If we can’t have Elizabeth Warren, we must have Paul Volcker. At 6’7” he towers physically over just about everyone in the room. I can just see him summoning the relatively diminutive Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase (5’10" on a good day) to his office and giving him a good tongue lashing about any number of questionable offers and practices that the banking behemoth foists on consumers. (For good measure, he can bring in Brian Moynihan of Bank of America and grill him on why his bank quietly knew of and supported a score of Ponzi scheme operators popularly known as mini-Madoffs, but who were not so “mini” to the consumers who lost their life savings to a bank culture that put profits ahead of compliance.)
Beyond his physical stature, he has the intellect and experience that places him at a level above the current Warren wannabes. For starters he can trot out his rule — the Volker rule (prohibiting banks from speculative and proprietary trading) and impose it by force of will and administrative rule or something. Heck, just the threat of Volker thinking about imposing that rule will keep the banks and mortgage lenders on the straight and narrow (or at least closer to the straight and narrow).
Finally, at the heart of his wisdom is a moral compass that cannot be bought or compromised. Eighty three years young, he is not looking for a job in “industry” or to be feted by Wall Street chiefs at black tie dinners. He will not suffer fools lightly or be bamboozled by high-priced consultants and convoluted explanations about how failures to disclose financial risks to consumers is somehow a good thing. He will take his position seriously and no doubt be an important thorn in the side of an industry (financial services) that has put profit and gain above all else. And lastly, he will be quick to remind that industry that it was the consumer (and the government) that saved their behinds.