Why I’m Very Happy About Janet Yellen

[Purveyor]

By Justin Wolfers - Oct 8, 2013

President Barack Obama plans to nominate Janet Yellen as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. In doing so, he will promote the pre-eminent policy economist of her generation to the role of the most powerful central banker in the world.

Yellen is quite simply more qualified for the job than any of her predecessors. She’s an imaginative and technically adept economist possessed of a brilliant and precise mind. As a researcher, she has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of unemployment and the importance of smoothing out the ups and downs of the economy. She has demonstrated an ability to navigate political corridors, having served successfully as the chairman of President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers.

She’s also battle-tested, having worked in key policy roles through both the Asian financial crisis and the recent global financial crisis. She has spent most of the past two decades as a leading voice within the Fed, initially as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, then as president and chief executive officer of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Board, and over the past four years as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve.

No Fed chairman has ever been subject to as robust a public vetting as Yellen has over the past two months. It’s notable that through the drawn-out public debate over who should replace current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, not a single economist who has ever worked with Yellen has had a bad word to say about her.

Historic Moment

Yellen’s appointment is also a historic moment: If confirmed by the Senate, she will be the first woman ever to lead the Fed. Economics remains an excessively male-dominated field, and this is particularly evident among the world’s central bankers. The European Central Bank’s governing council, for example, counts no women among its 23 members. Likewise, there are no women on the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee.

MORE...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-08/janet-yellen-the-right-choice-for-fed-chairman.html

[highmindedhavi]

1. The Creature from Jekyll Island

"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men." -Woodrow Wilson, after signing the Federal Reserve into existence

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Not a true quotation

Now, this is all good rabble-rousing stuff, but its relevance to the creation of the Federal Reserve is nonexistent. The speeches these quotes were adapted from were delivered before the Federal Reserve was created. And as for the melodramatic utterance: “I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country,” well, so far, the sourcing well is coming up dry.

Some may question whether such historical nitpicking is relevant to the current presidential campaign. They may do so as they please. But if you want to engage in conspiracy theory, it’s a good idea to get your facts straight.

UPDATE: Via e-mail, John M. Cooper, a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, and the author of several books on Woodrow Wilson, writes:

“I can tell you categorically that this is not a statement of regret for having created the Federal Reserve. Wilson never had any regrets for having done that. It was an accomplishment in which he took great pride.”

http://www.salon.com/2007/12/21/woodrow_wilson_federal_reserve/

[Ash_F]

2. She is good for the job which means she'll be filibustered.

Doesn't it?