Paul Volcker

[lomiller]

Seeing as he was just appointed to lead Obama’s economic recovery advisory board he’s probably worth discussing.

I’m of mixed feelings about him. His theories regarding how to manage an economy revolutionized the Fed and led to one of prosperous periods in US history, and across the western world. On the other had the economic pain he inflicted in the early 80’s to get there was extreme.

[balrog666]

He's a party hack, he always has been, and he'll do whatever he is told, including taking the blame for not solving the current economic mess.

[lomiller]

He's a party hack, he always has been, and he'll do whatever he is told,

Which party do you see him as a hack for?

[balrog666]

Which party do you see him as a hack for?

Whichever one is currently paying him.

[drkitten]

Whichever one is currently paying him.

In the reality-influenced world, that's called "professionalism" and is generally considered to be a good thing.

[Francesca R]

Agreed. It would be a bit of a drag if the entire civil service of a country needed to be sacked and a new lot hired every election.

[balrog666]

Agreed. It would be a bit of a drag if the entire civil service of a country needed to be sacked and a new lot hired every election.


Check out the Plum Book, only the figureheads get changed.

[drkitten]

Check out the Plum Book, only the figureheads get changed.

And, again, in the reality-influenced world, this is generally considered to be a good thing.

The people who make policy change as part of the policy changing. The people who do what policy tells them to do don't need to be changed.

Would you rather fire all the police every time city council passes a new local ordinance?

[Francesca R]

Those police are corrupt, doing the mayor's bidding one year and then dropping him like a brick and pandering to his former opponent the moment she gets in. And the people who paint the white lines down the middle of the road have no principles, doing it whether a fascist or a socialist is in power.

[balrog666]

And, again, in the reality-influenced world, this is generally considered to be a good thing.

The people who make policy change as part of the policy changing. The people who do what policy tells them to do don't need to be changed.

Would you rather fire all the police every time city council passes a new local ordinance?


I wasn't objecting.

But the problem there is not so much that senior bureaucrats can't be replaced at a whim but that under civil service rules (and Congressional protections) they can't be fired or removed even for gross incompetence and abject malfeasance.