A proposito de Larry Summers
Esta es su opinión sobre la situación actual,
When President-elect Barack Obama takes office, he will face what may well be the bleakest economic outlook since World War II. Economic forecasts have been revised significantly downward over the past several months; today, many experts believe that unemployment could reach 10 percent by the end of next year and our economy could fall $1 trillion short of its full capacity -- which translates into more than $12,000 in lost income for a family of four.
As difficult as these conditions are, however, the Obama administration also inherits an economy with great potential for the medium and long terms. Investments in an array of areas -- including energy, education, infrastructure and health care -- offer the potential of extraordinarily high social returns while allowing our country to address some long-standing national challenges and put our economy on a solid footing for years to come.
In this crisis, doing too little poses a greater threat than doing too much. Any sound economic strategy in the current context must be directed at both creating the jobs that Americans need and doing the work that our economy requires. Any plan geared toward only one of these objectives would be dangerously deficient. Failure to create enough jobs in the short term would put the prospect of recovery at risk. Failure to start undertaking necessary long-term investments would endanger the foundation of our recovery and, ultimately, our children's prosperity.
Our president-elect understands both the peril and the promise of the situation and the importance of responding to changing conditions. That is why his economic team is crafting a broad proposal,
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, to support the jobs and incomes essential for recovery while also making a down payment on our nation's long-term financial health.
A key pillar of the Obama plan is job creation. In the face of deteriorating economic forecasts, Obama has revised his goal upward, to 3 million. For one thing, significantly fewer positions would be created in the absence of any recovery plan. Second, more than 80 percent of these 3 million jobs will be in the private sector, including emerging sectors such as environmental technology. This is a bold goal. But economists across the political spectrum recognize that it is far less risky to stand firmly against the forces propelling our economy downward than to be timid in the face of a mounting crisis.
The Obama plan represents not new public works but, rather, investments that will work for the American public. Investments to build the classrooms, laboratories and libraries our children need to meet 21st-century educational challenges. Investments to help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil by spurring renewable energy initiatives (many of which are on hold because of the credit crunch). Investments to put millions of Americans back to work rebuilding our roads, bridges and public transit systems. Investments to modernize our health-care system, which is necessary to improve care in the short term and key to driving down costs across the board.
Laying the groundwork for recovery and future prosperity will require shedding Washington habits. We must measure progress not by the agendas of interest groups but by whether the American people experience results. We must focus not on ideology but on drawing the best ideas from all quarters. That is why, for example, in key sectors such as energy, Obama is pushing for both public investments and the removal of barriers to private investment. It is also why his plan relies on both government spending and tax cuts to raise incomes and promote recovery.
The president-elect has insisted that investments proposed in the recovery plan meet standards much higher than has been traditional. There will be no earmarks. Investments will be chosen strategically based on what yields the highest rate of return for the economy and monitored closely not just by officials but also by the public as government becomes more transparent. We expect to evaluate and to be evaluated rigorously to ensure that Washington is held accountable for how tax dollars are spent.
Some argue that instead of attempting to both create jobs and invest in our long-run growth, we should focus exclusively on short-term policies that generate consumer spending. But that approach led to some of the challenges we face today -- and it is that approach that we must reject if we are going to strengthen our middle class and our economy over the long run.
Far from being an excuse for inaction or delay, the magnitude of the work ahead is all the more reason to begin that work.
El retorno de Larry Summers
Video
En esta entrevista realizada hace más de un año (año 2007), Larry Summers señaló que la economía mundial se hallaba al borde del colapso. Mientras la Fed y la administración Bush decían que una recesión era técnicamente imposible, Summers pronunció un discurso marcadamente diferente: “Estamos al borde de un período con el peor desempeño económico desde los años 70 y los mercados financieros van a colapsar y no volverán a funcionar normalmente durante mucho tiempo”.
Transcurrido un año y medio y viendo las profundas dimensiones que ha adquirido este crack financiero y bursátil que ha arrastrado a los valores en una caída del 42% podemos ver quien estaba en lo cierto. Con Summers ocurre aquello de los buenos economistas: escucharlo cinco minutos es más valioso que pasar horas atendiendo a alguien de ideas convencionales. Por eso Barack Obama lo ha escogido como el nuevo
director del Consejo Económico Nacional, donde a partir del 21 de enero tomará el timón de una economía que enfrenta su más dura encrucijada.
Si bien la prensa ha destacado más la llegada de Paul Volcker al Consejo Asesor para la Recuperación Económica creado recientemente por Obama, la figura relevante será Lawrence Summers, quien regresa a la Casa Blanca tras su desempeño en la administración de Bill Clinton con quien tuvo una meritoria tarea en la reducción del déficit que dejó Bush padre y que Bush jr. cuadruplicó en ocho años. Para Obama, como señala David Leonhardt en The New York Times, Summers es “un lider del pensamiento”. En esta entrevista, Summers habla sobre las sorpresas, posibilidades y riesgos de la economía mundial, y describe el duro escenario que vendrá antes que ocurriera el desplome bursátil y bancario.
Summers da muchas claves sobre lo que ha sucedido en los últimos años con la economía mundial, como el fuerte incremento de los flujos de capital desde las economías emergentes (Asia y América Latina) a los países industrializados. Y se pregunta ¿Qué pasará cuando un país extranjero nos compre The New York Times? ¿Cómo se sentirán los británicos cuando un país extranjero les compre su sistema de tuberías? Por eso señala que la única alternativa es abrir foros de discusión serios y reales para definir el futuro; foros que ni la ONU ni el FMI, ni el llamado G-7, ni el G-20 han sabido poner en el tapete.
Los temas para Summers son los mismos que interesan a Obama: cerrar la brecha de la desigualdad y apoyar a la clase media emprendedora y pujante, que ha sido la gran perdedora mundial del experimento neoliberal. Para Summers la ortodoxia económica conservadora se ha convertido en una amenaza mucho más sería que el terrorismo, y dado lo que está ocurriendo con el mundo, no deja de estar en lo cierto. Para Summers el sistema económico-financiero que creó la crisis mexicana, la crisis asiática y el colapso actual debe ser cambiado. Esta vez no son países pequeños los que caen. Es el eje económico y financiero mundial el que se desploma. Habrá que esperar sus argumentos. Revisando el video, encontraremos algunas muy buenas ideas para superar el escollo.