Lawrence Summers is on a very short list of possible nominees for Secretary of Treasury. His selection has been complicated, however, by his destructive performance as president of Harvard University, a rocky term he finally sabotaged by revealing his opinion that women lack the mental aptitude to succeed in science.
But there is a lesser known episode in Summers' past that further highlights his reckless tendencies, and foreshadows a politically nettlesome nomination process.
On December 12, 1991, while serving as chief economist for the World Bank, Summers authored a private memo arguing that the bank should actively encourage the dumping of toxic waste in developing countries, particularly "under populated countries in Africa," which Summers described as "UNDER-polluted." Summers added that public outrage over the heightened rates of prostate cancer caused by his proposed dumping would be mitigated by the fact that poor people in developing countries rarely live long enough to develop prostate cancer.
Read the full Summers memo here.
When the Summers memo leaked to the public in February 1992, Brazil's Secretary of the Environment, Jose Lutzenburger, responded with an indignant missive. "Your reasoning is perfectly logical but totally insane," Lutzenburger told Summers. "Your thoughts [provide] a concrete example of the unbelievable alienation, reductionist thinking, social ruthlessness and the arrogant ignorance of many conventional 'economists' concerning the nature of the world we live in... If the World Bank keeps you as vice president it will lose all credibility."
If Obama nominates Summers, he will send a dispiriting message to governments of developing countries -- especially in Africa -- just as they have begun to look at the United States as a beacon of hope.
Back in the U.S., Summers' nomination would prompt a reexamination by the media of the countless controversies he has fomented. Even an episode as tangential as Summers' romantic fling with right-wing hatemonger Laura Ingraham could become a source of political embarrassment for the White House. Summers should be left to write his memoirs, not memos.
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What you have posted a link to is a fraud, there is no such document, what is there has been created through cut and paste. While the words were in the memo, presenting the words in that form may convey the erroneous impression that Larry Summers read that text as a memo in its entirety, endorsed that text as a serious proposal or analysis that represente
Robert in Arlington, Virginia
. In December 1991, he signed off on a policy memo written by an aide who argued that less-devel
Someone leaked the memo to the Economist, which in February 1992 ran an article about it titled "Let Them Eat Pollution.
The Memo is saying: Your logic for the Bank Liberaliza
See links below.
I say pick someone for Treasury Secretary who may not always say what people want to hear. He's a very gifted economist, and he knows his stuff. I'm not endorsing him for the position necessaril
Larry278
It is going to be a battle in many areas. We will need to apply a lot of pressure in order to get true progressiv
Like it or not, most people in America are nearer to the center...t
Progress doesn't happen overnight, or in four years for that matter. It happens in steps, and I just hope his supporters don't expect him to swing left fast or they're asking him to fail.
http://en.
"http://har
"The problem with the arguments against all of these proposals for more pollution in LDCs (intrinsic rights to certain goods, moral reasons, social concerns, lack of adequate markets, etc.) could be turned around and used more or less effectivel
The memo appears to part of a reductio absurdum argument against some Bank liberaliza
The Memo is saying: Your logic for the Bank Liberaliza
The authors, Sommers, insist that was the purpose as well.
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We voted for Obama.
Now let's trust Obama.
http://www
He is asking questions.
He explicitly states that he is speculatin
He explicitly says everyone else is also speculatin
He says there may be biological reasons women don't go for these positions at the same rate men do.
Please explain the problem.