Summers to Big Banks: Why Cash for Bonuses, None for Lending? February 8, 2010

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/01/29/The_US_Economic_Outlook_with_Lawrence_Summers

Lawrence Summers berates big banks for the hypocrisy of handing out large corporate bonuses while reducing lending and protesting government fees. "I don't understand how you can logically maintain that paying out bonuses in large quantity has zero effect on lending," he says.

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The economic outlook for the world's largest economy remains uncertain with unemployment levels reaching 10 percent and budget deficits increasing at the national and state levels. How will the Obama Administration address these and other economic challenges in 2010?

Lawrence H. Summers, Director of the National Economic Council talks with journalist Charlie Rose about these and other pressing economic questions. - World Economic Forum

Lawrence H. Summers is the Director of the National Economic Council. He was appointed by President Barack H. Obama on November 24, 2008.

Until January, he was the Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University. He served as the 27th president of Harvard University from July 2001 until June 2006. From 1999 to 2001, he served as the 71st United States Secretary of the Treasury following his earlier service as Deputy and Under Secretary of the Treasury and as Chief Economist of the World Bank.

Summers has taught economics at Harvard and MIT. His research contributions were recognized when he received the John Bates Clark Medal, given every two years to the outstanding American economist under the age of 40, and when he was the first social scientist to receive the National Science Foundations Alan T. Waterman Award for outstanding scientific achievement. He is a member of the National Academy of Science and has written extensively on economic analysis and policy publishing over 150 articles in professional economic journals.

Lawrence Summers received his B.S. from MIT and his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard.