Larry Summers For Treasury Secretary?
By Nicole Belle Friday Nov 07, 2008 6:45am
Arguably, the most important appointment President Obama will make is the Treasury Secretary, to help guide us out of this morass left us by the Bush neocons. One of the people that has most captured the media's attention is Larry Summers. But is he the right guy? Time:
Summers was an awfully controversial guy a couple years ago. And the things that made him controversial will all be revisited if he has to sit through a Senate confirmation hearing.
Here's a quick run-through of the Sins of Larry:
1. He's a loose cannon. Summers has a long history of saying what's on his mind, regardless of whether others might find it offensive. The thing about women and science was only the most infamous. There was also that memo he signed about exporting toxic waste to the developing world. [..]
Still, Summers behaved perfectly respectably during his last stint as Treasury Secretary. He is capable of keeping his mouth shut if the job requires it. What's more, he seems to have a habit of promoting the careers of people who are willing to contradict him and take him on (Andrei Shleifer and Tim Geithner spring to mind). [..]
2. He's loyal, to a fault. One of the main things that turned Harvard's faculty against Summers was the case of his protege Shleifer. Shleifer ran a Harvard-affiliated, USAID-funded office in Moscow in the 1990s that advised the Russian government on economic reform. The U.S. government later sued Harvard and Shleifer, charging that the operation was overrrun by conflicts of interest. Summers recused himself from direct dealings with the case, but in his epic dissection of the saga for Instititutional Investor, David McClintick charged that Summers did try to shield Shleifer. Harvard and Shleifer lost the suit, and Harvard had to pay $26.5 million in damages and Shleifer $2 million. I can't get as worked up about this as some people (if we could force Harvard to give the government even more money, maybe Barack Obama wouldn't have to raise your taxes), but I also know and like Andrei Shleifer, so I'm really not the best judge.3. He's a callous right-winger. Summers' academic mentor was conservative economist Marty Feldstein, and he worked for Feldstein at Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers in the early 1980s. Paul Krugman worked there too, so that really isn't saying much. For most of the 1980s, in fact, Summers was an outspoken skeptic of financial markets and their ability to set prices rationally and steer investment wisely. As he rose to positions of power in Washington in the 1990s, though, he became a leading defender of the Washington consensus--the idea that free financial markets, free trade and fiscal discipline would bring prosperity to the world. Lately Summers has been partially reconsidering that stance in his columns for the Financial Times. If you're favorably disposed to him, as I am, you could say he's been pulling a Keynes: "When the facts change, I change my mind." But I guess if you're not so favorably disposed, you could call him a closet right-winger, a closet left-winger, or a slave to fashion.
Anyway, I'm sure Larry Summers would make a very good Treasury Secretary. Again.
I don't know about you, but I'm not feeling it. We've seen exactly what kind of mess is wrought by these rightwinger ideas of "free markets", I don't think we can afford to spend any more time disproving those theories. Matt Stoller isn't buying it either, and has created a petition to ask President-elect Obama to consider someone else.
The Washington Note is reporting that former Clinton official Larry Summers is one of the leading nominees to become the Treasury Secretary for the Obama administration. In 1999, Summers was one of the key proponents of the banking deregulation that led to the rise of 'mega-banks' and the current financial crisis. At the time, Senators like Byron Dorgan and policy advocates like Public Campaign were warning the financial deregulation, but Summers did not listen. In addition to this remarkable lapse in judgment, Larry Summers has argued that women are innately less gifted in science than men, that 'Africa is Underpolluted', that child sweatshop work in Asia can be justified, and that energy used to oppose job destroying trade agreements was "very, very badly mispaced".
Who else? Jon Corzine, Sheila Bair, or Laura D'Andrea Tyson, for starters.
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Matt's petition is wonderfully naive. It's almost like he thinks he's dealing with a genuine messiah instead of a politician.
Obama will put people in positions just like this guy. The vast majority of the progressive democrats will not like it. But Obama never promised the public he was a messiah. That just seems to be a meme that took life all on its own.
He is a politician, first and foremost.
Ok he maybe all kinds of messed up as a person but I really hope that unlike the bush admin, Obama appoints the person best for the job. I really don't have energy to get into the personal dynamics of appointees anymore. If this guy would be the best person for the post, frankly I'm ok with him being an asshole.
