Column: “Finance Secretary Yelen” Surprisingly Bold Staff Possibility | Reuters



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[23 de Nueva York, Reuters BREAKINGVIEWS]- At first glance, the appointment of Janet Jellen as Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is a safe choice. In addition to serving as Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board (FRB), he has decades of extensive experience in the financial and economic fields. However, given Mr. Yelen’s high level of “evolutionary ability”, it can be shown that he chose an unexpectedly bold person in some situations.

At first glance, the appointment of Janet Yellen as US Secretary of the Treasury on November 23 is a safe choice. The photo shows Mr Jonathan Ernst attending a conference in Washington in December 2017 (2020 Reuters / Jonathan Ernst).

The Wall Street Journal reported on the 23rd that the Byden Democratic Party, which has secured a victory in the presidential election, intends to appoint Mr. Yeren as the next Secretary of the Treasury. If that happens, it is likely to be approved by the Senate. America’s unemployment rate, which was above 6.5% when Mr. Yelen was appointed FRB president, fell 2.5 points during his tenure. He consistently defended the independence of the FRB, and even President Trump, who succeeded President Powell, did not overthrow Yeren.

True, Yelen’s traditional monetary policy management has led to some failures. It has always been seen as a pigeon cult seeking accommodative policies to reduce the unemployment rate, but it has increased rates a total of five times even though the rate of price increase remains low. The reason for this was the idea that the unemployment rate of around 5% was low enough to start raising prices. However, under Powell’s presidency, the unemployment rate has fallen further, but it has not caused a significant increase in prices.

In this sense, Yelen now looks different from his ex-girlfriend. Since retiring as president in 2018, he has supported Powell’s aggressive policy response, such as lowering the policy interest rate to near zero and establishing a new loan system. Just as the FRB itself has recently reoriented its policy policy and has come up with the idea that it no longer supports rate increases simply because the unemployment rate is low, Yellen is aware of the lower bound on the unemployment rate, which does not cause price hikes. It may have been changed.

Yelen has also changed his attitude towards the budget deficit. In 2017, when America’s debt reached about $ 15 trillion, or about 75% of total national production (GDP), it warned that “people could not sleep well.” However, in January of this year, just before the new corona virus pandemic occurred, it showed an attitude of accepting an increase in financial spending on issues such as climate change, and has also agreed to increase spending on corona countermeasures since so.

If so, Yeren may end up trying to clamp down on political action in a more positive way. In the past, there was only one instance where the FRB president changed to finance secretary Miller, the Carter administration. Miller was far from passing, both as FRB president and finance secretary, because he couldn’t make a decision when a dramatic policy change was needed. Mr. Yeren may have the qualifications to set such a negative precedent.

● Background news

* Mr. Byden intends to appoint the former president of the Yelen Federal Preparatory Board (FRB) as the next Secretary of the Treasury. The Wall Street Journal reported the 23rd as a story of the people affected.

* Mr. Yelen served as FRB President Appointed by the former Obama Administration from 2014 to 2018. Prior to that, he was Vice President of the FRB 10-14, Federation Governor of the San Francisco District in 2004- 10 and director of the FRB in 1994-97. In 1997-99, he was also chairman of the Clinton administration’s Presidential Economic Advisory Committee.

* If Mr. Yelen is appointed as the next Finance Secretary, he will be officially appointed if the Senate gets a majority of the votes.

(I am a columnist for “Reuters Breaking views”. This column is based on my personal opinion).

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