Readers responded to questions to pose to a former Fed chair. "If you could ask Paul Volcker one question about the housing market situation, what would it be?"

"Former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker is often lauded on this blog for having the gumption to crank overnight rates up high enough to crush inflation in the late 1970s. He is also a board member of my graduate institution. We are a very small school, and I have had the pleasure of his company on a couple occasions."

"If we can develop some cogent and appropriate questions, I’ll be glad to email Paul the top choice. Obviously I can’t guarantee a response (or, perhaps, a public response), but I have always found him to be frank on other topics. Maybe we can get an exclusive."

One asked, "Whither the symbiosis?"

Another, "I’d just like to hear Volcker’s predictions on what he sees as the outcome of all of this."

One requests a prediction, "I would love to know where he thinks the rates should be right now/near future and why."

Another wants an insiders view. "Well of course he has a better view of how the fed comes to decisions and the political pressures that are put upon it tha we do. So: 'What does HE think is the most likely Fed RESPONSE (short and long term)to a RE disinvestment caused recession.'"