It would be fascinating to sit at Treasury Secretary Dr. Janet Yellen’s dining room table and listen to the conversation over dinner between her and her husband Nobel Prize-winning economist George Akerlof. She is clearly his equal. There is more.
An economist who collaborated with them at the University of California Berkley, Andrew Rose, commented to The Mercury News. Dr. Yellen is exactly what the country needs at this moment of recovery from the past four years. She is “very balanced and grounded:”
‘Janet is very balanced and grounded. She thinks clearly and has a lot of common sense. George is much more artistic and has these leaps of brilliance.’
Donald Trump fired Dr. Yellen from her job as the Chair of the Federal Reserve. Why? Because he said she was “too short” to handle the job.
As Treasury Secretary in President Joe Biden’s administration, Dr. Janet Yellen’s bio explains:
‘She has spent her career focused on unemployment and the dignity of work. She understands what it means to people and their communities when they have good, decent jobs.’
Retail has rebounded sharply once Americans were allowed to leave home. Industry sectors that were most affected by the pandemic have rebounded throughout the first six months of 2021. The businesses that held their own over the same time period, such as “furniture, home goods, sporting goods, and hobby stores” saw a decline. This was a direct result of people being able to go “beyond the home” Yahoo Finance reported.
Yellen told The Bloomberg News that U.S. inflation “would be a plus.” She added her belief that our monetary policymakers would be able to deal with any possible rise in inflation:
‘I know that world — they’re very good. I don’t believe they’re going to screw it up.’
Senior Economist at Nationwide in Columbus, Ohio, Ben Ayers, said:
“Many retailers are benefiting from increased traffic in stores as well as higher prices for items on the shelves, a much-needed bounce back for many service sector businesses.’
Chief U.S. Economist at NatWest Markets in Stamford, Connecticut added:
‘With the economy re-opening, services spending has begun to pick up and could pull some spending away from goods toward some services that are not captured in the retail sales report.’
Oxford Economics Gregory Daco noted his analysis:
‘The great spending rotation saw households cut back on furniture, autos, sporting equipment and building material – categories that outperformed during the pandemic – while spending more freely at restaurants and bars, gas stations and electronic stores.’
‘While future retail sales readings may give the impression of hesitant consumers, they shouldn’t be viewed as a sign of wary households but rather a sign that vaccinated consumers are rotating their spending into services.’
- ‘U.S. restaurants, bars, and retailers rose 0.6 percent from May
- Economists largely expected a repeated decline in retail sales after falling 1.7 percent in May
- Consumer spending sprees across other sectors of the economy offset a sharp drop in automobile sales
- Automobile and auto parts sales fell 2 percent as the industry faced severe supply constraints
- Prices for both new and used cars have exploded
- Even so, retail sales rose 1.3 percent in June when economists dropped the auto sector variable
- Sales from electronics and appliance stores increased 3.3 precedent
- Clothing sales increased 2.6 percent
- Restaurant and bar sales increased 2.3 and
- Department store sales increased 5.9 percent.’
Yellen served as Chair of the Federal Reserve Board, as Vice-Chair of the Federal Reserve Board, as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and as Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, according to The Brookings Institute.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
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