Larry Summers: The Country Needs Him

President-elect Barack Obama has set a new standard. He has asked that we set aside our personal grievances and come together as a nation to address the great challenges we are facing. As we all know the most pressing issue before is the global financial crisis. Nothing can move forward until we begin to resolve this overwhelming problem.

It is with this in mind that I am reacting to a very strong email I received yesterday. NOW, the women's rights organization, is demanding the removal of Larry Summers' name from consideration as Secretary of the Treasury. They are insisting that the mistake he made four years ago should disqualify him from this position. I strenuously disagree. Larry Summers is one of the best financial minds in the country. He has a long and distinguished career, firsthand experience and is a brilliant visionary. While it is true he made a mistake that raised the ire of women, let us remember that he came forward, acknowledged his error, and sincerely and repeatedly apologized. He has learned from and was humbled by that experience. Who among us has never said something we wished we hadn't and how many are willing to publicly accept responsibility? How can we ask that such an esteemed career be discounted and how can we deprive the American people of the skill and leadership of this brilliant man? The financial crisis we are facing is unparalleled and we need all the best minds working together to reverse this decline. I understand the concerns of these women but it is time to forgive and move forward in the interest of the greater good.

The Democratic Party has a history of trying to address the concerns of various constituencies. All too often the competing interests of these groups have taken us off course. We now have a unique opportunity, a mandate if you will. It is essential to set aside competing agendas and be single minded in our focus to solve the most pressing issues before us. It is my deepest hope that everyone will recognize, as President-elect Obama said, "the steep climb" we are facing and stand with him as he selects the best among us to move the country forward. There cannot be solutions to these separate concerns until we find our way out of this crisis. We need to leave partisanship and division at the door.

Comments

[PeterCG]

LARRY SUMMERS, CHAMPION OF WALL STREET GREED ATTAINED BY IMPOVERISHING THE MEXICAN PEOPLE
By Peter Cervantes-Gautschi

Appointing Larry Summers our Treasury Secretary would be a grave mistake and a slap in the face to Mexico and those who struggle for economic justice on both sides of the border.
Summers, while serving as Under Secretary of the Treasury in 1995, engineered the destruction of Mexico’s economy through forced increase of interest rates to unmanageable levels - business & farm loans went from 11% to 56%, credit card rates from 7% to 61%, home loans from 5% to 75%, car loans from 7% to 91%. The impact was massive human suffering and the forced migration of millions of economic refugees to the United States.
Although Wall Street banks profited handsomely, thousands of farms and businesses, both large and small, went bankrupt.It became impossible for millions of workers to support their families by earning paychecks in their own country; millions of workers migrated to the United States to find family wage work.
A report adopted by Mexico’s Senate on September 21, 2007 noted that Alan Greenspan gave Summers credit for the draconian interest rate measure.
Larry Summers’ tenure at Treasury the last time around was marked by enriching the relative few while devastating the very many. Surely the man we are so proud to have elected our president could choose, from among the many capable economists, one who values humanity.

[texanna]

Because people usually say things that reflect what they think, I was appalled at Summers' comment and thought that apology was just not enough. Having said that, I am less concerned with what he thinks about women than with his being part of the history that has led us to this economic crisis as well as his being a free marketeer and proponent of globalization. He just doesn't seem very "changey" to me.

[huffino]

Hey, we certainly do not need Larry Summers in charge of our Treasury. He is part of the same crowd that got us into this mess to begin with, and his policies were a transition continued by the Bush administration.
Larry Summers is no change at all. He must never be part of an Obama administration. It would be an insult to the "Change" agenda.

[IAM4CLINTON]

I completely agree- Lawrence Summers and as many people from the Clinton administration should be drafted into the Obama administration. The Clinton administration remains the most effective one in modern times- producing 22 Million new jobs and a budget surplus. President Clinton successfully re-branded the Democratic party as good stewards of the economy and of fiscal discipline. That track record is what made the country swing to the Democrats in 2008 as they chose the better brand when it comes to the economy.

[urbangreen]

This is the worst possible pick for the Obama team. The American people voted for change, not more of the same.

Larry Summers and Robert Rubin were two architects of the financial disaster. They aggressively pushed market de-regulation in the Clinton administration. Summers was a disaster at Harvard and at the World Bank. His incredibly insensitive statements about women and about sending toxic pollution to developing countries makes him a total political liability.

[hambonejwj]

Let the Obama transition team know what you think of Summers for Treasury Secretary. Here is a link to his contact webpage: http://www.change.gov/page/s/contact

Electing Obama is only the first step to renewal and progressive change in this country. He is facing enormous pressure from Wall Street and the financial elites to craft policy in their interest and not the interest of the rest of us. A big mistake that we make is that we elect a President and then think we can sit back and hope that he will act in our best interest. Serious change will only happen with an active and engaged citizenry. So we need to get active early and stay active to help Obama achieve the best results for rest of us.

On the Summer nomination, I think he would be a bad choice...he may have changed some of his neoliberal views but there are plenty of brilliant economists out there who did not drink the Chicago school Kool-aid.

[jmpurser]

I'm all for letting someone out of the dog house after a while. But right now we NEED some really first class minds taking care of the Nation's business and his comments weren't a momentary faux pas. The man either aint that bright or has had some disabling life experiences. Either way, I don't want him in a position of influence right now.

[CalliDem]

If he had said "black people can not compete in Science" he would be buried and GONE

He say's the same thing about WOMEN and its "Oh lets just forget and forgive"

Sexism is a vile as racism. Wake up

[OmnesOmnibus]

Agreed, it was a silly brouhaha and if the country needs him and he's the right man for the job, hire him. But probably there are ten others just as qualified.

