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      Jobs slump and Covid lead litany of post-Trump crises facing Janet Yellen

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      Of all the 78 US Treasury secretaries since Alexander Hamilton first took up the office in 1789, few have faced an in-tray piled quite so high as the one that will greet the first woman in the job: Janet Yellen.The choice of the Brooklyn-born doctor’s daughter to succeed Steve Mnuchin was a statement of intent by president-elect Joe Biden. Where many of her predecessors have been scions of Wall Street, Yellen’s background is in economics and public policy, and she has made it clear that her priorities are with Americans struggling to get by rather than with investment bankers. “There is a huge amount of suffering out there,” she said in September as she urged Congress to agree a new stimulus package.Yellen’s expressed desire for tighter financial regulation did not, however, stop Wall Street from joining the applause for her nomination. In part, that was due to the fact that, having been the first woman to be in charge of America’s central bank, she is seen as a seasoned pro. Donald Trump declined to give her a second term as chair of the Federal Reserve in 2018 not because she was doing a bad job, but because she was a Democrat appointed by Barack Obama.More importantly, though, Wall Street sees Yellen as a Treasury secretary who will push hard for expansionary policies aimed at boosting growth, profits and share prices. Nothing in her record suggests that the financiers are wrong.American economists are often divided into two camps: “freshwater” economists who believe in the primacy of market forces and whose spiritual home is the University of Chicago in landlocked Illinois; and “saltwater” economists, who emanate from the universities on the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards and admire the teachings of John Maynard Keynes.Yellen is a Keynesian to her fingertips: she warned against an over-hasty removal of stimulus during the financial crisis of a decade ago; she insisted that the Fed pay as much attention to unemployment as to inflation when she was its chair; and she believes the state has a duty to tackle poverty and inequality.Mohamed El-Erian, once chief executive of the investment management firm Pimco but now president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, said: “The appointment was probably one of the most well-received in the history of the US Treasury, and for good reason. Economists, lawmakers and market participants rightly see her as highly qualified, having lots of relevant experience and coming to the job with a deep understanding of both domestic and international issues. The policy portfolio she inherits will require an agile mix of traditional and out-of-the-box thinking.”Top of the to-do list will be a new package of support for a US economy struggling with three interlinked problems: a pandemic, high levels of unemployment, and the imminent expiry of financial support for laid-off workers.The jobless total has come down since surging to levels not seen since the Great Depression in the first wave of infections in the spring, but remains troublingly high for a country with, by western standards, a limited welfare safety net. What’s more, the latest data on Friday showed the rate of job creation slowing.Biden wants Congress to pass a “robust” stimulus package, and the chances of that happening will be greatly improved if the Democrats seize control of the Senate by winning the two vacant seats in Georgia next month. If not, as Mark Sobel of the Omfif thinktank says, Biden will be dealing with a “stingy” Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell.The appointment was probably one of the most well received in the history of the US Treasury“Yellen will help negotiate and provide intellectual backing, making the case that now is the time to spend and that with low debt service costs, America should not fret in the near-term about rising debt,” Sobel says.Getting an emergency package of stimulus through Congress will only be the start of the legislative battle, because Biden also wants to spend more on upgrading America’s crumbling infrastructure and on tackling global heating.Yellen’s scope for fiscal action (tax and spending measures) may be limited by gridlock in Congress, in which case the White House will require the Fed to provide more stimulus and a good working relationship between Yellen and the man who succeeded her as head of the central bank, Jerome Powell.While sorting out the labour market and boosting living standards will be the biggest challenge, Yellen will also devote time to other policy issues. She has the executive power to toughen up what she sees as too-weak financial regulation without Congress’s say so; she will adopt a less hostile – if still robust – approach towards China; and she will seek to reassert US leadership on