Senior White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers said Sunday that he expects employment levels in the country to rise in the spring.
"That is the judgment of most professional forecasters," Summers told ABC's "This Week." "If you look at the employment statistics they will show employment growth. They were showing losing 700,000 jobs a month. Last month they showed losing 11,000 jobs. They will bounce from month to month. But I believe that, as do most professional forecasters, that by spring the employment growth will start to be turning positive."
The assertion was surprisingly direct. The Obama White House has shied away from making testable predictions ever since two of the president's chief aides predicted unemployment topping out at eight percent with passage of the stimulus bill.
Later, host George Stephanopoulos told Summers, "President Obama is calling in the heads of some of the country's biggest banks tomorrow to try to get them to lend more to small businesses and consumers, and that seems to be a big failing so far."
Summers defended Obama's attempts to persuade banks to increase lending. "The country did incredible things for the banking industry. Those things had to be done to save the economy, but no major bank would be intact, in a position to pay bonuses, if that extraordinary support had not been provided. The bankers need to recognize that. They need to recognize that they've got obligations to the country after all that's been done for them, and there is a lot more they can do, and President Obama is going to be talking with them about what they can do to support enhanced lending to customers across the country. We were there for them. And the banks need to do everything they can to be sure they're there for customers across this country."
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