Barron’s: ‘We Are Still Headed for a Pretty Hard Landing,’
Economist Lawrence H. Summers never joined Team Transitory, or the economists, investment strategists, and members of the Federal Reserve who thought inflation would be a temporary phenomenon. Instead, he warned early and often that massive fiscal and monetary stimulus unleashed in response to the impact of the Covid pandemic would result in the economy overheating. He was right: Consumer prices rose 8.6% year over year in May, the fastest pace in 40 years.
Summers is the Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University, president emeritus of the university, and former secretary of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton and director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama. Long worried about secular stagnation, marked by sluggish growth and weak inflation, Summers is now concerned that the U.S. economy is headed for a hard landing as the Fed fights inflation. READ MORE
POLITICO: Larry Summers emerges as the unlikeliest Democratic hero
When the White House sought help crafting crucial tax-raising portions of the health care, climate and tax bill, one man was often on the other end of the phone line and email chains: Larry Summers.
When Democratic lawmakers needed a final push to convince Sen. Joe Manchin that the Inflation Reduction Act would in fact reduce inflation, they also turned to Summers. And when administration aides worry about how TV pundits will view their economic plans, the first person they think of is usually the former Treasury secretary. READ MORE
We Ran the Treasury Department. This Is How to Fix Tax Evasion.
New York Times, June 9, 2021 – Six hundred billion dollars per year, and growing: That is two-thirds of total nondefense discretionary spending by the federal government, about what is spent on defense operations, military personnel and procurement, and more than mandatory federal expenditures on Medicaid. It’s also approximately how much unpaid taxes cost the U.S. government. This must change, and it can. Read the full article.
Amanpour PBS and CNNi: Summers on record surge in U.S. unemployment
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers tells Amanpour on April 2, Americans must understand “for all our individualism, we need a government that performs basic functions.” Watch the full interview on PBS and CNN International here:
Vanity Fair: Grim As It Is Now, Recovery Could Be Faster Than Anticipated
I think the peak to trough decline is overwhelmingly likely to be worse than anything I’ve seen by a significant margin. Something like a third of the workforce is not going to be able to work during the current period of social lockdown. The people who can work now are the people who can work at home and the people that have to work outside. Economists are an example in the first category, ambulance drivers are an example in the second category. But a third of the people—the dental hygienists, people who work in bookstores, the people who sweep the floors in office buildings—who neither need to go outside nor are able to do their job from home—will suffer by no longer being able to do their jobs. And that’s an immense loss of labor input and of output.
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Bernanke AEA Speech Last Hurrah for Central Bankers, Says Summers
Lawrence H. Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, dismisses Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s optimism for central bankers in a recent speech to the American Economic Association. He spoke with David Westin on “Bloomberg Wall Street Week.” (Source: Bloomberg)