the global stage, pursuing a multilateralist rather than a go-it-alone approach.In all, Yellen can be expected to act as if Trump’s four years in office never happened. The message will be that the grownups are back in charge.Six central bankers who shaped the future of their economiesBen Bernanke Chair of the US Federal Reserve between 2006 and 2014, Bernanke was credited with preventing a deep recession following the 2008 financial crisis. A student of the 1930s Great Depression, he vowed to rescue the banking system and maintain the flow of funds to prevent a wave of foreclosures and mass unemployment.His determination contrasted with the Bank of England, which hesitated before rescuing Northern Rock. However, Bernanke, a former Princeton professor, played down the threat from the US sub-prime mortgage scandal during the first two years of his tenure, which he has admitted made the crisis, when it came, much worse.Karl Otto Pöhl Often dubbed a father of the euro, Pöhl was appointed president of the German Bundesbank from 1980 to 1991 by his friend and mentor, chancellor Helmut Schmidt. A colourful, English-speaking former economics journalist, he came to prominence after the conservative Helmut Kohl surprised many and reappointed him. He famously warned Kohl against rushing ahead with German unification based on a one-to-one valuation of the east German mark with its West German equivalent, fearing the collapse of the east’s uncompetitive export industries. He said the same about the implementation of the euro. Kohl ignored him. East Germany’s industrial base collapsed. After the 2008 financial crisis, southern Europe erupted in riots, with protesters blaming the euro for their ills.Mario Draghi If Pöhl laid the foundation stones for the euro, Draghi prevented the currency from toppling over. In 2012, after campaigns in several member states to quit the euro – notably in Greece and Italy – triggered panic in financial markets, he said the single currency was “irreversible” and famously pledged to do “whatever it takes” to save it.As president of the European Central Bank from 2011 to 2019, which absorbed most of the powers from 19 member states’ central banks on its creation in 1999, he drew a line under the destabilising debate about the currency’s future. After he stepped down, the Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman described him as “[arguably] the greatest central banker of modern times”.Mark Carney Carney was governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to March this year. He was appointed by the chancellor at the time, George Osborne, who courted him for a year and called the former Goldman Sachs banker and head of Canada’s central bank “the outstanding central banker of his generation”. Yet within a year, he was likened to an “unreliable boyfriend” who failed to match his promises with action. This followed a series of overly optimistic forecasts that led many to prepare for an increase in interest rates that never came. Carney, more polished and dapper than his contemporaries, recovered much of his reputation in 2016 when he was dubbed “the only adult in the room” following the Brexit referendum. While parliament went into shock and No 10 was consumed by the resignation of David Cameron, Carney toured the TV and radio stations, calming fraying nerves.Raghuram Rajan The Chicago Booth economics professor is often described as one of the few economists to predict the financial crisis. In a speech in 2005 to the world’s top central bankers he explained that an explosion of borrowing made financial markets more dangerous. At the time he was chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, so he might have expected his warning that “it’s possible these developments are creating a greater (albeit still small) probability of a catastrophic meltdown” would be taken seriously. It wasn’t.He took over as governor of India’s central bank in 2013 after warning that the country was suffering from hubris, adding that “growth can never be taken for granted” and that “self-delusion is the first step towards disaster”. The rupee, which tumbled 12% against the dollar in the three months before his arrival, stabilised. By the time he left in 2016, price inflation had fallen from almost 10% to below 4% and a series of banking reforms were in place.Christine Lagarde As president of the European Central Bank since last year, Lagarde has shown she is a would-be central bank hero. Shifting the dial at an institution covering 19 countries is never easy, but the former boss of the IMF has embarked on a campaign for greater transparency in a break from the traditionally closeted bank’s decision-making, and for unemployment and inequality to be as much of a yardstick for the ECB as inflation. She has also matched Carney in the drive to make central bank lending more climate-friendly, with green bonds that only allow loans to businesses that are environmentally friendly. PI More

