 Donald Trump, then a presidential candidate, speaks alongside New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during a campaign press event at the Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. on March 1, 2016. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) By Lawrence H. Summers Many business people think it is wonderful that we have a new administration in Washington filled with people from business backgrounds. To a point, I relate. People who have worked primarily in the private sector bring an awareness that others sometimes lack of maintaining business confidence, which as I have often said is the cheapest form of stimulus. And for some government tasks, management experience is much more important than policy experience. That is why Bob Rubin and I worked to install a (Republican) business leader as commissioner of the IRS given its vast IT problems. Unfortunately, just as being able in government does not equip you to step in and run a company—at least not without much help—so also business experience does not equip you to run on your own public policy and political processes. The concerns of those who worry about business dominated government have been demonstrated all too clearly by the Trump administration's roll-out of plans to scale back financial regulation. There are surely areas where regulation is too burdensome, particularly involving bureaucratization and small banks. But much of what was said by the president and his advisers sounds more like grousing at an East Hampton cocktail party than a serious basis for public policy reform. The president suggested that it was a problem that many of his good friends could not get as much credit as they wanted. We do not travel in the same social circles, so I am not sure who he means. Read the rest on Wonkblog. | 
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