Courtesy of Pam Martens
Janet Yellen, Former Chair of the Federal Reserve, Taking the Oath at Her Senate Confirmation Hearing in 2013
President-elect Joe Biden’s nomination of Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary is being viewed cautiously in some progressive circles. As the post-financial crisis Chair of the Federal Reserve under President Obama, Yellen had the opportunity to interpret the rules of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation in a manner that would rein in the risks of the mega banks on Wall Street. She failed in that regard while attempting to reassure a skeptical public that the Fed’s stress tests on the banks were adequate to prevent another crisis.
Yellen famously stated at a London conference in 2017 the following: “Would I say there will never, ever be another financial crisis? You know probably that would be going too far, but I do think we are much safer, and I hope that it will not be in our lifetimes and I don’t believe it will be.”
Two and a half years later, beginning on September 17, 2019, the Fed was back to bailing out Wall Street – months before there was a case of COVID-19 anywhere in the world.
That being said, Yellen is the most qualified and least scandal-ridden nominee for U.S. Treasury Secretary we’ve had in a long time. Yellen chaired the Fed from 2014 to 2018 and was its Vice Chair from 2010 to 2014. She came to the Federal Reserve Board after serving as President of the San Francisco Fed from 2004 to 2010. Yellen also Chaired the White House Council of Economic Advisors from 1997 to 1999 during the Bill Clinton administration. She graduated summa cum laude from Brown University with a degree in economics in 1967 and received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1971.
The U.S. Treasury’s realm is vast. Its bureaus include the IRS; the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency which regulates national banks; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the U.S. Mint that issues the currency and coin of the U.S.; the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) which is tasked with combating money laundering; and numerous other units. The Treasury Secretary not only sits atop the Treasury but as a result of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, the Treasury Secretary also chairs the Financial Stability Oversight Council (F-SOC) which is responsible for preventing another systemic financial crisis.
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