Fareed Zakaria talks with Larry Summers

[deziloooooo]

Larry Summers was on his show today..
Fareed questioned him on, naturally the Economy as well as his impressions of Barak Obama.
He explains why the Afministration concentrated on the Economy the first two years of the administration and not the deficit the thinking and reasons why
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

ZAKARIA: Joining me now, Lawrence Summers, President Obama's former Chief Economic Adviser, the chair of the National Economic Council, formerly Secretary of the Treasury, formerly president of Harvard University.

Welcome, Larry.

LAWRENCE SUMMERS, FORMER DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Good to be with you, Fareed.

ZAKARIA: The biggest problem in America right now is the jobs numbers, which, again, this week were disappointing. And what is clear at this point is even given the nature of the recovery, we are not seeing jobs come back in the numbers that they have historically come back and the -- and the numbers that economic models like Okun's rule, what Woodlaw would suggest. What's going on?

SUMMERS: Fareed, the main thing we have to do to accelerate the process of job creation is to accelerate economic growth. I think that's starting to happen. You look at the statistics, the flow for the last couple months has been a good deal more favorable than it had been.

And, historically, the behavior of output precedes the behavior of employment. When demand picks up, the first thing firms do is ask their existing workers to do more. The next thing they do is ask people to work some overtime. And the last thing they do is hire more people.

So it's a process that unfortunately takes time, but I think the prospects for starting to see significant employment growth and reductions in unemployment right now are better than they've been in the United States in a number of years. That doesn't mean we don't have to keep at it.

ZAKARIA: But they're -- but they're better than they -- than they were. But you still have the problem that to get back to full employment, six and a half percent, you're going to need job creation on a much more significant scale than you're seeing now and a lot of people are wondering, was this downturn just cyclical or is there something structural that's happened? Is there a shift in the economy where some of these jobs just aren't going to come back?

SUMMERS: Some of the jobs that were lost aren't going to come back, but some of the jobs are going to come in new places. We're educating more kids each year. We have more needs for health care each year. What's happening in information technology, which was so dramatic in the 1990s, a little more quiescent in the middle part of this decade, is taking off again with the iPad, with all that's happening on mobile devices.

So what has always been the American story is that jobs are lost in some sectors and jobs come back in other sectors.

ZAKARIA: So you don't see this --

SUMMERS: To be sure -- to be sure --

ZAKARIA: (INAUDIBLE) this is different? SUMMERS: This recession is the most serious recession by a wide margin that we've had since the Second World War. This financial crisis really was profoundly serious.

The precedents for it, the way in which we overbuilt in the housing sector, that created a lot of jobs for workers in construction, much more than were sustainable. And now, because we have an overhang of houses that are vacant, malls that are vacant, of office buildings that are vacant, we have this tremendous drop in the demand for construction workers and construction jobs and for a certain class of men who haven't gone to college that's a substantial part of employment. And so we're going to have problems with us in that sector for quite some time to come.

But I think the most important thing we can do is to raise the demand, a level of demand in our economy so as to create more output.

ZAKARIA: So how do we do --

SUMMERS: That's what's most important in the short run.

ZAKARIA: So how do you do that?

SUMMERS: In the medium run, there are a whole set of issues about education and innovation that we can talk about.

ZAKARIA: So you raise demand in the short term --

SUMMERS: How do we -- how do we do it? We took a very important step last fall in the tax compromise that was reached between the two parties. The policy commitment to eliminate or to scale -- to give a payroll tax holiday for next year will be an important spur to employment.

There's more we can do. President Obama has put great emphasis on the goal of doubling our exports over the next five years. We're actually ahead of pace to do that since he first put that goal forward a year ago. That's about standing up for American producers internationally, something he'll be doing very strongly when the Chinese premier visits.

And third, and something that I think is very, very important, you know, we run a budget deficit, Fareed, when we spend more than we earn and we have to borrow. We also run a deficit when we allow our infrastructure to run down and we don't repair it, because in the same way we're passing the burden on to future generations and, frankly, that's something we've been doing in this country for a long time.

ZAKARIA: So --

SUMMERS: If a time when we have unemployment approaching 20 percent in construction and a 10-year bond rate in the neighborhood of three percent, if that's not a time to invest in repairing our infrastructure, I can't imagine when there would be a better time.

ZAKARIA: OK, so corporate America is holding $2 trillion in cash, and the big question is why are they not spending it? You talk to businessmen, and they will, to a person, tell you it's uncertainty that they worry about, uncertainty in the regulatory environment, tax environment, and they all say that the Obama administration has -- has been suspicious or anti-business and that's why they aren't spending.

SUMMERS: Well, I think it's important to look at some aspects of the record. Corporate profits have risen by 60 percent in the last two years to record levels. That's as fast as they've risen in any two-year period.

People talk about uncertainty. One measure of uncertainty is the volatility in the stock market. That has fallen more than in half since President Obama took office. And if you look -- if you look back through history, it's actually quite a remarkable pattern. Business was far more hostile to the new deal in the 1930s that saved capitalism than they have been in the 1990s.

After the doldrums of the 1950s, business was fiercely hostile to President Kennedy and the program that drove the economy and profitability to new heights in the 1960s. Some of the periods when business was most enthusiastic about the directions of policy in the 1980s were periods that, in retrospect, were marked by very slow productivity growth, relatively weak markets, and the huge accumulation of debt.

So I think if one looks back, this is not an isolated instance in being a moment when the policies that took the country forward, that lifted the country out of recession, that ultimately worked out best for business turned out in the short run to arouse -- to arouse concern and real anger in the business community. That's been the case at most of the moments when the country has moved forward.

But if you look overall, the foundation for prosperity, growth and profitability in the United States today is far stronger than it was two years ago. And that's not just my judgment, that's not just President Obama's judgment, that is the overwhelming judgment if you look at any market indicator, and I think that -- or you look at any profit figure -- and I think that should tell us something very fundamental about the policies that have been pursued.

ZAKARIA: But, culturally, you've got to admit that there's something about -- about President Obama and the business community, there seems to be a disconnect. I mean, you talk to businessmen, you really get the feeling that they think he doesn't get them, he doesn't appreciate them.

SUMMERS: I think it's been a difficult -- I think it's been a difficult time for business. I think if you look -- and it's not just business, it's the -- it's the media, it's the Congress, it's many different parts of the country where there has been a kind of disillusionment, that widespread swaths that our citizenry feel.

President Obama is very direct and candid, and he has talked about that with business leaders, and sometimes I think people can confuse the messenger and the -- and the message. And I think there are some in the business community who believe that the anxiety that the public feels toward business about financial practices, about failures to create jobs for ordinary Americans, about loyalties that go beyond the country in which they're based. I think some businesspeople think those anxieties are coming from Washington and I think the reality is much more that Washington is responding to what is a palpable unease in the land, and I think that is a very real challenge for business.

ZAKARIA: We'll be right back. More with Larry Summers and what to do about the American economy, and more from him on what it's like working with President Obama.

ZAKARIA: What do you think the number -- American growth number will clock in at for 2011?

SUMMERS: As Harold Wilson once suggested, you should name a number or name a date, but never name both.

But, seriously, Fareed --



ZAKARIA: And we are back with Larry Summers, formerly the head of the National Economic Council, before that Secretary of Treasury, in the middle president of Harvard University.

Larry, you've worked with two Democratic presidents in very senior capacities -- President Clinton and President Obama. What is Obama like?

You know, again, in the business community there's this fear, he's -- is he very left wing, is he a quasi-socialist? There are others who feel he's not enough of a leader, he's subcontracted everything to Congress, the stimulus, health care.

What's -- what is he like as -- as a person to work with?

SUMMERS: I found him to be an extraordinary figure. He has the gift that I think great leaders do of both understanding, setting broad direction, delegating, insisting on principle on the one hand but being pragmatic and willing to reach out on the other.

And I think the results speak to themselves. I mean, the test of a leader is whether they're responding to the challenges of their time, and I think everybody would agree, both those who favor the measures that have been taken, as I do, and those who would disagree, that in terms of the amount that has happened that has changed the United States between the Recovery Act, the reform of financial regulation, the provision of universal health insurance, the change in America's position in the world, the withdrawal from Iraq, the changes that have come in the American educational system, that this has probably been the most consequential two years of a presidency, certainly since the first two years of Lyndon Johnson's second term in 1965 and perhaps going back further than that.

I think the president has been just terrific on that.

ZAKARIA: But you know, it's easy to give tax cuts. Honestly, it's easy to raise spending. It's hard to get the budget deficit in order. Even on the health care bill, it's easier to expand coverage than it is to come down on costs.

