Summers: Recession threat worst since 9/11

WASHINGTON -- Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said the threat of a recession in the United States is the greatest since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"I do not think we yet would have a basis for making a prediction that there will be a recession, but I will say that the risks of recession are now greater than they've been any time since the period in the aftermath of 9/11," Summers said yesterday on ABC's "This Week" program.

Summers, who served under President Bill Clinton, said it would be "premature to judge this [subprime mortgage] crisis over," in part because "we can't yet know that there aren't more shoes to drop in the financial area."

Summers served as president of Harvard University after leaving government and now is a part-time managing director of the hedge-fund company D.E. Shaw & Co. and a fellow at the Brookings Institution.