Reviews for Paul Volcker

The average rating for Paul Volcker based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-07-22 00:00:00 William Shaw Former Chairman of the Board of The Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker was an economic surgeon, who undertook the task of curbing the devaluation of the US Dollar in 1979 until 1987. His philosophy, unlike his predecessors who had failed to curb the inflation, was to not implement the solution gradually but rather swiftly. He believed that this strategy would recover the American economy the quickest, even though the common people would suffer for a short period of time initially. Needles to say, this didn’t go well with the politicians. His decisions may have directly affected two Presidential elections. Despite having a hidden animosity, the politicians showed utmost respect for Volcker’s decisions and stood by his side. This book recounts this tale and many other less known ones, including the ones from Volcker’s personal life. The book draws a picture of Volcker’s life from his birth to his retirement, although, not in a chronological order. It is divided into ten chapters each highlighting a phase in Volcker’s life and how he handled it. We get to understand Paul as a person, with extraordinary integrity and intellectual firepower, who meets life’s challenges dispassionately; and he’s had some serious challenges. His wife had Type 1 diabetes and his son suffered from cerebral palsy. Despite having a very powerful job, his limited income and the medical expenses of his family meant they had to live rather frugally. Also, his family wasn’t able to move along with him as his career required him to shuttle between New York and Washington DC. As a child, Paul had to repeat kindergarten twice because his teachers thought the he was immature as he wouldn’t participate much in the class. But soon, his intellectual caliber shined through his years of School and Colleges. He eventually held more than 50 honorary degrees including three from his Alma maters: Princeton, Harvard, and the London School of Economics. The book further goes into the details of the trajectory of his illustrious career and cites his various achievements in each of his job. Although this book presents significant detail, it doesn’t try to get deeper than the events. There are no explicitly mentioned life lessons or Paul Volcker’s Rules for Success. Indirectly, this book brings into attention a piece of Economic History which is always repeating itself somewhere in the world. We do get a glimpse of the personal aspects of holding an extremely powerful job post, especially the toll it can take on families of such bureaucrats and the sacrifices they make in order to keep the world running.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-12-26 00:00:00 Michal Mccolm AMAZING READ.