Comments on: Does Larry Summers have too much baggage to be Treasury Secretary? http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2008/11/06/does-larry-summers-have-too-much-baggage-to-be-treasury-secretary/ Commentary on the economy, the markets, and business Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:18:44 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: tcolgan001 http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2008/11/06/does-larry-summers-have-too-much-baggage-to-be-treasury-secretary/comment-page-1/#comment-11835 tcolgan001 Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:54:07 +0000 http://timecuriouscapitalist.wordpress.com/?p=2968#comment-11835 If your listing his negatives why not mention his support of the policy of minimal government oversight of derivative trading when this was being debated. See http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEED7103EF932A25751C0A9669C8B63 If your listing his negatives why not mention his support of the policy of minimal government oversight of derivative trading when this was being debated.

See
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEED7103EF932A25751C0A9669C8B63

]]> By: kmherb http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2008/11/06/does-larry-summers-have-too-much-baggage-to-be-treasury-secretary/comment-page-1/#comment-11826 kmherb Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:39:17 +0000 http://timecuriouscapitalist.wordpress.com/?p=2968#comment-11826 Wouldn't it be ironic for a man who has faced discrimination and been underestimated purely because of his race, to be advised by a man who doesn't think women are capable of math and science! I hope that Obama makes a wise decision. Wouldn't it be ironic for a man who has faced discrimination and been underestimated purely because of his race, to be advised by a man who doesn't think women are capable of math and science! I hope that Obama makes a wise decision.

]]> By: donthelibertariandemocrat http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2008/11/06/does-larry-summers-have-too-much-baggage-to-be-treasury-secretary/comment-page-1/#comment-11825 donthelibertariandemocrat Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:22:38 +0000 http://timecuriouscapitalist.wordpress.com/?p=2968#comment-11825 I'm growing fonder of Lawrence Summers. I liked his stimulus proposals, and on Fannie and Freddie he talks sense, as well as about implicit government guarantees and hybrid government creations: "President-elect Barack Obama has said little about his plans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but a top adviser and contender to Treasury Secretary already has a plan to break up the companies. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/11/06/obama-adviser-summers-has-plan-for-fannie-freddie/ Lawrence Summers, Treasury Secretary at the end of the Clinton administration, believes the firms should be divided into their “government” and “private” functions after the financial crisis subsides. The private-sector components should then be sold off in many pieces, with the proceeds used to fund government affordable housing programs. “With this approach, the government would be in a position to support the housing market in the years ahead without encouraging dubious financial practices or denying financial reality, as is the case today,” Summers argued in in July. He laid out his vision in twin editorials in the The Financial Times and The Washington Post that were striking for their prescience about the firms’ fate. If market confidence in the companies does not improve, he said the government should throw them into receivership and run them as public corporations “for several years.” Just weeks later, the firms were seized jointly by Treasury and their regulator." Here's my comment: “In a 2007 Financial Times editorial, Summers counted himself as “among the many with serious doubts about the wisdom” of the firms’ implicit government guarantees.” His understanding that these implicit government guarantees are a major problem recommends him to me. “Summers believes the firms’ public-private business model should be scrapped. “These fuzzy line arrangements…have shown themselves to be deeply suspect,” he told the House Budget Committee days after the companies’ seizure. “I think we’ll have to move beyond that. We need to move beyond the ‘heads I win, tails the public loses’ model in which we’ve operated.” Absolutely. These hybrid arrangements are trouble. Scrap them. I would date Laura Ingraham, but do everything in my power to keep her from influencing our government. It would be a good deal for both of us, and the country. I'm growing fonder of Lawrence Summers. I liked his stimulus proposals, and on Fannie and Freddie he talks sense, as well as about implicit government guarantees and hybrid government creations:

"President-elect Barack Obama has said little about his plans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but a top adviser and contender to Treasury Secretary already has a plan to break up the companies.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/11/06/obama-adviser-summers-has-plan-for-fannie-freddie/

Lawrence Summers, Treasury Secretary at the end of the Clinton administration, believes the firms should be divided into their “government” and “private” functions after the financial crisis subsides. The private-sector components should then be sold off in many pieces, with the proceeds used to fund government affordable housing programs.

“With this approach, the government would be in a position to support the housing market in the years ahead without encouraging dubious financial practices or denying financial reality, as is the case today,” Summers argued in in July.

He laid out his vision in twin editorials in the The Financial Times and The Washington Post that were striking for their prescience about the firms' fate. If market confidence in the companies does not improve, he said the government should throw them into receivership and run them as public corporations “for several years.” Just weeks later, the firms were seized jointly by Treasury and their regulator."

Here's my comment:
“In a 2007 Financial Times editorial, Summers counted himself as “among the many with serious doubts about the wisdom” of the firms' implicit government guarantees.”

His understanding that these implicit government guarantees are a major problem recommends him to me.

“Summers believes the firms' public-private business model should be scrapped. “These fuzzy line arrangements…have shown themselves to be deeply suspect,” he told the House Budget Committee days after the companies' seizure. “I think we'll have to move beyond that. We need to move beyond the ‘heads I win, tails the public loses' model in which we've operated.”

Absolutely. These hybrid arrangements are trouble. Scrap them.

