If you happened to watch former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker's testimony on Capitol Hill yesterday, you were treated to some subtle comedy and tactful snubbing.
Volcker was testifying before retiring Senator Dodd's committee on his so-called "Volcker Rule."
After reading a lengthy, clear and comprehensive prepared statement, Volcker entertained questions.
The first one was from the witless Connecticut Senator, himself. Dodd began by presumptuously asking "Paul" to elaborate on how the matter of detecting proprietary trading would be handled. Dodd continued by pontificating on the subject of how difficult this would be, and generally exposed, despite years on the committee, his near-total lack of understanding of modern commercial and investment banking activities.
Volcker responded in an icy tone, fairly dripping with disdain, beginning with a pointedly formal, non-personal "Mr. Chairman."
He then went on to implicitly spank Dodd by casually noting that the answers to Dodd's questions were contained in the text which Volcker had just finished reading.
It was a priceless moment. I think Dodd was probably the only person either in the room or watching via cable coverage who didn't grasp how he'd been humiliated by Volcker in a single sentence.
There's a reason Paul Volcker is iconic, and it was clearly on display yesterday.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment