After Summers Resigns, Will Obama Scrap His Bank-Friendly Economic Policy?

Interview with Robert Scheer, journalist and author, conducted by Scott Harris

Lawrence Summers, director of President Obama's National Economic Council and his top economic adviser, announced that he'll resign at the end of this year to return to Harvard where he's been both a professor and a former university president. When his departure was made public, President Obama thanked Summers for his service to the nation and said, "I will always be grateful that at a time of great peril for our country, a man of Larry's brilliance, experience and judgment was willing to answer the call and lead our economic team."

Summers, who served as treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, and was a mentor to Obama's current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, is blamed by some observers for pushing the sweeping deregulation of Wall Street during the 1990's that resulted in the current economic crisis. He's also culpable in the eyes of many for advocating for the Obama policy of bailing out giant U.S. banks with hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, but with no return for the taxpayers in an economy plagued with joblessness and foreclosures.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with journalist Robert Scheer, author of the new book, "The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street." Scheer explains his disappointment with President Obama's bank-friendly economic policy and expresses hope that Summers' departure might signal a more progressive and populist economic policy in the remainder of his time in office.

Robert Scheer's latest book is titled, "The Great American Stickup." Scheer edits and writes for the online news magazine www.truthdig.com

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