Summers and his Cute Note to Ken Lay
Click on the link I provide right above and see for yourself - maybe you'll find the precious ENERGY to sign the petition.
He wrote it on the letterhead of The Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, dated May 25,1999 and, after the profuse thanks to Kenny-boy, here's the bottom line:
"""I hope our paths will cross again soon.
Sincerely,
Lawrence H. Summers
[Hand-written scrawl] PS - I'll keep my eye on power deregulation and energy market infrastructure issues.""
I DO hope their paths will cross soon, in HELL.
.
I hope Obama for whom we fought will GET some SLEEP before nominating this or another AIPAC whore to anything. Cursing Rahm is more than enough..
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Summers, an arrogant SOB extraordinaire was in charge of the U.S.Treasury [July 2, 1999 - January 20, 2001] when Clinton signed off on two disasterous bills sponsored by Phil Gramm.
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November 12, 1999, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ended the The Glass-Steagall Act, which had kept a firewall between banks and brokerages. The new Act allowed banks and brokerages to merge and buy and sell all types of junk.
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December 21, 2000, as Clinton was going out the door, and he and Kongre$$$ were hammering out a $384-billion omnibus spending bill, Gramm slipped in a 262-page measure called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which banned the regulation of things like credit swaps and other toxic investments that have now blown up in our faces.
That's the U$ 700 bln from US, the TAXPAYERS, and, counting.
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And, this from Rachel Maddow:
“It’s hard to imagine the Obama administration wanting to have to devote the time necessary to sell the country on the idea of a guy who made himself famous at Harvard by suggesting that girls can’t do math,”
said liberal MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.
As Letterman said, "Is it okay if Obama starts a little early?
Summers: all PIG, no lipstick
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That's the most flattering REAL image of this FAT, arrogant AIPAC pig.
How come this post provides his much 'prettyfied' portrait - any REAL pic of his is worth a gazillion words.
"the things that made him controversial will all be revisited if he has to sit through a Senate confirmation hearing."
How many assholes were rammed down our throats from the Repugs? how many "controversial" people were appointed to posts they were not even qualified to hold? simply because the Repugs didn't want to hear about it and there was nothing the Democratic minority could do about it.
I say screw the repug's 100%, don't let them in the administration at all. Then when the crap they have caused is fixed we can say it was done without the help of a single Right Wing asshole!
Change from Obama?
I don't think so.
Lawrence H. Summers
Former chief Economist for the World Bank (1991–1993) and Secretary of the Treasury for the last year and a half of the Clinton administration. Also served as the 27th President of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006.
Summers has been persistently criticized as an ardent proponent of globalization.
He has been involved in scandal several times, but perhaps the most notable was in December 1991 while at the World Bank. Summers signed a memo, which was subsequently leaked to the press, stating that developed countries ought to export more pollution to developing countries because these countries would incur the lowest cost in terms of lost wages of people made ill or killed. An aside to the memo stated that “the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that”.
Summers is also a member of the Group of Thirty, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission.
(and I have no reason to think that it isn't), then Obama may not be off to a great start. Responsible leadership in democracy is more about ethics than managerial skills. The fact that this guy was an academic in one of most prestigious institutions in America makes it even more unsettling. Has this guy read Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics?
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/200...
from the article:
"Summers' remarks on women draw fire
By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff | January 17, 2005
CAMBRIDGE -- The president of Harvard University, Lawrence H. Summers, sparked an uproar at an academic conference Friday when he said that innate differences between men and women might be one reason fewer women succeed in science and math careers. Summers also questioned how much of a role discrimination plays in the dearth of female professors in science and engineering at elite universities.
Nancy Hopkins, a biologist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, walked out on Summers' talk, saying later that if she hadn't left, ''I would've either blacked out or thrown up." Five other participants reached by the Globe, including Denice D. Denton, chancellor designate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, also said they were deeply offended, while four other attendees said they were not."
It was this incident that led to Summers losing his job at Harvard.
Maybe so, but I bet he's a bigger fan of Machiavelli's The Prince.
the Prince yes, but I think the Discourses on Livy are more applicable...
He who desires or attempts to reform the government of a state, and wishes to have it accepted and capable of maintaining itself to the satisfaction of everybody, must at least retain the semblance of the old forms; so that it may seem to the people that there has been no change in the institutions, even though in fact they are entirely different from the old ones.
Machiavelli. Discourses on Livy
America - it only looks like a Democratic Republic.
