Summers: Trump’s Carrier deal could permanently damage American capitalism

Posted by | December 3, 2016 09:51 | Filed under: News Behaving Badly Opinion Politics

Republish
Reprint

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers explains why Trump may have done great damage.

It seems to me what we have just witnessed is an act of ad hoc deal capitalism and, worse yet, its celebration as a model. As with the air traffic controllers, only a negligible sliver of the economy is involved, but there is huge symbolic value. A principle is being established: It is good for the president to try to figure out what people want and lean on companies to give it to them. Predictability and procedure are less important than getting the right result at the right time. Like Hong Kong, as mainland China increasingly imposes its will, we may have taken a first step toward a kind of reverse transition from rule of law capitalism to ad hoc deal-based capitalism…

Presidents have enormous latent power, and it is the custom of restraint in its use that is one of the important differences between us and banana republics. If its ad hoc use is licensed, the possibilities are endless. Most companies will prefer the good to the bad will of the U.S. president and his leadership team. Should that reality be levered to get them to locate where the president wants, to make contributions to the president’s reelection campaign, to hire people the president wants to see hired, to do the kinds of research the president wants carried out, or to lend money to those that the president wants to see assisted?

Click here for reuse options!
Copyright 2016 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

17 responses to Summers: Trump’s Carrier deal could permanently damage American capitalism

  1. mea_mark December 3rd, 2016 at 10:09

    It’s the path to dictatorship. The electoral college can stop this. If the electoral college does not stop this, we should punish the electors who are enabling this.

    • Larry Schmitt December 3rd, 2016 at 10:38

      I had a nephew on Facebook claim that Obama ruled by dictatorship for eight years. If that’s true, (I don’t think it is, obviously) his version is nothing compared to trump’s autocratic version.

      • bpollen December 3rd, 2016 at 21:01

        Then the Republican Party was Obama’s partner in crime – made Congress virtually impotent.

    • Larry Schmitt December 3rd, 2016 at 10:40

      We can’t punish them for following the law as it is currently written. We need to change the law to make sure it never happens again. But I don’t think (I’m almost 100% sure) that enough electors will be “faithless,” as they put it, to make a difference.

      • Buford2k11 December 3rd, 2016 at 11:29

        IMHO…I think this is the first “real test” of the electoral college…there have been some pretty bad folks in the past, but nothing like Trump…This is what the EC was specifically meant to do…we will see if it works as it was intended….

        • Larry Schmitt December 3rd, 2016 at 11:41

          But if things go according to how the law was written, he will still become president. Most of the electors will vote with the majority in their state.

          • mea_mark December 3rd, 2016 at 13:47

            Then we should sue them in civil court for damages. They are knowingly and willfully inflicting damage on Americans. I bet there are plenty of lawyers that would be happy to work on a class action lawsuit against the electors that vote for the orange one.

      • mea_mark December 3rd, 2016 at 11:39

        We can boycott any and all businesses they are involved with. There are things we can do.

        • Larry Schmitt December 3rd, 2016 at 11:40

          I agree with that.

  2. Foundryman December 3rd, 2016 at 12:35

    Get used to it. Trump is going to damage this country in more ways than anyone ever imagined.
    More than anything, the people who refused to vote for Hillary because of “principle” allowed Trump to win in WI, MI and PA. They chose the wrong time and the wrong election to prove their point.

    • Larry Schmitt December 3rd, 2016 at 12:49

      And with all the publicity about this election for over a year, only 55% of eligible citizens actually voted. That’s pitiful. Too many Americans don’t give a sh*t, and they get the government they deserve. Problem is, we get the same government.

      • Foundryman December 3rd, 2016 at 12:51

        I was going to add they will deserve whatever they get, but the rest of us are in that pot too.

      • Obewon December 3rd, 2016 at 14:46

        An estimated 58.8% of eligible citizens cast 136,203,395 votes for November 8, 2016’s General election. http://www.electproject.org/2016g

        Voter turnout dipped from 62.3% of eligible citizens voting in 2008 to an estimated 57.5% in 2012. That figure was also below the 60.4% level of the 2004 election but higher than the 54.2% turnout in Bush Jr’s 2000 election.

        • Larry Schmitt December 3rd, 2016 at 15:00

          Americans just can’t be bothered to vote. Pretty sad.

  3. amersham1046 December 3rd, 2016 at 17:44

    Permanently damage American capitalism, I though Obama did that

    • bpollen December 3rd, 2016 at 20:58

      Bastard IMPROVED the economy! What a despotic thing to do!

      • amersham1046 December 3rd, 2016 at 21:03

        such a socialist, improving things for the working class at the expense of the 1%ers

Leave a Reply