Gloves off: Summers and Osborne slug it out over austerity
Larry Summers rarely shies away from controversy, and discussing
monetary policy with U.K. finance minister George Osborne is no
different.  Summers, who was tipped as the next Chairman of the
Federal Reserve last year, told Osborne he missed a trick on
stimulating the U.K. economy.  The U.K. finance minister fought
back by pointing out that Summers had got it wrong when he
warned that U.K. austerity would not work.  British Chancellor
of the Exchequer George Osborne attends the CNBC  session at the
World Economic Forum in Davos. Eric Piermont | AFP | Getty
Images  (Read more: Osborne defends Carney on forward guidance)
The debate, at a CNBC panel at the World Economic Forum in
Davos, was heated for an event where the emphasis is generally
on consensus.  Summers said that it was a "fair comment" that he
was wrong on U.K. austerity, after a better-than-expected return
to growth in the U.K., but pointed out that the country is still
not back to its pr