After a decade in the securities business, Bill Fleckenstein began to see the writing on the wall at 2051 Constitution Avenue in the mid-1990s. Around that time, the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building—at the time occupied by chairman Alan Greenspan—had a stark shift in philosophy and governance style. Once a student of the…

News Analysis The legacy of former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker, a Ronald Reagan appointee, is frequently invoked by financial media outlets in light of today’s high inflation, which has reached levels not seen since these men occupied office. Many wonder if current Fed Chair Jerome Powell has the resolve to combat inflation as his…

Commentary It’s like Jeopardy on acid. I’m talking about the blizzard of guesses surrounding the Fed’s rate-hiking plans to combat this bout of inflation. What is 50 basis points in March, Alex? I’ll take seven rate hikes this year for a thousand.  The reality is most of this speculation doesn’t matter. The Fed has never…

Commentary It’s become fashionable recently to invoke the memory of the late Paul Volcker, with consumer prices rising at their fastest rate since he ostensibly vanquished the double-digit price inflation of his watch. Saddled himself with the political mess he inherited from a tanking U.S. dollar and soaring prices, former President Jimmy Carter finally appointed…

News Analysis In 1970 inflation wasn’t excessive but it was becoming a problem. It worried many Americans, including those facing re-election in 1972. The annual inflation rate in the United States was only 5.7 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the prime interest rate had climbed to 8 percent, the Federal…

Commentary In late 1979, then-Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker announced a bold plan to get rid of the high inflation that had plagued the U.S. economy for much of the 1970s—by eventually raising interest rates to 20 percent. The move sent the U.S. economy spiraling to a severe recession for the subsequent few years, but…