larry summers

Barack Obama hit the Daily Show on Wednesday night, and made the unfortunate comment that Larry Summers had done a "heckuva job" running the economy. Robert Scheer of Truthdig notes that Summers was the chief architect of Clinton-era policies that created the economic crisis in the first place, and that Obama's appointment of him to get us out of it was never going to result in anything but more money being thrown at Wall Street. Scheer visited the GRITtv studios to talk about Summers, Bill Clinton, Obama, and why there are a few Tea Party candidates he wouldn't mind seeing win this election cycle.

"The first step is to stop apologizing," says Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change. "We have ideas; we are often cowed by the ferociousness of the argument from conservatives." Indeed, in the wake of Larry Summers' departure from the Obama administration--and the news that the administration wants to head off criticism that it's been anti-business--as well as the failure of Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal and the DREAM Act in the Senate, it often seems like conservatives are winning. But, Bhargava notes, ordinary Americans are organizing as well, and the One Nation march in Washington will be a start toward holding the administration accountable, and building a real bottom-up movement.

Top economics writers are sending some scary signals this week. Just as June unemployment numbers are due, Paul Krugman's declaring that we could be headed for a third Depression, and David Leonhardt, also writing in the New York Times quotes source after source saying “The world’s rich countries are now conducting a dangerous experiment.”

One of the best kept secrets in Washington is the working of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Does it get the job done? Not even close. Typically, Wall Street is awash in insider trading, accounting games, and let's not forget campaign contributions -- and SEC lawyers are outgunned and outmaneuvered. All this was known before the Bernard Madoff scandal put the SEC to shame and dozens of kiss-and-tell best sellers were published by ex-financiers who, having stashed away enough for themselves and their dynasty of future children, came forward with sordid tales of pocket stuffing. The agency may have been weak thorughout the Bush years, but it's not just the way, it's the will. Back in '93, in Clintontimes, Mary Schapiro told an audience in Switzerland that "a more flexible regulatory paradigm" would benefit the financial world. And she wasn't alone: over at the White House, chief economist Bob Rubin was saying the same. Rubin, who cashed out of Goldman Sachs with hundreds of millions of dollars, and his lieutenant, Larry Summers, who made millions at a hedge fund, went on to run the Treasury Department. There, this dynamic duo unleashed the forces not of regulation -- but its reverse -- laying the foundation for the awful mess we are familiar with -- speculation upon speculation and leverage upon leverage -- producing profits galore but few jobs. Even the best intentioned SEC, under the the reformed and revitalized Mary Schapiro, can put but a dent in a system so skewed. The case against Goldman's juicy, but juicier to investors are the bank's first quarter returns -- which are up. It'll take more than Ms. Schapiro's lawsuit to topple the applecart of massive accumulation for some and next to nothing for the rest of us. The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Distributed by Tubemogul.