PRESIDENT Barack Obama's chief economist has defended White House economic policies against criticism that they amounted to "a kind of back-door socialism".
In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, National Economic Council director Lawrence Summers said Mr Obama's interventions "will go with, rather than against, the grain of the market system".
Mr Summers's remarks come as mainstream critics of Mr Obama's use of government mechanisms to revamp big segments of the economy are increasingly finding their voice.
The US Chamber of Commerce this week announced that it would launch a national advocacy campaign to defend free enterprise against "anti-business activists," referring to administration initiatives.
Mr Summers also laid out an ambitious goal ahead of Mr Obama's Wednesday speech on the re-regulation of financial markets: ending a decades-long barrage of financial crises.
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