That's a BIG no.
Corzine is a much better choice. He's more progressive in his thinking, he understands the markets, he has credibility in the markets but he is still a big Washington establishment outsider.
I understand what Barack is doing...he is trying to put insiders in place that are more palatable to Washington, and to make his policies more salable.
I'm not sure that that is the right way to go, but time will tell.
I would rather see someone appointed who is known as a reformer, which Corzine is, and represents more change.
IF (and I don't know anything about it) Summers were qualified and not appointed just because he's, oh I don't know, pro-choice and committed to working for a permanent Democratic majority then that would be change.
This guy is another Paulson. I'm starting to get disappointed.
or even Paul Krugman. Maybe Laura Tyson?
Anyone but Summers.
Ok maybe he said some things he shouldn't have said. President Obama has to make that decision. The only thing I would think Obama would want first besides loyalty is putting the country first. That is where the priority should be now. As a woman it's more important to put our economy on the right track. So he said some dumb things but am sure Obama will talk with him and tell him what he wants in his cabinent. Lets give him a chance.
As in, lets put our toxic waste in Africa because, even though it will cause higher rates of prostate cancer, the people there don't live long enough to die of cancer anyway? THAT dumb thing? Wow. No. And it isn't just that the guy is an asshole...he's a neocon. World leaders know this. He is precisely NOT the right person for the job because 'the same old same old' is no longer effective.
I wonder if Obama knows he's a Neocon.
I wonder if Rahm knows he's a Neocon.
If this is the guy who knows how to throw a lifeline to the American economy as it bobs to the top for what appears to be its last gasp, fine by me. I voted for Obama because I trust him and if he thinks this is the right guy or if he thinks someone else is better, that's his decision.
He was with the World bank and is a "conservative" financially. To me that sounds like he's a fan of Milton Friedman and the Chicago school of economics. If you read "The Shock Doctrine", you'll find out that is what has gotten the world into the financial mess it's in in the first place. We need someone who'll be more Keynes than Friedman I think.
The reason that the economy collapsed is deregulation and greed. Exactly what Friedman said would make things perfect. It made it perfect for a few hundred of the super rich. The rest of us? Not so much
That's all that needs to be said as an arguement against his appointment. I've had enough of right-wing economic policy, thank you very little.
Who's next on the list?
Having read his latest NYT op ed, Paul Krugman sounds good.
Signs in San Diego, LA:
http://freewayblogger.blogspot.com/2008/11/sa...
I think she should be the sole occupant of the forward observation post on Little Diomede Island, the point in Alaska where you really *can* see Russia.
Just give her a pair of binoculars and a stack of magazines, so she can get some quality reading done.
Thanks for the link
I don't see how Obama could pick Summers, given Summers' derogatory comment about women, and NOT get an earful from Michelle.
On the practical front, I think we're done with Friedman-style economics.
Yes, Larry Summers for Treasury Secretary!
Donna Summer for Secretary of the Interior!
Suzanne Summers for Secretary of Labor!
and
Jonathan Winters for Secretary of Defense!!
for a Fall if you don't Spring into action. ;)
And No! No! No!
Summers is in Klein's book and not in a good way. Summers is a believer in Milton Friedman's economic shock "therapy", and was instrumental in the economic disasters in S. Africa, Poland, and Russia. A couple weeks ago the IMF just did what they usually do and whacked Iceland, forcing them to raise interest rates to 19%! Selling off national assets are not far behind.
Read the book:
"The Shock Doctrine; The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"
Naomi Klein
Like I have been saying....
the establishment will not change - I don't care who the President is.
You think the economic hitmen are going into retirement now that the Obama is taking the reins?
No I don't think the economic hitmen are going into retirement now that the Obama is taking the reins, however, this is a great opportunity to get the people who normaly are not interested in what is going on and if we do it right we can keep enough of them interested to the point of actually paying attention to what is being done in their names.
The danger is if Obama has a successful first term it tends to put people back to sleep...this happened to me after Clinton got into office and I saw that the secret and illegal wars of the Republican leaders stopped and Americans started making money again, I dozed off, thinking that the attacks on him wouldn't amount to anything - boy was I wrong, we need to fight tooth and nail to get and then keep America in the hands of Americans, but it will be easier if more people are involved!
So why did we bother with this thing called an election?
