Alex Pollock
Alex J. Pollock is a Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute. He has been the Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Financial Research in the U.S. Treasury; a distinguished senior fellow at the R Street Institute in Washington, DC; a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Hom ...
Alex 's episode appearances
Episode 221: Are We Really Surprised We’re Having Another Banking Crisis?-Alex Pollock & Steve Dewey
It looks like the bill is finally coming due after decades of reckless monetary policy and out of control federal spending. After 40 years of relatively stable prices, we now have raging inflation. Interest rates have risen dramatically. Mortgage rates have more than doubled. And commercial banks are now sitting on more than $600 billion of unrealized bond losses. Of course, and as expected, with the Silicon Valley Bank bailout, the Regulators have pulled out their default playbook declaring yet another institution systematically risky, taking another step toward the federalization of our banking system. But there’s also something new to worry about: regulatory mission drift. The Fed’s historical mandates are to 1) promote price stability and 2) full employment and a safe and sound banking system. But instead, the Fed – and the Treasury – have changed their priorities to promote the progressive policies of climate change and equity. Joining me to talk all this through are Alex Pollock and Steve Dewey. Both are grizzled veterans of the banking and regulatory world, which, as Alex points out, has been hit […]
about Alex
Alex J. Pollock is a Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute. He has been the Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Financial Research in the U.S. Treasury; a distinguished senior fellow at the R Street Institute in Washington, DC; a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. Mr. Pollock focuses on financial policy issues, including financial cycles, housing finance, banking, central banking, uncertainty and risk, retirement finance, corporate governance, and financial crises. He is the author of Finance and Philosophy—Why We’re Always Surprised (2018), of Boom and Bust: Financial Cycles and Human Prosperity (2011), and co-author of Surprised Again!—The Covid Crisis and the New Market Bubble (2022), as well as numerous articles and Congressional testimony. He has served as a director of CME Group and of Ascendium Education Group, and continues as a director of the Great Books Foundation, where he was Chairman of the Board 2006-2014. Mr. Pollock is a graduate of Williams College, the University of Chicago, and Princeton University. His work is available at alexjpollock.com.