I would date Laura Ingraham, but do everything in my power to keep her from influencing our government. It would be a good deal for both of us, and the country.

]]> By: gmalcolms http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2008/11/06/does-larry-summers-have-too-much-baggage-to-be-treasury-secretary/comment-page-1/#comment-11824 gmalcolms Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:51:08 +0000 http://timecuriouscapitalist.wordpress.com/?p=2968#comment-11824 I could forgive that other stuff, but dating Laura Ingraham is going too far. I could forgive that other stuff, but dating Laura Ingraham is going too far.

]]> By: shellgirl http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2008/11/06/does-larry-summers-have-too-much-baggage-to-be-treasury-secretary/comment-page-1/#comment-11822 shellgirl Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:58:16 +0000 http://timecuriouscapitalist.wordpress.com/?p=2968#comment-11822 Larry Summers is a classic workplace bully, a terrible person. He was forced to resign from Harvard NOT because of his clueless statements about women but because of his bullying, condescending behavior. Even senior level deans were bullied and humiliated in front of their colleagues. He was frequently "less than fully truthful", i.e., he LIES. Unfortunately, it became clear that his flaws were ..."not a matter of style or personality, but of CHARACTER. His behavior resulted in "loss of senior administrators and high turnover at all levels of administration of FAS in general and the college in particular." If this were politics as usual it would maybe be understandable. But not in a Obama administration! JUST SAY NO!!! Larry Summers is a classic workplace bully, a terrible person. He was forced to resign from Harvard NOT because of his clueless statements about women but because of his bullying, condescending behavior.

Even senior level deans were bullied and humiliated in front of their colleagues. He was frequently "less than fully truthful", i.e., he LIES.
Unfortunately, it became clear that his flaws were ..."not a matter of style or personality, but of CHARACTER. His behavior resulted in "loss of senior administrators and high turnover at all levels of administration of FAS in general and the college in particular."

If this were politics as usual it would maybe be understandable. But not in a Obama administration! JUST SAY NO!!!

]]> By: bryanfromhouston http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2008/11/06/does-larry-summers-have-too-much-baggage-to-be-treasury-secretary/comment-page-1/#comment-11821 bryanfromhouston Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:25:22 +0000 http://timecuriouscapitalist.wordpress.com/?p=2968#comment-11821 TAD - Agreed. Nuance would be nice to have in our complex policy discussions. - Justin, on Summers, I don't know if he fits with the meme of bringing change. What is he specifically proposing to do? Further, I would be very leary of bringing in too much Clinton era baggage...Rahm, Summers....what's next Reno and Lewinski?? No, but seriously, we just need some fresh approaches to how we deal with our problems in D.C. The same old ideas just don't seem to be advancing the ball. - Further, that Time.com article has me worried about deflation. Once delfation becomes entrenched it seems that the Government (short of negative interest rates) is almost powerless to stop it. No??? TAD
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Agreed. Nuance would be nice to have in our complex policy discussions.
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Justin, on Summers, I don't know if he fits with the meme of bringing change. What is he specifically proposing to do? Further, I would be very leary of bringing in too much Clinton era baggage...Rahm, Summers....what's next Reno and Lewinski?? No, but seriously, we just need some fresh approaches to how we deal with our problems in D.C. The same old ideas just don't seem to be advancing the ball.
-
Further, that Time.com article has me worried about deflation. Once delfation becomes entrenched it seems that the Government (short of negative interest rates) is almost powerless to stop it. No???

]]> By: That Anonymous Dude http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2008/11/06/does-larry-summers-have-too-much-baggage-to-be-treasury-secretary/comment-page-1/#comment-11818 That Anonymous Dude Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:54:53 +0000 http://timecuriouscapitalist.wordpress.com/?p=2968#comment-11818 "Also, Washington wonks aren't quite the delicate flowers that Harvard students and professors are, and having somebody running Treasury who is willing to challenge the existence of long-established financial and economic institutions might be a really good idea over the next couple of years." as well as not getting run over rough shod by Wall Street CEOs "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. " Off topic but this prompted me on my own pet peeve of I wish we could get more people to be more bi-economic (sorta like bipartisan :) ). Free markets, free trade, etc all better than existing alternatives (command and controle economies, closed trade etc), but they have many flaws/failures too. You guys do some nice items from time to time on these things, but in general people are either rabidly (and ignorarntly) either pro-market or anti-market. Just wish we had a lot more nuanced opinions in the mass media/political landscape. "Also, Washington wonks aren't quite the delicate flowers that Harvard students and professors are, and having somebody running Treasury who is willing to challenge the existence of long-established financial and economic institutions might be a really good idea over the next couple of years."

as well as not getting run over rough shod by Wall Street CEOs

"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. "

Off topic but this prompted me on my own pet peeve of I wish we could get more people to be more bi-economic (sorta like bipartisan :) ). Free markets, free trade, etc all better than existing alternatives (command and controle economies, closed trade etc), but they have many flaws/failures too. You guys do some nice items from time to time on these things, but in general people are either rabidly (and ignorarntly) either pro-market or anti-market. Just wish we had a lot more nuanced opinions in the mass media/political landscape.

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