I don't know how serious he is, but this was something that he said which makes a lot of sense and goes against the grain of what we've seen from Summers.

Reuters:

Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council, reiterated President Barack Obama's call for stronger financial regulation, including giving regulators the power to properly address the failures of large institutions and protect their customers.

He asked leaders of business and public policy at the Citizens Budget Commission's fundraiser in New York to accept the role of government in preparing for and responding to crisis. Business should support, rather than thwart the government in its efforts, he said.

"A strong government (that) responds to market failures, provides social protection regulates potential abuses and supports economic conditions is undeniably in the long-run interest of business," he said.

While Summers said he understood business antipathy, "history teaches us that active government is a necessary force," he added.

His pleas came as negotiations over financial reform dragged on in Washington, with strong disagreements on creation of a new government watchdog for financial consumers. Senate Banking Committee Christopher Dodd has been trying to bridge a gap with Republicans, who oppose an independent consumer protection agency, and discussed with Republican Senator Bob Corker the possibility of making the agency a division of the Federal Reserve.

The fat cats of Wall Street will fight this to the bitter end no matter how many times our economy collapses because of their shennanigans.

And we need more of Elizabeth Warren please:

While members of the Senate Banking Committee debate proposals to fix the nation's broken financial system and ineffective approach to protecting consumers, Elizabeth Warren has one message: Pass a strong bill or nothing at all. "My first choice is a strong consumer agency," the Harvard Law professor and federal bailout watchdog said in an interview with the Huffington Post. "My second choice is no agency at all and plenty of blood and teeth left on the floor"

Senator Bob Corker got honest the other day when he said that repealing HCR was a fair tale.

GOP SENATOR: REPEAL 'NOT GOING TO HAPPEN'.... The Republican message gets a little more muddled.

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker said Wednesday that Republican efforts to repeal sweeping health care reform are futile, and instead promoted incremental fixes in a wide-ranging talk in Nashville.

In the immediate aftermath of the reform's passage, many of Corker's Republican colleagues, including 2008 presidential contender Sen. John McCain, have pledged to repeal the legislation. Corker described that as unlikely, given the reality of needing 67 votes in the Senate to overcome a presidential veto of repeal legislation.

"The fact is that's not going to happen, OK?" Corker told dozens of people at Vanderbilt University.

Corker's remarks come on the heels of Sen. Richard Burr's (R-N.C.) comments that he doesn't see a full repeal as a realistic option, either. "It may not be total repeal at the end of the day," Burr said in a radio interview. "It may be a series of fixes over the course of this bill getting enacted that allow us to change and possibly bend that cost curve down."

You know that the GOP plans to run on the lie that they can repeal HCR if they win in the midterms so he probably got another tongue lashing since they were already pissed that he tried to work with Chris Dodd on financial reforms -- because he immediately spoke to the Weekly Standard and backtracked.

Greg Sargent:

Corker told The Standard he only meant that repeal can’t happen next year, not that it can never happen. “It’s an issue of simple math,” Corker said, adding that as long as Obama is president, “it takes 67 votes in the Senate for that to occur.”

But, tellingly, when asked by The Standard if he would commit to supporting repeal in 2012 if a Republican is elected President, he demurred.

All of which is to say that the folks pushing for repeal are signaling that they’re going to keep this crusade going for years to come. Here, for instance, is another writer suggesting that Republicans might be able to repeal Obamacare in the year 2014 if they develop large enough Congressional majorities.

So if any Republicans who harbor doubts about the repeal push are hoping it’s a fad that will eventually blow over, it’s clear that some on the right have no intention of letting go of their repeal dream. Ever. Repeal: The long war.

There's a reason why they tried to kill any form the health-care bill took. It's almost impossible to repeal any bill because of the super majorities needed in Congress to do just that as well as holding the presidency. But the conservative movement doesn't need facts or reality these days to fire up their base. Lies work just as well.