Now they tell us:
President Barack Obama‘s top economic adviser said Friday the nation’s economic crisis has led to an “excess of fear” among Americans that must be broken to reverse the downturn. National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers said consumer spending seems to have stabilized in an encouraging sign, but he also suggested it was still too early to predict the timing of an economic turnaround. In the meantime, he told a forum, a problem has been that “fear begets fear.”
[…]
Summers was asked by a member of the audience what the nation’s business community could do to help speed the recovery.
“What we need today is more optimism and more confidence,” Summers said. “Those who have sound long-term strategy, who have investments that they want to make, who see productive opportunities, are going to find this a very good moment to make those investments,” he said. “There are a very large number of things that are on sale today. Think about the cost of doing construction today, versus the cost of doing construction two years ago.
He’s right, of course. Trouble is, his boss helped create said excess.
No, I’m not blaming the global financial meltdown on Obama. It began before he took office and he doesn’t even have his team in place yet. But he’s certainly contributed to the climate of fear over the last several months.
Summers’ full remarks are available at WSJ in text form and at Brookings in audio.
Photo: Brookings
