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Watching Larry Summers defend Obama's stimulus plan
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On "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" on ABC this morning, Larry Summers, former Harvard University president and President Barack Obama's chief economic adviser, discussed the negotiations over the stimulus bill, along with the bank bailout plan the president will unveil Tuesday. Now there are two versions of the stimulus, and George Staphanopoulos kept asking Summers which bill the president prefers (House or Senate).
Summers: "We need a major program, we need it quickly to create those three to four million jobs."
George then put up a graphic showing economists saying the economy is already in a depression. He asks: Already in a depression? Summers: "Worse than most economists like me ever thought we would see. In the depression, unemployment was 25%. We're in a different situation than than ... the point is acting as aggressively as we can."
Talking about the financial overhaul here.
Summers: "Desire to keep the focus right now on the economic recovery." Summers put off talking directly about the financial bailout of the banks, which could cost another $300 billion to $500 billion or more. Summers said Treasury SZecretary geithner is talking this week about that plan.
Michael Steele, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, was on after the commercial break. George had some interesting questions about Steele's financial transactions with his sister's company.
Then the round table with George Will, who gets the first word. Others on the roundtable: Robert Reich, the short-statured former labor secretary under Clinton. Reich blasted "The tragic-ness of the Republican Party."
Newt Gingrich is on the panel: "He included no Republicans in the deal." [That's BS, there were three Republican Senators, Collins, Snowe, and Specter.]
Gingrich said the president and Democrats were shutting out Republicans from the debate: "We'll get the icing, you get the entire cake ... we'll put your name in the icing."
Why is he talking about cake and icing again?
Reich retorted that Obama did reach out to Republicans. He appointed three Republicans to his cabinet, including Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire to be commerce secretary.
"I think Republicans are being intransigent, sticking together," Reich said.
Is this an era of bipartisanship or partisanship? Newt says Obama "ran over" Republicans. Reich says the process is still unfolding.
Reich also put down George Will's whining that the Dems are spending, spending, spending all of his wealth: "You can not underestimate how bad the economy is right now, it is dropping off a cliff. The time is now."
When will the stimulus kick in? Before the 2010 elections? That's what Joe Biden was referring to [ABC showed a clip of Biden saying there's a "30% chance we'll get it wrong."]
Gingrich talked socialism and capitalism. Oh God, shut up Newt.
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