Matt Taibbi Rips Idea Of Larry Summers Running Federal Reserve

Ever since it leaked that Larry Summers could very well replace Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman, he's become the intellectual punching bag of many a critic -- Paul Krugman and Bette Midler included.

Add to that list Rolling Stone columnist Matt Taibbi. The bestselling author joined HuffPost Live Thursday and while there expressed his reservations with the idea of the former chief economic adviser to President Barack Obama taking over the Fed.

"I don’t want to see Larry Summers in the job," he said.

In Taibbi's view, Summers will continue many of his predecessor's policies -- specifically quantitative easing, a complex policy under which the central bank purchases securities from the Federal government and private financial institutions in order to provide the financial system with capital.

“The first people to benefit [from quantitative easing] are the very wealthy on Wall Street, and they benefit the most," he said. "And the last people to benefit are… ordinary people.”

Taibbi is no stranger to firing off opinions on the Federal Reserve. He famously once called former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan “the biggest asshole in the universe,” according to The Progressive.

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.com
Author: The Huffington Post