1/During a financial crisis, ⁦@USTreasury⁩ Sec Paulson understood in transition it was his job to help the Fed and the incoming Admin establish a basis for strong, cooperative efforts to contain the crisis. Sec.Mnuchin has done just the opposite. wsj.com/articles/mnuch…
2/In these complex times, there is room for debate on what types of government intervention in credit markets are appropriate.

There's not much room for debate on the merits of maintaining stanbdy capacities.
3/ We cannot predict when or if a panicky cascade will happen in credit markets. Aftershocks after financial crises (and earthquakes) are not uncommon. Removing a capacity to respond as @stevenmnuchin1 has sought to do is wrong.
4/Can't imagine why @stevenmnuchin1 -who has seen himself as a serious financial technocrat-would ally himself w @realDonaldTrump “burn the house down" approach. Officials underneath @stevenmnuchin1 -whose terms are ending very soon anyway- should consider symbolic resignations

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Lawrence H. Summers

Lawrence H. Summers Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @LHSummers

18 Oct
Told @FareedZakaria on GPS @CNN, America’s failure on COVID-19 is almost unimaginable. Heck, if the U.S. had handled the pandemic as well as Pakistan, we would have saved in neighborhood of $10 trillion.
The costs of an expanded testing system are trivial compared to the costs of tens of thousands of early deaths. Expanding testing should be a matter of utmost urgency.
Interest rates are essentially zero, telling us that the funds are available and won’t crowd out anything important. Instead it will push economy forward. All the dangers are on spending too little, not too much.
Read 4 tweets
17 Oct
As I say in the story, @Harvard investment in @broadinstitute was one of the easiest decisions made during my time as President. In many ways you can measure it, Harvard’s investment in the Broad has been a spectacular success.
I don’t know any other philanthropists who have turned the same rigor, exacting standards and persistence that made them wealthy to their philanthropy in the way Eli Broad, supported by Edye’s shrewd human judgment, has done. @UnreasonableEli
Read 4 tweets
12 Oct
I have a Viewpoint out in JAMA with my colleague @Cutler_econ – The COVID-19 Pandemic and the $16 Trillion Virus. It is particularly relevant today ja.ma/3diC0U9
1/13
We estimate the cost of the COVID virus for the US. Bottom line cost: $16 trillion. This is $200,000 per family or 90% of a year’s GDP.
2/13
Some other metrics: this is 4x the output loss of the Great Recession, 2x the cost of all wars since 9/11, and roughly the cost of climate change in the next 50 years. Let me explain the estimates.
3/13
Read 13 tweets
12 Oct
Watch here my debate ⁦@fordschool⁩ with @MayaMacGuineas on whether the federal deficit is unsustainable. fordschool.umich.edu/events/2020/fe…
We need a different paradigm while thinking about the deficit. Of course we need more stimulus. The difficult question is: What do we need in the future?
A move to austerity as soon as possible is dangerous & misguided. Fails to appreciate the big structural changes in our economy, which is the emergence of a massive excess of private savings over private investments at a reasonable interest rate. What I call secular stagnation.
Read 6 tweets
11 Oct
1/ Very important column by @NickKristof in @nytopinion this weekend on the gravity of the tax compliance crisis facing this country today.

nytimes.com/2020/10/10/opi…
2/ Whatever you think about tax collection and the merits of investment in IRS that @NatashaRSarin and I have discussed:

nber.org/papers/w27571

It is indefensible that you are more likely to get audited if you live in the Mississippi Delta than on Park Avenue
3/ And it’s outrageous the IRS is so underfunded it has been unable to pick up the phone when taxpayers call for help

And unacceptable that it does not have agents to work the cases of a few hundred high-income individuals whose failure to even file taxes cost the IRS billions
Read 4 tweets
25 Jun
Glenn Hubbard asked me today at a talk with the @EconClubNY, "How do you expect higher-ed to be evolving both in terms of delivery and addressing opportunity?" I told him I think the two things go together.
I am very proud of the fact that I put in place a set of policies during my time as President of @Harvard that was widely emulated, that basically said if your family had an income below $60,000, you didn’t have to pay a cent to come to @Harvard.
This changed the composition of student body, the applicant pool and influenced what other universities did. It was a really great thing.
Read 14 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!