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      'Move with urgency': Joe Biden's economic team in their own words

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      Joe Biden’s incoming economic team is filled with firsts. The lineup that the incoming president introduced this week will, if approved, place women and people of color at the controls of the US economy during one of the darkest periods in recent history.
      While the team is historic, it also faces a historic challenge. Unemployment has fallen dramatically since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. It fell to 6.7% in November. But it remains 3.2 percentage points above its level before Covid-19 struck, jobs growth is slowing sharply, long-term unemployment is growing and people of color are still suffering hardship at far higher levels than white Americans.
      The pandemic has also exacerbated already worrying levels of income inequality, and across the US, shocking lines are forming at food banks as the country’s already frayed social safety net collapses.
      Congress has been deadlocked on a new round of stimulus money for months. A compromise now seems to be in the works but will come too late for many.
      The future looks difficult too. The US now has a $21.2tn national debt – up from $14.4tn on the day Donald Trump was inaugurated. Republicans, who helped fuel that enormous rise, are now talking about the need for fiscal responsibility.
      Biden’s team is strong on progressive talk. Its members have championed the need for more government intervention, greater equality and a stronger safety net. A look at the team’s own words shows just how ambitiously they are thinking.
      Whether they can achieve those goals looks set to hang on two crucial Senate races in Georgia in January that will decide who controls the Senate.
      Janet Yellen, treasury secretary
      The first woman to head the Treasury if confirmed, Yellen has had a long and distinguished career and was the first woman to head the Federal Reserve.
      This week Yellen called the pandemic recession “an American tragedy” and said: “It’s essential that we move with urgency.”
      An expert on labor markets, she has long highlighted income inequality and its disproportionate impact on people of color in the US. “There really is a new kind of recognition that you’ve got a society where capitalism is beginning to run amok and needs to be readjusted,” she told Reuters recently.
      In a 2014 speech, she said: “The extent of and continuing increase in inequality in the United States greatly concern me.” Yellen noted: “The distribution of income and wealth in the United States has been widening more or less steadily for several decades, to a greater extent than in most advanced countries.”
      But her long-term views on the nation’s debts have some progressives worried that she may look to cut welfare programs once Covid-19 is, finally, behind us. “The US debt path is completely unsustainable under current tax and spending plans,” she said in February.
      Neera Tanden, head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
      The president of the left-leaning Center for American Progress will be the first woman of color to head the OMB if she is confirmed. But Republicans, angered by her partisan tweets, have said she stands “zero chance” of being approved if they keep control of the Senate.

      Neera Tanden
      (@neeratanden)
      Imagine a world where Mitch McConnell is not in the Senate. Now let’s go make that happen. https://t.co/iOwO3GgDf1

      February 13, 2019

      Her India-born mother, Maya, relied on food stamps and other government programs to raise her children after her divorce and Tanden is a strong supporter of a better social safety net.
      “I’m here today thanks to my mother’s grit, but also thanks to a country that had faith in us, that invested in her humanity, and in our dreams,” she said this week.
      The OMB is the largest office within the executive office of the president and oversees the development and implementation of the federal budget. Her priorities are unmistakable.
      “Budgets are not abstractions,” Tanden said. “They are a reflection of our values. They touch our lives in profound ways and sometimes they make all the difference.”
      Adewale ‘Wally’ Adeyemo, deputy treasury secretary
      If confirmed, Nigerian-born Adeyemo will be the first Black person to serve as deputy Treasury secretary.
      “Public service is about offering hope through the dark times and making sure that our economy works not just for the wealthy, but for the hard-working people who make it run,” he wrote on Twitter this week.
      Like Yellen he has emphasized the need to address income inequality. “In California’s Inland Empire, where I had grown up in a working-class neighborhood, the Great Recession hit us hard,” he said this week. “We were one of the foreclosure capitals of the United States. The pain of this was real for me.”
      But his work as a senior adviser to BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, and past positions calling for “avoiding protectionism” and asserting the need to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal are likely to cause problems with progressive Democrats and even many Republicans in the post-Trump era.
      Cecilia Rouse, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
      Another first, Rouse will be the first Black chair of the Council of Economic Advisers if she is confirmed.
      Currently dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Rouse is another expert in labor markets. Among her most famous research papers is a study of sexism in auditions and hiring for symphony orchestras.
      An expert on the impact of education on the labor force and long-term unemployment, Rouse has also championed paid sick leave. Last year, nearly 34 million workers – about a quarter of the US workforce – lacked paid sick leave.
      While supportive of the private sector, she recently wrote that the pandemic had exposed “a ‘Franken-system’ of support that is inadequate, costly, unnecessarily bureaucratic, and ultimately not trusted by many Americans”. More

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      in US Politics

      UK and US lock in behind Australia in China row

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      The British government has vowed to stand with Australia to “protect our key interests and values” and push back at “disinformation” amid a deepening rift in Canberra’s relationship with Beijing.The American ambassador to Australia also accused a Chinese foreign ministry official of spreading “disinformation through fabricated images and disingenuous statements” about Australia.The United Kingdom and the United States are the latest countries to speak out in support of Australia, after France and New Zealand criticised China over an official tweeting a digitally-created image depicting an Australian soldier cutting the throat of a child in Afghanistan.China has accused Australia of overreacting to the tweet and hyping the issue for domestic political purposes.When asked about the tweeted image, a spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told the Guardian the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, “has made clear we will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Australia to make sure that we protect our key interests and values”.“Disinformation is an issue we take extremely seriously and we will continue to coordinate closely with Australia and other international partners to ensure our citizens are protected,” the spokesperson said.The Guardian understands the British government believes that China, as a leading member of the international community, should live up to the obligations that come with that. It views the tweeted image as clearly fake and deeply concerning.When asked in the House of Commons last month about China’s escalating trade actions against Australia, Raab indicated he had regular exchanges with the Australian foreign minister, Marise Payne, and expressed “solidarity”.Raab said the UK was also working alongside Australia and the other Five Eyes partners – the US, Canada and New Zealand – on issues such as the crackdown on pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong.The US ambassador to Australia, Arthur Culvahouse, responded to questions from the Guardian by saying the Australian government had “responsibly investigated and disclosed allegations that its soldiers committed crimes in Afghanistan”.“The world can only wish that the Chinese Communist party were to bring the same degree of transparency and accountability to credible reports of atrocities against the Uighurs in Xinjiang,” Culvahouse, who was appointed by Donald Trump, said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.Those sentiments were backed by the US State Department’s deputy spokesperson, Cale Brown, who described the Afghanistan tweet as “a new low, even for the Chinese Communist party”.The CCP’s latest attack on Australia is another example of its unchecked use of disinformation and coercive diplomacy. Its hypocrisy is obvious to all. While it doctors images on @Twitter to attack other nations, the CCP prevents its own citizens from reading their posts.— Cale Brown (@StateDeputySPOX) December 2, 2020
      The Florida senator Marco Rubio wrote to the chief executive of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, to ask why the tweet had not been taken down. A Twitter spokesperson has previously said the image contained within the tweet had been “marked as sensitive media”, meaning it is hidden behind a warning message by default.On Tuesday, Scott Morrison turned to the popular Chinese social media platform WeChat to reach out to the Chinese Australian community.The prime minister sought to make clear that the escalating tensions between the two governments – which led last week to the imposition of hefty tariffs on Australian wine – were not a reflection on Chinese Australians.Morrison wrote that “the post of a false image of an Australian soldier does not diminish our respect for and appreciation of our Chinese Australian community or indeed our friendship with the people of China”.The prime minister said the “difficult issues” that had arisen in the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force’s report into alleged war crimes by special forces soldiers in Afghanistan were being dealt with in a “transparent and honest way”.Earlier this week, when he demanded an apology from the Chinese government over the tweet by Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, Morrison said the dispute was broader than just the two countries, and that other nations were watching.Zhao’s tweet seized on the findings of a recent report from a four-year official investigation into the conduct of Australian special forces soldiers in Afghanistan, known as the Brereton report.Another Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, held up the front page of the Brereton report at Tuesday’s regular press briefing in Beijing as she declared that the “computer-generated graphic” was not a case of disinformation.“The Australian side … is under immense criticism and condemnation from the international community for the ruthless killing of Afghan innocents by some of its soldiers, but the Australian side wants to turn that into a tough-on-China position,” Hua said.The Chinese embassy in Canberra urged the Australian government to “face up to the crux of the current setback of bilateral relationship and take constructive practical steps to help bring it back to the right track”.“The rage and roar of some Australian politicians and media is nothing but misreading of and overreaction to Mr Zhao’s tweet,” an embassy spokesperson said.The former senior Australian foreign affairs official Richard Maude told the Guardian on Tuesday there was no end in sight to the rift in the relationship with Beijing, and it was a “pretty lonely and tough battle for a middle power to be in on its own”.“What we really need is enough countries to be willing to publicly take a stand,” Maude said.Australia and China have been at odds over a number of issues over the past few years, including the Turnbull government’s decision to exclude Chinese telcos Huawei and ZTE from Australia’s 5G network and its introduction of foreign interference laws that were seen as targeting China’s activities.But the relationship deteriorated sharply in April when the Morrison government issued an early call for an independent international inquiry into the origin and handling of Covid-19 and floated the idea of international weapons inspector-style powers for pandemic investigations.It triggered a furious reaction from Beijing, which has subsequently taken trade actions against a range of Australian exports including barley, red meat and wine, citing technical grounds. More