So on all those issues it seems like we've had a very tough time, and if you look at the consequences, you're beginning to already see them. You're seeing rating agencies saying that America may not be able to keep its -- its bond ratings for fear that the fiscal situation in America is going to deteriorate so sharply.

SUMMERS: Fareed, I'd say -- I'd say two things -- two things about that. First, in terms of tough things, the financial industry spends a million dollars per congressman, four lobbyists for every member of Congress, working to block regulation that will change things. And this president brought about the largest change in financial regulation in 50 years. That's not something that was easy.

ZAKARIA: The bottom line --

SUMMERS: But you raise -- you raised the deficit.



SUMMERS: -- the deficit, and the deficit is surely heavily defining of whatever we do in the economic area going forward.

The priority for the last two years was getting the economy growing. You know, if you look at it, that is the largest determinant of where our debt is going to be. If we have Japan-style stagnation, which looked like the likelihood 18 months or two years ago, there is no way, as the Japanese experience demonstrates, no matter what we do to tighten our belts, that we will get to a reasonable posture.

So the president made exactly the right decision to put first things first, and the first thing was accelerating the growth of this economy. He's used his first two years to lay a foundation for growth to pick up. At the same time, I think the right foundation for deficit reduction going forward, and there's no question that that's got to be a priority over the next several years.

But if we had attempted that first, if we had attempted deficit reduction as the first -- as the first step, the likelihood is that we would be looking at a much weaker economy and, as a consequence, ultimately we'd be looking at much larger debt problems.

ZAKARIA: But the premise -- your -- your answers on this are premised on growth. So I've got to ask you, you really think we have turned the corner and you are bullish on growth in America, what do you think the number -- American growth number will clock in at for 2011?

SUMMERS: Oh, I'm close enough to being in -- to being in government to know that, as Harold Wilson once suggested, you should name a number or name a date but never name both.

But seriously, Fareed, I -- I'd expect growth to be comfortably above three percent over the next several years and I think --

ZAKARIA: But that's not -- that doesn't give (INAUDIBLE).

SUMMERS: I think we'll -- and I think we'll start -- and I think we'll start to -- and I think we'll start to see before long growth getting closer to four than to three.

ZAKARIA: Let me ask you a final question. You've watched, as all of us have, the murders in Arizona. What you -- what was your reaction?

SUMMERS: My reaction was, as somebody who believes in freedom, that I do not understand what important value is served by allowing clearly disturbed individuals to purchase automatic guns whose only purpose is to be able to kill many rapidly. Not to hunt, not to self- defense, only to kill. And why we -- why that freedom should be treated as a fundamental freedom is not something I can understand.

And I hope we will see not some vast new initiative with respect to gun control but simply a return to the laws that we had over a significant era when we didn't have any political assassinations in the United States, the most basic kinds of background checks for the most extreme kinds of weapons. That is something concrete and real that we can and we should do.

ZAKARIA: Larry Summers, pleasure to have you on.

[ed1066]

Another left-wing circle jerk. Why won't any of the lefties have conservatives on their shows? I know the answer to that. Do you?

[deziloooooo]

Jan 17, 2011 18:25:36 GMT -5 @ed1066 said:

Another left-wing circle jerk. Why won't any of the lefties have conservatives on their shows? I know the answer to that. Do you?

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Yep a "jerk " But a jerk with credentials...what are yours Ed?
I know the answer.."none of my business "

a ""jerk " but what a "jerk "

" In 2007, Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines named him one of the 100 leading public intellectuals in the world.[6]
Even if they were off a bit, say 150 leading public intelltuals in the WORLD, but know , they said 100 so will go with that m, though if 150, nit to shabby either.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Zakaria attended The Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai. He received a B.A. degree from Yale University where he was President of the Yale Political Union, editor-in-chief of the Yale Political Monthly, and a member of the Scroll and Key society and the Party of the Right (Yale). He later earned a Ph.D. degree in Political Science from Harvard University in 1993,[1] where he studied under Samuel P. Huntington and Stanley Hoffmann.

[edit] CareerAfter directing a research project on American foreign policy at Harvard, Zakaria became managing editor of Foreign Affairs magazine in 1992. In October 2000, he was named editor of Newsweek International,[1] and wrote a weekly foreign affairs column. In August 2010 it was announced that he was moving from Newsweek to Time magazine, to serve as a contributing editor and columnist.[3]

He has written on a variety of subjects for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and as a wine columnist for the webzine Slate.[4][5]

Zakaria is the author of From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role (Princeton, 1998), The Future of Freedom (Norton, 2003), and The Post-American World (2008); he has also co-edited The American Encounter: The United States and the Making of the Modern World (Basic Books).

