Economist Lawrence Summers says that President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed rollback of financial regulations could be “catastrophic.” Speaking on a podcast sponsored by the University of Chicago and CNN, Summers expressed major concern that a repeal of Dodd-Frank under the Trump administration would be “very scary” and open the door to a financial crisis like that which occurred in 2008 — the impetus for Dodd-Frank in the first place. Summers says he’s worried that we’re going to do “tax cuts that are going to cripple government for a generation.”
Trump voters presumably believe all of this is nothing to worry about. First of all, Summers is a highly educated man, which means he’s part of the problem. Not only did Summers serve as the president of Harvard University (so he’s “out of touch” and in an “echo chamber”) he was also the chief economist of the World Bank (a know nothing globalism operation). Perhaps worse, Summers also served in President Bill Clinton‘s administration, though there he proved to be no habitual regulation booster. In 1999 Summers supported the repeal of key parts of the Glass–Steagall Act, a move that some believe helped foment the 2008 financial crisis. The lessons learned there are part of Summers’ reasons for concern. He said he’s afraid the pendulum will swing too far toward deregulation, which is exactly what the President-elect has promised. Summers believes Trump’s success in these rollbacks will be a crushing blow, especially to those who voted for him.
