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Davos panel backs U.S. growth policies

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Harvard University Professor Larry Summers speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2011. More than two dozen senior officials from key economies will try Saturday to agree on whether to send a politi

Harvard University Professor Larry Summers speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2011. More than two dozen senior officials from key economies will try Saturday to agree on whether to send a political signal that a new global trade deal can, at last, be completed this year as the World Economic Forum gradually comes to a close.

Michel Euler, Associated Press

DAVOS, Switzerland — A day after Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron defended his tough austerity measures at home, a Davos economic panel says the United States is right to take the opposite approach, spending money to stimulate jobs and growth.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers — who headlined the panel — says "the highest priority has to attach to establishing strong and significant growth."

But the diverse group also warns that the U.S. may soon need to signal a willingness to take the tough and politically costly decisions needed to eventually put its fiscal house in order, such as raising taxes or lowering spending.

Until recently, Summers headed the White House National Economic Council and is considered an architect of President Barack Obama's economic policy.