Reuters: Paul Volcker Leaving the White House

I was surprised that he hadn't left already, when the so-called "Volcker Rule" was effectively rendered null and void by the usual suspects on Wall Street that extends to various branches and agencies of this government.

Reuters reports:

(Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker plans to leave his role as head of a panel of experts advising President Barack Obama on the economy, sources familiar with the decision said on Wednesday.

The departure of Volcker, 83, as head of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board is among a series of changes under review at the White House.

The decision to leave the board was Volcker's. A source close to him said he was ready to continue to advise Obama on an informal basis as often as the president would like.

Volcker, who became a legendary figure on Wall Street when as Fed chief he broke the back of double-digit U.S. inflation in the early 1980s by sharply raising interest rates, began advising Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign and has wielded clout on issues ranging from financial regulation to fiscal policy.

The former Fed chairman was the driving force behind the "Volcker Rule," a provision in last year's financial reform bill that puts limits on Wall Street banks' proprietary trading.

Many on Wall Street vigorously fought the Volcker Rule and some sought to portray Volcker as out of touch with the modern financial system. But he has also received credit for reining in financial industry excesses that helped prompt the global economic crisis.

"My feeling is job well done," said Thomas Russo, a partner in Gardner Russo & Gardner, a Pennsylvania investment manager with assets under management of $2.38 billion.

Job well done, indeed. Wall Street banksters got what they wanted. Prop trading simply changed the name. Insider trading is not only rampant, but that's how Wall Street has operated for decades.

But at least, as Zero Hedge points out, Volcker has fought high inflation. What's left with us is a mad professor from Princeton, printing $100 billion a month to create inflation, thinking he can control it 100%. Oh, and the president who likes to campaign but cannot be bothered to do the actual work of governing (or at least get out of the way and cause no major harm).

We have a bright future here in this country, don't we? Wall Street is left free to defraud the taxpayers - whether it's the foreclosuregate or a bogus settlement with GSEs (by Bank of America), and continue to stash away the money that the mad professor at the Fed gives them almost every single day. In return, they will do their utmost best to prop up the stock market so we can feel rich as we pay $5 for a gallon of gasoline or $8 for a loaf of bread, or $20 for a pair of cotton socks.

Reuters' article above also reports that Gene Sperling is set to replace Larry Summers. Mr. Sperling was a consultant to Goldman Sachs and earned close to $900,000 in 2008.

And the man set to become Obama's chief of staff, William Daley, works for J.P.Morgan Chase, and the brother of Richard Daley.

Volcker is right to leave from this sewage of the White House. He should have left long time ago.

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