I'm a little sick of the doom patrol here at C&L saying it all doesn't matter because the system is corrupt and broken and owned by the Bilderbergers/Anunaki/polka-dotted space aliens.
If you don't think ANY change is possible, stop wasting your time and my time, and go stand on a street corner with a sign protesting the dictators in twelve galaxies or something.
LOL, the ad hominems symptomatic of crashing into cognitive dissonance.
you don't have to read what I write. You can remain a Pollyanna and in deep denial. If you don't want to believe the connections of the inside and made members of this government Mafia.
...thinking that changing the management at La Cosa Nostra is gonna bring real change. Switching out the Gambino's for the Lucheses'.
Nope.
The best book EVER.
I don't know enough about Krugman's specialization to know whether or not he'd be a good fit, but I like the idea.
I'd specify that whoever it ends up being, that there be some evidence that they actually believe in financial regulation, and ideally either predicted or foresaw the potential for the current mess. As opposed to Greenspan's "surprise". Just saying.
One of the people that has most captured the media's attention is Larry Summers.
It should be "who has most captured the media's attention." He is a person, even if he is a rightwinger. Well... so far ;)
The old meme: Keep your friends close... keep your enemies closer.
Granted Summers isn't the "enemy" per se, but rather an idealist (and a right-winger at that). Perhaps, Obama is bringing him in to see what he has to say... and then do the complete opposite.
We have to confront globalization at some point... if this guy is one of the better ones out there, then we may need him on the team.
(It's still a crappy choice... I like Krugman too.)
You don't go into a difficult negotiation already having decided what you are willing to give up.
Especially when what YOU'RE willing to concede belongs to ME!
FUuk the GOPukes, and anybody who ever had anything to do with 'em.
Let's face it, we won't like all of Obama's choices, right now he can do no wrong, but..this time in history, when you think of all the extreme choices of the Bush years, his choices have got to be better.
maybe he would do a good job but we need NEW people in Washington. That's the point. This guy looks old enough that he would have been running around with Nixon. Great.
Didn't he just win some sort of prize? Nobel of sorts?
Why go for a guuy who may be just as good as Krugman if the real McCoy is available?
Before I get too worked up about this, is there any indication from the Obama camp that this guy is even being considered? I don't tend to trust the imaginations of random reporters.
So, before giving too much credence to
Debbie DownerTruth B. Told (clearly a concern troll), let's wait to see what the people who actually make decisions say.Q: How do you solve massive economic problems caused by free-market right wing bullshit artists?
A: Put one in charge of the economy!
I say give Prez Obama a chance,
Man everything he does is under the microscope.
He hasn`t even changed the drapes in the whitehouse yet…
Whaaaaaaaaaaa!-we want you to fix it all….today!!!
Damn give the guy a break
Fix it. FIX IT! FIX. IT.
Take it all with a grain of salt. These are predictions from the experts who gave us 'inevitable Hillary' and correctly (snark) guessed that Sarah Palin would be picked as Johnny Maverick's running date.
Law of the Universe #12: If someone makes the feminutzies foam at the mouth, he or she is most likely telling the truth.
The Harvard incident showed the nation how truly irrational these women are.
I'm just sayin'.
This selecting Larry Summers, and Rahm Emmanuel is giving me some doubts that the ideals shouted in the blogsphere are being replaced by inside the Beltway Corporate Complex types.
Maybe it's me. I am so proud that Obama is my President, but he is only my President and not a god. Axelrod and the new Press Secretary are great picks, but these other two are making me raise my eyebrow and frown. I don't think their influence is the change we need.
We need fresh competent people that will promote the Progressive ideals. I didn't vote for a Clinton 3rd term.
The real question isn't who Obama nominates but will the Senate allow anyone but a right-wing corporate controlled idealouge to be confirmed? Don't count on Dems who choose to ignore the crimes of the bush administration to act any differently then they have been doing.
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them."
This pick would not represent the change I thought I was voting for.
Besides, he's a sexist idiot.
I didn't vote for a Clinton 3rd term. Me neither!
Law of the Universe #12: If someone makes the feminutzies foam at the mouth, he or she is most likely telling the truth....
The Harvard incident showed the nation how truly irrational these women are.
Dude, your Limbaugh is showing.
I must admit I'm having some serious concerns with some of the names being floated for the Obama Administration. Of course, a lot of it is just people's wishful thinking... "Gee, who would _I_ like to see in that job." But a lot of it is also trial-balloon stuff.
