"Worried about inflation? I've been worried about inflation ever since I went to college and my mother would give me an allowance that wasn't big enough, in wartime"
(Paul Volcker, Princeton '49 - on October 26, 2010)
When Giants Walked The Earth: Thirty years ago, Paul Volcker strode the stage with my graduating class at Hamilton College ('80) as he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Yesterday, I had the chance to recite for him his words that had inspired me that day, about the role of the entrepreneur in society, when I met the towering former (1979-1987) Federal Reserve Bank Chairman at the Global Absolute Return Congress in Boston.
Towering? This gentleman is 6' 7" tall. Up close, he struck me instantly as a gentle, very elegant vulture, a Leonard Baskin man/bird hybrid. He's a warm guy, and he was touched that someone would remember that day, and his particular honor: "It was really the first time I received one of those!" When I mentioned that he'd used a word that day that one of my freshly-educated classmates had never heard before, Paul the cut-up asked me, "Was it 'integrity'?"
Today Volcker is 1st Chair of President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
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| Porter / Volcker - Haircut Review: |
"Well how much is it?" "About $540M, down from $743M before the crisis." "Hmm... about a 25% haircut - not too bad." "Anything in particular that they should be doing?" "Keep doing what they're doing!"
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| Commencement Program - Hamilton College, Clinton NY, May 25, 1980 / October 26, 2010 |
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