Courtesy of Pam Martens
Fed Chair Janet Yellen Appears Before the House Financial Services Committee, November 4, 2015
Late yesterday afternoon, while the stock market was still open, three reporters at the Wall Street Journal penned an article with this opening statement: “President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, an economist at the forefront of policy-making for three decades, to become the next Treasury secretary, according to people familiar with the decision.”
Within the next half hour, every major newswire and many of the largest newspapers in the U.S. were repeating the Journal’s story.
The Journal noted that the Biden camp wasn’t expected to make a “formal announcement” of the Yellen nomination until November 30. Nonetheless, the Journal decided it had the self-anointed right to stand in for the Biden transition team and make the announcement a week ahead of time.
To induce a nice big stock market rally on the news (the Dow closed up 327.7 points) the Journal article carried this pivotal paragraph:
“Ms. Yellen is an ‘excellent choice for Treasury secretary,’ said Gary Cohn, President Trump’s former top economic adviser, in a statement. ‘Having had the opportunity to work with then-Chair Yellen, I have no doubt she will be the steady hand we need to promote an economy that works for everyone, especially during these difficult times.’ ”
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