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      in US Politics

      'Help is on the way': Joe Biden introduces economic team as pandemic rages

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      Joe Biden, the US president-elect, formally introduced his top economic advisers on Tuesday, as his incoming administration prepares to deal with the worst financial crisis in decades and a resurgent coronavirus pandemic.Wearing a black boot on the right foot he recently fractured while playing with one of his dogs, Biden appeared in his home city, Wilmington, Delaware, for an event that stressed the gravity of the situation but sought to offer hope.“We’re going to create a recovery for everybody,” Biden said. “Our message to everybody struggling right now is this: help is on the way.”Biden’s nominations would put several women in top economic roles, drawing a clear contrast with Donald Trump and reflecting his commitment to diversity.They include Janet Yellen, who if confirmed by the Senate will be the first woman to lead the US treasury in its 231-year history. Biden said he “might have to ask Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the musical about the first treasury secretary, [Alexander] Hamilton, to write another musical” about his new nominee.Yellen led the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, focusing on maximising employment and less on price inflation. In remarks on Tuesday, she noted the damage caused by the pandemic.“Lost lives, lost jobs, small businesses struggling to stay alive or closed for good,” she said. “So many people struggling to put food on the table and pay bills and rent.“It’s an American tragedy and it’s essential we move with urgency. Inaction will cause a self-reinforcing downturn, causing yet more devastation. And we risk missing the obligation to address deeper structural problems.” More

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      Has political consensus become a pipe dream? | Letters

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      Perhaps the liberal democratic managed capitalism desired by Martin Kettle did exist in the 1950s, including the new welfare state in the UK (The toxic polarisation of our politics can be reversed, but it will take humility, 26 November). It didn’t prove robust – the Conservatives moved to the right and embraced free-market capitalism; regulation exists but is weak and largely captured by “experts” from the relevant market sectors.It is difficult to see how the idealised consensus can be created today, especially within one state. Multinational companies moving activities to poorly regulated locations and tax havens means that regulation must be multinational. The EU is attempting to regulate and tax tech and online firms, cooperation with which the UK has abandoned. The replacement of Donald Trump by Joe Biden doesn’t mean that economic nationalism will go out of fashion.Kettle is right that respect for the truth is indispensable. The problem is that honest conservatism has gone and, internationally, the right has adopted untruth as a weapon. This approach will continue as it has proved successful. Trump has lost the election, but the size of his vote and support for his untruths demonstrate just how successful.Talking – and listening – to each other in a truthful and respectful way is a good thing, but it needs that approach from all parts of the political spectrum. Kettle implies that such consensus-seeking would inhibit the left from offering radical solutions to our problems, because that may destroy any consensus. Is that how democracy works?Doug SimpsonTodmorden, West Yorkshire• Martin Kettle rightly highlights polarisation and the growth of the “I” society since the 1960s. Surely it is no coincidence that this coincided with a digital revolution that changed all our lives? Last year, I revisited California 50 years after doing an MBA at Stanford University. The wealthiest state in the world has failed to solve homelessness in the streets or congestion on the roads. Black people have been displaced by escalating house prices.All the talking and listening in the world will be of little value unless governments get control of the land and finance needed to build a fairer society. We should be using technology to map inequalities and invest in bridging the gaps rather than consoling ourselves with webinars and games.Dr Nicholas FalkExecutive director, The Urbed Trust• It is possible to share Martin Kettle’s hope for a less divided America without romanticising the 1950s. One need only recall those who left for Europe when “cooperation” was not shown to their differing political beliefs. The 50s also saw the enlargement of the attorney general’s list of subversive organisations. A loyalty oath was required by anyone wishing to enter a graduate programme or benefit from a scholarship, and the House Committee on Un-American Activities destroyed careers. Dwight Eisenhower was no Donald Trump, but neither was he a hero to those not in the political mainstream.Susan ZagorLondon• On reading how Labour’s general secretary has banned local parties from discussing the loss of the whip from Jeremy Corbyn (Report, 27 November), I was reminded of how Joseph Stalin tried to make Leon Trotsky a non-person in Russia. It is marvellous where the party leadership takes its inspiration from.Terry WardWickford, Essex More

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      The US is on ‘inequality autopilot’ – how can Biden's treasury pick help change course?

