You’d think Larry Summers would know better. Not that he stepped in it, again, but rather why he did this particular time. Making a big deal out of inflationary aggregate demand when he’s been practically the lone mainstream Economist to look at the post-2008 economy in an honest and serious fashion to then somehow failing to incorporate that view into our current place.
What got Summers in hot water a few days ago was a rather careless throwaway surrounding his usual partisan politics. Essentially asking the question why the government would want to give $2,000 to all Americans. It’s a legitimate query but one unfortunately couched first in typical and typically unhelpful DC squabbling.
The more significant problem, in my view, was the basis from which he attempted his answer. Forced to explain this pure bias, or BS, further, Bill Clinton’s former Treasury Secretary felt impelled to write an op-ed for Bloomberg on Sunday in order to clear things up. It wasn’t politics, he claimed, but rather bad Economics (capital “E”, in this case). Read more…..
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Icarus TV
My guest today is Ray Dalio, Founder, Co-Chairman, and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Bridgewater Associates, the fifth most important private company in the US, according to Fortune magazine. According to Forbes, he is the 69th Richest person in the world, and he has been called the “Steve Jobs of Investing” by Wired magazine, and named one of the top 100 Most Influential People by TIME magazine.
