Petition assails Summers over deregulator role / Kuttner touts Bair as alternative

Click to the following direct link at "Open Left."

This petition cites Lawrence Summers' centrist policies and philosophies while in Bill Clinton's second term --as Treasury Secretary in the last year and a half of his presidency.

The petition at Open Left asks Barack Obama to refrain from appointing Summers for a second stint as Treasury Secretary.

The petition notes:

"In 1999, Summers was a proponent within the Clinton administration of the Gramm bill to deregulate the banking industry, and as such, bears responsibility for the current environment."

And it notes Summers' position on the free trade agreement, NAFTA:

"I think the decision to support NAFTA was a crucial one because it was really a watershed as to whether America was going to stand for larger markets, was going to stand for forward defense of our interests by trying to have a more integrated global economy [in] which countries were growing."

It closes by noting Summers' description of Africa as "under-polluted" and his statements on women's ability to study science.

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JUDICIOUS ALTERNATIVES TO LAWRENCE SUMMERS
Instead, Obama should select a more progressive figure. One figure is Timothy Geithner, suggested by Robert Kuttner, in "Meet the Next Treasury Secretary," in October's "American Prospect." Another figure he suggested is Sheila Bair, the chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Newsweek interviewed her in July, as the financing crisis grew, "Is Your Bank at Risk? A Q&A With FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair."
As the magazine summarized Kuttner, "The best person for the job will have establishment credentials and understand that the solution is re-regulation." Others that Kuttner recommends for the Treasury post include Jon Corzine, Daniel Tarullo or Roger Altman.