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      Teresa Marez has never heard of Janet Yellen, likely to be the next treasury secretary of the United States. But she and millions of other Americans have a lot riding on the decisions Yellen will make if and when she is confirmed next year.The coronavirus has upended Marez’s life. Her savings are almost exhausted and she is worried about her unemployment benefits, which run out next week. “It’s so hard. It’s just such a mess,” said the mother of two in San Antonio, Texas. “We just need Congress to make a decision,” Marez said. “As long as they are in limbo, we are in limbo.”Marez, 45, is one of the millions of Americans still suffering from the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and whose plight will be the top priority of incoming president Joe Biden and his treasury secretary pick.The situation is dire. About 20 million Americans are currently unemployed. For many hunger has become a major issue. Government figures show that the week before Thanksgiving – America’s biggest feast day – 5.6m households struggled to put enough food on the table. Huge, haunting lines have formed at food banks across the country and years of neglect and underfunding of the systems to help those in need have worsened their plight.Last week Marez spent three and a half hours on hold waiting to speak with someone at a Texas unemployment office to hear whether she would get a new form of unemployment when her existing funds expire. The answer was a noncommittal maybe. “Three and a half hours on hold in mid-morning just to get that answer,” she said.According to the Century Foundation, 12 million Americans will be cut off from their jobless benefits on 26 December. A disproportionate number of those people will be women and Latino, like Marez, or Black and young, the groups hardest hit by the economic downturn. More

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      Former Fed chair Janet Yellen set to become first female treasury secretary

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      Janet Yellen, the first woman to chair the US Federal Reserve, is set to achieve another first, becoming the country’s first female treasury secretary.
      The 74-year-old economist is expected to be named as President-elect Joe Biden’s choice on Tuesday.
      Yellen will take the job during one of the most trying economic times in modern history.
      US unemployment hit a postwar record in April, in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, and while the jobs situation has improved, the recovery has slowed in recent months as rates of infection have increased.
      Millions remain out of work, and women and people of color have been hit disproportionately hard by the downturn.
      Congress has struggled to reach agreement on a new round of economic spending, the US national debt is at record levels, and relations with the US’s major trading partners are frayed after the Trump administration’s trade wars.
      Donald Trump declined to reappoint Yellen to the Fed chair after his election in 2016, making her the first central bank chief not to serve two terms since the Carter administration. During his campaign Trump said Yellen should be “ashamed” of her policy actions and accused her of keeping interest rates low in order to bolster President Barack Obama’s legacy.
      Cautious and carefully spoken Yellen has made few comments about Trump although when asked last year if she thought Trump “had a grasp” of macroeconomic policy she said: “No I do not.”
      Yellen has recently advocated for more federal spending from Congress to tackle the economic devastation caused by the virus.
      “There is a huge amount of suffering out there. The economy needs the spending,” Yellen said in a September interview.
      Yellen, professor emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley, a former assistant professor at Harvard and a lecturer at the London School of Economics, is an expert in labor markets who has highlighted the economic impact of uneven growth in the jobs market.
      She is married to the Nobel-winning economist and frequent co-author George Akerlof.
      Progressives had been hoping Senator Elizabeth Warren, a staunch critic of Wall Street, might get the job. But with control of the Senate still in the balance, Yellen is a safer pick. After the news broke Warren called Yellen “an outstanding choice.”

      Elizabeth Warren
      (@SenWarren)
      Janet Yellen would be an outstanding choice for Treasury Secretary. She is smart, tough, and principled. As one of the most successful Fed Chairs ever, she has stood up to Wall Street banks, including holding Wells Fargo accountable for cheating working families.

      November 23, 2020

      Biden said last week that his Treasury nominee would be accepted by both the progressive and moderate wings of the Democrat party. Yellen has also in the past attracted bipartisan support, receiving 11 Republican votes for her 2014 confirmation as Fed chair, including the backing of three sitting Republican senators.
      She is also one of the best-connected economists in the world, leading the Fed from 2014 to 2018 after a long career in economic policymaking.
      If appointed, Yellen will not only be the first female Fed chair and treasury secretary, but the first person to have headed both organizations and the White House council of economic advisers. More