The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 17 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 1 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Summers: A second Trump term would gravely damage the US economy
“I believe very strongly that by undermining the rule of law, On which contracts exchange and property depend by alienating the rest of the world and by pitting some groups of Americans against other groups of Americans and devaluing the idea of unity and commo…”
Summers: Fed cannot lower inflation to target without an economic downturn
“My own view, and I've said this many times, is that what Samuel Johnson said about second marriage is true about soft landings. They represent the triumph of hope over experience, and I don't think we're likely to be able to bring inflation down to its target …”
Summers: Europe is a museum, Japan a nursing home, China a jail
“It's a joke, but not without some element of truth to say that Europe's a museum, Japan's a nursing home, China's a jail, and Bitcoin's an experiment.”
Summers: Crypto ecosystem is primarily fueled by speculation and tax evasion
“Unfortunately, I'm not sure that's that large a part of the crypto ecosystem. When the ecosystem is fueling speculation, or when the objective is the circumvention of legitimate government regulation or tax obligations, that's where I become more skeptical abo…”
Summers: Fed should have raised rates earlier and stopped buying mortgages
“I would have recognized that Very substantially excess demand was developing. I would have moved to signal my awareness of that and to start putting my foot on the brakes much sooner than they did, and certainly as inflation was rising, as we were having a rec…”
Summers: Delayed spending of 2021 stimulus drove 2022-2023 strength and inflation
“Part of the reason why inflation accelerated through much of twenty-twenty-two was that it was still being spent in twenty-twenty-two, and some of it is still going to be spent in twenty-twenty-three, and that's part of why the economy has seemed so strong, ev…”
Larry Summers: The US Must Substantially Raise Tax Revenues
“Ultimately we are on an unsustainable path. And my view is that we're going to have to raise revenues quite substantially because I don't think there's going to be a lot of scope For cutting spending, given the way in which our population is aging, given the w…”
Summers: Rejects wealth tax, favors creating opportunity over fighting inequality
“I am not someone who believes we should have a wealth tax. I am not someone who believes we should soak the rich. I am somebody who believes in creating opportunity rather than going to war with inequality”
Summers: US dollar will remain the world's dominant reserve currency
“So if we don't make grave mistakes, I think the dollar's gonna remain the world's reserve currency.”
Summers: Economic laws cannot be suspended for political convenience
“That there are laws and regularities in economics and social science Just like there are in physical or biological science that cannot be suspended for political convenience. If you print too much money, you will have too much inflation. If you control prices,…”
Summers: Unmanaged inflation hits the poorest members of society hardest
“The way to hit the poorest parts of society hardest is to not manage inflation. You and I can configure our financial affairs so we're hedged against inflation. We may even, by borrowing money, Be able to be beneficiaries of inflation as we pay it back in chea…”
Summers: The dollar retains dominance via English language-like network effects
“So I think the dollar has a lot of the kind of advantages that the English language has. It's right now kind of where everybody else is, and so that makes it where everybody wants to be.”
Larry Summers Opposes Arbitrary Caps on US Government Spending
“I certainly don't think we should be putting any arbitrary ceiling on the level of government spending, given the magnitude of both national security needs in our country and social needs in our country.”
Summers: US tax gap will reach $8 trillion over next decade
“We have a gap between taxes that are owed, that everybody agrees are owed under the current law, and taxes actually collected that will total eight trillion dollars over the next 10 years.”
Summers discloses personal investment in funds benefiting from carried interest
“I participate in funds, so I'm a beneficiary as well, but it's wrong.”