[Infowarrior] - Anyone But Larry Summers . . .

[Richard Forno]

Anyone But Larry Summers . . .

by Barry Ritholtz - July 15th, 2013, 7:25am

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/07/anyone-but-larry-summers/

At a dinner last week, the discussion turned to who will replace Fed Chair Ben Bernanke. The consensus was Janet Yellen was the front runner, Roger Ferguson was the long shot . . . and then Lawrence Summers’ name arose.

Longtime readers know I have little respect for the former Treasury Secretary and Harvard President. Despite his alleged brilliance, he seems to have the worst judgment of any economist ever in existence. Granted, discussing economists with poor judgement is an embarrassment of riches, bit Summers manages to surpass the crowd in leaps and bounds.

He is essentially a smarter version of Alan Greenspan, only lacking Greenspan’s keen judgment and humility (that was sarcasm).

Consider Summers brilliant track record:

•  He has consistently argued for privatization and deregulation of the financial sector

• He oversaw the repeal of Glass-Steagall via the passage of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

• He approved the (previously illegal) merger between Citibank and Travelers

• He oversaw and indeed encouraged concentration in the financial sector, leading tot he rise of the mega TBTF banks.

• He successfully fought Brooksley Born, then chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, to rein in financial derivatives

• He oversaw passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, preventing any regulation of derivatives,; This also exempted derivatives from state insurance oversight and antigambling laws.

• Thanks to Summers, derivatives have no minimum reserve requirements, no disclosure obligations, zero transparency, and no exchange listing or reporting requirements.

He then compounded his errors by pushing for a small, ineffective stimulus plan.

Note we have not even got to his issues with woman, science, his boorish head strong personality, and his other professional failings.

Whats next after we put Larry Summers in charge of the Fed? Where else can he fail upwards toward?
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