[NOTE: Please see the updated version of this post from 2013 here.]
Every time I see Larry Summers, he looks fatter. It's almost a parody of what being a BSD will get you, or a reverse 'Portrait Of Dorian Grey': Public evidence of a corrupt life worn in his face.
Summers has been over and under and up and down, as the Sinatra song says, but has generally been a King, not a Pawn. He's been one of Harvard's youngest tenured professors; was on the staff of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan from 1982-1983; and served as Chief Economist for the World Bank until 1993.
It was at the World Bank that Larry wrote a memo, later leaked to the press, in which he said, "the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that . . . I've always thought that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted". Larry claimed the remark was 'sarcasm' and was taken out of context, which is a far cry from saying it was a fraud.
Larry served as the Secretary of the Treasury during the last year-and-a-half of the Clinton administration's second term. Summers was successful in pushing for capital gains tax cuts. During the California energy crisis of 2000, then-Treasury Secretary Summers teamed with Alan Greenspan and Enron executive Kenneth Lay to lecture California Governor Gray Davis on the causes of the crisis, explaining that the problem was excessive government regulation. Under the advice of Kenneth Lay, Summers urged Davis to relax California's environmental standards in order to reassure the markets -- Californnia had to deregulate it's electricity markets.
Remember Enron, a company full of leeches and criminals? Remember the conversations recorded between Enron energy traders, laughing -- because the deregulation Summers and Lay wanted allowed Enron to buy California's own electricity, and sell it back to California at inflated prices? Thanks, Larry!
Summers supported the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, which lifted more than six decades of restrictions against banks offering commercial banking, insurance, and investment services by repealing key provisions in the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act. Summers also pushed heavily for deregulation of the derivatives market, which was successful under Lil' Boots Bush.
All of that led directly to the current economic disaster we're experiencing, by the way. Without a firewall which kept banks out of other financial businesses, and kept investment houses out of the banking business; without regulation of the derivatives market, you end up with... well, where we are now.
Ol' Larry was also made President of Harvard University -- until he was forced to resign in 2006 after receiving a no-confidence vote from a majority of its faculty, because Summers had made dismissive comments about the value of women; tried to dismiss an African-American professor for spending time working on a particular Democrat's presidential candidacy; and showed favoritism to a visiting instructor because there was money in it for him.
In short, Larry continued to behave like a greedhead sociopath. Surprise, huh?
Now, Larry is the principal member of the Obama Administration's Economic Advisory Council. President Obama is expecting him to work on... reforming the investment and banking industry.
Right.
Summers has recently come under fire for accepting perks from Citigroup, including free rides on its corporate jet in 2008. After he economic stimulus legislation was passed in early 2009, Larry called Senator Chris Dodd and asked him to remove caps on executive pay at firms that received stimulus money, including Citigroup.
Later that year, it was disclosed that Summers has been paid millions of dollars by companies which he now has influence over as a public servant. He collected approximately $7.7 million in fees from various Wall Street companies which received government bailout money.
What a guy. Thanks for everything, Larry; millions of people are barely treading water -- but you got yours, huh? So I guess it's okay. The interesting thing is, you're two years younger than I am, and man; I look in way better shape.
Hee hee hee hee hee hee. But, then, I'm a Dog, and this means I'm only eight years old in a human timeframe. However, Larry can't bark very well, and possibly spends less time licking potentially embarrasing areas of his body in public.
Larry Summers, 2010 Gore Vidal-Look-alike Contest Runner-Up
Every time I see Larry Summers, he looks fatter. It's almost a parody of what being a BSD will get you, or a reverse 'Portrait Of Dorian Grey': Public evidence of a corrupt life worn in his face.
Summers has been over and under and up and down, as the Sinatra song says, but has generally been a King, not a Pawn. He's been one of Harvard's youngest tenured professors; was on the staff of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan from 1982-1983; and served as Chief Economist for the World Bank until 1993.
It was at the World Bank that Larry wrote a memo, later leaked to the press, in which he said, "the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that . . . I've always thought that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted". Larry claimed the remark was 'sarcasm' and was taken out of context, which is a far cry from saying it was a fraud.
Larry served as the Secretary of the Treasury during the last year-and-a-half of the Clinton administration's second term. Summers was successful in pushing for capital gains tax cuts. During the California energy crisis of 2000, then-Treasury Secretary Summers teamed with Alan Greenspan and Enron executive Kenneth Lay to lecture California Governor Gray Davis on the causes of the crisis, explaining that the problem was excessive government regulation. Under the advice of Kenneth Lay, Summers urged Davis to relax California's environmental standards in order to reassure the markets -- Californnia had to deregulate it's electricity markets.
Remember Enron, a company full of leeches and criminals? Remember the conversations recorded between Enron energy traders, laughing -- because the deregulation Summers and Lay wanted allowed Enron to buy California's own electricity, and sell it back to California at inflated prices? Thanks, Larry!
Summers supported the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, which lifted more than six decades of restrictions against banks offering commercial banking, insurance, and investment services by repealing key provisions in the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act. Summers also pushed heavily for deregulation of the derivatives market, which was successful under Lil' Boots Bush.
All of that led directly to the current economic disaster we're experiencing, by the way. Without a firewall which kept banks out of other financial businesses, and kept investment houses out of the banking business; without regulation of the derivatives market, you end up with... well, where we are now.
The Nation's Financial Future Bores Larry: Nothing In It For Him
Ol' Larry was also made President of Harvard University -- until he was forced to resign in 2006 after receiving a no-confidence vote from a majority of its faculty, because Summers had made dismissive comments about the value of women; tried to dismiss an African-American professor for spending time working on a particular Democrat's presidential candidacy; and showed favoritism to a visiting instructor because there was money in it for him.
In short, Larry continued to behave like a greedhead sociopath. Surprise, huh?
Now, Larry is the principal member of the Obama Administration's Economic Advisory Council. President Obama is expecting him to work on... reforming the investment and banking industry.
Right.
Summers has recently come under fire for accepting perks from Citigroup, including free rides on its corporate jet in 2008. After he economic stimulus legislation was passed in early 2009, Larry called Senator Chris Dodd and asked him to remove caps on executive pay at firms that received stimulus money, including Citigroup.
Later that year, it was disclosed that Summers has been paid millions of dollars by companies which he now has influence over as a public servant. He collected approximately $7.7 million in fees from various Wall Street companies which received government bailout money.
What a guy. Thanks for everything, Larry; millions of people are barely treading water -- but you got yours, huh? So I guess it's okay. The interesting thing is, you're two years younger than I am, and man; I look in way better shape.
Hee hee hee hee hee hee. But, then, I'm a Dog, and this means I'm only eight years old in a human timeframe. However, Larry can't bark very well, and possibly spends less time licking potentially embarrasing areas of his body in public.
Mongo In The Early Years
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