Lawrence Summers Quotes (60 Quotes)

The ongoing task of debt management for the federal government will clearly be very different in the years ahead than it has been in the past, when debt was rapidly increasing, ... With 3.6 trillion in debt outstanding, even a 3 basis point (0.03 percentage point) reduction in federal borrowing costs will ultimately produce savings of more than 1 billion per year.

I think the approach we have taken in the administration, of focusing our energies and concerns on the fundamentals and working to strengthen those fundamentals, has been the prudent approach rather than focusing on the stock market,

We've seen some indications that there may be some hoarding behavior, but there are many, many factors that influence oil prices, both with respect to the short run and over the medium term, ... But there's no question that -- as in any freely trading market -- there's a psychological element that enters in from time to time.

Certainly there was reference to that (Friday's stock market plunge) but the focus of our discussions was on the fundamentals of our economies, what we could do together to develop and sustain economic growth, ... With respect to the stock market, our focus is not to focus on that.

There are issues of intrinsic aptitude ... I would like nothing better than to be proved wrong.

He is not only an immensely talented and versatile performer, but also someone who has given a great deal of himself to the university and especially to the vitality of the arts at Harvard,

We want to be candid about the need for them to reform their banking system and do more on trade and the like, but the guy (Hashimoto) is also under a lot of pressure right now.

The president has made it very clear that he will not sign any budget measure that doesn't put Social Security and Medicare first, that doesn't take those steps forward (and) certainly any measures that would put at risk the progress we've made in paying down the debt,

The inflation outlook does remain contained and unit labor costs (what it costs companies to employ their workers) continue to reflect he absence of inflation pressures,

As damaging as these attacks have been, the vast majority were conducted by disgruntled individuals, ... We face a future, though, where criminals, terrorists or even nation-states may use the same tools in a more organized way for darker purposes.

Today, the IRS operates in a low-trust, short-tether budgeting environment, ... This makes rational planning for capital projects such as information technology very difficult.

All this suggests a deeper engagement between India and the US. These cultural connections are sure to build more harmony between the two nations.

I've always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted.

An SAT score means one thing if the student comes from an affluent school, where there are SAT prep courses, and a very different thing if the student comes from a disadvantaged background where there was no SAT classes of any kind.

What is happening in India and China... The integration of the four-fifths of the world where people are poor with the one fifth of the world where people are rich, has the potential to be one of the three most important economic events in the last millennium, alongside the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution.

If you look at the history of the American capital market, there's probably no innovation more important than the idea of generally accepted accountancy principles.

I think the G7 statement speaks for itself and I don't want to add to what it says, ... I don't want to go beyond the language in the communiqu.

The IMF needs to focus its attention to countries' vulnerability.

The availability of private insurance provides tremendous insulation for millions of individuals.

And at a Capitol Hill news conference, Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers warned that huge tax cuts also could have unwanted economic consequences, including higher interest rates, greater inflation and a larger public debt. The tax cuts that have been put on the table represent a reversal of course, ... Confidence is crucial. It is time for us to make the right and prudent decision.

The IRS faces a multitude of restrictions -- restrictions that would be unacceptable in the private sector -- that hamper its ability to provide efficient service,

The government has done its part, now it's time that people do their part, ... We have never, in our country, had a moment of economic expansion as strong as the present. So right now it is critical to plan for future.

He has provided very important and valuable leadership on a range of issues from the Latin American debt crisis in the 1980s to the challenge of the transition economies following the fall of the Berlin Wall to the emerging market challenges of recent years.

China has to make a set of adequate commitments to liberalizing its economy -- commitments that are commensurate to the scale of its economy and to the importance of it in the world economy,

In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car.

There can be no successful economic development without economic growth, ... There have never been greater technological opportunities to promote convergence than there are today.

For these three reasons -- national security, how China evolves, our commercial interests -- I believe that this agreement is very much in our national interest.

Complacency leads to much capacity creation, too much extension of credit. That's when mistakes happen, ... Large challenges remain.

It certainly was difficult to sell NAFTA because it's always difficult to sell open markets.

We afford ourselves the best chance of maintaining stability in the highly complex Pacific region by inviting China into the global system rather than keeping it out,

We are not contemplating formal requests from any other country,

Nothing is done until the language is fully reviewed,

But ultimately what I was impressed by during my years in government was how much the intellectual climate and the prevailing intellectual notions constrained and represented the universe within which the discourse took place.

When I first joined the Treasury some years ago, I can assure you we were not thinking about threats to the financial system emanating from viruses, Trojan Horses, logic bombs or malicious code, ... But we are thinking about those things now, and with good reason.

By the end of next year, we expect to establish a regular schedule for offering inflation-indexed securities with maturities of five, 10 and 30 years,

We are considering naming chairs after distinguished Indians. The research center will look at a broad canvas of research on all aspects of India.

to take strong steps... to create confidence and to build on the very strong foundation for prosperity that Indonesia enjoys.

Growing demand and growing markets and networks will tend to reduce costs and raise efficiency, making successful economic management all the more important,

This is about concrete action and what Japan does going forward. That can make a big difference in stimulating the economy, repairing the financial system and encouraging the flow of capital throughout Asia. It will be their steps that will be decisive and not what diplomats agree on here,

The off-center portrait (of Lincoln and Hamilton) has been enlarged the fine lines printed behind both the portraits are now much more difficult to replicate than the earlier original,

There are children who are working in textile businesses in Asia who would be prostitutes on the streets if they did not have those jobs.

The Harvard Crimson did such a good job defending me when I was in trouble, I have full confidence that it can defend the institutional principles of the Ivy League.

Contagion has become very much a phenomenon, and it's a phenomenon of globalization.

What we must not do is attack the IRS in order to promote other agendas,

The overarching global imperative to work to combat poverty ... must gain added urgency today when HIV-AIDS, conflict and other catastrophes are helping to reverse years of development gains in the poorest countries,

sharp rise in the price of oil is an important concern for consumers and businesses around the world, and has the potential to hit developing countries particularly hard.

If we can do those things, we have a chance to keep this expansion going. But this is not the time to take what (Federal Reserve) Chairman (Alan) Greenspan, what six Nobel prize-winning economists have said would be a very risky course with a massive tax cut. We're not going to let it happen, ... Face The Nation.

As Secretary Rubin and I have both said many times, a strong dollar is very much in America's national interest,

The dollar cannot and should not be a tool of trade policy.

The president has set a principle No bank with an unsatisfactory CRA rating could take advantage of any of the powers granted by this deregulation,