Fly Fishing People: Paul Volcker

Former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, who by any estimate is a large guy (a friend commented that he “must be about 6′ 7″”), is also an avid fly fisher — so avid that he was invited to speak at the Wednesday night dinner given by The American Museum of Fly Fishing in honor of Joan Wulff. Apparently he has recovered well from the worst mistake of his life, which was not a macro-economic decision but one made shortly after getting married. “Volcker kicked off a serious recession in order to slay inflation. From an objective standpoint, his decision made economic sense, but it was a political death knell. Volcker’s clearly aware of the fact, joking that the ‘greatest strategic error’ in his life was not the recession, but taking his wife fly-fishing in Maine for their honeymoon.” On SeekingAlpha.com.