Former Fed chief Volcker warns of US descent into 'plutocracy'

"And they don't like government, and they don't like to pay taxes," Volcker said. "I grew up in a world in which good government was a good term."

Volcker, who served as Fed chairman from 1979 to 1987, told the Times that Washington has lost the American people's respect and pays insufficient attention to bridging that divide. He blamed the influx of money into politics and a lack of attention on effective governance from elite public affairs colleges and think tanks.

"They can argue war and peace and poverty and everything else," he said. "But when you go to a school of public policy, you're not learning how to run the goddamn government. You're learning how to debate political issues."