That is why I'm really troubled, not by Summers, but by the mention of RFK Jr. as a potential head of the EPA. The EPA needs someone who will use science and reason to make decisions. However, RFK Jr.'s record is one of anti-science and anti-reason. He would continue the war on science the Right has been waging, only from the Left this time.
One only has to look at his woo-woo spoutings about vaccines to see he is the WRONG person to put in such a position. You might as well give the job to Jenny McCarthy.
And as for his support for alternative energy? Well, he opposes the the Cape Wind project in Massachusetts. After all, you can't have those nasty wind turbines marring the view from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis, now, can you?
Obama can and should do much better.
To globalist neocons.
Boy don't these names look great?
DEFENSE SECRETARY
Defense Secretary Robert Gates. [change]
Former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., critic of Iraq war, retiring from Senate.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., member of Senate Armed Services Committee.
TREASURY SECRETARY
Timothy Geithner, president of Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [change]
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. [change]
Lawrence Summers, former treasury secretary and one-time Harvard University president. [change]
HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY
James Lee Witt, former FEMA director.[change]
Los Angeles Police Chief Bill Bratton.
Former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, chairman of 9/11 commission. [change]
Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., chairwoman of Homeland Security intelligence subcommittee. [o god please no! better not question the government or you'll be a domestic terrorist!]
God, the rest of the list doesn't look so hot either.
I told you Obamatons before "YOU WILL BE DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED"
"With this bill, the American financial system takes a major step forward towards the 21st century, one that will benefit American consumers, business, and the national economy for many years to come."
http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/ls241.htm
Read the details of his comments on gender and science. He said we should look at data and hypothesize why there are more men than women in science prof posts. So please drop that one unless you looked at the details of what he said. Political correctness in its most stereotypical mindlessness.
Now the stuff about his financial views are troubling is true. Given how many of you swung and missed on the sexism I will go check primary sources.
deleted
Just a possibility? Barack Obama is noted for surrounding himself with the kinds of really smart people who know how to get things done in whatever their area of special expertise might be. He also appears to have a preference for surrounding himself with people with whom he does not always agree, to the point of deliberately choosing those who will challenge him and keep him honest. He appears to have a real attachment to the idea of examining all sides of a complex issue before making decisions with far reaching implications - and wouldn't that be a nice change from the last 8 years of "from the gut" reptilian hindbrain decision making?
I'm not a huge fan of Larry Summers, and I would certainly prefer to see Barack Obama choose someone whose values I could respect a bit more his. The "let's dump our toxins in 3rd world countries" memo suggests the type of "pragmatism" with which Dick Cheney would be thrilled. I'd rather see the kinds of economic advisors around Barack Obama who could design a 21st century regulatory system that would restrain Wall Street's enthusiasm for the kinds of "financial instruments" whose value depends more upon a collective agreement on the math than it does to any realworld relationship to a concrete asset. And I'd rather see the kinds of economic advisors around him who understand that the only periods of our history in which the economy ever really grew - as opposed to swelled into a bubble - happened when we also had a robust, solvent middle class. And, that recreating this situation in the 21st century might require taking some politically unpopular steps. We might have to "readjust" the relative power of corporations and the public, and we might even have to begin to address the issue of "corporate personhood." Our Founding Fathers were quite clear on this issue, and we have seriously strayed ....
But just perhaps Barack Obama has been telling us the truth during his campaign, and he really does "get it" that revitalizing the middle class is the key to a healthy economy? Perhaps he really does "get it" that we have lost touch with the need to value "work" and "capital" in equal measure? And if so, perhaps all he really needs is someone who knows how to implement his vision in the financial arena. In which case - Larry Summers wouldn't be such an awful choice.
Yes, let's restore Bill Clinton's 90s cabinet. They did a good job cleaning up from Bush Sr, so let's let them clean up from Bush Jr asap.
As for Summers' alleged 'sins', pls note that most of them happened before Bill Clinton appointed him in 1993 as Under Secretary. Bill kept promoting him and seeing him through confirmation hearings all through the 90s. As a PUMA Clintonista, I'll trust Bill's judgement on this.
As to the allegedly insufficiently PC remarks at a 'working lunch' while Harvard Pres in Jan 2005, I've got a long diary up at http://clintondems.com/2008/11/restore-bill-c...
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