The Larry Summers Bad Boy Watch

Proving once again that there's no justice in politics, Larry Summers now appears to be on the short list for Treasury Secretary in an Obama administration.

According to Tom Raum of AP on Sat Oct 18 in The Washington Post (“Next treasury secretary will feel power and stress”)...

• "Obama's team includes Buffett, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and the two former treasury secretaries, Rubin, now an executive with Citigroup, and Summers. "
• "Summers has been put before the public a lot by the Obama campaign. But he's not without controversy. After serving as Clinton's final treasury secretary, he became president of Harvard. He drew worldwide attention for his comments that biological differences may partly explain the dearth of women among the very highest achieving scientists, a controversy that led to his resignation. "

If you think Summers' comments about women were offensive (I read them! I did!), let me assure you they're the least of his disqualifying attributes. Most important was his adamant opposition to regulation of the credit default swap (CDS) market during his stint as Treasury Secretary. Now, our gal Brooksley Born (Chair of the CFTC at the time) saw the trainwreck coming and did her best to stop it, but (I can just see it) Summers' bloviating style overwhelmed her poor little feminine lawyerly mind. Read all about it and weep for her and yourself and your non-bloviating 401K in the Oct 15 Washington Post article ("What went Wrong?)

If you are one of the millions who gave money to Obama (I did), email the campaign and let them know that you're on to Larry S and won't feel pretty if he's a bigwig in the Obama administration. To post a comment with the Obama campaign, go to http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/mypolicy .

Finally, if you want to argue with me, drop an email at jwagner@bethesda20817.net I'll incorporate your thoughts (with attribution if you give me permission) into future blogs. I'm on a roll, and you should be too!

The Bad Boys Responsible for our Financial/Economic Meltdown

Next time you see either Bob Rubin or Larry Summers pontificating on some talking heads show (e.g., "This Week" this week), remind yourself that these two (along with Alan Greenspan and Phil Gramm) created the mess we're in by scheming to prevent the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission from regulating credit default swaps. As Michael Greenberger pointed out on NPR's Fresh Air, these securities are the poster children of the greed orgy of the past 10 years. Don't let the bad boys of US financial policy get away with it. Write to any TV or radio news show (CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, CBS, ABC, etc) that airs an interview of any of these four bad boys without demanding that they explain their positions in the late 1990's against regulating CDS's.If we all do this, their inane answers may at the least prevent one or more of them from becoming senior officials or advisors in a McCain or Obama administration.But, don't trust me. See the New York Times Oct 8 article for a full description of our bad boys' role in our financial downfall at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/business/economy/09greenspan.html

Think I'm right? Think I'm all wet? Email me at jwagner@bethesda20817.net and I'll post your comment if it's not too raunchy.