur. That's the mission. ”
I don't need to introduce this book again- this is an old man who in the later stages of life, when society needs him, desperately trying his best to leave his wisdom and sincere heart for the world.