[Barbyrah]

Before jumping to conclusions, since I don't know anything about the guy, I went online and did some reading.
Obviously, he's intellectually astute. And seems to be gifted re: having an academic understanding of economics that was put to fairly good use during those last Clinton years. Yet I don't think many of us have really explored in depth re: what managed to make those years so successful. Nor have we examined how long that success would have lasted had Clinton and his policies remained in the WH beyond the year 2000. No question, many factors involved. Including the deregulation movement of the late 1990s.
Larry Summers joined the Clinton train in 1999. From what I read, he played a role in that dereg stuff. HarvardWatch has even posted a letter Summers sent to, of all people, Kenneth Lay of Enron fame on May 25 of that year with a footnote: "PS - I'll keep my eye on power deregulation and energy market infrastructure issues. " Uhhh....yeah. Not so good.
Do I want intelligence in the treasury department? Of course. But I'd also like someone who doesn't bring so much baggage with him. And so many ties to old, entrenched "systems." (What about Paul Krugman, 2008 Nobel winner, for example? There HAVE to be others.)

[JimBozo]

What about Krugman? A Nobel prize suggests a certain level of brainpower, which is what we need now.

[frsteve]

How about Sheila C. Bair for this job?

Sheila C. Bair, Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Sheila C. Bair was sworn in as the 19th Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on June 26, 2006. She was appointed Chairman for a five-year term, and as a member of the FDIC Board of Directors through July 2013.

Before her appointment to the FDIC, Ms. Bair was the Dean's Professor of Financial Regulatory Policy for the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachuse­tts-Amhers­t since 2002. Other career experience includes serving as Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury (2001 to 2002), Senior Vice President for Government Relations of the New York Stock Exchange (1995 to 2000), a Commissioner and Acting Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (1991 to 1995), and Research Director, Deputy Counsel and Counsel to Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (1981 to 1988).

Chairman Bair's prior work focused heavily on the banking sector. As the Assistant Treasury Secretary for Financial Institutions, she was charged with helping to develop the Administration's positions on banking policy issues. She worked closely with Treasury's own banking regulatory bureaus, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision, as well as the Federal Reserve Board and the FDIC. Ms. Bair's teaching and research at the University of Massachusetts also dealt extensively with banking and related issues.

[peterg76]

A Nobel *Memorial* Prize (not a real Nobel prize) suggests an expertise in theoretical economics - the kind that doesn't work.

[Barbyrah]

Not offered as a sarcastic comment in any way, peterg76...but I'd really love some specific back-up info to your statement. For example, what Nobel prize economists have ever taken the helm of treasury and screwed it up? Either in this country or others? Why I ask: I "get" your point...there is a difference between theory and application. But expertise in one doesn't automatically exclude ability in the other.
Thanks for anything further you post.

[anelder]

Since Alfred Nobel established five areas for prizes, none of which was for economics, this economic prize was presented to the Nobel committee as an addition. It came with an endowment, as did the original Novel prizes, and is not designated as a 'memorial' or lesser prize. It is decided by the committee and awarded by the committee and regarded with the same esteem as the five Alfred Nobel originally designated.

It is a Nobel prize since the committee has so decided. Your attempt to minimize this award comes across as lacking in spirit.

[Gogetter]

Considering the excellent job Obama did in choosing the people who steered his campaign, I think he's at least earned the benefit of the doubt in choosing the people who will support him has President.

[silverball]

absolutely....why is he now being doubted about putting together a competent administration after such a brilliant campaign....did ANYONE feel this good about our prospects of quality leadership after king george was elected...­.TWICE!!!.­.....perso­nally, i'm comforted and reassured with someone that actually cares about WE, THE PEOPLE is now going to be in charge....

[RoseBlue]

I agree Beth. Larry Summers has a brash personality (like Emanuel) but he is truly brilliant. We need his service. One thing you didn't mention in your article is that he lost his presidency at Harvard over the remarks. Between that punishment and what I believe was a genuine regret and an acceptance of responsibility, it's time to move on. This blacklisting is nonsense.

[Barbyrah]

RoseBlue, from what I read it wasn't the remarks that did it, but how he handled the Andrei Schleifer debacle. Major controversy, a lawsuit by the U.S. government, and millions of dollars paid in an out-of-court settlement.

[Clavis]

Let's not forget that Obama isn't putting together a Dungeons & Dragons adventuring team, alone against the world. The Treasury will consist of dozens, if not hundreds, of brilliant minds (as opposed to the talentless ideologues of the past 8 years) all working on the economic crisis. Summers will be an administrator, a figurehead, a mouthpiece, an agony aunt and, yes, a primary thinker... but selecting Summers as Treasury Secretary does not eliminate in any way the help that so many other talented people, including many of the people mentioned here, can also provide. You betcha!

[Hawise]

Yes, the Treasury consists of hundreds of people and Summers' history,as Treasurt Chief and Harvard President, indicates that he would consistently dismiss 50% of qualified applicants based on their sex alone. We are hardly in an economic position where we can let that much of the brain trust go unconsidered.

[RoloTomassi]

The primary consideration for this position is a candidate's fundamental approach to economics; the most sane, credible and logical will be a candidate that is NOT cut from the standard cloth of the Chicago School of Economics--free market fundamentalists should be disqualified outright.

For me, that disqualifies Summers without further discussion; his history with the World Bank in the 1990s surely identifies him as a neoliberal economist.

[aluxeterna]

yes, agreed. I go back and forth on the stupid stupid comments he made at Harvard; he's since done a semi-reasonable job of apologizing for them. (I don't know if that actually gets him out of that issue, but maybe it is a start) However, his actual approach to economics is a discredited one, and certainly not representative of real, progressive and most importantly productive change.