In 2007, Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines named him one of the 100 leading public intellectuals in the world.[6]

Zakaria was a news analyst with ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos (2002–2007); he hosted the weekly TV news show, Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria on PBS (2005–2008); his weekly show, Fareed Zakaria GPS ("Global Public Square") premiered on CNN in June 2008.[1] It airs on Sundays at 10:00am and 1:00pm Eastern Daylight Time.

[edit] ViewsZakaria self-identifies as a "centrist",[7] though he has been described variously as a political liberal,[8][9] a conservative,[10] or a moderate.[11] George Stephanopoulos said of him in 2003, "He’s so well versed in politics, and he can’t be pigeonholed. I can’t be sure whenever I turn to him where he’s going to be coming from or what he’s going to say."[12] Zakaria wrote in Feb. 2008 that "Conservatism grew powerful in the 1970s and 1980s because it proposed solutions appropriate to the problems of the age", adding that "a new world requires new thinking".[13] He supported Barack Obama during the 2008 Democratic primary campaign and also for president. In January 2009 Forbes referred to Zakaria as one of the 25 most influential liberals in the American media.[8] Zakaria has stated that he tries not to be devoted to any type of ideology, saying "I feel that's part of my job... which is not to pick sides but to explain what I think is happening on the ground. I can't say, 'This is my team and I'm going to root for them no matter what they do.'"[7]

[ed1066]

Desi, I know you're a Zakaria worshipper, but all you've shown is that he has impeccable lib media credentials, right down to the Ivy League education and his anti-American writings (excuse me, "post-American", as the liberals like to call it)...

[deziloooooo]

Well you are correct..he is liberal in his over all out look on things , however , and to be honest I wouldn't put it past you after watching and reading your posts for the past few years, if as you walk the streets, malls where ever, in the real world , and mutter as you pass others going by you, Lib, {frown, lib{deeper frown] con, {smile} and on and on...you are missing a lot .

The country is made up of both plus those who don't identify with either of them. There are good , smart people on both sides as well as the others. Fareed is one of the good ones.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"
ViewsZakaria self-identifies as a "centrist",[7] though he has been described variously as a political liberal,[8][9] a conservative,[10] or a moderate.[11] George Stephanopoulos said of him in 2003, "He’s so well versed in politics, and he can’t be pigeonholed. I can’t be sure whenever I turn to him where he’s going to be coming from or what he’s going to say."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think the above describes him very well.

I like to listen to bright people who have ideas and thoughts, many times off the wall, but well articulated. One might say.."What? Wait a minute ..." however it gets you thinking about another way, a possibility. That is what he brings out to me .

The people he has on his weekly show are the ones in the news of the day, some who appear no where else, important people, ones who ideas and what they decide to do are important . Their actions effect others, for good or bad, they are important.

Example a few weeks ago. The President of China, the Peoples Republic.

1st interview with the West in two years and the one two years before, also with Zacharia.

There has to be a reason and it was not a fluff piece, hard questions were asked , so hard the interview which was published in the Chinese media, the next day, it was gone. {I think I read it did come back, not sure about that}

I have no idea what your agenda is here. I personally think you lean right and have fun here with your ...well you know what you do. I believe you definitely lean that way but have doubts if your so over board as you put out.
Personally I think it's your shtick, how you post.

If you are in the real world exactly as you are here, and I am wrong in how I view you, then my friend you need help , it's not normal, more important it's not healthy.
My opinion, and this is not my HO, this is a truism, this is fact.

Back to Zakaria, "Ivy League education and his anti-American writings " it sounds like your jealous of those who are lucky enough to qualify for admission to such schools , so many conservative leaders have come from them.
In fact the particular schools he went to and excelled at, so I don't understand your disdain for them.
Leaders of all the industries, Presidents, statesman, medicine, supreme and lower court justices..so many great Americans, and you are putting them down. [sigh}

Anti American writings? He loves this country, is a citizen with as many rights as you and I.
The country is made up of many types, even types like you Ed. For most of us we have learned to get along with each other and respect all.

You should give it a try, I am sure it would make you a happier individual.