nothing we could do would ever satisfy allan meltzer. [laughter] finish. >> so, actually, that leads to a follow up. first, what entry do you want to read and, second, did the federal reserve ever use the monetary aggregate in a meaningful way? >> i think it's fair to say that paul tried. [laughter] and it's also fair to say that they were very difficult to control on a quarter to quarter basis. the chart shows that they're not so hard to control on an annual basis, but the fed doesn't pay much attention to the annual stuff. they pay attention to the quarter. they're under pressure from the congress, the public, so on to do it now. and that's not within their ability. i mean, we can't, they can't get perfection or even close to it in short term, in the short term. so you have to take the pain. and that's, that's something that the public has to accept. i think of when paul volcker went to -- when i first met paul volcker, he was then an anti-inflationist and a believer in fixed exchange rates. strong proponent came out of the new york fe

." >> up next allan meltzer presents "a history of the federal reserve: volume 2, 1951-1986". mr. meltzer is joined by paul volcker, federal researcher during the carter and reagan administradministrations. they discuss past and present economic issues. mr. volcker talks about his experience in office. this event was hosted by the am

treasury department has director of financial analysis in 1962 where he first met allan meltzer and then deputy undersecretary for monetary affairs. from 69 to 74 he was the undersecretary of the treasury for international monetary affairs, president of the federal reserve bank of new york from 1975 to 1979 and then chairman of the federal reserve starting in 1979. i am saying this not because paul volcker needs an introduction to any of you but rather to underscore that his career is interwoven in the history of the federal reserve that allan talks about in volume two. what i'm going to do this morning is ask a series of questions to allan and chairman volcker, including a set for each of the four decades covered by volume two, and then probably by about 10:00 open it up to questions from the crowd. so the obvious question, 1312 pages professor meltzer. is there a single message about the conduct of federal reserve policy you would like to leave us with this morning? >> let me start by saying that 1312 pages just wasn't true. put it with volume one and you get up to 2000. so that was a