Larry Summers appears to be in the running for Treasury Secretary. The selection of Summers would be an outrage, given his atrocious record as one of the key government officials who laid the groundwork for this mess (not to mention his boarish and ineffective management style, which led to his resignation/firing as Harvard's president). But he is also hugely ambitious, seems to have a lot of support in Democratic circles, and is apparently traveling with Obama on a regular basis, according to Newsweek, so it seems highly likely that he will get some key post in the event of an Obama administration, if not Treasury Secretary.
I'll be posting embarrassing Summers tidbits over the next few weeks (and months, if Obama is elected). There are a lot of them, but I'm going to stick to ones that are economically relevant.
Here's a personal favorite, from the HarvardWatch archive:
Summers sent that letter to Ken Lay after receiving a congratulatory note from him. In case the image doesn't come through, here is the text of the letter:
May 25, 1999
Mr. Kenneth L. Lay
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Enron
PO Box 1188
Houston, Texas 77251Dear Ken:
Thanks very much for you kind letter of congratulations. I am grateful for your best wishes and deeply honored by the President's choice. As I said in the Rose Garden, Secretary Rubin's act is a tough one to follow and there are certainly plenty of challenges ahead. I am looking forward to the opportunity and to continuing on the course that has been set.
I hope our paths will cross again soon.
Sincerely,
Lawrence H. Summers
[Hand-written scrawl] PS - I'll keep my eye on power deregulation and energy market infrastructure issues.