Saturday, April 20All That Matters

The Problem With Jon Stewart – Interview with Former Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers

by neosmndrew


The Problem With Jon Stewart – Interview with Former Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers




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11 Comments

  • Johnmagee33

    The statement that labor gains are one of the main drivers of inflation seems spurious. Larry has been quoted saying (paraphrasing) that the US needs much higher unemployment, in the range of 7.5 to 10% to tamp down inflation. There’s no agreement on how to get inflation under control however increasing unemployment will be devastating to many families. Fuck those people, amirighr?

    Reply
  • Snuggle__Monster

    Jesus Christ, that is one smug prick. It’s amazing how people still say yes to interviews with Jon Stewart and think they can match wits with him.

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  • The_Lone_Apple

    Larry Summers doesn’t seem to consider that people who are out of work still need to have a roof over their heads and to eat.

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  • bnralt

    Anyone have any idea what Stewart’s sources are here? Stewart makes this claim:

    > The San Francisco Fed says, that is, demand is maybe 30 to 35 percent of the inflation, wages are really around 20 percent of the inflation. There’s a huge corporate profit aspect to it, there’s a huge supply chain aspect to it. But our method for controlling it seems really much more focused on wages and employment.

    I was searching for a while, but the only thing I could find from the San Francisco Fed [was this letter](https://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2022/june/how-much-do-supply-and-demand-drive-inflation/), but which mentions demand being responsible for a third of inflation but doesn’t give any number for wages, and doesn’t claim corporate profits are a reason at all.

    Also, Stewart’s attitude on interest rates is contradictory. When Summers says that some people think we shouldn’t have had low interest rates so much in response to the recession, Stewart excitedly agrees with that point. But just a few minutes later Stewart is extremely opposed to getting rid of low rates, because he says it will hurt workers.

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  • ge93

    Stewart is really out of his element here tbh. Summers was right about inflationary fiscal/monetary policy in early 2021 and he’s mostly right here about the so-called “greedflation” though he could communicate it better.

    Stewart’s retort that he would call himself negotiating a higher tv show host salary “gouging” is a serious error that Summers doesn’t unpack.

    Corporate profits/greed have little relationship with inflation rate (see the 1980s for a dramatic inverse correlation).

    Stewart has brought on progressive (I mean Summers is hardly right-wing) economists before like Goolsbee, I would be interested in him bringing in any on his podcast/show to see their view on the matter.

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  • coolaznkenny

    larry summers was so smug when corporation profits is a huge contributor to inflation is somehow a non factor. Fuck this guy.

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  • You_Sir_Are_A_Rascal

    This guy embodies everything wrong with the economic system of the last decades. Its appalling to watch him talk with such disregard for truth.

    And why shouldn’t he? He has gotten away with it so far, treating the working masses like cows while he and his billionaire friends, the shepherds, are guiding us all to a brighter future as is their god given right for being so much better, so much more competent, intelligent and hard working than the rest of us.

    This man is a cancer. And the fact that he has been in leading positions in the highest echelons of government, education and economic policy for decades, is the clearest sign that the system was broken, is broken, and will remain broken unless we, the working masses, do something about it.

    Reply
  • ningrim

    Stewart has a very predictable method with his interviews. If he agrees with you, he does them in person, unedited, with an audience (see all his panels on his new show where they and the audience all agree with each other)

    If he doesn’t like you and plans to jam you up, it’s prerecorded. He will take hours of interview footage and only air a few minutes of it, to cast his subject in the worst possible light. Many of his subjects complain about this. He doesn’t post the unedited interviews anywhere. And his fans are in awe with how clever Stewart is and how he always seems to nail his interview subjects. Almost as if it was edited to come off that way.

    Usually he finds some 2nd rate politician (Summers would be an exception) to beat up on who either doesn’t know his tactics or doesn’t care and wants the publicity.

    Reply

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