Private investors have expressed an interest in partnering with the U.S. government in a fund designed to remove illiquid assets clogging bank balance sheets, said Lawrence Summers, director of the White House's National Economic Council, Bloomberg reported.
"There have been many expressions of interest in providing that private capital," Summers said in an interview today on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt," scheduled to air this weekend. He said the administration would be open to including foreign investors in the proposed public- private fund.
Summers said he doesn't expect the U.S. unemployment rate to reach 10 percent, although the economy is likely to decline "for some time." Policy makers in Japan, Europe and China are "probably not" doing enough to stimulate growth.
He said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner gave a "courageous" speech Feb. 10 in outlining the Obama administration's plan to deal with the banking crisis. Stocks fell on concern Geithner didn't offer many details.
"The president has really asked us all to focus on the medium term, the long term, not to focus on market movements on a day-to-day basis," Summers said. "That's not really the test we're going to apply in judging whether this plan works."
Summers declined to disclose a "term sheet" for the public-private fund that the administration has proposed to tackle toxic assets.
Asked what grade he'd give the economic stimulus bill that Congress is voting on today, Summers said, "I'd give it an A."
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