Larry Summers defended Biden

Larry Summers, an economist, and former US Treasury Secretary, reacted aggressively to Jeff Bezos' criticism of President Joe Biden on Monday. Bezos has been openly criticising the White House's handling of inflation on Twitter in recent days. The Amazon founder, in particular, slammed Biden's notion that hiking corporate taxes would cut inflation, calling it "misdirection."

In a response to Bezos' thread on Twitter, Summers said, "I think @JeffBezos is mostly wrong in his recent attack on the @JoeBiden Admin. It is perfectly reasonable to believe, as I do and @POTUS asserts, that we should raise taxes to reduce demand to contain inflation and that the increases should be as progressive as possible."

Summers, who served as the head of the National Economic Council under former President Barack Obama, has previously criticized the Biden administration's handling of inflation. In an opinion piece for The Washington Post last year, the former Treasury Secretary warned that Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-relief proposals may "kick-off inflationary pressures of a generation's worth."

On Monday, in his response to Bezos, Summers said, "I say this even though I have argued vigorously that excessively expansionary macro policy from the @federalreserve and the government has contributed to inflation. I have rejected rhetoric about inflation caused by corporate gouging as preposterous."