Larry Summers: "soft landings are the triumph of hope over experience"

I'm still cautious, David, but with a little more hope than I had before.  Soft landings are the triumph of hope over experience, but sometimes hope does triumph over experience.  We have seen some slowing of inflation indicators  at the same time we've seen continued strength [in the economy].  That's gotta be what we all want to see.  I still think it's gonna be hard because we need a substantial amount of disinflation that goes beyond volatile components receding, but you have to recognize that the figures are better than somebody like me would've expected three months ago.  So it’s still a very, very difficult job for the Fed, but the situation does look a bit better.  

~ Larry Summers, interview with David Westin in Davos, Bloomberg Television, January 18, 2023