Bloomberg News
@Bloomberg-News·2.8M subscribers·40.1K videos
Yellen Would Be the First Female Treasury Secretary If Confirmed by the Senate
Posted
November 24, 2020
Views
1,331
Likes
9
Comments
2
Engagement
November 24, 2020
1,331
9
2
0.83%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Episode Timeline
Every episode in order around the one you’re watching — click any card and the page flips straight to it.
1:18Now PlayingPresident-elect Joe Biden reportedly plans to nominate former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as the next Treasury secretary. She’d be an impeccable choice. Her breadth of experience in economic policy making, her pragmatic and progressive worldview, and her calm consensus-seeking temperament make Yellen the ideal partner for the president that Biden wants to be, and needs to be.
Yellen would be the first woman Treasury secretary, just as she was the first to lead the Federal Reserve — a job she did with distinction. Many were disappointed when President Donald Trump chose not to appoint her to another term in 2018. She has consistently recognized the limits to what monetary policy can achieve once interest rates have been cut, by necessity, to zero, and has called for fiscal policy to play a stronger role in supporting demand under those conditions. The Treasury secretary is the officer the country needs to make that case, come forward with specifics, and build the necessary support in Congress.
Even though she spent much of her career as a central banker, Yellen’s qualifications as a fiscal policy maker are unsurpassed. She’s a top-flight macroeconomic scholar and led President Bill Clinton’s White House Council of Economic Advisers. She’s universally respected at central banks and finance ministries around the world, which will allow her to play a leading part in rebuilding the economic-policy alliances and systems of cooperation that Trump has wrecked.
Under Yellen, it’s plausible to hope that the Treasury Department will press for an intelligent tax-based approach to fighting climate change. She’s been a member of the Climate Leadership Council, a bipartisan group that has made detailed proposals for a revenue-neutral carbon tax. Asked whether this approach could be politically feasible, she said, “I really don’t know. But I think it is worthwhile to show there can be broad agreement on a policy that is environmentally enlightened.”
A Treasury that stands up for sound economics and seeks broad agreement where possible would be enormously welcome. It’s exactly what the U.S. has lacked for the past four years. An appointment of this caliber will be something to celebrate.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world.
To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app.
Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake
Connect with us on…
Breaking News on YouTube
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
