President-elect Barack Obama announced his economic team, noting that Lawrence Summers would be the director of his National Economic Council. In touting Summers, Obama praised the former treasury secretary for his work during the Clinton years
Larry helped guide us through several major international financial crises – and was a central architect of the policies that led to the longest economic expansion in American history, with record surpluses, rising family incomes and more than 20 million new jobs. He also championed a range of measures – from tax credits to enhanced lending programs to consumer financial protections – that greatly benefited middle income families.
As a thought leader, Larry has urged us to confront the problems of income inequality and the middle class squeeze, consistently arguing that the key to a strong economy is a strong and growing middle class....And as one of the great economic minds of our time, Larry has earned a global reputation for being able to cut to the heart of the most complex and novel policy challenges.
While some of that might be true, Summers has been a controversial figure, and it's likely no accident that he is being handed a position that does require him to be confirmed by the Senate.
But despite Summer's intellect and experience, it's worth remembering that he did blow one of the major calls of the 1990s: what to do about financial derivatives--those esoteric financial products (such as credit default swaps) that helped grease the way to the subprime meltdown. Not only did Summers oppose greater regulation for those financial instruments; he led the opposition against it.
At age 16, he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he originally intended to study physics but soon switched to economics (S.B., 1975). He was also an active member of the MIT debating team. He attended Harvard University as a graduate student (Ph.D., 1982), where he studied under economist Martin Feldstein. He has taught at both Harvard and MIT. In 1983, at age 28, Summers became one of the youngest tenured professors in Harvard's history. In December 2005, Summers married English professor Dr. Elisa New. Summers has three children by his first wife, Victoria Perry.
The controversy: Comments about a woman's "innate " abilities, may be genetically programmed.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/... Summers left Harvard in 1991 and served as Chief Economist for the World Bank until 1993. In December 1991, while at the World Bank, Summers signed a memo written by staff economist Lant Pritchett. The memo apparently argued that free trade would not necessarily benefit the environment in developing countries. An aside to the memo, leaked to the press, said that "the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that". The leaked memo was the subject of public controversy.
Maybe it's secret Harvard Society thing like "the Final Club", Mr. Summer is so bright he may be bordering on some mania.
Posted By: Marta Fernandez
Sunday, December 14th 2008 at 5:16PM
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