US facing historic crises again, says Treasury Secretary-nominee Janet Yellen

The US is facing economic crises again and it is essential to move with urgency, Treasury Secretary-nominee Janet Yellen has said, warning that inaction will produce a self-reinforcing downturn causing yet more devastation. Yellen made the remark on Tuesday after US President-elect Joe Biden introduced his economic team at the Transition Headquarters in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.

“I’ve spent my career trying to make sure people can work and achieve the dignity and self-worth that comes with it. Mr President-elect, I know you’ve done the same. I saw that understanding during the last Great Recession and the Recovery Act that followed,” Yellen said. “And now we are facing historic crises again,” the 74-year-old former Chair of the Federal Reserve said, adding the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout have caused much damage to American people and had a disproportionate impact “on the most vulnerable among us”.

“Lost lives. Lost jobs. Small businesses struggling to stay alive or closed for good. So many people are struggling to put food on the table and pay bills and rent,” she said. “It’s an American tragedy,” she said. “And it’s essential that we move with urgency. Inaction will produce a self-reinforcing downturn causing yet more devastation. And we risk missing the obligation to address deeper structural problems. Inequality. Stagnant wages, especially for workers who lack a college education.” Biden said no one is better prepared to deal with this crisis than Yellen. “She will be the first Treasury Secretary who was also Chair of the Federal Reserve, Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve, and Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors. Janet is one of the most important economic thinkers of our time,” he said.

“She has spent her career focused on employment and the dignity of work. She understands what a job means to people and their communities. Respected across party lines and around the world, by Main Street and Wall Street. An educator, a mentor. Above all the daughter of a working-class Brooklyn neighbourhood who never forgot where she came from,” Biden said. “Her husband, George, is pretty good too. He is a Nobel Prize recipient, but he’s the one who married up. Janet will be the first woman to hold this office. We might have to ask Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote a musical about the first Treasury Secretary, Hamilton, to write another musical for the first woman Treasury Secretary, Yellen,” said the President-elect Biden.

Yellen has pledged to work everyday towards rebuilding that dream for all Americans, he said. If confirmed, Yellen will become the first woman to lead the Treasury Department in its 231 years of existence, and be the first person to ever serve as Treasury Secretary, Chair of the Federal Reserve, and Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Prior to her leadership of the Federal Reserve, Yellen served as the body’s Vice Chair from 2010 to 2014 following an earlier term on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She served as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton.