Who Likes Larry Summers? By Pareene, 2:20 PM on Mon Apr 6 2009, 1,093 views
Well, Barack Obama does. And Tim Geithner. But no one else. Not one other person on god's green earth likes Lawrence H. Summers. Which is why all the Summers income documents were dumped on Friday.
Summers is Obama's chief economic advisor, a position that, conveniently, doesn't require Senate confirmation. If it had required Senate confirmation, Summers probably woulda been Daschle'd. Not necessarily because he doesn't pay his taxes (though he probably doesn't, who knows) but because he is totally beholden to everyone in finance.
So. Summers earned $5.2 million for a part-time gig at the hedge fund D. E. Shaw.
And hey, what a shock this is to learn:
At Harvard and at Shaw, Mr. Summers cultivated a small circle of financial professionals - particularly hedge fund managers - to serve as an informal brain trust. He consults with them on policy matters from his perch in the White House.
And suddenly the Geithner plan makes a little more sense! Well, except that they still can't convince the HEDGE FUNDS THAT WILL SAVE THE ECONOMY to sign on, even when the government is basically promising to insulate them from risk.
More fun facts about Larry: after he stepped down as President of Harvard because he said gurls are stoopid, he still made $528,996 as "Charles W. Eliot University professor" this last year, making him Harvard's highest-paid professor! This while he was working at the hedge fund and all the other shit he gets paid millions to make appearances at.
Naturally Harvard forbids devoting more than "20 per cent of one's total professional effort" to "outside work," which it could be argued that Mr. Summers has been doing since he stepped down as President to remain a highly paid pretend professor back in '06.
Anyway. Larry Summers. We keep hearing about how he is THE MOST BRILLIANT ECONOMIST OF HIS GENERATION but maybe that only applies if his economic theories made you rich in the 90s and are keeping you rich now.