Paul Volcker, Former Fed Chairman (22% overnight interest rates 1979 & "fix" SS), Endorses Obama

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601073&sid=aaPYvchwqGDA&refer=election

Paul Volcker, Former Fed Chairman, Endorses Obama (Update1)

By Craig Torres and Kristen Jensen

Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama won the endorsement of former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.<snip>

Volcker's statement assailed ``partisan bickering,'' ideological extremes and the ``narrow'' interests of lobbyists that he said have taken over American politics and eroded faith in government.

Challenges such as shoring up Social Security, providing affordable health care and protecting the environment from global warming require ``a willingness to break out of the engrained habits of partisan politics,'' said the former Fed chairman, who served from 1979 to 1987.<snip>

Volcker risked his reputation on a 1979 strategy to raise interest rates and crush inflation that soared to 13 percent that year. His policy produced a 16-month recession in 1981 and 1982 and a 10.8 percent unemployment rate in December 1982. But the consumer price index, which had risen to 14.8 percent in the year ending March 1980, fell to 6.8 percent two years later and 3.6 percent in March 1983.<snip>

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So happy Clinton kept him on. He was doing such a crackerjack job.

he treated it - over treated - that problem causing a 16 month recession and electing Reagan.

Why am I not surprised.

There are alot of things I like about Obama, but I don't see how you square that endorsement with being a change candidate.