Lawrence H. Summers
@larrysummers.bsky.social
4.8K followers 1 following 45 posts
Charles W. Eliot Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard, former Secretary of the Treasury for President Clinton
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larrysummers.bsky.social
This round of budget cuts in Medicaid in the OBBB far exceeds any other cut the United States has made in its social safety net. Read my New York Times opinion piece:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/o...
Opinion | Lawrence Summers: This Law Made Me Ashamed of My Country
www.nytimes.com
larrysummers.bsky.social
This current administration risks putting this cycle in reverse by undermining the Federal Reserve, imposing tariffs and passing a tax and policy bill that is more budget busting than big and beautiful.
larrysummers.bsky.social
That set off a virtuous economic cycle of growth, deficit reduction, lower interest rates and thus more investment and growth. Fiscal responsibility helped contain inflation b/ it was accompanied by respect for the independence of the Fed and recognition of the importance of a strong dollar.
larrysummers.bsky.social
In that earlier era, we followed a strategy of hoping for the best, while planning conservatively. We paired policies that reduced the deficit with others that stimulated investment.
larrysummers.bsky.social
There are important parallels between the two moments. Mr. Clinton then and Mr. Trump now face serious fiscal problems and an economy that is being rapidly changed by new technology; then it was the internet, now it’s artificial intelligence.
larrysummers.bsky.social
We were members of Bill Clinton’s economic team when the federal budget was balanced, the only time that has happened in more than half a century. In nearly every respect, the Trump administration’s approach is the opposite of what worked in the 1990s — and it poses huge risks to our economy.
larrysummers.bsky.social
This bill is more budget busting than big and beautiful. We helped balance the budget but Trump’s plan unbalances our finances and our country.

Read my @nytopinion.nytimes.com piece with Bob Rubin.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/o...
Opinion | We Both Served as Treasury Secretary. We Know This Bill Is Dangerous.
www.nytimes.com
larrysummers.bsky.social
Watch Friday’s Wall Street Week BloombergTV where I talk with David Westin about how inflation and unemployment are making the Fed’s job harder. We also discuss the economic fallout from conflict with Iran and the New York City mayoral race.
www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/...
Summers on the Fed, Middle East and NYC Mayoral Primary
Fed Chair Powell says uncertainty around tariffs justifies holding interest rates steady for now. Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers agrees but warns that rising inflation and unemployment ...
www.bloomberg.com
larrysummers.bsky.social
‘Are We Past Peak Harvard?’ Frank Bruni, Ross Douthat and I discuss the state of higher education in Trump 2.0 and beyond in a New York Times online conversation.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/o...
Opinion | ‘Are We Past Peak Harvard?’: 3 Writers Mull Higher Education’s Woes
www.nytimes.com
larrysummers.bsky.social
Takeaways:
Losing the Privilege – The U.S. has long benefitted from the dollar’s dominance. That status was never guaranteed.

Policy Risk Is the New Market Risk – When investors worry more about Washington than war or pandemics, something’s broken.
larrysummers.bsky.social
Takeaways from my conversation w/ Jay Sapsford:

Triple Market Warning – Stocks, bonds, and the dollar are falling together. That should be a source of 'apprehension.'

Tariffs Send Mixed Signals – Economic nationalism may play well at home, but globally it raises doubts about U.S. reliability.
larrysummers.bsky.social
Is the Dollar Still a Safe Haven? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce podcast on how tariffs stoke uncertainty and investor anxiety, putting our financial credibility at risk. “It’s as much a question of psychology as it is of economics.”

youtu.be/bsyI307Xmo8?... via
@YouTube
Is the Dollar Still a Safe Haven? With Larry Summers
YouTube video by U.S. Chamber of Commerce
youtu.be
larrysummers.bsky.social
"This is the biggest self-inflicted wound we've put on our economy in history. ...Until we have a reversal, I think we're going to have a real problem." Watch my interview today on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

youtu.be/1NwDy__RJKE?...
1 on 1 with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, This Week with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos
YouTube video by Lawrence Summers
youtu.be
larrysummers.bsky.social
Looking forward to being on This Week with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News tomorrow morning at 9am ET.
larrysummers.bsky.social
Institutions such as Harvard have vast financial resources, great prestige & broad networks of influential alumni. If they do not or cannot resist the arbitrary application of government power, who else can? Without acts of resistance, what protects the rule of law?

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...
Opinion | Lawrence Summers: Harvard Must Not Yield to Trump
As with most confrontations, the merits in this clash are not one-sided. But the Trump administration is acting in bad faith.
www.nytimes.com
larrysummers.bsky.social
Trump’s attack is not surprising given his authoritarian tendency and past rhetoric. Columbia's capitulation was unconstructive at best, and I pray Harvard will avoid following their example.
larrysummers.bsky.social
Second, President Trump is no moral beacon on antisemitism. He has praised and dined with Neo-Nazis and holocaust deniers and welcomed the support of ugly white nationalists.
larrysummers.bsky.social
First, that it would be illegal and likely unconstitutional, as well as threatening prosperity and national security, to suddenly withdrawal federal resources from American universities.
larrysummers.bsky.social
While the Trump Administration is right in saying universities have been wrongly accepting of antisemitism, it should not obscure two central realities.
larrysummers.bsky.social
Trump's idea was to make America great again. Instead, the result in the quarter of President Trump taking office was the worst relative stock performance vs. Europe in the decades since they began collecting data.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Europe’s Stock Surge Outpaces Wall Street in Historic Run
This was a historic quarter for European stocks. Investors are now wondering if there will be an encore.
www.bloomberg.com
larrysummers.bsky.social
....if it is to regain public confidence and be in a maximally strong position to confront dictatorial oppression of the kind currently being applied to Columbia, other universities, several prominent law firms and holders of valid work visas.
larrysummers.bsky.social
To be sure, Harvard has much more to do on discipline, limiting DEI, constraining soft censorship of conservative ideas, and promoting ideological diversity .....
larrysummers.bsky.social
I hope and trust these actions reflect the belated development of conviction and courage by leadership, rather than an effort to appease the threatening, dangerous, oppressive Trump administration.
larrysummers.bsky.social
The university at last did the right thing by suspending its partnership with terrorist supporting Birzeit University and by moving to replacing the leaders of its Center for Middle Eastern Studies.