CNBC and others are having Janet Yellen to spew forth about Trump’s tariffs and trade policy. I can’t think of anyone who I would trust less, knowing what she has said and done.
Janet Yellen was president of the Federal Reserve of San Francisco from 2004 until 2010. This was during the period where the economy collapsed due to a massive overvaluation of real estate. As a regulator, why didn’t the Federal Reserve stop banks from making so many substandard loans? Why didn’t they stop banks from making no document loans or no-principal-payment loans, or stop allowing loans that were over 100% of value? Regulators have a lot of control but they essentially did little to nothing to stop the massive overvaluation of real estate. Why didn’t regulators get fired for malfeasance, since the massive fraud was so obvious?
In 2021, as Treasury secretary, when inflation started skyrocketing, Yellen, Powell, and others somehow didn’t recognize that inflation was going to be a persistent problem. They misled the public by calling inflation transitory. They first blamed it on pent up demand and COVID. Then they falsely blamed it on Russia.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she regrets describing inflation in 2021 as “transitory,” the term several Federal Reserve and Biden administration officials used to describe the pandemic-induced price surges they initially thought would be temporary.
When Biden took office in January 2021, after a year of COVID and after businesses and the economy were recovering rapidly, Biden inherited inflation at 1.4%. Inflation was always low under Trump, despite tariffs, because of low taxes and fewer regulations, and especially because of Trump’s energy policies, which kept prices low. Crude oil was around $40 per barrel when Biden was elected. The border was under control
As soon as Biden was elected, he set out to destroy the oil industry, and prices skyrocketed. Energy prices, as Trump says, affect everything. How could Yellen, or Powell, miss the long-term inflationary aspects of the intentional destruction of oil, coal, natural gas, and pipelines?
Biden also opened the border. The inflation caused by flooding America with millions of people each year is obvious, yet Yellen never said a word in opposition.
Biden issued regulations on businesses and individuals continuously, and Yellen never opposed any of them, even though they are clearly inflationary.
Biden and the Democrats also passed the American Rescue Act, after the U.S. was well on its way to substantial growth, which flooded the U.S with trillions in borrowed money. That was clearly inflationary, and Yellen didn’t oppose it.
Biden and the Democrats passed the green pusher bill, falsely named the Inflation Reduction Act, and Yellen didn’t oppose it.
Federal spending went up over 50% from 2020 to 2025, with intense borrowing, and Yellen didn’t say a word.
As Biden dictatorially and unconstitutionally forgave hundreds of billions in student loans, Yellen didn’t say a word.
As people throughout the Biden administration were shoveling out hundreds of billions as fast as they could after Harris lost the election, Yellen didn’t say a word.
As Republicans tried to lift the debt ceiling in December 2024 as they passed a continuing budget resolution and Democrats blocked it, Yellen didn’t say a word. But on December 28, 2024, Yellen warned that the debt ceiling would soon be hit.
Now Yellen is warning that Trump’s tariffs will cause high inflation and saying it is a pipe dream to think manufacturing will come back. So, as corporations have already pledged several trillion dollars, within the first hundred days, to bring manufacturing back, Yellen goes on TV to say that is impossible and essentially a worthless goal. Has she been living in a cave, or is her mind as shot as Joe’s?
So why would CNBC or anyone care what Yellen says about the economy and inflation when she was a major participant in destroying the purchasing power of Americans during Biden’s four years?
Picryl.
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