Summers Stresses Country Must Summon Confidence to Stop Recession

March 13, 2009 -- Larry Summers, the top economic adviser to President Obama, said today that even though the country's recent excessive optimism may have helped trigger the current recession, the resulting lack of confidence is now hurting its chances of recovery.

"It is this transition from an excess of greed to an excess of fear that President Roosevelt had in mind when he famously observed that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself," he said.

The director of the National Economic Council emphasized that now the country must find a way to first overcome its fears if it is to overcome the current downturn. In a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Summers attempted to address this issue today by delivering a wide-ranging defense of the administration's actions thus far.

"We are embarked on what I believe is the boldest economic program to promote recovery and expansion in two generations," he said. "No one can know just when and how its positive effects will be fully felt… but I am confident that in its resolution, lies enormous opportunity for both Americans and the United States of America."

As an exclamation point to his optimistic outlook, Summers said, "There is one enduring lesson in the history of financial crises: They all end."

"With the strong and sound policies the president has put forward," Summers said, "and the passage of time, we will restore economic growth, regain financial stability and find opportunity in this moment of crisis to assure that our future prosperity rests on a sound and sustainable foundation."

Even though he acknowledged that earlier this week the Dow Jones industrial average, adjusted for inflation, sank to the same level it was at in 1966 -- "the sale of the century", he called it -- Summers pointed to a number of economic indicators that he sees as signs that the administration's efforts may already be having a positive effect, including stabilized consumer spending and reduced credit costs.

"It is modestly encouraging that since it began to take shape, consumer spending in the U.S., which was collapsing during the holiday season, appears, according to a number of indicators, to have stabilized."

"There are some indications that the expectations of future actions have been a positive in reducing credit costs in a number of key areas," he said.

Urging investors to jump back into the market, Summers said that "those who have sound, long-term strategies, who have investments that they want to make, who see productive opportunity, are going to find this a very good moment to make those investments."