Chief White House Economic Adviser Lawrence Summers said on Friday that government intervention was only temporary and that the government was by no means trying to take over business.

Summers said the Obama administration’s economic plan is starting to show signs of success and the government intervened temporarily to prevent potentially damaging outcomes.

We only act when necessary to avert unacceptable - and in some cases dire - outcomes, Summers said.

The Obama administration has received criticism from conservatives for taking controversial stakes in a series of major US companies in a bid to stabilize the country's financial system and head off the country's worst recession since the Great Depression.

Obama did not run for president to manage banks, insurance companies or car manufacturers, Summers said, adding the administration’s commitment to free trade.

Summers, the director of the administration's National Economic Council, added that it isn't the administration's role to make a judgment about the types of automobiles GM makes.

'Our approaches are directed at protecting and strengthening rather than replacing the market system,' Summers said.

Barack obama